What oil for this car

[chevyfan101]

Ok, i know you guys get a ton of these type of questions but after a search i didnt see what i was exactly asking for.

I have an 03 grand am with a 3.4 liter as my daily to and from work car. I do put at least 500 miles a week on it minimum. It does have that slight 3.4/3.1 chevy tick but is hardly loud enough to hear at all and goes away with in a minute.

I know that conventional oil if kept changed on regular time/milage is alright im told. But what i need is a good oil possibly a synthetic oil that is not easily broken down and is top tier protection. but not a bank buster. I use 5w30 conventional valvoine in it now.

I know these 3.1/3.4 engines get a bad rap but i had a lumina 3.1 that reached 349k before an accident ended its career and a grand am with a 3.4 some years ago that had nearly 370k on it before it went up (due to a bad transmission and rust).

I now have another work car with that 3.4 with 100k on it one previous owner that took good care of it.

thank you for the advice

 

[salv]

GM's 60 degree V6 is a solid motor. Try Mobil Super HM 10w30.

 

[RiceCake]

See no point in using a 10w30 over a 5w30. Since your ticking is at startup switching to an oil that is thicker at startup is sort of doing the opposite of what you want.

I'd try a High Mileage oil though, could be solid given the age. Other then that don't fix what ain't broke. Unless you're extending your OCI's, in those engines, a conventional will be fantastic.

 

[KitaCam]

Just a thought...if the title id'd the car rather than "this car" it would be more useful in the search engine.

 

[Phishin]

What the heck is wrong with valvoline? I see more stellar COA's with that conventional than any other conventional.

 

[chevyfan101]

nothing is wrong with Valvoline i was just wondering if there was better oil out there. My older brother uses royal purple and has been for several years and loves the stuff its just pretty pricey.

 

[Azeem]

I'd use whatever on sale for 6 months/7500 miles OCI, looks like you rack miles pretty fast so oil is not over worked in your engine.

Havoline, Valvoline, Pennzoil conventional, Mobil Super 5000, SuperTech, Chevron Supreme,QS,auto parts store brand oils , etc will be alright.

 

[tommygunn]

How about Maxlife? Valvoline's High Mileage oil, supposed to be best of the High Mileage oils.

Also, Napa has their synthetic on sale for $3.49/qt. for the month of April. Napa synthetic is rebranded Synpower.

 

[asand1]

Originally Posted By: chevyfan101

I have an 03 grand am with a 3.4 liter as my daily to and from work car. I do put at least 500 miles a week on it minimum. I use 5w30 conventional valvoine in it now.
I had a lumina 3.1 that reached 349k, and a grand am with a 3.4 that had nearly 370k on it .

Keep dong what you're doing, I see no reason to use a "better" oil than Valvoline in a car that sees 500mi/wk with regular 3-7K OCIs.

 

[donnyj08]

my family has a pontiac montana van with the H.O 3.4L we bought it in 07 with 61k and we have ran AC delco pf47 filters and Mobil 1 Extended Performance every 10k miles since. at 192k miles it still uses not notable oil between 10k mile OCI's. i just changed the oil at 191k, and it had used less than a quarter quart in that 10800 MI run.

the 3.4 is a great engine. any dino is great for 5k mile OCI's and 10k on EP has worked great for us. ours has that slight lifter tap when cold as well. most of them do. ive mostly ran 5w30 in it. and occasional 10w30 both worked well. 5w30 is probably the better choice.

 

[toneydoc]

So a chevyfan driving a Pontiac? Just kidding. Use a good name brand oil like Valvoline or mobil and a good quality filter. Change them every 6000 miles or so and the engine will be happy. And use a 5w30 weight, especially in the winter.

 

[chevyfan101]

cool thanks all

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: donnyj08
my family has a pontiac montana van with the H.O 3.4L we bought it in 07 with 61k and we have ran AC delco pf47 filters and Mobil 1 Extended Performance every 10k miles since. at 192k miles it still uses not notable oil between 10k mile OCI's. i just changed the oil at 191k, and it had used less than a quarter quart in that 10800 MI run.

the 3.4 is a great engine. any dino is great for 5k mile OCI's and 10k on EP has worked great for us. ours has that slight lifter tap when cold as well. most of them do. ive mostly ran 5w30 in it. and occasional 10w30 both worked well. 5w30 is probably the better choice.


You don't need EP to do 10000 miles. Regular M1 will do that for less money.

 

[JAM25]

I habe the 3.1L engine and my car runs smoother and quiter eith Quaker State Defy 5w30 and it has 165K miles

 

[armos]

I've been happy using Valvoline in a 2.8. I mix some VR1 with it but mine is a flat tappet, yours uses rollers.
If your car has an oil pressure gauge, then I'd use that to evaluate whether to stay with 5w30 or to try something different.
On at least one older 2.8 version, GM published a spec of 30-55psi @ 2000rpm. That's a pretty wide range and I would guess it's reasonable for any other 60V6s. A spec shown at the 60degreeV6 site for newer "gen-3" 60V6s calls for 15psi @ 1100rpm. These would be with the oil fully warmed up, not cold.

Note however that the electric oil pressure senders can be very inaccurate - a mechanical gauge is much better if you want to get a reliable reading.

I'm using QS Defy 10w30 right now, and measured lower oil pressure than it was with Valvoline. I haven't done another oil change since then so I don't know if the different oil is the reason.