Castrol GTX 5W30 5,300 km; '02 Olds Alero 3.4

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jan 2, 2017
Messages
71
Location
Frozen, Canada
2002 Oldsmobile Alero 3.4 with 150k odd miles (mileage is km on the report). As you can see, they suspect some coolant is starting to get into the oil. Perhaps the dreaded lower intake gasket failure monster has reared its ugly head. No engine gaskets have been changed in the life of the vehicle. It has been in the family since new. At this point in the engine's life, it sees almost all highway runs and long distance ones to boot with very little driving around town since I cycle to work and errands etc. I am pleased about the wear metals given that it has had regular oil changes with conventional 5W-30 since new. The interval seen below was with a Fram Extra Guard filter. I have since changed the oil to PYB as it was on sale and I used a AC Delco PF-52.

What do you think? Should I wait until the next change interval and send in a new sample, or dig in and replace the LIM gasket with the improved ones? Thanks.


 
If you do change the intake gasket, I would change the oil pump drive o-ring while was in there that far.

Not sure that engine has the updated oil pump drive o-ring. If it starts leaking, it will cause a big mess. GM has an updated part that is a reddish color instead of the black. I had to change mine on a 3.1 because it was leaking bad. Simple to change on a GM 3.1 by removing the oil pump drive where once a distributor use to be. I did not use a gasket or any sealer, and it has been leak free with the new o-ring.
 
Originally Posted By: barkingspider
Replace the gasket and be done w it. It's worth the trouble. Thanks for the uoa


+1 Worth it to just replace it. Pretty good UOA otherwise!
 
Reasonably good metal wear rates.
Are you topping up replenishing radiator coolant water in between OCI ?
 
Originally Posted By: zeng
Reasonably good metal wear rates.
Are you topping up replenishing radiator coolant water in between OCI ?


The cooling system (radiator, trans. cooler lines, thermostat, and water pump) is entirely new and with new coolant as well. I added a bit for what I assumed to be the system working out the air pockets a few weeks back.
 
Am I the only one noticing the lil' Moly and boron? Interesting
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: car51
Am I the only one noticing the lil' Moly and boron? Interesting
smile.gif



I'm pretty green on this stuff so what might those numbers mean? These two elements are important in oil for engine internal parts wear right?
 
Maybe for flat tappets and older stuff but some oils like QSGB, PYB and Mazda like Moly. All in what the oil company likes to use and is probably cost effective.
 
Originally Posted By: JHerriot
Originally Posted By: zeng
Reasonably good metal wear rates.
Are you topping up replenishing radiator coolant water in between OCI ?


The cooling system (radiator, trans. cooler lines, thermostat, and water pump) is entirely new and with new coolant as well. I added a bit for what I assumed to be the system working out the air pockets a few weeks back.

If this adding is one off affair, I wouldn't be concerned about the claim of coolant intrusion.
If adding is regular and consistent ..... then only I would be worried.
May be it's just me.
 
Originally Posted By: BigD1
If you do change the intake gasket, I would change the oil pump drive o-ring while was in there that far.

Not sure that engine has the updated oil pump drive o-ring. If it starts leaking, it will cause a big mess. GM has an updated part that is a reddish color instead of the black. I had to change mine on a 3.1 because it was leaking bad. Simple to change on a GM 3.1 by removing the oil pump drive where once a distributor use to be. I did not use a gasket or any sealer, and it has been leak free with the new o-ring.



I haven't had any oil leaks yet, apart from a very slight valve cover seep. This will be a good thing to check on though. Thanks
 
Well, just as an update:

My coolant expansion tank now resembles a chunky chocolate milkshake. Clearly the gasket didn't plan to give me as much time as hoped. Oil looks normal on the dipstick because I haven't driven it since taking the cap off.

Fair warning to owners of this family of engines: check early, check often.
 
Don't mess w the Intake gasket - just throw in some GM stop leak coolant tabs and call it a day. Bars Leaks makes the exact same product and it's cheap at NAPA. I had an intake leak on my 94 Pontiac 10 years ago and it hasn't bothered me since - 3 tablets should do it. Use all 6 if it persists.

NAPA PART # NCB HDC

 
Yours lasted a long time with the plastic intake gaskets. My bought new 98 Malibu went through two in less than 100,000 miles. The first factory installed made it about 15,000 miles, and that one was fixed under warranty. Could not believe it when they told me the intake was already leaking.
 
Originally Posted By: BigD1
Yours lasted a long time with the plastic intake gaskets. My bought new 98 Malibu went through two in less than 100,000 miles. The first factory installed made it about 15,000 miles, and that one was fixed under warranty. Could not believe it when they told me the intake was already leaking.



I imagine that warranty install used the original design gasket instead of the updated ones which came out several years later. I'm surprised it took this long for it to fail.
 
Originally Posted By: car51
Am I the only one noticing the lil' Moly and boron? Interesting
smile.gif



Yep good ol' GTX, quietly doing it's job decade after decade.

A nice touch of Moly and Boron at about 60 ppm each, on top of a fairly regular Ca ~ 2150 ppm and Zn ~ 750 ppm.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top