Castrol GTX 10w-40 in Suzuki Sidekick Sport........

[Flimflam]

Hmmmm, in a world of Fancy, Space-Age Big-Dollar Seeen--theteeque Motor Oil, it looks like plain old dead Dinosaur Juice can still compete.

Lab: Blackstone
Equipment make: Suzuki
Equipment model: 1.8 L 16-Valve DOHC
Equipment miles: 42,667
Fuel type: Gas (unleaded)
Oil use interval: 3,173 miles
Oil type and grade: Castrol GTX 10w-40
Make-up oil added: 0 qts.
Sample date: 11/14/03

First column vehicle tested, 2nd column universal average.

Aluminum 5 8
Chromium 0 1
Iron 4 13
Copper 4 23
Lead 1 4
Tin 0 1
Molybdenum 136 53
Nickel 1 1
Manganese 0 0
Silver 0 0
Titanium 0 0
Potassiom 0 0
Boron 36 73
Silicon 5 18
Sodium 3 38
Calcium 2414 1474
Magnesium 12 225
Phosphorus 799 794
Zinc 1062 979
Barium 0 0

SUS viscosity at 210 F: 65.0 [can range from 65-76]
Flashpoint: 375 F [should be more than 375]

Fuel: less than 0.5 [should be less than 1.0]
Antifreeze: 0 [should be 0]
Water: 0
Insolubles: 0.2 [should be less than 0.6]

 

[Flimflam]

quote:

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Originally posted by Flimflam:
Hmmmm, in a world of Fancy, Space-Age Big-Dollar Seeen--theteeque Motor Oil.....

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Sorry, accidentally left out some data:

Vehicle year: 1998
TBN: 3.7
Filter: Suzuki OEM 16510-61A20 [Made in Austria]

 

[sprintman]

Can't be right. It's a 40W and everybody knows they break your oil pump and well you know the rest. You are a brave man indeed!!

 

[V6 Diesel]

Good point Sprintman,

these good results must be hard on the engine with that 40w. Wonder
if it is something about being north of the equator that causes oil pump failures with oils heavier then 30w

Flimflam, have you always used this oil? Good healthy dose of moly in that oil.

 

[Flimflam]

quote:

---

Originally posted by V6 Diesel:
Good point Sprintman,

these good results must be hard on the engine with that 40w. Wonder
if it is something about being north of the equator that causes oil pump failures with oils heavier then 30w

Flimflam, have you always used this oil? Good healthy dose of moly in that oil.

---

V6 Diesel, I always, always used Castrol until I became a BITOG regular about oh, 6 months or a year ago. The UOA analysis above was my last load of Castrol, BITOG has given me the urge to dump castrol in favor of Chevron Supreme and Schaeffer Supreme 7000 series. But after receiving this UOA, I am not so sure about dumping Castrol.

10w-40 Castrol GTX, I use it most of the year. In the Gulf States in the Summer months(esp. July/August), I drain out the multigrade dino and replace with Monograde dino. The monograde most times is Castrol HD-30. Very rarely, in an exceptionally cold winter, I may use Castrol GTX 5w-30 for 2,500 mile OCI.

Re: "good healthy dose of Moly in that oil..." Yes, I do think so, too. I have not seen a GTX sample with that much Moly in recent times.

 

[Jay]

Very nice report. The oil sheared to 30-weight, but otherwise held up very nicely. What size is the sump on this engine?

 

[Flimflam]

quote:

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Originally posted by Jay:
Very nice report. The oil sheared to 30-weight, but otherwise held up very nicely. What size is the sump on this engine?

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Thanks, Jay. Yes, I am very pleased with the results. It's been worth it after all, sticking to my guns, standing up to my synthetic-using buddies who call me "Cave Man" and "Tightwad." Before BITOG and spectrographic UOA, I rejected the syn stuff based more on subjective than objective criteria. Now, I have the numbers to prove it.

Sump size is 5.5 quarts. But most of the time, just 5 quarts gets it to halfway on the dipstick, which is the way I like it.

 

[Leo]

Thats some nice numbers you got there! Alot lower than the uni averages! If you got these numbers using Redline, everyone would be jumping up and down LOL

 

[Patman]

Very nice wear numbers for sure!

But, you can see the difference of a conventional 10w40 vs a more expensive synthetic. A good synthetic 10w40 would not shear down from 14.2cst to 11.60 in just 3k. I would imagine that constant use of this oil would dirty up the engine after 100k or so. All that VII shearing back is going to leave a mess.

 

[Drew99GT]

All those double figure wear numbers? Yea, I guess 3 Mad Ponchos run to 15,000 miles produced some double figure wear numbers

 

[jsharp]

quote:

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Originally posted by Flimflam:


[To those M*1 Groupies out there: OK, OK, so it may not blow up your ride today. But think for a moment: aren't all those double-figure wear numbers a little disconcerting?]

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The wear numbers on a lot of the conventional oils look good, provided you live in a climate where a 15W-30 will work for you since that's pretty much what you have here after only 3k miles. Good thing you started with that heavyweight 10W-40...

Just think how low you could get the ppm/1K miles numbers if you changed at 2K or 1K miles.

Is the wear on some synthetics disconcerting? Not really. When I look under the cam cover of one engine I have with over 200K miles, the last 3/4 of it on M1, and notice it's still pretty clean in there I feel OK. But you'd have had the fun of about 70 oil changes in that mileage, especially fun when it's -10 degrees F outside, where I only got the "opportunity" to do about 20...

[ November 27, 2003, 01:57 PM: Message edited by: jsharp ]

 

[Cutehumor]

quote:

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Originally posted by jsharp:


Is the wear on some synthetics disconcerting? Not really. When I look under the cam cover of one engine I have with over 200K miles, the last 3/4 of it on M1, and notice it's still pretty clean in there I feel OK. But you'd have had the fun of about 70 oil changes in that mileage, especially fun when it's -10 degrees F outside, where I only got the "opportunity" to do about 20...

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in Texas, it gets -10 F?

I just checked the temp there, it's 72 degrees there today

those 70 oil changes would most likely take almost two decades..for me that is.

 

[jsharp]

quote:

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Originally posted by Cutehumor:

quote:

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Originally posted by jsharp:


Is the wear on some synthetics disconcerting? Not really. When I look under the cam cover of one engine I have with over 200K miles, the last 3/4 of it on M1, and notice it's still pretty clean in there I feel OK. But you'd have had the fun of about 70 oil changes in that mileage, especially fun when it's -10 degrees F outside, where I only got the "opportunity" to do about 20...

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in Texas, it gets -10 F?

I just checked the temp there, it's 72 degrees there today

those 70 oil changes would most likely take almost two decades..for me that is.

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Hey, I was in nothern Texas at Christmas one year, on my way from New Mexico to New Orleans. It wasn't 72 when that snow was blowing...

I run about 20K miles a year on my primary vehicle and I keep them until they go to the junk yard.

[ November 27, 2003, 01:59 PM: Message edited by: jsharp ]

 

[Flimflam]

quote:

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Originally posted by jsharp:


Good thing you started with that heavyweight 10W-40...

Just think how low you could get the ppm/1K miles numbers if you change at 2K or 1K miles.

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Why all the bias towards hi-tech seeen-theteeque? As the gentleman said, if my wear numbers were gotten with Redline in my sump, people would be over the moon.

Good thing I started with heavyweight 10w-40? So what are you saying? Are you saying that if I had used Mobil 1 0w-40 instead, it would not have sheared down to a 30-weight at the end of my OCI? Hardeharhar!!!!!!!!

 

[jsharp]

quote:

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Originally posted by Flimflam:

quote:

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Originally posted by jsharp:


Good thing you started with that heavyweight 10W-40...

Just think how low you could get the ppm/1K miles numbers if you change at 2K or 1K miles.

---

Why all the bias towards hi-tech seeen-theteeque? As the gentleman said, if my wear numbers were gotten with Redline in my sump, people would be over the moon.

Good thing I started with heavyweight 10w-40? So what are you saying? Are you saying that if I had used Mobil 1 0w-40 instead, it would not have sheared down to a 30-weight at the end of my OCI? Hardeharhar!!!!!!!!

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Hmm. I looked back on my post. Nope, no mention of M1 0W-40... The points are, in only 3K miles the dino is already pretty much a 30 weight, and in fact, the wear numbers when expressed ppm/1k miles are not any better than a lot of M1 5W-30 and 10W -30 UOA's with substantially more miles on their interval.

Here's a one on a much larger V8 engine that someone just posted as an example -

http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=001048

On a 4.7 liter V8 no less...

 

[unDummy]

I borrowed my friends sidekick. No sport in it. Had to beat the snot out of it always just to keep up with traffic.

Whats your driving style?

I see nothing wrong with using this 10w40 every 3k miles. So, you were 173 miles overdue. Try the blend. Maybe it won't thin out as much.

 

[Flimflam]

quote:

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Originally posted by unDummy:
I borrowed my friends sidekick. No sport in it. Had to beat the snot out of it always just to keep up with traffic.

Whats your driving style?

I see nothing wrong with using this 10w40 every 3k miles. So, you were 173 miles overdue. Try the blend. Maybe it won't thin out as much.

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unDummy, actually the thinning out does not bother me. As long as I have low single-digit wear numbers, it could thin out to a SAE 10 or even a SAE 5 for all I care. But let's say I have an oil in my crankcase that stays exactly the same viscosity it was when I bought it, but it wears my engine out, I'd freak out.

You are right about having to rev that Sidekick Sport all the way. I have had Sidekicks since 1990. If you think 1998 Sidekick Sport is bad, the original Sidekick 2-door ragtop, with 1.6-liter 8-valve engine, will make you puke.

I try not to take it to redline[high rpm] though, so a lot of the time I almost get run over from behind by hotdoggers.

In a nutshell, my driving style with Sidekick Sport: 55-65 mph. For sporty driving, I use a SL 600 2-door Mercedes with the v-12 engine.

I think am done with Castrol. It was good for its time, but BITOG has opened my eyes. It's now time for Chevron Supreme, Chevron Delo 400, and Schaeffer Supreme 7000 series. But, we'll see. If UOA numbers with Chevron and Schaeffer come out worse than Castrol, I will resume my 25-year relationship with the most expensive mineral/dino that's easily available in stores.

Re: 173 miles overdue. Actually, most of the time, I change out at 3,350 when using 10w-40. When using Castrol monograde, I change oil at 3,800 miles.

 

[Drew99GT]

You can afford to drive an SL600 Benz and you also have a Sidekick

I'm thinking to myself, wwwhhhhhyyyyyy!

 

[vvk]

Another excellent report for Castrol GTX. Really looks like perfect juice for short intervals.

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by Flimflam:

I think am done with Castrol. It was good for its time, but BITOG has opened my eyes. It's now time for Chevron Supreme, Chevron Delo 400, and Schaeffer Supreme 7000 series. But, we'll see. If UOA numbers with Chevron and Schaeffer come out worse than Castrol, I will resume my 25-year relationship with the most expensive mineral/dino that's easily available in stores.

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I don't understand why you'd want to change if you're happy with these wear numbers? Do you honestly think you can improve on this?