Castrol Synblend 5w30 4,004 miles 2012 KIA 3.5v6

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Here is my latest report from our KIA Sedona, a 2012 model with Hyundai's wonderful 3.5 "Lambda II" engine. This was Castrol Synblend Dexos 5w30, which was drained/sampled hot. Two consecutive runs were done on this oil which I really liked how it ran. Filter used was a Wix made Napa Gold cartridge filter. I was planning to simply stick with it however now it is apparently discontinued so I am on the hunt for a new oil to use and stick with for this vehicle.

I had sampled a previous run about 20k ago with Gold bottle Edge 5w20. "Wear" numbers were a good bit higher in that sample but the engine only had 15k on it when the oil was installed, likely break in residual. I have not been a fan of 5w20's in general but the previous Gold bottle Edge held viscosity extremely well. My only disappointment if you can call it that is this Castrol 5w30 Synblend sheared more than I would have liked. It appears my wife's consistent short tripping is fairly hard on the oil, that and there is some fuel dilution too but not bad. Everything else looks fine to me. I guess this a good reason to continue to use a 5w30 since 5w20 is preferred by KIA my 5w30 ended up a very solid 5w20 anyway. The 5w20's that shear scare me to death.

There is another Castrol Synblend 5w30 posted here recently that has less shear over more miles so this engine and use appears to have something to do with the shear.

Anyway posted here for posterity and hopefully will be of some use to many who recently scored a lot of this Castrol Synblend on close out. Not sure where I am going from here but will likely pick another synblend 5w30 to stay solidly in 20 grade for this engine. This oil features a boron heavy add pack, no sodium and I thought a splash of moly but apparently I was wrong on that. Like most boron heavy add packs I believe the original boron ppm was around 200, measurable boron typically depletes throughout an OCI from what I have seen here.

Pennzoil Platinum 5w20 purchased on close out smoking deal at O'Reillys last year was put in after this drain. I am stuck with fairly short OCI's due to silly warranty requirements but as soon as that game is up at 60k I will likely be moving to a good full syn and simple 10k OCI's for this vehicle.


Blackstone's comments: "We had talked about aluminum and copper last time, so it's nice to see both of these elements reading lower in this sample. Aluminum comes from pistons or bearings and copper is from brass/bronze parts. Maybe some of this was just residual wear in or something similarly harmless. Engine wear certainly looks good at this point. All metals are within the average range and no contamination was found that would be cause for concern. The viscosity was low, but that's not hurting anything. The TBN still looks good at 2.7, so try up to 6,000 miles next time.


Code:
OIL Castrol Synblend Dexos 5w30

MILES IN USE 4,004

MILES ON UNIT 42,000

SAMPLE TAKEN 01/01/2015

Make Up Oil Added 0 qt



ALUMINUM 7

CHROMIUM 0

IRON 7

COPPER 2

LEAD 1

TIN 0

MOLYBDENUM 3

NICKEL 0

MANGANESE 0

SILVER 0

TITANIUM 0

POTASSIUM 4

BORON 61

SILICON 11

SODIUM 2

CALCIUM 2059

MAGNESIUM 14

PHOSPHORUS 695

ZINC 709

BARIUM 0



SUS VIS 210ºF 55.0

cSt @ 100ºC 8.78

FLASHPOINT ºF 380

FUEL%
ANTIFREEZE% 0.0

WATER% 0.0

INSOLUBLES% 0.3

TBN 2.7
[/quote]
 
Great report KCJeep. This will put many minds at ease since so many Bitogers purchased this oil recently.
Thanks for sharing!

thumbsup2.gif
 
For reference here is the previous report at 26k, Castrol Gold bottle Edge 5w20 installed at 19k. I didn't know how to get multiple reports on the same post. I used to just paste a scan of the report but those end up disappearing over time when the hosting link breaks.

Code:
OIL Castrol Edge Ti Gold 5w20

MILES IN USE 4,029

MILES ON UNIT 26,507

SAMPLE TAKEN 08/22/2013

Make Up Oil Added 0 qt



ALUMINUM 14

CHROMIUM 1

IRON 19

COPPER 11

LEAD 0

TIN 0

MOLYBDENUM 84

NICKEL 0

MANGANESE 1

SILVER 0

TITANIUM 40

POTASSIUM 0

BORON 19

SILICON 16

SODIUM 5

CALCIUM 914

MAGNESIUM 1287

PHOSPHORUS 685

ZINC 826

BARIUM 0



SUS VIS 210ºF 54.1

cSt @ 100ºC 8.52

FLASHPOINT ºF 380

FUEL%
ANTIFREEZE% 0.0

WATER% 0.0

INSOLUBLES% 0.3

TBN 1.4
 
Too late to edit the "Miles in use" on the above Gold bottle Ti UOA was 7,029, NOT 4,029. Oops!
 
I was hoping to run some gold bottle 5w20 in my van next OCI for 8k , with a TBN of 1.4 after 7k on your sample doesn't look very promising.
I got plenty of synblend also, looks like 5k OCIs on that would be pretty reasonable, after all it was only $1 a quart.
 
My wife does a lot of short trips so that may have had some bearing on the TBN on that run. It was also the initial Gold bottle not the new stuff they are selling as "Extended". FWIW.
 
We have a sorento with the same engine with 19k and it does a good deal of short tripping too and we run the same 4k intervals.. I ran 5w30 last time and 5w20 before that...gulf syn blend both times at the stealer. I am sending equal mileage samples into black stone and want to compare wear as I'm curious about the infamous startup noise. How was your experience with 20 vs 30? I haven't noticed a difference. Also, with good analysis results like yours, can we conclude the cold start noise isn't hurting the engine and causing wear? I have a good deal of the syn blend 5w20...now the question is whether to use it or not....
 
Originally Posted By: Alltherage
We have a sorento with the same engine with 19k and it does a good deal of short tripping too and we run the same 4k intervals.. I ran 5w30 last time and 5w20 before that...gulf syn blend both times at the stealer. I am sending equal mileage samples into black stone and want to compare wear as I'm curious about the infamous startup noise. How was your experience with 20 vs 30? I haven't noticed a difference. Also, with good analysis results like yours, can we conclude the cold start noise isn't hurting the engine and causing wear? I have a good deal of the syn blend 5w20...now the question is whether to use it or not....


I'd really look forward to your 76 synblend UOA's as I am considering going to Trop Artic since the Castrol synblend is discontinued and I didn't score a stash at AZ like some did. But I am also pondering other options as well, mostly blends.

Ours is a little loud at start up but it doesn't last long. I would be splitting hairs to say there is a start up difference between 5w20/5w30 and noise but I'd have to say I thought the 5w30 was a hair louder for a second or two. Like you said it seems to have no bearing on actual engine wear.

I plan to stick with 5w30 for future purchases, as you can see there is little practical difference between the two but at least a sheared 5w30 will still be a solid 20 grade. I still had one OCI worth of 5w20 on hand so that is what went in, it will be fine but that'll be the last of it for me just my personal preference.

I see no reason at all not to use your 5w20 synblend stash this engine doesn't seem to care much and it appears to be very good oil. I really like the way it ran and fully intended to stick with it, only reason I am quitting is it being discontinued.
 
Originally Posted By: Alltherage
I also felt that the 30 really impacted mileage based on the computer. I'm sure most will disagree though.


Ours doesn't have a computer but I haven't noticed any mileage disparity. I would be surprised if there was much due to oils as the UOA's suggest there is little difference once they are in the crank and have some miles on them.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Why is the warranty up at 60k? I thought Kia's had 10 year/100k mile warranties?


Ours spent it's first 9 months as a rental car so we are technically the second owners. Second owners get a 60k warranty. Still pretty generous I think and we saved about 10k off new.
 
Originally Posted By: KCJeep
Too late to edit the "Miles in use" on the above Gold bottle Ti UOA was 7,029, NOT 4,029. Oops!


Well that makes it look much better because a TBN of 1.4 only after 4K miles raised alarm bells in my head, though even at 7K that a pretty low TBN. But you mentioned wife is a short tripper, which can surely do that level of depletion.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: KCJeep
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Why is the warranty up at 60k? I thought Kia's had 10 year/100k mile warranties?


Ours spent it's first 9 months as a rental car so we are technically the second owners. Second owners get a 60k warranty. Still pretty generous I think and we saved about 10k off new.


If you can find them with a decent CarFax, rentals/fleets are a steal. Got my '10 Taurus cheap because it was a corporate fleet car but it had solid maintenance records so I felt comfortable with the purchase. Besides, buying new is a waste. Thousands gone the second you drive off the lot.
 
I think the 3.5 lambda uoa's showing no wear is huge considering all the hoopla online about cold start noise and how it's hurting the engine. I will sleep better now. My wife won't care either way as she did previously lol
 
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