First Post! 2006 Saturn Ion Redline

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Delta1

Joined
Nov 28, 2023
Messages
19
Hello to all. As the title states I have a Saturn Ion Redline with a supercharged 2.0 Ecotec gas engine with 110 k miles on it.
It used to be a mostly highway car (80%), and I would change the oil and filter (Mobil 1) roughly every 5000 miles or one year, which ever came first.

Now I drive mostly in the city, probably close to 90% of the time, though most of the time I do get the motor up to normal op temps.

My question is how often should I change the oil now? I drive with some gusto, but rarely beat on it. The oil is on the dark side and smells like crap at 3000 miles, but I know this is not the best indicator of oil condition.
It burns no oil at all, and besides a CAI, there are no mods.

Thanks in advance!
 
Dark and dirty oil that smells of fuel is a good indicator to be changed. Oil that is full of carbon should be changed. It’s something that is often missed. It really is motor specific. Dirty internals should be addressed. I don’t normally recommend flushing a motor if not needed but if there is sludge building up, you definitely want to clean that out. I would flush the motor and go with M1 0w-40 euro or whatever brand you prefer and monitor. 4k - 5k OCI’s with forced induction tend to be a good number, again it kind of depends on the motor and how much blow-by happening.
 
Welcome to the site!
There's plenty to learn here (as well as some stuff to avoid).
The best way to know when to change oil is to get a UOA.
Please spend some time looking through the UOA forum, read many threads all the way through, and then ask questions.
 
Delta1 said:
Hello to all. As the title states I have a Saturn Ion Redline with a supercharged 2.0 Ecotec gas engine with 110 k miles on it.
It used to be a mostly highway car (80%), and I would change the oil and filter (Mobil 1) roughly every 5000 miles or one year, which ever came first.

Now I drive mostly in the city, probably close to 90% of the time, though most of the time I do get the motor up to normal op temps.

My question is how often should I change the oil now? I drive with some gusto, but rarely beat on it. The oil is on the dark side and smells like crap at 3000 miles, but I know this is not the best indicator of oil condition.
It burns no oil at all, and besides a CAI, there are no mods.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Welcome and you got a sweet ride. Ditch the intake and stick with a 3-4k oci. 5w30 full synthetic.
 
Welcome! And I agree with dnewton3 above. Lots of good info on these, including for the Ecotec engine.

I tend to have a few of these engines, lol. With lots of city driving on my Cobalt, I tend to stick to 3 months/3k with Maxlife in mine (@142k) At least in my experience- this engine seems to enjoy fresh oil more often. It has also helped with the burn off as well…..
 
Bluestream said:
Could someone explain this to me? None of my vehicle have ever shown a preference for fresh oil...
Click to expand...
I don't think I have either... but I think my 4 wheeler did. After I had an incident with the carb going out lunch and running stupid rich. I think in that case, it was junk in the sump evaporating off and getting burned off that was throwing it off. As a carb setup, no ability to self correct, on an EFI I could see it trying to keep things on a more even keel, but even then, perhaps not running quite right.
 
Welcome to BITOG 🎉

Doesn't your Ion have the OLM? It tells you when to change the oil by calculating an OCI based on your driving conditions.

Keep on using synthetic. If M1 is too expensive, there are cheaper house brand synthetics you can use. Anything that is d1g3 will be fine for your car.

The best oil filter to use is the Purflux L264A. It was the OE filter when your car was new. Purflux was GM's original OE supplier for this filter. OE is Hengst now, and Hengst is still good, but Puflux is better because it has these chevron pleats that give you more filtering media in the same size cartridge.
 
slacktide_bitog said:
Welcome to BITOG 🎉

Doesn't your Ion have the OLM? It tells you when to change the oil by calculating an OCI based on your driving conditions.

Keep on using synthetic. If M1 is too expensive, there are cheaper house brand synthetics you can use. Anything that is d1g3 will be fine for your car.

The best oil filter to use is the Purflux L264A. It was the OE filter when your car was new. Purflux was GM's original OE supplier for this filter. OE is Hengst now, and Hengst is still good, but Puflux is better because it has these chevron pleats that give you more filtering media in the same size cartridge.
Click to expand...
Cool, thanks for the tip! I have been using Mobil 1 filters, but will look into the Purflux units. I remember using those on my Peugeot 505!
 
Bluestream said:
Could someone explain this to me? None of my vehicle have ever shown a preference for fresh oil...
Click to expand...

It’s hard to explain, lol. I’ve had the Cobalt for 15 years now, and it’s only been like this the last few years or so. The car ran many years on different synthetics, but since shortly after covid it started burning some oil. Switched to maxlife, and it helped quite a bit. It does mostly city driving now, with much of it stop and go. Maybe the oil takes more of a beating as a syn blend. It’s an old car with many miles on it, so logic might not explain it anyways. None of my other cars care about fresh oil…… :)
 
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