This is the second UOA I've had done for our 2007 Saturn VUE. (The first one can be found here.) It has the 3.5-liter V6 engine that GM calls the L66, but it was manufactured by Honda who calls it the J35A3.
The UOA done at 36K (on a 6K OCI of Pennzoil Platinum) looked good so I decided to try 7,500 miles. The OLM came on around 5,600 miles. This sample was the second consecutive fill of Valvoline SynPower 5W-20 so there shouldn't be any cross-contamination issues affecting the results.
RE: their comment about the K&N filter, I'd mentioned to them that I installed a K&N filter shortly after getting the vehicle home from the dealer, when only 215 miles were on the odometer. (I haven’t cleaned/re-oiled it yet.) Since a lot of folks on here talk bad about K&N air filters and how UOAs often show high silicon particle counts and other signs of poor filtration, I asked them if there were any signs of less than great air filtration.
Some observations…
- Iron was up just a tad; copper was down.
- Silicon was up a little and is a bit over the universal average.
- Sodium was way up. I hope that's not indication of coolant in the oil.
I'm now running Green Earth Technologies G-OIL 5W-30, despite the vehicle's spec being 5W-20. Given that it is a relatively new and unproven oil (i.e. there are only a couple UOAs posted on here thus far), I am hesitant to let it go 7,500 miles. I might go back to 6K mile intervals, sample after the second, and then consider extending my interval from there, informed by the UOA.
Let me know what you think.
The UOA done at 36K (on a 6K OCI of Pennzoil Platinum) looked good so I decided to try 7,500 miles. The OLM came on around 5,600 miles. This sample was the second consecutive fill of Valvoline SynPower 5W-20 so there shouldn't be any cross-contamination issues affecting the results.
RE: their comment about the K&N filter, I'd mentioned to them that I installed a K&N filter shortly after getting the vehicle home from the dealer, when only 215 miles were on the odometer. (I haven’t cleaned/re-oiled it yet.) Since a lot of folks on here talk bad about K&N air filters and how UOAs often show high silicon particle counts and other signs of poor filtration, I asked them if there were any signs of less than great air filtration.
Some observations…
- Iron was up just a tad; copper was down.
- Silicon was up a little and is a bit over the universal average.
- Sodium was way up. I hope that's not indication of coolant in the oil.
I'm now running Green Earth Technologies G-OIL 5W-30, despite the vehicle's spec being 5W-20. Given that it is a relatively new and unproven oil (i.e. there are only a couple UOAs posted on here thus far), I am hesitant to let it go 7,500 miles. I might go back to 6K mile intervals, sample after the second, and then consider extending my interval from there, informed by the UOA.
Let me know what you think.