Havoline 5w-30, 98 chevy 5.7L

[wtd]

Here is my most recent oil analysis. I miscalculated the oil mileage when I drained, so thats why I didn't get 3,000 miles on this sample. Oil had 2,842 miles on it and the truck had 90,019 miles on it. The oil was the SM version. I used an AC-Delco PF52 filter. I used 10 ounces of LC in initial fill and no maintenance doses. I added a 1/2 quart of makeup oil. Here is what Blackstone Labs had to say:

WAYNE: Nice improvement in lead. Unfortunately, we can't say the same about the potassium. It is still low enough that we don't think its hurting anything, though we were hoping to see it stay below 20ppm. All other wear looks great and the oil is free of any fuel dilution or moisture. Insoluables were low at 0.4% showing good oil filtration and no excess oil oxidation from the anti-freeze. Try 4,000 miles on the next oil. If potassium and bearing wear stay under control, the the longer oil run should not hurt a thing. The viscosity was normal for a 5w-30 oil.

Aluminum--2
chromium--0
iron--2
copper--2
lead--3
tin--0
molybdenum--229
nickel--0
manganese--0
silver--0
titanium--0
potassium--24
boron--22
silicon--10
sodium--3
calcium--1143
magnesium--17
phosphorus--478
zinc--536
barium--0

Sus viscosity--57.6
flashpoint%--395
fuel%-- antifreeze%--***
water%--0.0
insolubles--0.4

Nothing to really complain about this sample except that the potassium went back up from 18ppm to 24ppm. I guess the GM coolant tabs didn't stay working.

I have an appointment friday to have my intake manifold gaskets replaced again for the third time in this truck's life. I bought the newly redesigned GM gaskets so hopefully this will fix this problem for the rest of the time I own this truck.

This is definatly the best analysis on the wear metals to date for this engine. I'm very impressed with this Havoline oil. It did better than all of my Chevron and Mobil 1 results. Overall, I'm pretty happy with these results and hopefully I can start extending the oil changes a little bit once I get this coolant issue fixed.

Wayne

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

GC. Who needs GC??? Maybe buster is right?

Other than that coolant leak, this looks more like a VOA!

 

[Al]

Since it has done before is there any warranty ?? I would switch to either the Nissan or Toyota coolant once this leak is fixed (again)

 

[wapacz]

I would think the intake gasket thing is a design problem. I had to have the one on my truck done. Which is a 95 so in other words the year before dexcool. I forget the exact milage, pretty sure it was when I was over 100k and I have a 118k now. Not sure if it has had one before this one becuase I have only had the truck for 35k.

 

[wtd]

The intake manifold gasket leaks are a known problem with the 5.7L Vortec engine. Its a design flaw with how the intake is bolted to the heads and with the design of the gaskets themselves. Also the torque specs of 11 ft lbs is not very much.

There is no warrenty on my truck anymore. When I first found out that the leak was back, I called GM customer service and complained. They set up a case file but basically said there was nothing they could do since the truck was out of warrenty. They told me they were not aware of any problems with leaks on this engine. There must be problems or they wouldn't have redesigned the gasket. Hopefully the third time will be the charm. At least the oil analysis looks good.

Wayne

 

[Bill]

wtd,

Have you used a engine flush to remove the residual coolant before running this oil?

I would think it would be beneficial to try to clean out the engine before running a oil and having a UOA preformed on the oil

(I have not read your earlier posts to see if you mentioned anything about doing an engine flush)

 

[Al]

Since there is no warranty and since the leakage (if any) is very small. It might make some sense to do another 3k or so analysis (even without a flush) to see if the number comes down. That's what I probably would do.

 

[williar]

I've found that 10w30 dino does better than 5w30, at least in my '95 5.7L. Especially during the summer months. Oil consumption is less, not that it uses much oil anyway, and the engine seems to run a little smoother.

I wouldn't fool with flushing the engine as your manifold leak is quite small and little oil contamination is occuring. If you like, an Auto Rx at this stage of the engine's life would be a good idea after the manifold repair.

 

[wtd]

Bill,
I have not ever used an engine flush in this engine. The leakage is not bad enough for that.

The oil will be changed after the gasket replacement but I'm not sure if I'll have an analysis done on that sample or wait for the one after that.

I may do an Auto Rx treatment but I have used LC and FP on a regular basis after doing my first Auto RX treatment and looking down the oil fill cap, everything looks spotless. Thanks for all of the input.

Wayne

 

[Drew99GT]

wtd, you may want to look into the Felpro "problem solver" gaskets. They were specifically designed to once and for all fix the GM gasket issues.

problem solver

 

[vad]

quote:

---

GC. Who needs GC??? Maybe buster is right?

---

Did you mean "who needs GC if you run short OCI's"?
I don't remember anyone sugesting running GC with 3K OCI's in mind .
Because it would be a total waste of a terrific oil designed to go 10K mi and longer.

 

[wtd]

Drew,
Thanks for the info on the new Fel-Pro gaskets. Unfortuneatly I bought the new GM redesigned gasket and it was installed today. I just spoke to the mechanic and he said my old gasket was coming apart in two places. This was the old design Fel-Pro gasket that had been on the truck for about 30,000 miles.

I saw a picture of the newly redesigned GM gasket that had been on a truck for about a year and the owner said that it was still perfect so I'm hoping that this new gasket will last alot longer than the previous ones. Thanks again.

Wayne

 

[Winston]

I find it amazing that GM will not subsidize this repair. How much does a repair like that cost anyway?

Also, what did the GM redesigned gasket look like?

 

[Drew99GT]

I think the redesigned GM gaskets have a metal carrier like the Felpro I linked to above. It's about a $500-$800 job.

Good luck wtd. Both my parents leak prone GMs are consuming coolent again, so I think we'll have to have new gaskets installed again as well.

 

[wtd]

I couldn't tell if the new GM gaskets had a metal carrier or not. They really didn't appear to. They did have metal inserts that went where the bolts go through the gaskets.

I only paid $176 to have mine done. I supplied the gasket, oil, and antifreeze. I was just charged labor. Two years ago when I had this done, I had quotes from $193 to $800 for this job. This guy is the cheapest price around and he does alot of these intake gasket changes. The time before this one, he did three other trucks the same week as mine. This time, he had just finished a truck up the day before I brought mine in.

Hopefully this will fix it. Thanks again.

Wayne

 

[Winston]

Maybe someone could start a franchise that onle does GM intake gasket repairs. Kind-of like Jiffy Lube, but instead;

Jiffy GM Intake Fixers!

Think there would be enough business to make a living?

 

[caprice_2nv]

Every Vortec V6 or V8 up until the newer LS style engines had the leak problem. Apparently the design of the plastic intake makes for the splitting of the gaskets. Usually happens somewhere from 80k-120k miles. The previous TBI V8's were almost bulletrproof and never had these problems. The newer 5.3's and 4.8's don't seem to have the problem. Although they've only been out for 7 years, I haven't seen any with leaks and I've seen one with almost 250k miles on it with original intake gaskets.

 

[T-Keith]

I believe GM has gone to all metal gaskets for intakes now. All the GM replacement ones are metal as well. The plastic and DEXCOOL do not mix, especially if it is not changed often. This leak does not look bad at all. Change the coolant and add some GM sealant tabs and it should be good.

 

[sbc350gearhead]

I replaced the intake gasket on my 98 gmc, about 5 months ago. I am waiting to do a UOA to see if it is fixed. Luckily, a new gasket was only 50 bucks.

 

[NewGuy]

Now that you fixed the intake gasket I bet this truck will run for another 100k miles. It is sad that GM has such an obvious problem and won't own up to it. My sister recently had to get rid of her Chevy van because of the same intake issue. The dealer wasn't even nice about it, so she sold it and traded for a .... Honda.

It will be interesting to see your next UOA. I bet the results will be very good.