Castrol Edge 5W-30, 6088mi, 3.6DI Saturn Outlook

[BigTallV]

Greetings to all.

- Castrol Edge 5W30 in my 3.6DI equipped '09 Saturn Outlook XR.
- 9741KM (6088 Miles) on oil
- 36001KM (22500 Miles) on engine.
- OLM was at 56% when sample taken on Sept-02-2010
- Incl. approx. 1000KM of towing a pop-up trailer.
- Mostly easy highway miles on this oil, as ideal as my driving mix will ever get.
- Was not able to run on the highway for 20 to 30 minutes prior to sampling.

I now have 1000KM more on this oil as of yesterday, half of which includes towing on Labour Day weekend. The OLM is now at 51%.

I am debating on running this oil for another run in the Winter months. Things look to be trending down nicely when considering the added miles. I'll take a look at the air filter element when it stops raining.

Trying to link to the screen shot on my Webshots account, will retry a datatable if anyone has troubles viewing. You can get a full screen view of this JPEG image on webshots.

Any comments or input are most welcome.

Regards,
/BTV

 

[21Rouge]

What does strike me as being a bit odd is that the fuel dilution # isn't trivial(i.e. 2.42) BUT the viscosity #s shown in your UOA for both 40C and 100C are almost identical to the virgin #s. See here for confirmation:

http://www.castrol.com/liveassets/bp_int...astrol_EDGE.pdf

This leads me to think that the fuel dilution shown in this report is very much connected to any short trips you had done in the previous 24 hours prior to sampling.

The other # which stands out is silicon. I think 14 seems a bit high even considering the extra kms driven. Have you ever changed the air filter?

 

[BigTallV]

Originally Posted By: 21Rouge

...
This leads me to think that the fuel dilution shown in this report is very much connected to any short trips you had done in the previous 24 hours prior to sampling.

The other # which stands out is silicon. I think 14 seems a bit high even considering the extra kms driven. Have you ever changed the air filter?


21Rouge,

The factory OE air filter is still in use. I will try to inspect and will likely replace it (despite the maintenance schedule saying 80,000KM for air filter). Any recommendations on brand?

I had used Gumout Regane 2x Complete Fuel System cleaner after having initially putting Edge into the sump. More recently (after the UOA sample was taken) I have done another round of Regane. Also note that I only use top-tier brand fuels and whenever doing a round of Regane, I use the highest ocatane fuel at the pump (those which have their own cleaning additive) despite this engine only needing 'regular' unleaded fuel.

If I run extended drains, what should be my interval for fuel injector/system additive? Presently I otherwise add this at every OCI, but extended drains would put me well past. Stick with 5,000KM fuel system cleaner interval?

How long should I be running the present sump based on this UOA and the weather turning cooler? Does this oil look stout enough to run in the Winter (the M1 UOA's didn't fair so well in that regard).

Any comments or suggestions would be great.

Regards,
/BTV

 

[Lethal1ty17]

i can add that if your engine is not designed for higher octane fuel, just dont use it. if you use injector cleaners you're already doing just fine. higher octane fuel is more difficult to ignire so you'll lose power and performance, not much but its still there. save the money.

most people her overdue the injection cleaners. personally i carry a 1t bottle of mmo in my car, 2oz at every fill up. i recently had my injectors out and they were perfect. intake tracts clean, valve guides were bare metal with no deposits, apparently that works well.

also 80,000km (around 50,000 miles) is stretching it for an air filter. those should be changed once a year or around every 20,000 miles.

 

[addyguy]

Results aren't bad, all things considered.

I still don't think 'thin oil' should be used in one of these DI 3.6 engines - they just seem to do better on thicker (A3) oils.

But, of course, GM doesn't want you to do that.....lots of warranty to lose on an '09!

 

[FZ1]

I would Dump it and put fresh oil in for the winter. I would run 5k ocis with that metal and fuel. M1 EP seems more durable than the Conv,M1,and PP,that I ran,in that order,down here,in the Sunny South. I settled on the EP. Trial and error with the AF. I do 30 mos. and 21k down here. My oem Honda AF is the best quality of the few AFs I have seen. Hope this helps.

 

[BigTallV]

Originally Posted By: FZ1
I would Dump it and put fresh oil in for the winter. I would run 5k ocis with that metal and fuel. M1 EP seems more durable than the Conv,M1,and PP,that I ran,in that order,down here,in the Sunny South. I settled on the EP. Trial and error with the AF. I do 30 mos. and 21k down here. My oem Honda AF is the best quality of the few AFs I have seen. Hope this helps.


A more robust oil is a good thing in the GM 3.6DI. Do have a look at RBarrios' UOA on Valvoline Premium Conventional, it seems to post decent numbers - although, his climate is different from ours in the Northeast. I'm confident it would do well during summer up here, but in winter... I would be concerned.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/valvoline-dino-5w-30-5503-miles-2010-traverse.132853/

After giving Edge a go, I was thinking of trying PU next (not yet available here). There are certainly some other non 'approved' oils that will do well in the DI, GC certainly comes to mind, but as addyguy pointed out - there's lots of warranty left to go. I'll hang onto *all* of my receipts naturally. ;-)

Agreed on a fresh sump for theWinter. The 5K OCI's are familiar territory for me. This is the furthest I have *ever* gone, uncharted territory and on the most expensive vehicle I've ever owned at that. Quite a daunting task for me (perfectionist/worry-wart). But hey, nothing blew up and the Outlook is running great. Thought was on just extending the current sump further into the fall so I could get some ROI from this premium priced oil.

 

[BigTallV]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
Results aren't bad, all things considered.

I still don't think 'thin oil' should be used in one of these DI 3.6 engines - they just seem to do better on thicker (A3) oils.

But, of course, GM doesn't want you to do that.....lots of warranty to lose on an '09!




For the GM 3.6 DI, it seems you need to run a 'thin' oil in summer and a 'thick' oil in the winter in order to obtain better UOA results in light of fuel dilution/shearing issues. It's opposite of traditional thought. Perhaps this is why there's no one magic bullet oil for this engine.