What oil should I use? Bye Bye Amsoil!!

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
Originally Posted By: StevieC
Bill sticking up for a synthetic?

(J/K)
Sticking up for facts...

No way its the oil. Filter? Maybe and most likely.

His engine is force fed so a syn is prob required. Amsoil XL is just as good as any OTC syn like Mobil 1 or PP.



AFAIK, the GTP engine does not specify a syn.

 

[badtlc]

Synpower supposedly contains Grp IV and V according to ashland labs.

 

[Peted]

Originally Posted By: badtlc
Synpower supposedly contains Grp IV and V according to ashland labs.


Yep. I was just going to say. Synpower is good stuff.

 

[ProStreetCamaro]

I dont think its an oil issues. You have what is called the famous piston slap that is not uncommon in GM engines. My 99 SS Camaro does it. It is worse in the winter and takes longer to go away. When you bought the car the previous owner may have used a heavier oil to quiet it down so you wouldn't hear it and freak out. Heavier oils tend to dampen the sound more than thinner oils.

It is nothing to worry about.

 

[ATS-V]

The 3.8 does not suffer from piston slap. The sound is most likey due to the oil filter or it might even be the injector ticking.

 

[StevieC]

The 3.8 doesn't seem to suffer from any of the common GM problems. It's too bad it was a GM engine.

 

[Midwestspecial]

Hey everyone I'm back. I decided to go with Valvoline Synpower 5w-30 and a KN Filter. Package deal for $25!

My engine seems to be quieter at idle. I changed my oil on Friday. The last few days have been the hottests days in my town so it wouldn't be fair to say that this switch caused my noise to practically go away. I may have to wait for a few months to diagnosis the problem.

I'm happy I switched. The car runs just as smooth and I get to change the oil twice as much using the same amount of money, so that helps the peace of mind and it cant hurt to have fresh oil in the car twice as often!

Also the noise is def. not my injectors. The L32 3800 engine has loud injectors and I know what that noise sounds like and where it comes from. This noise is cmoing from the bottom part of the engine.

 

[tig1]

I don't believe Amsoil had a thing to do with your engine noise. Amsoil is a great oil, certainly better than what you put in. Now the Valv will work fine but I'm sure the noise will still be there. Some say the same thing about M1. It's bunk.

 

[Midwestspecial]

Yea I hear ya. The main reason was I just like changing my car oil more often at this point in its life. I'm sure eventually someday I will switch back to Amsoil.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: Midwestspecial
Yea I hear ya. The main reason was I just like changing my car oil more often at this point in its life. I'm sure eventually someday I will switch back to Amsoil.


Good choice.

 

[addyguy]

Good choice on the Synpower. Very good oil these days.

 

[greenaccord02]

Originally Posted By: Midwestspecial
...it cant hurt to have fresh oil in the car twice as often!

Absolutely right.

 

[FZ1]

That's right! You want fresh oil in and contaminates out 2X as often.

 

[Trav]

Without hearing the "tick" its hard to say what the cause is.
There are bulletins on this engine for leaking valve cover gaskets due to higher temps in the valve train area.

The higher heat could cause varnish,in that case maybe running amsoil flush or BG105 through it before the oil change could help.
Piston slap isn't all that common with this engine but its also a possibility.
The oil filter is vertically mounted so an ADBV issue isn't likely.
Other sources of noise could be..
Supercharger coupler or bearings(roller or ball bearings can sometimes sound like a ticking noise)although i doubt the noise would decrease with temp.
Any part of the valve train or injectors.

The 3800 gen II engines I've come across run quiet on 5w-30,maybe the amsoil did do some cleaning and something is partially plugging the lifter.

It may just be coincidence that this appeared at the same time as the switch to amsoil.It may be worthwhile to have someone who knows these engines look at it if the noise doesn't go away,just to be sure it isn't something in the supercharger.

 

[Midwestspecial]

Its def. not coming from the supercharger. I've changed the oil in it already and its too early for the coupler to go out. The coupler going out will sound like a rolling pop can with some rocks in it.

Heres a link to a video taken from this winter of the noise, when it was most prevelant.

http://s235.photobucket.com/albums/ee162/Midwestspecial/?action=view&current=GP003.flv

and another

http://s235.photobucket.com/albums/ee162/Midwestspecial/?action=view&current=GP003.flv


It seems to be coming from the bottom of the engine.

 

[StevieC]

Does it sound like this? (55 seconds in) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hft-KpGGFOI

 

[Trav]

It doesn't sound like accessory noise or piston slap.It does sound like vale train or maybe wrist pin noise.

To check for wrist pin noise use a test light connected to ground and pierce the plug wire boot at the coil to short the suspected cylinder.Do not pull the plug wire with the engine running,the ECM/coil pack could be damaged.The small pin hole from the test light wont cause any problems in that area.

If its a pin noise,piston slap or rod bearing the noise will almost disappear or become much less when the offending cyl is shorted.

To check for valve noise use a timing light.
Aim the timing light at the timing mark and stare at the flashes,if the noise seems to be in sync with the flashes then its valve train noise.
If the noise appears twice as fast as the flashes then its lower end.
The reason is the valve train operates at half the crankshaft speed.

Injectors are pretty easy to isolate if they are really noisy.

Try using a stethoscope around the suspect area.

 

[hpichris]

Honestly. I agree with Johnny. If you insist on 3k OCI. Then go with PYB. Walmart has a great deal on PYB at the moment.