M1 10-30 3.8 V6 Supercharged 8,600

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Well, I have the same engine (2000 Buick Regal GSE SC)as noted above in the link and the more recent UOA for mine at 11,000 miles using Amsoil 10W30 my copper (on a per 1000 mile basis the copper is close though)was higher but if you look at the trend it has come down considerably. Of note though is that my wear metals appear to be very "slightly" better then yours with 3000 more miles on the oil and no filter change during the interval. Especially iron which is about half of yours and the lead which is 3 ppm less with 3000 more miles. However, my 11,200 mile interval had at least a half dozen 500 + mile trips in it.

If you are going to stay with the M1 may I suggest the use of the Schaeffers #132 which I also added half way through the cycle. Even without the #132 tough my wear metals in the previous samples are slightly better then yours. Perhaps the 3.8L SC engine likes a higher viscosity 30 W which the Amsoil is.

However, your report is really good overall and regardless of differences between the other two 3.8L reports noted yours will outlive the rest of the car, these engines are durable which is why GM has decided to kepp them around a while longer

[ December 05, 2003, 01:54 PM: Message edited by: Spector ]
 
Everything looks pretty good to me. TBN is holding strong for 8k miles and the wear rates are very good. Copper is commonly high in this motor as well as the new LS1 style V8 engines. My mothers 98 Monte Carlo 3.8L still shows double digits 18ppm Copper at 92,000 miles. By looking at your other wear metals the copper is non abrasive and is not causing your other wear numbers to be elevated. Stick with what you are currently doing and this motor will last you longer than you will want to last it.
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IF the Cu is normal for this engine (and that's a big IF), then this oil appears to be working well in your engine and you can probably take the next one to 10,000 miles. But you probably should sample it at 5,000 then again at 8,000 just to be safe.

Hard driving will elevate Pb levels, and you do drive the car hard, so the Pb looks good considering. Overall it's a good UOA, Mobil 1 is doing well in this engine, and there's no guarantee that using a different oil would provide better results.
 
Thank you all for your comments. If I were to get my next one done around the 4-5k mark (wihtout dropping), would it be worth it to pay the 10 bucks for the TBN? It looks to me that the M1 is holding up great, I'm just seeing a higher level of copper than I was expecting.
 
quote:
Originally posted by regalman:
Thank you all for your comments. If I were to get my next one done around the 4-5k mark (wihtout dropping), would it be worth it to pay the 10 bucks for the TBN? It looks to me that the M1 is holding up great, I'm just seeing a higher level of copper than I was expecting.
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For that 4-5k interval there is really no need to pay for the TBN, since you know it will most likely be higher than this UOA posted here.

TBN value is most useful when you're trying to figure out how long you want to extend your interval, but if you're dropping back to a shorter one like in this case, it's not super critical to have.

I am very confident that your copper level will continue to come down.
 
You guys should check out www.clubgp.com great info about the 3800 (l67 and l36)
it is a Grand Prix board but Regals are most certainly welcome.

as stated above the 3800 will outlast the rest of the car, just take it easy on the trans. Many members of clubgp have tried synth trans fluid with mixed results. any comments???
 
quote:
Originally posted by gundam2000:
You guys should check out www.clubgp.com great info about the 3800 (l67 and l36)
Click to expand...
LOL, I'm a member of both the regalGS and clubgp sites. I posted results in both, but neiether site has much of an interest. I've noticed most of the regal guys go 3 months/3k miles, which literally amazes me.

PS - I post under a different name there tho, seems my normal username was not as appropriate as it could be for this site
smile.gif
 
As to the synthetic ATF the transmission linked to my 3800 specifies Dexron III. At 29,000 I did a syphon and fill (unfortunately GM does not see fit to install a drain plug) and I did this again at 49,000. Both times getting about 50% of the fluid out. I used the Amsoil ATF as the refill in both cases and have seen no difference in performance over the OEM fluid that was in for the first 29,000 miles. I did not expect any as the OEM fluid is specified for 50,000 severe service and 100,000 normal on mine so I am doing the drain and fill way before its time.
 
Wear rates look fine, but you'll get better performance and fuel efficiency by running the Mobil 1, 0w-30 in Michigan in the wintertime....

This engine is very easy on oil - that's one reason it was chosen as the standard test engine for the Sequence IIIF test, that's part of the API, GF-3 spec. Heck, if they used a 3.0L, V-6 Toyota engine, NO current petroleum oil would survive 80 hours @ 3600 rpms, with the sump temp @ 311F.

(Pause while getting up on soapbox ...)

What the API/SAE/ASTM should do is to use the infamous 3.0L, Toyota V-6 as part of the GF-4 or GF-5, standard test matrix. It is MUCH more representative of a modern, DOHC V-6 or V-8 than the antiquated, 3.8L pushrod motor. That would result in domestically sourced engine oils that rival the ACEA, "A3/B4" products in terms of performance....Of course they might cost a whopping $3.00/qt and be synthetic blends.
 
This was my first oil analysis and my first post here.

The car is a 2000 Buick Regal with the 3800 supercharged motor with 41k total miles. I didn't mean to go quite as far as 8,600 miles, but at any rate, here is what it looks like:

http://www.belome.com/regal/regal1.jpg

Everything seemed to go really well except for the really high copper content. I have had the car since 23k miles (bought less than a year ago). I changed the oil both times at close to 8k miles. I'm sure the 23-31k miles were from dino juice, but the last was M1 10-30.

What should I do now? Should I change out the oil a lot more often until the copper comes down? I'm a beginner to all of this so hopefully I'm not asking too many newbie type questions.

[ December 05, 2003, 12:11 PM: Message edited by: regalman ]
 
anyway you can get that uoa any clearer to read, its kinda hard to see up close what the #'s were and the comments!!!!
 
Sorry, I bet your browser automatically made the picture really small. I'll see what I can do to make it more readable for everyone.
 
ok, I can zoom in now. Only thing I can recommend is using a little shorter interval(maybe 6000-6500) until the copper comes down like your uoa says. Other than that, this oil is perfect for this engine. 8500 mi and a tbn of 3.3(even with a supercharged engine). Just goes to show mobil 1 holds its own ground.
 
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