04 Lexus ES330 Syn Power 5w30 6923mi FL-910S

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2004 Lexus ES330 3.3L V-6 140,018 miles total on the car, has been serviced mostly with M1 or M! EP and every once and a while Red Line always in 5w30 at 5,000-7500 oci, first oil sample on this car since I've owned it but the car has been in the family since new. This run was done with a Motocraft FL-910S filter, no pictures of cut filter but it looked great with essentially nothing to see in it. Currently it has 1 gal of M1 5w30 SM spec and 1 qt of Red Line I had sitting around in it. Plan to run it 7500 and re-sample leaving the oil in service.

Luke
 
That's gotta be a new record for BITOG.

I don't think there's ever been a report with wear numbers that low at that mileage.
 
I agree, it's so good it's almost boring, not much to look at really. I'm very pleased with how the engine is wearing at 140,000 miles!
 
I've had good luck with Valvoline in the past and this was actually the first time this car has ever run Valvoline oil to my knowledge. I'm curious to see if the wear numbers are as good on the current fill of M1 5w30 SM (4 quarts) and one quart of Redline 5w30. I also have a jug of PUPPP 5w30 that I intend to run in it next that was a gift from a friend for working on his car.
 
Gene,

I'd wager the same based on past experience. But I had a gallon left over from when I owned a Z06 Corvette with a 427 and the redline was left over from my 2002 Tacoma 3.4 with a supercharger so I was just using up what I had on the shelf. That's in service currently with only about 1300 miles on it. I'll pull a sample at 7,000 for a comparison. Next up will be PUPPP also in 5w30. Curious how back to back to back tests come out. However for the price and the exhibited performance once that's all used up I'll likely switch back to the VSP because it has shown at least in one run to be a proven performer in this engine.
 
Originally Posted By: FlyNavyP3
Bump for the recent SynPower haters...


The haters here have no evidence or facts to back up their claims,so do what I do,ignore them.
wink.gif


As for this report,looks awsome!
 
Not sure who is being called haters - but indeed slow sales helped me run clearance sale stash of SynPower for two years ...
All my stuff purred on VSP - just ran out of stash.

I was recently trying to figure out NOACK on VSP - I have two GDI's and was looking. After finding conflicting numbers - I just got some PUP off eBay ...
 
Not pointing fingers at anyone in particular. But in several threads lately it's been claimed that VSP isn't sufficient to run to the extent of OLM or owners manual drain interval either because of lack of TBN retention or due to poor wear. I just thought I'd share my recent experience as evidence to the contrary.
 
Valvoline synpower is a decent oil, but it had nothing to do with the wear numbers on this report.

The 3MZ-FE is 1 of the lowest stressed engines made by Toyota. It's a port injected 3.3L V6 that only pushes ~200HP and has a timing belt. This means no timing chain to shear the oil, no fuel dilution to thin the oil, not many HTHS areas in the engine at all. Couple that with the fact that it's a V6 so it runs @ lower RPMs than a typical 4cyl and you'll always get low wear numbers regardless of what oil was used.

In addition, the OP lives in Florida where it never drops below freezing so the oil is always thin enough to provide adequate protection during every single cold start. I bet you'll get similar wear numbers per mile even on the cheapest bulk dino oil.
 
Originally Posted By: HKPolice
Valvoline synpower is a decent oil, but it had nothing to do with the wear numbers on this report.

The 3MZ-FE is 1 of the lowest stressed engines made by Toyota. It's a port injected 3.3L V6 that only pushes ~200HP and has a timing belt. This means no timing chain to shear the oil, no fuel dilution to thin the oil, not many HTHS areas in the engine at all. Couple that with the fact that it's a V6 so it runs @ lower RPMs than a typical 4cyl and you'll always get low wear numbers regardless of what oil was used.

In addition, the OP lives in Florida where it never drops below freezing so the oil is always thin enough to provide adequate protection during every single cold start. I bet you'll get similar wear numbers per mile even on the cheapest bulk dino oil.


Very true!

The UOA results are real good, BUT it has very little to do with the oil.
If you have an engine that shears or contaminates its oil, choose one that has both Moly and Boron anti wear additives. It also helps if you select an oil with lots of detergents like Calcium and Magnesium if you get blowby contamination.
The oil in question looks a bit like cheap Castrol GTX, as it uses Sodium additives that can confuse UOA results as it looks like anti freeze, although some types also contain Potassium.

If you use a genuine German standard full synthetic (A group 4 synthoil), rather than a dinosaur or cooked up and filtered dinosaur oil (HC synthetic), the oil might not need Moly, BUT it should still have Boron.

In general terms I'm only fussy about which oil I use in turbo charged engines, then I only use German Synthoils OR GTL base stock oils like Ultra AND I beef up their add packs with Liqui Moly Ceratec if the engine is subject to severe service issues, like running out of oil, overheating from coolant loss, cracked HG, off roading or short tripping.

PS: The OCI could be extended a long way, BUT the TBN is low enough at present, so if it is extended a lot, I would use an idle flush additive just before the oil & filter change AND check the max oil filter change interval. Might be better to use an extended life oil filter if extending the OCI in some cases.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: HKPolice
Valvoline synpower is a decent oil, but it had nothing to do with the wear numbers on this report.

The 3MZ-FE is 1 of the lowest stressed engines made by Toyota. It's a port injected 3.3L V6 that only pushes ~200HP and has a timing belt. This means no timing chain to shear the oil, no fuel dilution to thin the oil, not many HTHS areas in the engine at all. Couple that with the fact that it's a V6 so it runs @ lower RPMs than a typical 4cyl and you'll always get low wear numbers regardless of what oil was used.

In addition, the OP lives in Florida where it never drops below freezing so the oil is always thin enough to provide adequate protection during every single cold start. I bet you'll get similar wear numbers per mile even on the cheapest bulk dino oil.


I don't disagree with this being a relatively low stress engine, output was rated at 230 bhp and does not use a timing chain. The engine does have VVT-i. However this OCI/UOA was performed prior to the car moving to Florida. This oil was in use from Haloween 2015 to May 22, 2016 during that time the car was in Marquette Michigan through the winter and saw several months of winter driving and idling. The GF who drives the car uses the remote start religiously especially in the winter, sometimes for more than one 15 minute cycle if she gets distracted. That being said I conservatively estimate this OCI has no less than 40 hours of the car idling in the driveway or parking lot based on 6 months, 5 days per week, twice per day at 10 minutes each time. That certainly doesn't include idling in traffic or stop lights, weekends, going out to eat etc so I'm sure the idle hours in the cold are much much higher than that. I'd estimate 100+ of which 40 hours are cold start warm ups.

Also during this OCI there were weeks on end with night time lows in the -15 to -25 F range with daytime highs in the single digits. Also a good portion of her trips save for a trip from Marquette to Detroit and the trip to Florida were all short trips of less than 5 miles.

I say all that to say this, although the engine itself may not be hard on oil, the way it was used during this OCI was certainly not easy on oil.

Now that the car is in Florida her daily commute is 108 miles round trip, she still uses the remote starter but it's for AC now instead of heat.

Current fill is 4 quarts M1 5w30 SM spec (leftover from my 427 Corvette) and one quart Redline 5w30 (leftover from my Supercharged 2002 Tacoma) with another FL910S filter the oil currently has ~4500 miles on it. Plan to sample or maybe change it and sample at 7,500 miles, haven't decided if I'm going to leave it in use yet or not.
 
I am surprised with all that idling time and low Michigan temperatures that the flash point still is at 410F. My Philadelphia Toyota 2014 V6 in 2015 had a flashpoint drop to 370F and it was garaged kept.
 
The very last drive the car got prior to the OCI was the drive from Michigan to FL, 1,000 miles over 2 days, oil was changed and sampled as soon as the car cooled off in the driveway here in FL. Possible that any residual contamination was cooked out during the drive here.
 
4ppm metal wear after 7K miles is testament to Lexus and Toyota making great low-wear engine.
The OP needs to bump it up to any full synthetic oil and do an easy 10K OCI with Fram Ultra filter.
 
Originally Posted By: camryrolla
4ppm metal wear after 7K miles is testament to Lexus and Toyota making great low-wear engine.
The OP needs to bump it up to any full synthetic oil and do an easy 10K OCI with Fram Ultra filter.



Define "any full synthetic" as this run was on SynPower Synthetic, not a "blend" as per US marketing. I have about a years worth of oil already in the stash including PUP 5w30, Mobil Super 5w30 (5 5 quart jugs), 12 quarts of Napa Synthetic 5w30, and 12 quarts of Napa Synthetic 0w20 that I will be blending with 12 quarts of Valvoline Motorcycle 10w40 for a grand total of 66 quarts of oil to use up. I'm set for a while.
 
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