Chevy Spark 1.4 M1 EP UOA

Joined
Mar 29, 2007
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35
Location
St. Louis, MO
20,750 miles with a AC Delco Ultraguard Gold filter changed about halfway through at 11k or so on the oil, and a half quart or so topped off then. That filter is apparently the only one actually recommended for this engine due to it supposedly being the only filter that has the correct bypass filter rating or whatever. I think all other PF64 based filters are spaced out to the PF64 bypass valve rating, and the 1.4 NA is only supposed to have the UPF64, but tons/everyone/even the dealer uses or used a PF64 lol....

Mobil 1 EP 0w20 oil. I drive literally all highway. 75 miles one way to "work" and I drive like 55-60mph keeping the RPM at 1800-2000 or so. Once a week or so I may drive 70-80 trying to get home earlier on a Friday lol. I took one 1800 mile road trip doing 60-70. The only short trips ever done are still 10 mins one way and those arent super often.

I've never got a UOA done, but I think I'm pretty happy with the results. Maybe I'm crazy but there's not any reason I couldnt push it to 25k right? Maybe even 30k lol

Looking forward to see what ya'll say as I've been around these forums forever, but have never actually had a UOA done before and dont know too much about analyzing results etc.

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That's really impressive. Your use case is the perfect case study for Mobil 1 EP's 20k mile claim. I think you're right, 25k should be easily doable under identical driving conditions. How long did it take to drive those 20,750 miles?
 
Nice.
Thinking one jug is all it takes to change it? 20k is e-nuff 😷
Maybe one and done on UOA if sticking with the M1 EP …
 
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I think this is the perfect example of how well a vehicle can do when the driving is mostly highway. And this is what the oil was designed to do. But if you tried this for 20k in only NYC traffic, I have a feeling your results would be very different, if the car even ran at all. In your case though it seems to be perfect for you. Not sure if I would personally push it any further Since the iron numbers are working their way up, I wouldn't want all of that flowing through my engine. It seems the oil could take possibly 5k or more still.
 
what kind of gas mileage do you get on the spark ? Manual or cvt ?
CVT. As I said, I drive like 55 the entire way and I probably average about 48, I've gotten into the 50s several times too. If I'm driving 70+ the MPG aint that hot at all. Upper 30s to mid 40s at more normal highway speeds I'd say. I keep the PSI at like 50psi and accelerate super slow. Basically, everyone hates me...but I try not to be too awful with people behind me. I wish it was a manual very much bad.

I used to have a Cruze Eco MT that just pulled beyond insane MPG, especially at 55 but would still do 40-50mpg at 70-80. I once got 69.9mpg from St Louis to Columbus, OH per the DIC and in the 50s and 60s on the reg driving slow/doing some hyper miling. I swear that car could coast across the entire state of Illinois when I let off the gas. I drove that car for a few years and I never once would let of the gas soon enough no matter how far back I did it. If the car didnt almost kind of require premium, and new spark plugs every time I blinked I'd get another one probably since im back to so much highway driving. (using coppers that gave better performance until I gave up and did an iridium that did better than stock but not as good as the coppers. Anyway, there's a bunch of random info you never asked for.
 
Nice.
Thinking one jug is all it takes to change it? 20k is e-nuff 😷
Maybe one and done on UOA if sticking with the M1 EP …
Ya, it works out perfectly. I think it calls for 4.4 quarts w/ filter? So when I change the filter I replace what I lost with whats left in the jug which helps freshen the oil up. Works out great!
Ya, I'm sticking with it for sure. I'm pretty happy with these results
 
I think this is the perfect example of how well a vehicle can do when the driving is mostly highway. And this is what the oil was designed to do. But if you tried this for 20k in only NYC traffic, I have a feeling your results would be very different, if the car even ran at all. In your case though it seems to be perfect for you. Not sure if I would personally push it any further Since the iron numbers are working their way up, I wouldn't want all of that flowing through my engine. It seems the oil could take possibly 5k or more still.
Hmm, I didnt notice the iron being a little high.

Any context you can give me to know how much of an issue this is? Maybe I'll do another with 25k on it then?
 
That's really impressive. Your use case is the perfect case study for Mobil 1 EP's 20k mile claim. I think you're right, 25k should be easily doable under identical driving conditions. How long did it take to drive those 20,750 miles?
5 months.

Yep, I agree. I normally wouldn't really push it like this, by far the longest ive ever gone on any oil. My Cruze with the turbo cooks oil by 7500 or so, sold it and had a Tesla for a while. Back to an ICE.

But anyway, a 4cyl doing 1800 RPM, slow accel,pure highway 75 miles at a time with an 1800 mile trip in there with a really good filter I swap half way through.
 
What interesting the 2018 and 2019 owners manual calls for the UPF64R but our 2021 manual calls for the PF64, so does the 2020 manual.
 
What interesting the 2018 and 2019 owners manual calls for the UPF64R but our 2021 manual calls for the PF64, so does the 2020 manual.
Oh really? Thats surprising. Did they figure out it doesnt matter? They didnt change the PF64 did they? Did they listen to the dealers bitching about "having" to use an expensive filter on it (even though I'm sure 90%+ of the time they used the PF64)

One thing that sucks about a Spark is there is almost zero community about it. With the Cruze and others there are plenty of forums and smart people figuring stuff out and how to fix stuff. The only thing with the Spark is a couple Facebook groups that have the most basic simple of discussions of putting stripes on their car or or something.
 
What interesting the 2018 and 2019 owners manual calls for the UPF64R but our 2021 manual calls for the PF64, so does the 2020 manual.
I see you have 2 new Sparks. I wonder with these long runs if the pressure thing doesnt really matter and if I'm better off running a Mobil 1 EP filter or something....although while thinking about it if memory serves me correctly I think the Ultraguard Gold filters are very similar to the M1 EP filter.

Any/all info you have to share about Spark/1.4 specific info I'm all ears
 
CVT. As I said, I drive like 55 the entire way and I probably average about 48, I've gotten into the 50s several times too. If I'm driving 70+ the MPG aint that hot at all. Upper 30s to mid 40s at more normal highway speeds I'd say. I keep the PSI at like 50psi and accelerate super slow. Basically, everyone hates me...but I try not to be too awful with people behind me. I wish it was a manual very much bad.

I used to have a Cruze Eco MT that just pulled beyond insane MPG, especially at 55 but would still do 40-50mpg at 70-80. I once got 69.9mpg from St Louis to Columbus, OH per the DIC and in the 50s and 60s on the reg driving slow/doing some hyper miling. I swear that car could coast across the entire state of Illinois when I let off the gas. I drove that car for a few years and I never once would let of the gas soon enough no matter how far back I did it. If the car didnt almost kind of require premium, and new spark plugs every time I blinked I'd get another one probably since im back to so much highway driving. (using coppers that gave better performance until I gave up and did an iridium that did better than stock but not as good as the coppers. Anyway, there's a bunch of random info you never asked for.
Thanks for the info ! and that is insane mileage on the cruze never would have thought ...
 
How many miles on the car?

agree 25000 doable on same usage case. iron is below universal averages on ppm/ per mile basis
 
There is a bulletin out there somewhere describing why they wanted to use the UPF64R filter on the 1.4 in a couple different configurations. Including a 1.4 turbo. I believe some cars were experiencing undesirable oil bypass activation on really cold starts and the higher bypass filter would correct that.

Not sure why they don't recommend it anymore. Seems unlikely they changed the 1.4 N/A motor since then since it's really only used in the spark here in the US. But I suppose it's possible.
 
There is a bulletin out there somewhere describing why they wanted to use the UPF64R filter on the 1.4 in a couple different configurations. Including a 1.4 turbo. I believe some cars were experiencing undesirable oil bypass activation on really cold starts and the higher bypass filter would correct that.

Not sure why they don't recommend it anymore. Seems unlikely they changed the 1.4 N/A motor since then since it's really only used in the spark here in the US. But I suppose it's possible.
We put 150k on the 1.4 Turbo … every mile with Hengst cartridge filters and mostly M1 5w30 to 100k …
M1 0w40 euro after 100k … Ran good and transmission was solid when traded …
(ATF change is important in these)
 
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