Amsoil 5w20XL 6907mi, 04 Sunfire

[OriginHacker21]

2004 Pontiac Sunfire 2.2L 140HP Ecotec

Mi/HR on Oil: 6,907 miles
Mi/HR on Unit: 129,617 miles.
Sample Date: 05/25/08
Make Up Oil: .5 qts.

Amsoil 5w20 XL (5 quarts)
Purolator Oil Filter and Air Filter.

ALUMINUN-----2
CHROMIUM-----0
IRON---------6
COPPER-------2
LEAD---------0
TIN----------1
MOLYBDENUM---37
NICKEL-------1
SILVER-------0
TITANIUM-----0
POTASSIUM----2
BORON--------157
SILICON------4
SODIUM-------5
CALCIUM------2922
MAGNESIUM----14
PHOSPHORUS---788
ZINC---------980
BARIUM-------0

cSt Viscosity @ 100°C----52.5
SUS Viscosity @ 210°F----8.02
Flashpoint in °F---------415
Fuel %-------------------Less than .5
Antifreeze %-------------0
Water %------------------0
Insolubles %-------------.4
TBN----------------------3.1


PAUL: You're back up to a fairly long oil run and the engine hardly even noticed. All wear continues to
read well within the normal range, showing no mechanical problems developing at 129,617 total miles. The 2.2L Ecotec is one of the better 4-cylinder engines we see on a regular basis and yours is certainly no exception. The TBN was still strong at 3,1, showing lots of active additive left and the low insolubles show the oil filter held up well to the longer oil run. The viscosity was right where it should be for a 5W/20. All in all, a very nice report here.

My Comments: Hardly used ANY gas additives (maybe 1-2 entire OCI). Drove this oil hard... Oil didn't turn dark until 5,000 miles. Driving Habits: 238 miles/day @ 75mph on 210 freeway and 10 miles of city driving on the weekends. Really liked this oil - engine feels like it had a lot more power in lower RPMS compared to GC.

Currently: GC 0w30 in the crank case (2k so far, want to do 10k+) but with Amsoil 0w20 and 5w20 are waiting to be used, not sure how long I can keep that in.


Comments/Questions/Similar Experiences/Info all welcomed.
Thanks, - Paul

 

[Turk]

Hey, that's a pretty dog-gone good one!

Are you gonna do a UOA on the GC as a comparison?

That XL did you right...

 

[buster]

OH, did you give up on the SSO? Much like a Honda/Toyota, this engine just wears low regardless of oil type.

 

[OriginHacker21]

tpitcher: I will get a UOA on GC if I run it long enough.

buster: I guess, I like the free RPM feeling I get with the 20 weight oils. SSO is a great oil but a little pricey. Bout 50/50 to me with 0w20/5w20. If I could do 15,000+mile OCIs I'd use SSO without a doubt. I love these engines .

 

[02zx9r]

man thats a lot of driving. report looks great

why go back to GC if you like the way it felt with amsoil?

 

[spiderbypass]

I remember the sage Terry Dyson writing he never saw a bad oil analysis report with Amsoil 5w20 XL oil. This report continues to confirm his statement.

 

[Steve S]

GpIII plus a proper additive package equals a good oil.

 

[Cutehumor]

don't you always post your going to do 10k with your new oil, but you do around 5-7k each time? that commute is gotta hurt with gas prices!!

 

[addyguy]

Looks good Paul! Thanks for posting it!

If you ran this oil out to 7500 miles, you'd probably be at about a 2 for TBN, which would be an almost perfect interval - Amsoil says to go 7500 miles, and you still have a 'safety margin' availiable.

If I recall correctly, you've only ever done 3-4k intervals with GC - it'd be interesting to see how GC does at 7-8k miles vs. the different Amsoil lubes you use. Hopefully, you can make that happen.

I know you get fairly good mileage with your all highway commute but have you ever thought about slowing down to see how much better you can do? Recently, I've gone from doing 70-80mph on highway runs, to going 55-65 mph, and the gas savings are impressive (unscientific 'gauge' readings). Just a though, gas ain't getting any cheaper!

 

[OriginHacker21]

02zx9r - Went with GC because I didn't have 5 quarts of Amsoil 5w20 (or 0w20) when I drained the oil. So all I had was my GC stash. lol. (Yes, make sure you have the oil before you pull the plug).

Cutehumor - Changing oil is just too addicting. I can't stop. lol. Yes, am going to try at least a 10k with this oil, we'll see what happens. Gas prices don't bother me much - coworkers who commute with me pay for all the gas and I pitch in by driving.

addguy - Definitely - Am going to try a 10k OC? with GC. I tried slowing down to 65-70mph but was amazed at how many more people got upset at me, zoomed around me, and nearly got into accidents trying to get around us "law abiding citizens." When I follow speed of traffic (75+) then that usually doesn't happen. But it sure is a lot less stressful doing 65mph behind a semi and and and I got 42MPG vs 35-38MPG.

Thanks for the comments all

 

[blackdiamond]

My sister-in-law has a 98 Sunfire 2.2L that is likely a similar, if not nearly identical, engine. I believe it currently has close to 230,000 miles (she has put about 100,000 miles on it) and the engine looks horrible externally thanks to being from a salty-road part of the country. I have been changing the oil using PP 5w-30 and the oil looks "cleaner" every time even though I keep pushing the mileage up a bit each time. No UOA's, so I'm not getting wild, but this last one was over 4,500 miles with a WIX and the oil looked about the same as my rebuilt 22RE after 1,000 miles. The little-engine-that-could burns and leaks zero oil which simply amazes me. Since she can't afford to get another car anytime in the near future I'm being very conservative with OCI and likely won't go beyond 5k, but I'm sure a UOA would support more.

The moral of the story is continue to take good care of your car and it should go for a long long time.

 

[Colt45ws]

Well, the Ecotec is a completely different design than your sisters 2.2L, which is a OHV design as opposed to the OHC of the Ecotec. The differences dont stop there and the only thing they share is...."2.2L." Your sister must not take it on the highway much. My 2.2L OHV cavalier urns no oil...as long as I stay city. All highway it burns about 1qt/1k

 

[chet2]

black diamond, that sunfire engine is not same as current GM ecotec 2.2 which debuted in 2003 model year i believe...i sold my 99 cavalier to a friend and we are running PP in it and after 6k miles it has not burned a drop...i will probably go to 8 k on it..it has 176 k on it and still runs strong...my buddy doesnt give a [censored] about oil, so i buy the oil for him and make him change cuz i hate seeing my 8 years of maint go to [censored]...i live in nh and i bet engine would be last thing to go in these new england winters

 

[Cutehumor]

amazing that I hear reports from 2.2 ohv that don't use oil. I got 156k miles, it leaks a quart every 2.5k miles. However, I asked a coworker with a 98 2.2L sunfire, she said she didn't have piston slap. I do. go figure

 

[addyguy]

In my 2002 Cavalier 2.2, recently I've been driving my car a lot 'gentler' to try and get better mileage out of it. I used to rev it to about 4-4.5k rpm between all gears, and cruise at 70-80mph on the highway always, with even faster 'passing bursts'. Driving like that, my car used 0.5-1.0 liter of oil per OCI (5-6k miles).

I've found since driving at 55-65 mph on the highway, and rarely reving the engine past 3.5k rpm, my car hasn't consumed a drop so far in almost 3k of driving. So driving slower can save you BOTH gas and oil! I'm sold on the benefits of 'slowing down'!