Mobil1 5W30&Castrol 5W50, 6975 mi, '94 GM 3100 V6

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Grand Rapids, MI
Blackstone Report
Engine: GM 3100 V-6
Vehicle: '94 Pontiac Grand Prix SE 4door
Vehicle Mileage: 204,997
Oil Mileage: 6975
Interval Dates: 12/03/06 thru 04/18/07
Oil Type: Mobil 1 5W-30 (3.5 Qts) Castrol Syntec 5W-50 (1 Qt)
No oil additives or fuel additives used
Oil Filter: Wix
Air Filter: Wix
Driving Style: 2/3 Hwy and 1/3 City, mostly 30 mile 1 way driving to work and back.

See my previous UOA for why I'm mixing the oil.

1st column: Current
2nd column: Last UOA (same mix) 6018 miles
3rd column: Mobil 1 5W-30, 6012 miles

Aluminum: 16, 3, 2
Chromium: 1, 0, 0
Iron: 90, 15, 11
Copper: 15, 6, 4
Lead: 213, 8, 21
Tin: 8, 0, 0
Molybdenum: 85, 82, 75
Nickel: 1, 0, 0
Manganese: 2, 0, 0
Silver: 0, 0, 0
Titanium: 0, 0, 0
Potassium: 143, 0, 2
Boron: 32, 41, 45
Silicon: 20, 13, 14
Sodium: 184, 7, 7
Calcium: 2689, 2210, 2241
Magnesium: 40, 17, 19
Phosphorus: 753, 610, 583
Zinc: 912, 737, 708
Barium: 0, 0, 0

SUS Viscosity @ 210 degrees: 61.8 66.0, 59.9
Flashpoint: 375, 380, 395 degrees F
Fuel: < 0.5% same
Antifreeze: 0.37%
Water: 0.0% same
Insolubles: 0.5% same
TNB: 2.8, 3.5, 2.1

Lower intake manifold leak obviously. I was hoping this wouldn't happen to me before I got rid of the car 11 months from now. I'm not going to spend the money necessary to fix it right, I'll get rid of the car first since it is an extra car anyway that just keeps me from putting miles on my other car. I'm going to try some Bars Stop leak with more frequent oil changes with cheap oil and see if I can keep going at least a few more months. I would like to drive it until next spring if possible. After a few short changes I'll do another UOA and see if I should keep driving it or get rid of it. I plan to donate it to a local charity that also has a full time mechanic and teaches people in need how to fix cars. I don't want to keep driving it if I'm going to wreck the engine so I'll play it by ear and see how it does. I want it to be fixable when I donate it or it will be of no use to them. I was going to play around with a few different oils before getting rid of the car but that plan is now over. I'll probably waste my last 4 qts of Mobil 1 on it since I don't want to use them in my other cars based on their UOA's. What is the cheapest acceptable oil I can get? I've checked the local ads over the last week and haven't seen any good deals on cheap oil. Lots of synthetic on sale but no cheap dino.
 
Well, the monster is right up in your face on this one, isn't it??? Wow! This would be a good candidate for 500 mile changes on Coastal dino from AZ. It has nice colorful labels, which is probably as important as any other characteristic of the actual oil, given this debacle in progress. Good catch.
 
I would do the 3mo/3k oil change with this car with gm coolant tab/bar's leak for sure. go with the cheapest you can find except supertech since it has a ton of sodium in the add pack. Coastal/valuecraft dino sounds reasonable.
 
Thanks for the info. on the sodium in the supertech, I did not realize that. That was one oil I was going to price out. I'll check on the local prices for the Costal. Where do you find valuecraft?
 
now that your winter freezing wx is over, run only distilled water in the cooling system....flush out the antifreeze before a ton of it is dumped into the oil and you spin a bearing
oil change at 500 and 1000 miles to clean out the the antifreeze already contaminating the crank case
check oil every time driven for water signs in oil.

I would dump the car now if you are not going to repair the coolant leak, worth $1500 now, after spun bearing=$100 and into the crusher
 
After 12 Michigan winters with all the salt on the roads this car is starting to rust bad in every nook and cranny. It isn't worth any where near $1500 now, especially with a coolant leak.

addyguy, you are right, it doesn't owe me anything. This car hasn't been in the repair shop for over 2 years and 50,000 miles so it has been pretty good to me. If I lived in an area without all the salt and the body was still nice I would fix it and keep driving it but that is not the case. I'll keep a close eye on the coolant level to see if I'm losing anymore after putting in the Bars Stop Leak and I obviously won't be running 7k mile OCI's anymore. I'll change the oil again at 1k miles continue to play it by ear.
 
How much coolant have you been losing over the interval? When was the last time the coolant been changed and/or GM seal tabs been added?
 
It had been a couple of years since a flush was done with no seal tabs added since then. I didn't notice the coolant was low until I was changing the oil. The over flow tank was empty and the radiator level was down just below the filler neck.
 
Get some coolant tabs
Flush-refill with new regular green coolant - not the red. extended coolant
Change the oil/filter ever 2K-3K with Trop Artic dino from Chinamart.

This could hold you over for a year or two.
 
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