New Engine/No GC = What now?

[EmbarkChief]

I haven't been around the board for a while, I was surprised to see that GC is no more

. Next week my '96 Impala SS is getting a factory new (with warranty!) '96 Vette LT1 to replace my fragged 160K motor. Want to see a used oil analysis for a vehicle 8K miles from total meltdown? Click Me

Oh well, on to new and better things

My question is with GC getting harder and harder to find maybe I should just run Mobil 1 Truck and SUV 5w40 in its place? What about a break in oil? First OCI 500 miles then 1K and then to 3K and beyond? Its been so long since I had to break in a motor...

 

[daemonite]

use dino for break ins, change at 1500 and then at 5000...and go synthetic...any synthetic with a good additive pack should be great (mobil, redline,amsoil, etc)

 

[blupupher]

You want some GC? I got some to sell if your interested. I also may know of a few quarts here and there (of the green).

 

[ARB1977]

Time to use something else.

 

[EmbarkChief]

Thanks for the offer blupupher. I still have about 10 qts of it on the shelf and when it runs out I'll probably run Mobil 1 Truck and SUV. Unless yall think there is something else that deserves a turn.

 

[ssmokn]

I run nothing but 15W40 (Motorcraft, Delvac Super 1300, Chevron Delo) in my 1996 Impala. Runs like a champ.

I know several people doing the same with in excess of 200K hard miles on the motors.

I'm not anti-synthetic (use it in some of my cars) but the LT1 will do just fine with plain 'ole 15W40 (stock or heavily modified).

Just my '02. Certainy use what you feel is appropriate. A good compromise in my opinion is 5W40 Rotella T (Group 3).

I even run 15W40 in the winter months (which my SS doesn't see any more -- it has become a garage queen) in New England without any problems.

 

[z917990]

Yes, the GC green is going away. However, if I understand correctly, the new GC gold is also group IV and has delivered really good used oil analysis. I just picked some up at Autozone and it was still marked 'made in Germany'.

 

[bruce381]

just goes to show that a used oil analysis will not always show catastrophic failure.
bruce

 

[Dominic]

What fragged the motor?

 

[EmbarkChief]

Dominic,

Loss of oil pressure while driving. I was out for a spin on the way home Thursday night. On the way back I turned down a street and ran her up at about 80% throttle and noticed that she wasn't pulling as hard as she should. So at the next light I'm sitting there in gear listening to the motor and all of the sudden I get a "tick, tick tick" sound followed 3 seconds later by "knock, knock, rattle rattle" and a low oil pressure light. I knew what it was the second I heard the noise so I shut it down and rolled her into a gas station. Crankcase was full of GC at the time, my feelings are the bearings just wore out to the point she wouldn't hold pressure anymore. Either that or something clogged my oil pump/pasage.

 

[Dave Hess]

Isn't 160,000 miles WAAAAAAAYYY past the warranty ??

 

[EmbarkChief]

LT4 Vette,

Yes, 160K is way out of warranty and the new motor is obviously not covered. However the local stealership made me an offer on one that I can't refuse

Dissapointed though, should have gotten at least 200K out of her.

 

[Blake Sobiloff]

EmbarkChief, it sounds like your oil didn't fail you, rather it was something mechanical. It sounds like your oil pump failed or got clogged. I doubt your bearings would suddenly wear to the point that your engine couldn't maintain pressure. Did you do a teardown of the old motor to find out?

Also, you're right that the green GC is mostly gone, but the gold GC used oil analysis are starting to trickle in and they're looking pretty good so far. Otherwise, there are plenty of good alternatives, too.

 

[pscholte]

I would not worry about the fact that the original GC is no more...stick with the Castrol 0w30 product (AKA The Gold). IF that is not acceptable and you want THE NEXT BEST oil for this engine, then, in order: (1) Amsoil European Formula 5W-40; (2) Mobil Delvac 1; (3) Mobil 1 Truck and SUV; (4) Elf Excellium LDX

 

[EmbarkChief]

I'm not blaming it on oil one bit, I bought the vehicle at 77K miles so who knows what might have happend in the past. I was running into a problem with my low oil pressure light flickering when it was hot and idling in gear. At first I thought it might be an instrumentation problem but now I know better...