2003 Pontiac Vibe Esso XD3 0w30 15,000 km

[olympic]

2003 Pontiac Vibe used as a taxi
current odometer: 215,000km
80% city driving with extended idling
Esso XD3 0w30
km on oil: 15,000km (9300 miles) and 2 months
make up oil: 1L
oil filter: Amsoil
Air filter: Toyota/Denso

First column: Mobil 1 SS 5w30 15,000km
Second: XD3 10,000km from last year
Third: current XD3 UOA
Fourth: XD3 VOA

Tin 0 0 0 0
Lead 6 4 7 0
Copper 0.7 0.9 1 0
Aluminum 2 3 3 1
Silicon 24 10 30 3
Iron 16 10 19 5
Chromium 0.7 0.8 1 0.4
Silver 0 0 0 0
Zinc 950 1200 1450 1350
Magnesium 150 17 11 10
Nickel 0 0 0 0
Barium 0 0 0 0
Sodium 12 13 11 1
Calcium 2000+ 2000+ 2000+ 3800
Vanadium 0 0 0 0
Phosphorus 856 1050 1300 1300
Molybdenum 80 6 2 0
Boron 60 4 0 3
Manganese 270 97 341 1

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Viscosity @ 100ºC 12.48 12.26 13.80 12.07[XD3 VOA]
Water 0 0 0
Solids Glycol No No No
Fuel Dilution No No No

OTHER PROPERTIES
TBN 7.45 7.38 7.34
Oxidation 33.05 16.38 28.57
Nitro Compounds 0.00 3.24 11.62
Organic Nitrates 53.33 37.90 57.62

Well, here you can clearly see the effects of city driving and extended idling in dusty conditions with a hot running I4. The lab lists oxidation as "moderate" and nitration as "severe". It's definitely the end of the line for this oil. Silicon was also flagged as high. I thought I had that licked last time when I switched back to OEM Denso air filters but apparently not. My town is just dusty and there's not much I can do about it.

Iron is up slightly likely due to dirt ingestion, but everything else is very good. This is the OCI I have been using with XD3 for the past 10 months or so. Maybe I'm pushing the limits a bit but I don't think it's going to shorten the engine life by any appreciable amount. I'm going to start putting grease on the air filter seal because it's a hard plastic with a sealing groove rather than foam or rubber.

P.S: the TBN numbers look funky but it's easily explained. The 10k OCI had no make up oil. The 15k OCI had 1L added around 11k.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Ok, In this application either maintence dosage of Auto-Rx or Lube Control is definately worth considering. The nitration and oxidation are going to be issues longterm.

THe filter if it is anything like my Camry make sure it is in right. Their are two small notches or indentations on one of the filter. These have to go up and toward the front of the car on most newer Toyota cars. If you put the filter in wrong it can allow some air to leak past the filter.

I recently had a problem with a Carquest airfilter. It was a cheap piece of junk. I just replaced it even though it had only been in service for 6 months. I have found that Puralator and Fram air filters are almost as good as geniune Toyota/Denso airfilters for my 2003 Camry.

 

[goodvibes]

I had the same problem with my ex Vibe. At the 30k check, the mechanic must have checked the filter and put it back in backwards with a big black paw print on the engine side.

Didn't notice until a few thousand miles later. Wix (NAPA Gold) makes a great filter for that application. Thick media, lots of pleats, and a real good seal. It's hard to close the air box on it.

 

[olympic]

I double checked the air filter and it's in the right way and seated in the groove. Like I said, my area is just really dusty. I installed the filter at the beginning of this OCI and already it had substantial debris in the pleats and there was some fine gravel in the bottom of the air box. Maybe the intake horn in the fender is located in a bad place that sucks in alot of junk. The M1 UOA was done with a WIX air filter so the brand doesn't seem to make a difference.

Oxidation/nitration is scaring me a little. I wish I could see down the oil fill hole to see if there is any sludge or varnish buildup but there's a baffle in the way. I'll consider cutting back my OCI's to 10,000km just to be on the safe side.

 

[21Rouge]

quote:

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Originally posted by JohnBrowning:
If you put the filter in wrong it can allow some air to leak past the filter.

good as geniune Toyota/Denso airfilters for my 2003 Camry.

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I just went outside and checked the Toyota Denso filter in my 4 cylinder Vibe. The mechanic seemed to fiddle around with it a couple of weeks ago so your post got me thinking. I didnt actually remove the filter but along the front edge of the filter ie edge closest to the front grill, there is a black arrow pointing into the engine area. I take it the arrow is to properly orient the filter upon reinstallation. So is mine right?

 

[olympic]

That's right, the arrow points to the engine. Also, if you look at the corners of the filter, 3 of them are rounded off and one is pointy. The airbox where the filter sits is shaped the same way.

 

[vad]

quote:

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Originally posted by olympic:
Well, here you can clearly see the effects of city driving and extended idling in dusty conditions with a hot running I4.

---

Dusty conditions, in a city?

I wonder if you'd be willing to try some other oils?
I would love to see how GC reacts to those conditions.

 

[olympic]

4500 people qualifies as a city up here haha! I'm no more than 1 mile from farm land at anytime. It's harvest season right now and there's lots of dust in the air. Some days you can see it like haze in the air. Plus my cars drive alot of gravel roads out in the country. I've done a couple winter UOA's and silicon drops right off, likely because all the snow keeps the dust down.

The first column is M1 which faired about the same as XD3. I tried Amsoil S2K in the past and it did better in terms of wear metals but it's difficult to compare those results to these since it was used with a dual remote bypass filter which increased the oil capacity by 50%.

 

[21Rouge]

quote:

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Originally posted by vad:

I wonder if you'd be willing to try some other oils?
I would love to see how GC reacts to those conditions.

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Not that my Vibe will ever see the severity of use that Olympic's Vibes experience. But I am 600 miles into a run of GC with the same vehicle. UOA to come mid winter.

 

[vad]

boxgrover, for how many miles/kms do you plan to run your car before the UOA?

 

[21Rouge]

quote:

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Originally posted by vad:
boxgrover, for how many miles/kms do you plan to run your car before the UOA?

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vad, this is the first winter for this 5 speed Vibe. I plan to run the GC from September to January, maybe less depending on mileage. For the first year of this car I am getting successive UOAs to get a baseline of wear and to compare oils.