For those with a GM 3.8 engine . . .

[Merkava_4]

Quote:
By the looks of the trans pan and engine oil pan, bottoming out is a rather regular occurence....


No . . it's that frame rail you see on the bottom of the last picture that's been scraped; the oil pan and trans pan have never been hit.

 

[Merkava_4]

One thing I forgot to mention is with that gigantic filter, I can run a full 6 quarts.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Well, we still haven't heard from Benzadmiral; I wonder which filter he's decided to go with.

I was keeping my head down until the shooting stopped!

My car doesn't go off road or anything. Considering the nasty streets here, though, I'm none too happy about the chance of whacking the filter open and causing a leak. (Not too likely, maybe, but it happened with my late 420SEL. At about 190K miles, it was suddenly losing half a pint of oil every few days. My regular mechanic found a dent and hairline crack in the oil pan, possibly from debris or from bumping up over one of the concrete fault blocks that pass for roads here.)

At least for this change, which will initiate the rinse phase of my Auto-Rx treatment, I think I'll stay with the smaller filter!

 

[Merkava_4]

Benzadmiral,

At least now you know the the PF52 fits incase you ever change your mind. If the thing was pointing straight up and down, I would've had no choice but to keep using the PF47. I like being able to drive around with 6 quarts of oil though; it gives me a sense of lavishness.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Lavishness, huh? I know what you mean. Just driving the Park Avenue under any circumstances, let alone with only the stock 4.5 quarts of oil in her, gives me a sense of lavishness!

I'm off to AZ (the filter) and the Family Dollar store (4 qts. of Chevron 5W-30) tonight to stock up.
.

 

[Lost1]

I think the average GM 3.8L will easily go 150k+ miles on whatever oil & filter you feed it. My father had an '87 Regal that had 186,000 miles on the clock when we sold it, and I had an '88 LeSabre with 209,000 on it when I traded it off. Both never had anything but Valvoline or Pennzoil dino and stock-size $3 Fram filters.

Dang good engine, IMO!

 

[Benzadmiral]

Quick update, y'all --

Yesterday I had the oil swapped out to end the clean phase of an Auto-Rx treatment (at 2500 miles, the oil came out nice and dark!). I went with the PF47 filter this time. All is well.

 

[wlkjr1951]

For the last 235,000 miles I have used a Fram 3387 and the PF47 for the first 100,000 miles. And all on Havoline 10W30.

 

[3putter]

Just to throw my 2 cents worth in. The original question was whether the AC filters were good for a 5k OCI. The answer is a resounding "yes". The GM OLM will often take you well over 7500 miles; I've had them take me up over 10k in fact. I would be hopeful that GM would not stick an original equipment filter on there that could not hold up to it's OLM.

 

[bobfather99]

Originally Posted By: Lost1
I think the average GM 3.8L will easily go 150k+ miles on whatever oil & filter you feed it. My father had an '87 Regal that had 186,000 miles on the clock when we sold it, and I had an '88 LeSabre with 209,000 on it when I traded it off. Both never had anything but Valvoline or Pennzoil dino and stock-size $3 Fram filters.

Dang good engine, IMO!

Just changed the oil yesterday in my 95 Bonneville(QS 10w30, STP 3387 filter from AZ)

161600 miles and counting...
Very happy....

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: 3putter
Just to throw my 2 cents worth in. The original question was whether the AC filters were good for a 5k OCI. The answer is a resounding "yes". The GM OLM will often take you well over 7500 miles; I've had them take me up over 10k in fact. I would be hopeful that GM would not stick an original equipment filter on there that could not hold up to it's OLM.


Well, after the 3000-mile rinse phase, with whatever oil/filter combo I go with in April, I'm shooting for a 6-month, ~4500-mile OCI. It will be interesting to see what the OLM is reporting after 6 months (April to October).