GC 0w30, 3000 miles, 95 Firebird Formula (LT1)

[Patman]

Because of my recent starting and misfiring problems and I suspected possible fuel dilution, I changed the oil early on my 1995 Firebird Formula, and here are the results from Wearcheck Canada.


3000 miles on oil
March 13-May 16 (2 months)
102,000 miles on engine
German Castrol Syntec 0w30
K&N oil filter (oversized)
AC Delco air filter
Daily driven, lots of full throttle
5 Quarter mile runs
8 dyno runs (4 or 5 with no air filter)
5L oil capacity
1/4L of top up oil


Iron 16
Aluminum 4
Lead 3
Copper 1
Chromium 1
Tin 1
Nickel 0
Titanium 0
Silver 0
Vanadium 0
Silicon 10
Potassium 1
Sodium 12
Boron 2
Barium 0
Calcium 2910
Magnesium 134
Moly 3
Phosphorus 805
Zinc 911
Sulfur 2678
Manganese 92
Fuel 0.5%
Glycol 0
Water 0
Sulfation 45%
Nitration 44%
Oxidation 64%
Viscosity at 40C 70.3
Viscosity at 100C 12.3
VI 174
TBN 7.21 (D4739)


So I was quite shocked to see the fuel so low, especially considering the fact that fuel was yellow flagged on the Wearcheck website before I saw the final numbers here. Perhaps they retested it and found it was ok.

(although if they retest an oil for fuel, wouldn't some of it evaporate?)

I figured the wear numbers might've been a lot higher based on the problems I had on this run, although iron is still higher than it should be for a 3k run (my first 3k run with this oil only showed 8ppm of iron) but there was also some cold weather at the beginning of the interval too. And it's also possible that when I flooded my engine, a lot of fuel did get into the oil, causing the higher iron wear, but then since I drove more than another month, most of that extra fuel was burned/evaporated out of the oil.


The hard starting problem was due to a burnt coil wire, and a GM dealer fixed it. That same dealer caused my rubber tube to my throttle body to get even more ripped, and on the dyno we found the car to be running lean as a result. That intake elbow has since been replaced, so my next UOA should hopefully show a lot less silicon in it now that things are sealed up more tightly.

(PS-for those that didn't read my thread in the racing section, my dyno tuning session bumped me up from 254rwhp to 265, and bumped my midrange torque up by 30ft pounds!)

So those are my excuses for running a short 3k interval here.

Another big reason is because I want to have a "perfect interval" with this oil, that is with no cold weather, no mechanical issues and my nicely sealed up filtration system now. So I will run this oil until September or October, I'll wait until the overnight temps start going below 50F again. So I hope to have as much as 8k on the oil by then.

Yes, I'm still running GC 0w30 and a K&N oil filter. Let the good times roll.

edit, decided to clean up the format and round off the wear numbers to the nearest decimal point.

[ July 15, 2004, 10:38 AM: Message edited by: Patman ]

 

[Bio-T]

Pat,

This oil is still new. You need to use that Sure Drain Plug and take a sample. I had to do the same on my truck, I suspected serious fuel dilution, and it was not there. But now I have a Fumoto Valve, so next time I can take a running sample.

 

[Al]

Looks like you are good to go for the next interval. Decent report.

 

[Patman]

quote:

---

Originally posted by 59 Vetteman:
Pat,

This oil is still new. You need to use that Sure Drain Plug and take a sample. I had to do the same on my truck, I suspected serious fuel dilution, and it was not there. But now I have a Fumoto Valve, so next time I can take a running sample.

---

True, in the end it was good oil that I drained out, however I still wanted to get a fresh start just to see how this oil does under ideal conditions, and the last two months worth of driving were what I considered to be less than ideal.

 

[Ken4]

Great report Patman!

I see that wear on this 3000mile run is very similar to your previous run with 6200miles! Looks like most wear occurs during the first 3000miles, and then seems to taper off. (Similar to 3MPs oil study). Would you say that is true in your case too?

I understand GC contains no Moly, and you've been using GC for the last 3 oil changes? So where does the Moly come from? Could it be residuals from the previous Schaeffers run? Or the Moly plating is coming off (left behind by Schaeffers)?

 

[SSDude]

This is a good report. It show that GC is a durable oil. The TBN was still high. This oil probable still had 9,000 more mile of life left in it but better safe than sorry.

 

[Patman]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ken4:
Great report Patman!

I see that wear on this 3000mile run is very similar to your previous run with 6200miles! Looks like most wear occurs during the first 3000miles, and then seems to taper off. (Similar to 3MPs oil study). Would you say that is true in your case too?

---

I'm not so sure. I think this 3k report might've shown lower wear numbers if I didn't have the problem with the burnt coil wire and the misfiring and hard starting.

quote:

---

I understand GC contains no Moly, and you've been using GC for the last 3 oil changes? So where does the Moly come from? Could it be residuals from the previous Schaeffers run? Or the Moly plating is coming off (left behind by Schaeffers)?

---

I'm not sure if there would still be any moly coming off after this length of time though. It's been over 12,000 miles since I switched to GC. I was thinking some of that moly might be from my rings.