96 Blazer 4.3L / Amsoil 0w-30

[Christopher R. Wise]

This is my parents vehicle, a 96 Chevy Blazer 4.3L 4x4.
This is the first synthetic oil( Amsoil S2000 0w-30), put in at about 87,000 miles, run 13,000 miles, changed at 100K.

Done by Oil Analyzers.
Just wondering what you guys thought.
During this sample was using AC Delco A/F, switched to Amsoil A/F with oil change.

Iron 56
Chromium 2
Lead 16
Copper 18
Tin 0
Aluminum 6
Nickel 0
Silver 0
Silicon 33
Boron 7
Sodium 30
Magnesium 398
Calcium 2485
Barium 0
Phosphorus 1138
Zinc 1328
Moly 55
Titanium 0
Vanadium 0
Potassium 0

Fuel Vis@100c 15.50
Water 0
Soot/Solids N/A
Glyol NEG

TBN 5.69
Oxid 24
Nitr 34

PS no flush was done prior.

Thanks for any comments.
The next oil change is coming up soon, hopfully that will look better.

Christopher

[ September 16, 2003, 01:53 AM: Message edited by: Christopher R. Wise ]

 

[userfriendly]

Well you got most of your zink back, and add pack intact, and the lead looks good and high too.
15.5 cSt?????

[ September 16, 2003, 02:14 AM: Message edited by: userfriendly ]

 

[Christopher R. Wise]

quote:

---

Originally posted by userfriendly:
Well you got most of your zink back, and add pack intact, and the lead looks good and high too.
15.5 cSt?????

---

15.5 cSt is a 40 weight, but was told this was due to the Oxidation and Nitration levels.

CRW

 

[wulimaster]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Christopher R. Wise:

quote:

---

Originally posted by userfriendly:
Well you got most of your zink back, and add pack intact, and the lead looks good and high too.
15.5 cSt?????

---

15.5 cSt is a 40 weight, but was told this was due to the Oxidation and Nitration levels.

CRW

---

Should have done a flush first. Lot of cleaning going on.

 

[Chris B.]

If this was your 1st synthetic oil in the engine I believe that 13,000 miles was way to long for your engine. I feel it is better to do a shorter run, maybe 3-4000 miles to help the engine "cope" with the new type of oil. Your next UOA should be a lot better. If I were you I would take a sample at 5,000 and see how it is doing.
Chevy's 4.3 is a well built engine, close to the 3.8. Should last you a long time if you get those numbers down.

 

[deepsquat]

You kept the oil in way too long..next time try 5000 miles with an analysis..Iron 56 lead 16 copper 18 ..for my tastes at least, these # are too high ...especially the iron and lead.
Example...my car at 11,000 iron 9, lead 3, and copper 4. I do have a bypass filter, so the ## are a bit lower then average, still , your iron level was 6 times as high as mine ( for comparision sake only, as we have 2 different engines)

 

[Christopher R. Wise]

Well when I started using Amsoil in my parents vehicle, I didn't really know about oil analysis.

Amsoil claims 35K miles, I thought that might be a bit much, so I thought it should be safe at about half that.

But since I started using synthetics and getting into oils( or more correct their makeup), I have learn alot, but still need to learn more.

CRW

[ September 16, 2003, 03:05 AM: Message edited by: Christopher R. Wise ]

 

[buster]

For your first run it's a good report. Amsoil will be cleaning up whats left behind. FWIW, you really don't want to extend drains after switching oils right away. Your next results should be much better. Amsoil 0w-30 has a tendency to thicken too but it might be the lab in the way they report it.

 

[Chris]

May want to look at the air filter.

 

[Pablo]

Chris - I REALLY wish your parents would have bought the oil from me. I assume they live in the Bellingham area as well? I probably could have saved them a few bucks, too.

As the others pointed out I would have said: "First change, a) flush first (AutoRx preferred) b) 7.5-10K max, because the oil will be cleaning stuff out for awhile"

Si and Na seem high, too.

 

[Al]

As was mentioned-you went too far. Hopefully the next sample will do better. It should tell a lot. The nitration levels originate in the combustion process. They are normally less than the oxidation number. The oil served you well by keeping the oxidation down (this is a guess here). I would guess the vehicle idles a lot-yes??

Lets look for improvement in the silicon numbers. Might be worth checking out your filter instalation (leaks)

 

[Spector]

Sure numbers are elevated but we have no idea what the norm should be. Who wants to bet that even if these numbrs held and nothing was done this engine will go 200,000 miles. I would. Why, because we have no concept of what it was designed to do and at what wear is normal. 20 ppm of lead and the bearings could still be fine at 200,000 miles. Changing the oil sooner to reduce the ppm of a wear metal solves no issue other then reducing the count. These higher numbers are not causing additional wear. IMO only if the oil is worn out does it make a difference. Changing oil to reduce the wear matal ppm is useless. If you want 1 ppm of lead change the oil every 500 miles. Won't solve any problems or really make the engine last longer but it will give you that warm fuzzy feeling.

I guess I am turnign into a cynic on UOA after all these years, why, becaue other then coolant contamination or true operating issues, which can be found via UOA, there is absolutely nothing we can do about higher wear numbers.

Example, my Camry, 159,000 miles, lead has always been, since new, at 14-42 ppm in 7500 OCIs. This board would crucify these numbers and we would be looking for solutions 24 hrs a day. Fact is, it makes no difference, engine still runs fine and if it dies tomorrow at 159,000 I got what I paid for. Chances are the tranny will die first anyway.

 

[Pablo]

Spector you do have a way! True enough - IF the trend goes the same way.

Next sample will be interesting - was it really clean up?

The interesting thing is people (here) now may freak with moderate numbers such as these, change oils, go 5K and say; "look, it dropped in half - good thing I switched oils!" - oye vay logic toast!

 

[dickwells]

The numbers are right in line with my experience in changing my 2002 4.3 Silverado M1 5W30 at around 6K miles. By in line I mean ppm/kmile. I would not run it this long but can't fault the test results. Interesting to see that the viscosity buildup that I see (14 @ 6K) is continued in this engine with another syn oil. Some folks do not take the interval into account when judging the ppm. After all, if oil was run 50kmiles and had 100 ppm iron, it would be fantastic performance.

 

[userfriendly]

Quite often high lead levels in UOAs are caused by an additive called a lead foot.
Also a trend I notice is higher lead in oil that is of a higher viscosity from being extended beyond its service design, and or plugged or restrictive oil filters.
Instead of flushing the engine with expensive consumer products and multiple oil changes, another sure way to clean up an engine is to drop the oil pan and take it along with the valve covers to a machine shop and have them hot tanked.
Before re-installing the oil pan on that 4.3, bolt in a high performance 63 psi high volume oil pump and pinned pump drive shaft and tack weld on a new pick-up.
If you have room, and your engine takes the standard 350 SBC oil filter, install a x-long Fram # PH373 or equivilant in your favorite brand.
Speed pro pump # 224-108R is the number I use in the SBCs and is 80+psi.
That otta' make your 4.3 lead foot compatable with 0W30 and 0W40 engine oils.
Have you seen the price of the new Blazers?
Oil is cheap.

[ September 16, 2003, 04:35 PM: Message edited by: userfriendly ]

 

[Pablo]

per that userfriendly guy:

quote:

---

Quite often high lead levels in UOAs are caused by an additive called a lead foot.

---

That hit me as stinking funny!!

Nearly classic, 8.5-8.75 range.

 

[Patman]

Hehe, so true about the lead foot!

My mom's UOA last year showed only 1 or 2ppm of lead in a 5k interval with the old formula of Mobil 1, but I can assure you that her extremely light foot on the gas was more responsbile for that than anything else.

 

[buster]

lead foot will do it!

quote:

---

Amsoil claims 35K miles, I thought that might be a bit much, so I thought it should be safe at about half that.

---

Smart decision. At 35k miles this oil would be a 0w-200.

 

[pscholte]

For me, this thread and the one on the Prism argue stongly that if you are going to run XX,XXX mile intervals, you should do some intermediate samplings. I would REALLY like to know if the ppm growth on the wear metals has been linear or if at a certain point they began to increase in non-linear fashion.

 

[Christopher R. Wise]

quote:

---

Originally posted by buster:

lead foot will do it!

quote:

---

Amsoil claims 35K miles, I thought that might be a bit much, so I thought it should be safe at about half that.

---

Smart decision. At 35k miles this oil would be a 0w-200.

---

Well I know there was no lead foot problem , this was my mom driving the vehicle everyday.
Maybe it is from not enough lead foot??

CRW