T5 10w-30, 8k miles, '05 Grand Am,

[sdan27]

I did a UOA on my wife's Grand Am. She always used to do 3,000 miles oil changes because that was what the dealership told her to do but I just went by the oil change light. Has 8093 miles on the oil with 111,027 on the car. Used Shell Rotella T5 10w-30. The manual specifies a 5w-30 but I figure it doesn't usually get that cold in MI and we have a Santa Fe she drives in the winter anyways. I can get the Rotella for about the same cost or less than I can get a PCMO at Wal-Mart. I used a Fleetguard LF3554 microglass filter that is a little larger than the stock. Over the course of the oil change it used 1/2 quart of oil.

Iron 23
Alum 4
Copp 8
Lead 6
Tin 2
Sili 13
Sod 35
Pot 3
Moly 13
Anti 1
Bor 19
Magn 29
Calc 2321
Bar 1
Phos 927
Zinc 1116

Soot Watr Visc 12
TBN 3.06
Oxid 17
Nitr 26

The only thing the lab was concerned about was some of the additive levels didn't seem consistent with that brand oil and the nitration was pretty high but I don't really know what you can do about that and everything else looked good.

 

[addyguy]

I'd say not bad at all for 8k. Nothing jumps out as a problem.

 

[dave1251]

Iron is a tad high nothing I would lose sleep over. Filtration is good TBN is good over 3 oxidation is trending up but not causing wear, if this were a 5W-30 that sheared into the 20 viscosity range and thicken this would be a candidate for even a more aggressive OCI but I would cap it to a 10K OCI and resample.

 

[benjamming]

Which engine? When was the last time the plugs were changed? High nitration can sometimes be helped by changing the plugs.

 

[sdan27]

I think it has like a 3.1 or a 3.4 V6. I have no idea if the plugs have ever been changed so they probably are due so I'll try and do that. Do you think I should change the wires too so long as they look ok?

 

[Gene K]

I think the current Triple Protection CJ4 15W40 has more Boron in it. That may be the issue (I got a similar statement when I sent in T3 which doesnt have Boron like Triple Protection).