First OCI after changing to Maxlife ?

[AlanColorado]

My wife's 2009 Trailblazer with I6 Vortec just rolled over 75,000. She has always had service done at dealership so I dont know what it has been running... probably 5W30 dino. I bought 5W30 Maxlife synblend and a Wix filter to send with her today for the 75K mile service. Just wondering if I should do a shorter than normal OCI on the first run or two with the Maxlife? If so what? 1000mi,1500?

A little more background. Bought this program vehicle Nov. 2011 with 39K miles. Was used in neighborhood watch program. It is a basic 4wd Trailblazer LT. No DIC so I can't display OLM. Only had OLM warning come up once when dealer forgot to reset it after oil change. Has been on 6 month OCI regardless of milage. Other than scheduled maintenance has been absolutely trouble free. Replaced battery one time. Last year started a very minor oil drip. Some days a single drop on the garage floor, some days a couple drops, then will go several days or more without a drop. Has never had the oil drop to the fill line on dip stick during the 6 month OCI. The dripping oil is the reason I thought we would try the Maxlife. Dealer says they can't identify the source... we would have to bring it in and let them steam clean the engine so they could try to find it. Not ready to pay $140 an hour to try to find such a minor leak yet.

 

[CharlieBauer]

See no reason for doing a short oci with max life. You've done 6 month low mileage oil changes for 5 years. Everything should be clean. You probably could have gone further. So if you need seals to be conditioned, let the max life do its thing.

Ask the dealer to put in a new drain plug gasket or new drain plug with integral gasket. Could be the reason for your leak.

 

[UltrafanUK]

The first OCI when using a good cleaner oil after a low detergent dino oil should be half of the normal one, perhaps 3000 miles (Your Iffylube will like that).

I would never go to a stealer with an out of warranty oil leak, any Iffylube or crashstop place can clean the engine well enough to trace an oil leak source (You can also use a dye marker oil additive).

Mobil make a better range of HM oils than Valvoline and in a real bad beyond economic repair case, M1 10w60 (It's only just into the 60 range) EP (Not the race version) is a real good HC synthetic HM oil, if you are not afflicted by a DPF (It's an A3/B4).

 

[CharBaby]

The slow oil dripping could be coming from as far away as the valve cover gasket. MaxLife is a very good oil and presumably has some seal swellers as well as other additives to help combat wear on older engines. I don't consider 75,000 miles as high(er) mileage. However in regards to your Trailblazer, I would stick with your regular regimen of 6 months/XXXX mileage. No need to change the MaxLife oil early!

 

[sir1900]

We discovered a minor leak in our 2003 Corolla a few years ago. Switched to Maxlife 5W30 and the problem was solved. I used Maxlife for 7500 miles and then I switched to whatever was on sale (currently Castrol HM 5W20) and change it every 5000 miles (lots of short trips). The leak has not returned.

Maxlife is highly regarded on these forums.

 

[UltrafanUK]

I thought Maxlife say that the oil should be changed at half the max recommended OCI for the first use only. Not sure if that's on the can or web site.

PS: Can't find the OCI limits, BUT the 10w40 oil in the US only has a TBN of 8.8, which is less than M1 0w40.
The TBN of Maxlife 10w40 (A3/B3) is 10.5 and in my opinion if you change from a cheap dino to a real good HM oil in an old block I would not use the full max recommended OCI on the first run unless you know the block is clean.

 

[JC1]

Just leave the oil in for the full OCI.

 

[UltrafanUK]

I've got no interest in wanting to block the oil filter, so will follow the recommended half OCI limits. If the relief valve in the oil filter fails after it blocks, it can blow the can apart during a cold start if you do not use German steel.
The same half OCI advice also applies to using a high detergent FS oil to clean up a sludge monster. It's one of the reason the Iffybrakecrashlube shops keep saying 3000 mile OCI's are best, which they are not.

 

[czbrian]

Originally Posted By: AlanColorado
My wife's 2009 Trailblazer with I6 Vortec just rolled over 75,000. She has always had service done at dealership so I dont know what it has been running... probably 5W30 dino. I bought 5W30 Maxlife synblend and a Wix filter to send with her today for the 75K mile service. Just wondering if I should do a shorter than normal OCI on the first run or two with the Maxlife? If so what? 1000mi,1500?


If your wife was taking it to the dealership, then it has likely been getting a dexos certified synthetic blend for like 4-5 years now. No reason to shorten the OCI.

 

[Alex_V]

With your previous OC regimen you'd have to have used a pretty awful oil or really abuse the vehicle, to have so much junk in the oil as to plug up the filter. I switched a '98 LeSabre and '09 Caravan (both 3.8 V6's) over to Maxlife from a very poorly regulated diet of Penz conventional, ran the Lesabre to 4K, the Caravan went 8 or 9K, before I changed them again and both engines are only running better 15-20,000 miles later. It reduced oil loss in both those engines by 40-60%, too.

 

[NormanBuntz]

Rather than shorten your OCI, I would extend it to every 9 months, or 4 changes in a 3 year period. Here's why. You're averaging 7,200 miles a year over the past 5 years. Spend a couple extra bucks on a Fram Ultra filter (eBay or Amazon) and change every 9 months. One caveat: if all of your mileage is short distance driving around town, a 5K OCI would make more sense.

 

[BrocLuno]

Originally Posted By: UltrafanUK
I've got no interest in wanting to block the oil filter, so will follow the recommended half OCI limits. If the relief valve in the oil filter fails after it blocks, it can blow the can apart during a cold start if you do not use German steel.
The same half OCI advice also applies to using a high detergent FS oil to clean up a sludge monster. It's one of the reason the Iffybrakecrashlube shops keep saying 3000 mile OCI's are best, which they are not.


Oh please, there are two relief valves in all GM engines. One internal to the oil filter that just by-passes the media and one internal for the pump or filter base. No one has "blown a can" in a USA engine in 40 years. Yeah, some racers have because they block all the reliefs and they are spinning big RPM with heavy oils. But not on a run of the mill street engine. Get real ...

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: UltrafanUK
I've got no interest in wanting to block the oil filter, so will follow the recommended half OCI limits. If the relief valve in the oil filter fails after it blocks, it can blow the can apart during a cold start if you do not use German steel.


Lmao.

You are getting more ridiculous trying to get attention.

 

[AlanColorado]

Appreciate the inputs. The first three years her commute was about 20 mi. one way about 50/50 city and highway. Last two years, and into the foreseeable future, 10 mi. one way with the same 50/50 mix. Non work related driving is still mostly 10 miles or less with the occasional road trip. So I think it is probably a good idea to stay with the 6 month OCI. May do a UOA after 6 mo. just to get an idea of how it's doing. If the oil starts to look like molasses after 3 months will re-evaluate.

 

[4WD]

When I grabbed an M1 filter at the same time as equivalent FU - the M1 is far heavier...don't care where that steel is from - they are like tanks (well, they are little tanks) ...

 

[fdcg27]

As most have said, since this thing has had regular maintenance through its life to date, there is no reason to run a shorter interval with Maxlife.
Even assuming that Maxlife has superior cleaning ability, which might or might not be the case, there won't be much in this engine to clean up.
Therefore, a shorter drain interval would be no more than an unnecessary expense.
Depending upon the source of your leak, Maxlife might or might not help.
CharlieBauer made a good point above in that the drain plug may be the source of your leak.
If so, an easy fix and you should count yourself lucky.

 

[UltrafanUK]

Check the oil filter section as they have had quite a number of blown cans, although all of them were El-cheapo filters.

I got real a long time ago, which is why I use good major brand GTL base oils, or Synthoils AND the best oil filters money can buy (OEM, Bosch or Mann, but made in Germany only), plus Ceratec and idle flush additive.

I base all OCI decisions on UOA results and oddly enough that means I'm doing extended OCI's at present.
20 km (Max recommended 15K km in the UK) for the 1.9 TDI and 50K km (Max recommended 30K km) for the Twingo town car (1.2 16v petrol).

 

[CharlieBauer]

Originally Posted By: UltrafanUK

I base all OCI decisions on UOA results and oddly enough that means I'm doing extended OCI's at present.
20 km (Max recommended 15K km in the UK) for the 1.9 TDI and 50K km (Max recommended 30K km) for the Twingo town car (1.2 16v petrol).


That's commendable.

Care to share the 50k km uoa and cut open the filter?

 

[UltrafanUK]

You really need to use a Borescope through the drain plug and filler cap to figure out if an engine is suffering from sludge or varnish deposits.
My Twingo was sludged up when I bought it due to 50K km on cheap dino and it only had 73K km when I cleaned it up with a very short OCI and then an idle flush. All it takes to sludge up an engine is one OCI that is too long for the detergents in the oil AND dealerships are one of the worst offenders for using the wrong spec oil. Some of the worst sludge cases I've seen were fairly new cars that had hairline cracks in the HG or oil coolers.

 

[UltrafanUK]

It's going to be another year before I next change the oil. I must admit it was real black when I changed it, but no lumps. The UOA was a horror story and the cam phaser bearing was rather worn, but still OK.