7,700 miles Amsoil 5W-30 ASL

[blsnelling]

I just did my very first UOA. The vehicle is a '92 Buick Regal with the 3800 engine. Before switching to Amsoil, I cleaned/flushed with Auto-Rx. The first run with Amsoil was drained after 5K miles. This UOA was done on the following 7,700 miles. I am running an Amsoil air filter but found that it was not seated correctly at the time of the oil change. I had CTC Analytical Services do the UOA through Amsoil. They recommended continuing with the oil although I had already changed it. Let me know what you think of the results.

Iron 15
Chromium 0
Lead 2
Copper 3
Tin 0
Aluminum 3
Nickel 0
Silver 0
Silicon 15
Boron 44
Sodium 7
Magnesium 775
Calcium 2526
Barium 0
Phosphorus 1186
Zinc 1350

Fuel Visc100 11.40
Water 0
Glycol Neg
NITR 15.0
OXID 18.0
TBN 8.09

 

[blsnelling]

This car has 108K miles on it at this time. I drive it predominantly on the interstate at about 75 MPH. I drove it 30K miles in the past year. My driving consists maily of a 54 mile on-way trip to work and back daily.

 

[Al]

Great report on a great engine. How many miles on this car?? O.K. see it

 

[blsnelling]

Oh, one more thing. I was using the PF52 equivalent in a Wix for an oil filter. The car calls for the shorter PF47. It was not changed during the OCI.

 

[sbc350gearhead]

Great report!!!

With that much driving......I would double the mileage next time, and test again.

 

[TooSlick]

I'd use the larger, SDF-23 oil filter and go with a 12,000 mile, oil/filter change interval under these conditions.

Fe and Cr levels are very low, so the fit of the air filter didn't have any adverse effect. Suspended dust over major highways is generally pretty low anyway. If you drive on secondary roads in farm areas, it's a different story.

TS

 

[blsnelling]

Being new to UOAs, do you see any signs of anything getting past the improperly installed filter? I had what looked like salt stains past the filter in the air duct. Should I do my next UOA after 10K miles, especially since this was during colder weather than what some of the next OCI will be in?

 

[blsnelling]

I see your replies now. They're coming faster than my posting!

 

[blsnelling]

I believe I only added 1/2 Qt make-up oil during this OCI as well. That was down from about 1 Qt in 4K miles before the switch.

 

[buster]

Great report. Oil did a very nice job, especially in an engine that often shows high copper. Wouldn't change a thing.

 

[mikep]

wow, looks great. Definetely a good fit....Amsoil, the engine and your driving habits.

 

[blsnelling]

I don't know about the driving habit part I usually set my cruise about 78 MPH. That also means I'm often quickly accelerating after having to slow down for traffic. I certainly don't baby it. This has to be perhaps the best enging GM has ever built. Seems to be even be more durable than the good ol' small block!

 

[TooSlick]

As I mentioned, the only change I'd make here is to use a high efficiency, high capacity oil filter, like the Amsoil "SDF" filter. This should reduce the oxidation/nitration levels even more - both of which reflect your total solids level ....

With 30,000 miles per year of driving, you can run the Amsoil filter for 12,000 miles between changes and still have a margin of safety as far as filter capacity.
The SDF-23 is the oversized Amsoil filter, that is the same size as the WIX filter you are currently using ....

Tooslick
Dixie Synthetics

 

[blsnelling]

Thanks for all the replies. This forum made this possible. This has been months in the making and is my first run at it. Looks like I nailed it the first time thanks to everything I learned here.

 

[Steve S]

This is another car in need of a bypass filter. 30,000 mile oil changes.

 

[blsnelling]

Now that sounds nice! Is that realistic. That would be once per year for me.

 

[blsnelling]

What would a setup like that cost me? I do have an Amsoil dealership liscence, although I do not sell. Which kit would be for this car?