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I have a 2008 Chevrolet Silverado short bed pickup. It has a 4.3L V6 engine and 4 speed automatic. It has all the bells, whistles, and sound systems, and will be used as a family car but just happens to be a pickup because I live way out in the country at my retirement home. The truck will go to town and back about 4 times a week, 9 miles round trip. It will make an occassional trip to Lowe's for seed, fertilizer, treated timbers for ground effects and that sort of stuff. Round trip of 43 miles.
It will make two trips a year to Myrtle Beach SC,(700 miles RT) two trips a year to Fredericksburg, VA,(950 miles RT) 3 or 4 trips a year to Cherokee, NC,(300 miles RT) loaded with an in bed camper(I quit towing), about 4 trips a year to Blacksburg, VA(502 miles RT) and about 4 trips a year to Lexington, KY(172 miles RT)
The engine will never exceed 3000 RPM. It will spend the majority of its life between 1500 and 2200 RPM. It will get Shell or Chevron 89 octane gasoline with no alcohol as long as that is available.
The truck now has 276 total miles. At 1000 miles I will change the oil, oil filter, air filter, transmission fluid and filter, I will drain the differential and fill with a synthetic EP 75W-110 fluid. The oil and filter will get changed between 3000 and 4000 miles. Air filter will get changed every 6,000 miles, fuel filter about every 10,000 miles, transmission fluid and filter and the differential every 25,000 miles.
The truck this one is replacing is a 1986 Toyota. It was maintained the same way except oil and filter was exactly 3000 miles. It is now just a little shy of 300,000 miles. It has no mechanical noise, doesen't use a drop of oil between changes, and gets 26-28 MPG. It has had only 20W-50, 5W-50, and 15W-50 synthetic oil.
I want the Silverado to take me all the way to Purgatory. The oils I am considering are Mobil 1 0W-40 Eurpoean with TBN of 11.3 and Noack of 6.2, Amsoil 5W-40 European with TBN of 8.0 and Noack of 8.7, Amsoil 10W-30 ATM with TBN of 12.2 and noack of 5.4, and good ole Mobil 1 15W-50 with TBN of 11.7 and Noack of 6.4.
Since 1990 I have used only Mobil 1 15W-50 in an 86 toyota 4 cyl, 88 VW with 4 cyl engine, 90 Dodge with 4 cyl engine, 94 Chevrolet Celebrity with a V6 engine, 99 Chevrolet Cavalier with 4 cyl engine(I still use this car daily with 200,000+ miles)99 Kia Rio with 4 cyl engine(daughter's college car) The worse of the lot was the Dodge which had the head crack at the intake manifold at about 120,000 miles.
I have learned so much from this forum in the last few days. I have about 51 years experience with motorcycles and cars. I have an uncle, by marriage, that was a chemical engineer with the Ashland Oil and Refinign company near Kenova, WV. I have and do speak with an engineer for an American automobile company that is working on a project for high speed diesel engines. From what I have learned here, from my talking with chemical engineers and mechanical engineers, and from 50 years experience, I am moved toward the Amsoil 5W-40 European or the Mobil 1 0W-40 Eurppean with the Amsoil 10W-30 ATM coming up second. If the Amsoil had a higher TBN and a lower Noack, I would order it this evening.
I want to learn as much as I can as I find this fascinating.
By the way, my hobbies are mountain stream trout fishing and changing oil. I don't bowl, golf, go to ball games or spend money on other recreational activities :^)
Thanks to all