Esso XD3 0w30 03 Vibe 10,100km...WE HAVE A WINNER!!

[olympic]

Here it is for all those who have been anxciously waiting!

2003 Pontiac Vibe 1.8L automatic
Esso XD-3 0w30
80%+ city driving
Napa silver oil filter-stock "tea cup" size
Wix paper air filter
3.8L total capacity
Dozens of start-ups and shutdowns per day
Current odometer: 126,000km
KM on oil: 10,100km 6160 miles

Tin 0
Lead 4
Copper 0.9
Aluminum 3
Silicon 10
Iron 10
Chromium 0.8
Silver 0
Zinc 1200
Magnesium 17
Nickel 0
Barium 0
Sodium 13

Calcium 2000+
Vanadium 0
Phosphorus 1050
Molybdenum 6
Boron 4
Manganese 97

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Viscosity @ 100ºC 12.26 [New oil=12.1!!]

Water 0
Solids
Glycol No
Fuel Dilution No

OTHER PROPERTIES

Base No. 7.38

Oxidation 16.38
Nitro Compounds 3.24
Organic Nitrates 37.90

I'd say this oil passed this OCI with flying colors! It may not be a "breath taking" report according to the wear numbers, but it's better than I expected and perfectly acceptable.

If you want something to compare it to, my previous Amsoil and M1 runs are here http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=001928 The mileage is 50% higher on those reports, but the sump capacity is also 50% larger due to the DR bypass system used. So the numbers should be directly comparable, or in the ball park atleast. This oil nearly matched Amsoils wear rates and beat M1!

Needless to say I'm impressed by this sub $4/L oil. Viscosity didn't budge! It looks like I can safely increase my OCI to 15,000km before oxidation and nitration would become too high. I'll do a back-up analysis just to be sure.

My van should wrap up it's M1 run this month, I'll throw XD3 in there and see if it can make 40,000km.

Now go out and lay siege to your local Esso bulk station!!! With good dinos running $2.50/L at Wal-Mart, you have no excuses not to use this oil.

P.S- Metro-Tech did give me VOA numbers from their database, but they are obviously from the older semi-synthetic version. The numbers don't match at all so I didn't post them.

[ November 04, 2004, 09:43 PM: Message edited by: olympic ]

 

[Gary Allan]

Very decent report for all the urban driving.

What was the time duration on this oil in months??

 

[berge]

thank you for the report.

 

[olympic]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gary Allan:
Very decent report for all the urban driving.

What was the time duration on this oil in months??

---

I believe it's around 6 weeks. This car is a taxi and puts on about 200-250km/day average. My town is only ~3km across and you can't go more than 2 blocks without stopping for a 4-way or yield sign so the driving style is quite severe. Most of those KM's are put on in the daytime. In the late evening/night, the car will sometimes be shut off for hours at a time. Occasionally I send it out on hiway runs.

 

[pitzel]

Wow, excellent numbers, and no real worries about viscosity thickening, my only 'real' concern about this oil (since it lacks an Energy Conserving rating).

Are you leaving the oil in for another 10k-20k interval in the Vibe? Or did you dump it already?

 

[Last_Z]

Let's remember this is really a Toyota, whichwe know wear very well.
The oil does seem like a winner though and the price is very attractive.

 

[olympic]

It was dumped and a fresh batch of XD-3 and an Amsoil filter installed. Since winter is almost here and this car gets left outside, I'll probably stick with 10,000km. All the numbers are bound to look worse once it gets real cold. Then in the spring I'll do a 15,000km back-up analysis to make sure all is well.

Pitzel,
This oil is an HDEO so it does not have the API starburst. Something to consider if you have a warranty. Barring that, all it means is you get a better additive package and base oil.

quote:

---

Let's remember this is really a Toyota, whichwe know wear very well.
The oil does seem like a winner though and the price is very attractive.

---

Yup, I agree. But the viscosity and TBN are still impressive compared to the previous runs.

The real test will come when I install it in my 03 Montana and post side by side comparisons to Amsoil and M1 over 40,000km. With winter just around the corner though, I may have to wait until spring to be fair to XD3.

[ November 04, 2004, 10:58 PM: Message edited by: olympic ]

 

[berge]

this is better than I thought. TBN 7.4 at 10000km's. what's virgin TBN 12-13?

 

[olympic]

New oil TBN=12.2. I think this oil could easily do 20,000km in a vehichle that sees >50% hiway usage.

 

[Patman]

A nice report indeed! Although it would be nice to see it do 10,000km in a 3-4 month period to see how it handles more typical driving.

It is very nice to see the viscosity didn't thin out, so this oil is not full of VII like I thought it might be.

Looks like this could be a nice low cost alternative to the more expensive synthetics! It's too bad our southern friends can't get it though.

 

[Motorbike]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Patman:

Looks like this could be a nice low cost alternative to the more expensive synthetics! It's too bad our southern friends can't get it though.

---

Yeah it looks like very good oil but we have alternative choices made by a Independent Company that will match it in bang for buck down here .

More road time with less stop n go no telling how far that Esso oil would go .

Who brought this oil to everyone's attention anyway ?

I just gave him a pat on the back

 

[Cyprs]

Great oil, in my diesel and Altima I will run this oil 5000 to 6000 kms, this oil is little cost more than high quality dino, I can run this 100% POA synthetic for regular dino OCI with less cost than dealership dino OC, great post Olympic.
Cyprs

 

[Mr. Ram]

Was waiting anxiously for this report!

Awesome to see that us Northerners have a cheap/effective and widely available oil.

I have been running the regular dino xd-3 for about 3 oil changes now and switching to the synth 0-30 for the winter in my Ram. Heyjay was first to use this oil on this board, I one reply to one of my posts he stated he had used it way back in the day, and may return to using it again. He was in my opinion the man responsible for the buzz, but I along with others may have kept the ball rolling

Would be nice to see a few more UOA's but its got my vote of confidence for use in my truck as I assume this oil can do 6000 - 7000 Km OCI and still have a margin of safety built in when I will dump it.

Keep up the good work guys, and start spreading the news !

 

[ajwan]

Great post Olympic,

Awesome wear numbers for this oil. Went out and bought 2 12x1L cases of 0w-30 XD-3 here in Ottawa for only $3.79/L CDN + tax!!! Wooohoooo!!!!!! I'm sure this will run great in my RSX Type-S. Plan to keep it in for 10000km.

Again, well done!

Best regards,
AJWan

 

[ajwan]

BTW, considering that the wear numbers on your report appear to be better than M1, would XD-3 0w-30 be considered on equal footing as GC?

Regards,
AJWan

 

[Cyprs]

Olympic's $3.71 per litre oil new which is now 10,000 km XD3 waste oil surpasses new Viscosity specs on Esso Superflo syn oil at $6.00, the used XD3 TBN is 1.3 point lower than fresh Superflo, the TBN on XD3 was 12 new, it is 8.6 new on Superflo. This XD3 oil stood up to severe drive conds. in taxi use.

Does this XD3 beat Mobil 1 at $8.00 litre?

Cyprs

 

[olympic]

I do pile on the miles fairly fast so the results may look a little better than 10k in the "real world". It's hard to say. I look forward to seeing more UOA's on this stuff.

I think this goes to show that loads of fancy additives do not necessarily make a better oil. XD-3 comes out of the bottle with no moly, boron or magnesium, just like GC. Yet they manage to perform very well. It's all in the base oil.

"Nothing outperforms Mobil 1!"

Shhhh, nobody tell Exxon/Mobil/Esso that one of their own products is upstaging their flagship oil, at less than half the price!

P.S- I've been thinking about the 13ppm sodium. I'm guessing that XD-3 comes with a fair amount of it since it's a HDD oil. Plus we had a freak snowstorm during this run and the car may have injested a little road salt. I can't imagine having a coolant leak in a Toyota engine this early on. The next UOA in spring should tell the tale.

[ November 06, 2004, 12:04 AM: Message edited by: olympic ]

 

[pitzel]

quote:

---

Originally posted by olympic:

"Nothing outperforms Mobil 1!"

Shhhh, nobody tell Exxon/Mobil/Esso that one of their own products is upstaging their flagship oil, at less than half the price!

---

They were probably referring to profit margins. As a point of interest, PAO fluids (1-decene's) typically sell for around USD$100/barrel these days, so there is a grand total of around CAD$0.75 worth of PAO in a Litre of XD-3. Esso could sell this stuff for $2/L (and probably does to large-volume bulk accounts) and still achieve a decent profit margin.

Who do you think pays for the Mobil1 logo on racecars? Or those fancy silver bottles? Or the 'free' bottles, or the weird knick-knacks that are often available through a mail-in offer? What about shelf-space, that's gotta be covered in the cost of retail oil.

I eagerly await some longer-term testing of this oil. I only drive 7500km a year (most of my travel is by air), but the taxi use tests are especially reassuring as this is the type of 'service' my car gets, and the results have shown that the oil has performed quite well over that interval, even in a puny 1.8L engine.

 

[Cyprs]

My neighbor informed me this XD3 may increase in price once it proves, hope not, if Esso makes Pitzels suggested profit margin they should continue to make 300% profit rather than 800%. I agree Olympic, may not want to blow ones horn too loud on this XD3.

One can see Esso selling this oil for 5.50 litre at Walmart for 0-40, bulk station hold at 4.20, I think Esso will hold the bulk price at Esso bulk for farmers, ranchers and 12 litre OCI in dodge cummins engines like mine. For the convience of Walmart shopping Esso will make a bit of a grab on profits there and still undercut other syn oils with 5.50 litre, pretty good business practices on Esso's behalf.

Farmers/rancher are not going to pay 6-8 dollars litre for syn oil in the bulk usage they require, 3.71 - 4.20 makes a syn oil attractive and worth it considering a premium dino bulk is about $2.75, double that $2.75 for syn and there wont be much syn oil leaving bulk stations for large and multiple diesels on the farm. Let hope this oil maintains price at Bulk stations for this reason.

Cyprs

 

[pitzel]

Interesting comments Cyprs. Now, do you have any speculation on why XD-3 0W30/0W40 was converted recently from a synthetic blend to a full synthetic?

To meet CI-4 requirements perhaps? It does seem a little bit bizarre that XD-3 is now full synthetic when they were able to meet the 0W30/0W40 viscosity grades, with the advertised properties, with a synthetic blend.

As an aside, it might be interesting to compare the summertime performance of XD-3 dino 10W30 to the synthetic XD-3 0W30 in terms of a 10k km UOA. If the additive packages are similar, it would give some real insight into whether synthetic oil really delivers wear benefits, or if synthetic fluids are only present in the XD-3 lineup for the purpose of meeting cold pumpability tests.