RLI Biosyn 5w-30, 08 Acadia 3.6, 4458 on oil

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Rat407

Rat407

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I don't know what happened but I posted this and for some reason it just disappeared. This oil sample is a continuation from the last with just 3qts of RLI Biosyn 5w-30 drained and fresh installed. The AC PF48 filter has 8400 miles on it. Fuel used was 87 octane mostly Murphy's gas from Wal-Mart and one tank of Shell VPower. A new STP air filter was installed at the time the 3qts were drained.
08oilanalysismay09.th.jpg
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I'm thinking more on the lines of just any oil and change it out at 2k and leave it at that. This is getting ridiculous. At the current mileage, for what I'm spending on oil analysis and high $$$ oil. I don't think it will ever get better and my bank account is not that big.
 
Originally Posted By: Rat407
I'm thinking more on the lines of just any oil and change it out at 2k and leave it at that. This is getting ridiculous. At the current mileage, for what I'm spending on oil analysis and high $$$ oil. I don't think it will ever get better and my bank account is not that big.



I looked into RLI oils and wasn't impressed, especially after finding out the cost.


Originally Posted By: Billy007
Keep your OCI short 3-4k and just use PP or whatever synthetic is on sale.


Sounds like a good idea, especially if you want to use a synthetic oil.

AD
 
I can't decide if it's the oil or your engine. I don't know squat about this new 3.6 engine that GM is using. There aren't many people posting UOAs for this engine. I would save your money, stick to short oci, use regular syn like Mobil 1 or Platinum, see if that makes a difference with the wear metals. I can understand you sticking with UOA in case the engine goes bad during warranty, but Terry charges like $100 a pop.
 
Also with new engines how much can one gather with wear numbers? If wear numbers are higher than what we normally see does that really mean the engine will fail prematurely even if you keep up with oil changes?

Especially with GM engines, their numbers seem to fluctuate the most from the UOA's I've seen.

I would just stick to 4-5k changes on a cheaper synthetic like PP. Think about all the people that neglect their cars in the worst possible ways -- they still end up hitting 150k easily. I'm rambling but maybe it's sometimes better to just keep up with the oil changes and call it a day.
 
I can't figure how you do so much mileage and routinely beat up the oil. If I did the math correctly you've done 25k in 15 months. This is mega mileage by any commuter standard. You could not ask for a more favorable operational environment ..unless you're flogging it the entire way in something like pizza delivery or para-taxi service.

Odd.
 
I really don't think there's anything wrong here. Just run your favorite 5w-30 oil and change it according to the Oil Life Monitor. The engine isn't going to wear out prematurely.
 
The TAN on the last sample is superbly low, and all of your samples look good. I have no idea why you are using dyson analysis and Biosyn for this engine honestly, except curiosity and a desire to use renewable lubes.

Why throw away good oils at 2k miles? This thing can handle a quality dino to the OLM (probably 5k), so either use something like a quality dino (pennzoil YB, rotella 10w30), a good semi-synth (max-life 5w30), or a low-cost synthetic (PP 5w30, etc.)

Or go with extended oil drains and swap in some AMSOIL SSO.

Joe
 
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
I can't figure how you do so much mileage and routinely beat up the oil. If I did the math correctly you've done 25k in 15 months. This is mega mileage by any commuter standard. You could not ask for a more favorable operational environment ..unless you're flogging it the entire way in something like pizza delivery or para-taxi service.

Odd.


It is the wifes car. She does a all kinds of driving for the most part short distance but then though out the week 18 mile out to a nearby town and back or 25 to another town and back taking our daughter to therapy. School is only 4 miles down the road which she takes the girls to and picks up from. Then there is a ocasional run to the "Big City" 70 miles up I-40. She drives it reasonably, I on the other hand like to feel it pull and watch the tach so when I do drive it which isn't much I push it a little harder but not much. The engine has some pretty good power for such a heavy vehicle and the 6sp auto doesn't shift to much back and forth between 6 and 5th like you would think. It tach's right at 2k at 80mph. Others with this engine according to Terry are having issues but my engine seems to be the worst.
 
Check the AF,lock and load some PP,drive it gently for 4k,and forget the $100 Uoas.
 
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
I can't figure how you do so much mileage and routinely beat up the oil. ... Odd.

Could the tranny setup of this car be "lugging" the engine? That might explain it. Personally I can't stand lugging an engine and would much rather err on the side of too many rpms as too little. But this car might be set up that way for mpg. 2k at 80 mph is unbelievably low. Shot in dark.

Originally Posted By: Rat407
It tach's right at 2k at 80mph.
 
Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
I don't know squat about this new 3.6 engine that GM is using.


Except that the 09 Acadias have a different engine again i.e the DI version! I have such an engine (in an 09 Traverse) and plan some consecutive basic Blackstone UOAs, with the ff already posted a couple of weeks back.
 
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This engine aerates the oil and creates an environment that is problematic for any oil. Frequent oil changes are called for. I wouldn’t pay much attention to the OLM.
 
Originally Posted By: ZZman
Seems to run consistently high fuel % in the oil.


Yet no fuel in tmundal's 08 Acadia UOA.

There are several UOAs of this 07/08 Lambda GM engine that indicate that this 3.6 L engine is hard on oil. So it seems that tmundal's good #s are an anomaly?
 
What lab did tmundal use? If Blackstone, then they use a different method for flashpoint. Also, Blackstone doesn't measure fuel % but calculate it. Dyson's lab measures fuel % via FTIR.
 
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