Amsoil ASL 5w30, 2900miles, 03 Xterra

[hooligan24]

vehicle is an 2003 Nissan Xterra 4x4 with a Supercharged 3.3 V6 and a 3.5 quart sump. The oil filter is the size of a dixie cup. Vehicle is a daily driver that rarely gets warmed up in the morning before driving to work. Daily commute is ~12 miles to work, ~12 miles home from work. 10 of those miles each way are freeway miles, so the oil probably doesnt get completely to full operating temps for very long. Costco brand 92 octane is always used. A Seafoam treatment was done by sucking thru a vac line, and an amsoil oil flush was also used before the oil change.

miles on motor: 47244
miles on oil: 2900
filter: wix
oil: 1st time for Amsoil ASL
make-up oil: none

Blackstone Labs comments:

"ANTHONY: No problems were found in the first sample from your Xterra. All wear read at or below
universal averages, which are based on an oil run of ~4,200 miles. We think you could easily run this fill
another 1,000-2,000 miles. The TBN read 3.8 so you've got enough active additive remaining for the extra
mileage. We consider 1.0 too low for extended use. A trace of fuel was found but this level is a pretty
common find in engines that see a lot of city driving and isn't a problem. No other harmful contaminants
were found. Your 3.3L is wearing nicely at 47,244 miles."


report#'s - Averages @4200 miles
ALUMINUM 3 4
CHROMIUM 1 1
IRON 8 14
COPPER 2 4
LEAD 2 7
TIN 0 0
MOLYBDENUM 42 85
NICKEL 0 0
MANGANESE 0 1
SILVER 0 0
TITANIUM 0 0
POTASSIUM 1 5
BORON 161 47
SILICON 12 11
SODIUM 5 9
CALCIUM 3076 2252
MAGNESIUM 12 116
PHOSPHORUS 622 694
ZINC 725 821
BARIUM 0 0

PROPERTIES
cSt Viscosity @ 100°C 58.9
SUS Viscosity @ 210°F 9.9
Flashpoint in °F 360
Fuel % TR
Antifreeze % 0
Water % 0
Insolubles % .3
TBN 3.8


Any thoughts? do you think we can actually run this oil to 5k miles? 3.8 tbn seems a little low to go another 2k miles.

 

[hooligan24]

Also, we were planning on trying Castrol Syntec 5w30 with a M1 filter next since we bought up 15 quarts during the AZ sale. do you think the castrol would make it to 5k miles also. Its just a little worrysome having a 3.5 quart sump for a supercharged V6.

 

[buster]

I would stick Amsoil. Tbn is fine. Not a fan of Syntec but 3-5k might be doable. Castrol Syntec is a very below average synthetic IMO.

 

[lazaro]

stick with the oil you have for at least 15,000 miles the severe service limit from Amsoil.
really too soon for a UOA but didn't hurt anything.
why dont you dump the wix filter at 7000 miles and put in a Amsoil oil and air filter? oil filter calls for a EaO13 and air filter calls for a EaA74.
your engine will be cleaner at the end of a 20,000 mile oil drain and if you keep up with your UOA at 10,000 mile intervals you will understand how good the oil actually works.

your UOA is great still and should be, the proof will be at 15,000 miles and still good for continued use.
if this is your first amsoil run, I would change out at 15,000 to rid the engine of any leftover dino contaminates. Stay with the Amsoil for at least 2 or 3 runs at 20,000 miles each, with UOA to back up the performance of the oil.


but if you go trying out all kinds of other oils, in due time you will be confused wich one works the best.
stick with one oil until it dont work for you.
and right now you are using the cheapest way out to keep your car running clean for as long as you own it.

 

[Saturn_Fan]

10 miles on the freeway each way to and fro from work and the oil doesn't get up to temp?

What is the general consensus on how many miles it takes on average for oil to get up to temp? I thought if you are doing 10 or more each way you are good to go...especially at 65 or 70 for those 10 miles.

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Yeah, a 3.5 quart sump is small for a S/C V-6. My little puny 1.9L Saturn as a 4.5 quart capacity.

 

[glennc]

TBN does not diminish in a linear fashion with mileage. Other posters are correct I believe that the oil can go MUCH farther. Many modern oil filters are small and still do a very good job for 10k - 15k miles. Engines just don't put out that much particulate wear these days. I do not agree that you need to change it: any decent filter should go a very long distance with increasing efficiency through perhaps the first 10k miles or so.

There is hardly any wear here to speak of, but then there shouldn't be at this interval.

 

[hooligan24]

Originally Posted By: glennc
TBN does not diminish in a linear fashion with mileage. Other posters are correct I believe that the oil can go MUCH farther. Many modern oil filters are small and still do a very good job for 10k - 15k miles. Engines just don't put out that much particulate wear these days. I do not agree that you need to change it: any decent filter should go a very long distance with increasing efficiency through perhaps the first 10k miles or so.

There is hardly any wear here to speak of, but then there shouldn't be at this interval.



thanks for this reply. I assumed that since it had already dropped around 8-9 points off the starting TBN in just 2900 miles, that the 3.8 left would be gone in a hurry.

In my personal car(srt-4), the TSO wouldnt get up to the full operating temp of 195 until around the 9 mile mark on the freeway. the xterra doesnt have an oil temp gauge, so I am not certain if it is reaching full temps earlier or not.

would the trace of fuel be gone if we used the vehicle for longer trips? it only gets 15mpg on the freeway, so we usually take my car for the long trips.

 

[hooligan24]

Originally Posted By: Saturn_Fan
Yeah, a 3.5 quart sump is small for a S/C V-6. My little puny 1.9L Saturn as a 4.5 quart capacity.

thats what I thought when we first bought the rig. my motorcycle hold 3.2 quarts and the filter is larger than the one that is on the xterra. my 2.4L holds a hair over 5 quarts with a filter 4 5 times the size

 

[hooligan24]

The previous owner used Mobil 1 5w30 since the 2k mile mark, so we continued to use the same oil until this last time when i made a big order from Amsoil

 

[Cutehumor]

3k oci with Amsoil. :no-no:
OEM recommendation 7500 miles with dino oil??

 

[Turk]

Pardon me for being

but 2900 on AMSOIL ASL & Blackstone saying you could easily run another 1k - 2k ??

Open for discussion...

 

[Bambam]

You can get 2900 miles on peanut oil,punch out a 7500 oci or let me be your amsoil dealer,2900 oci's I'll be rich.

 

[glennc]

Blackstone is always very conservative about their recommendations for further mileage. They pretty much always seem to say you can run it a couple thousand longer and see how it looks, or some variation of that.

Is that true that OEM recommendation is 7500? That's impressive for such a small sump. Nice to see another manufacturer not insisting on 5k OCIs.

 

[02zx9r]

Originally Posted By: Saturn_Fan
10 miles on the freeway each way to and fro from work and the oil doesn't get up to temp?

What is the general consensus on how many miles it takes on average for oil to get up to temp? I thought if you are doing 10 or more each way you are good to go...especially at 65 or 70 for those 10 miles.


Ive always been under the impression that it takes about 20 miles or around 30 minutes for the oil to get up to optimum temps, THEN it needs to stay there for some time to burn off the condensation and fuel and whatever. just getting it up to temp then shutting the vehicle off isnt really gonna burn off the junk

 

[02zx9r]

How long was this oil in use? I would think you could definitely go a lot longer if you wanted to.

If you are going to be doing shorter oci's to get the contaminents out I would recommend using a dino and changing out every 3-5k if you are worried about the stuff not burning off.

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Bummer.

It is hard to drive 3 vehicles the required amount of mileage to "burn off" condensation, etc. What I have been doing once a week is taking two of the vehicles in my signature on the highway for a 50 mile round trip to another town to go shopping. The idea of not burning off the junk bothers me.

 

[02zx9r]

if you can do that once a week that does help. But like you say, sometimes it is hard. and with the price of gas nowadays most people dont want to jump on the highway and use gas just because

 

[hooligan24]

the oil wasnt changed. I took a sample from the dipstick tube. the reason I did the early uoa, was because of the small sump, tiny filter, and the short trips that the GF does on a daily basis. I was just curious to see how it was doing. I will take another sample at 5k miles