Under the valve cover - GM Series II 3800 S/C

[92saturnsl2]

Car is a '00 Pontiac Bonneville with the Series II supercharged engine.

These pics were taken at approx 135k miles. The vehicle has been serviced according to the oil life monitor which is approximately 8-9k OCI. Oil used has been primarily dino 10w-30, many different brands.

 

[4x4chevydude]

looks super clean to me I would say keep up the good work.

 

[Scorch]

Great example that conventional changed at proper intervals can keep engines just as clean as synthetic! Wouldn't even flinch at the minuscule amount of varnish.

 

[oilboy123]

Don't think you can assume a conventional can keep as clean as a synthetic. At least when comparing a good dyno, and a good synthetic. Who is to say that if he ran a good synthetic it would be cleaner? I guess we will never know?
Originally Posted By: Scorch
Great example that conventional changed at proper intervals can keep engines just as clean as synthetic! Wouldn't even flinch at the minuscule amount of varnish.

 

[chubbs1]

I think you would be hard pressed to find it much cleaner than that. I am slowly turning away from the "I will ONLY use syn" mind state. This is the first time running conventional in my Altima and it is running great, very impressed with the new PYB and NextGen. After I get through my rather large stash of "syn", I very well may go exclusively to conventional.

 

[Scorch]

Originally Posted By: oilboy123
Don't think you can assume a conventional can keep as clean as a synthetic. At least when comparing a good dyno, and a good synthetic. Who is to say that if he ran a good synthetic it would be cleaner? I guess we will never know?
Originally Posted By: Scorch
Great example that conventional changed at proper intervals can keep engines just as clean as synthetic! Wouldn't even flinch at the minuscule amount of varnish.


Just stating that he said dino oil, with 8-9k oil changes which is longer than most people on here run full syn, and the engine looks that clean.

 

[Shaman]

THis engine is always easy on oil. I had the same thing with my L67. I don't know if I have seen a sludged L67 engine pic. L36 with the coolant leak maybe.

 

[demarpaint]

Looks clean to me. Oilboy123 is correct, we'll never know if synthetic would have done better or not, we can only speculate. We also don't know the type of service the vehicle saw. Still all in all it looks very good to me!

 

[Bill in Utah]

Looks great. A SUPERCHARGED engine running conventional oil 8-9k OCI for 135,000 miles with proof that conventional oils do not kill an engine when run past 3k mindset.

But yet we come up with the don't know how its operated or its easy on oil comments because of conventional oil being used. If this engine was run on syn everyone would be drooling on it and no comments would be posted.

Need vs want again. If it REQUIRED syn they would have stated it.

Thank you for the photos! Good job.

Bill

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
But yet we come up with the don't know how its operated or its easy on oil comments because of conventional oil being used. If this engine was run on syn everyone would be drooling on it and no comments would be posted.

Bill


That is so true, if it was synthetic, all you would see is high fives and prizes.

 

[cchase]

What is interesting is how much more varnish there is here than what I saw on our 3.1 GM engine with 3-5k dino intervals.

 

[2oldtommy]

Why was there a need to disassemble the valve train? Just curious. FWIW--Oldtommy

 

[92saturnsl2]

Originally Posted By: 2oldtommy
Why was there a need to disassemble the valve train? Just curious. FWIW--Oldtommy


Had everything apart to install a set of high ratio (1.9:1) rocker arms.

Also installed a set of tube headers while I was at it.

 

[Shannow]

Thought that the rockers might be the case.

The L67 in my Caprice is getting a set sooner or later, but amazingly with RWD, there appears less room than yours.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
But yet we come up with the don't know how its operated or its easy on oil comments because of conventional oil being used. If this engine was run on syn everyone would be drooling on it and no comments would be posted.

Bill


That is so true, if it was synthetic, all you would see is high fives and prizes.



Thats because (some) on here (not all), cant accept the fact that conventional oils of today can keep an engine looking that good!

 

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted By: 92saturnsl2
Originally Posted By: 2oldtommy
Why was there a need to disassemble the valve train? Just curious. FWIW--Oldtommy


Had everything apart to install a set of high ratio (1.9:1) rocker arms.

Also installed a set of tube headers while I was at it.

I like this. No headers on mine, but exhaust, CAI, U-bend delete and smaller pulley.
I tend to believe the 3800 in general is pretty easy on oil.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Originally Posted By: ls1mike
I tend to believe the 3800 in general is pretty easy on oil.


I see a lot of posts on here about the recommended oil for these engines, and the general consensus seems to be, use 5 quarts of whatever is on sale, and a decent filter, and drive it. So that's essentially what I've done. I've used ConocoPhillips oils mostly. There's a local Farm supply store here that sells the Trop Artic or Kendall oils for $1.40/qt or so every now and again.

As long as the engine survived the intake manifold gasket fiasco (they all go bad eventually and leak coolant into the combustion chamber or oil), you can generally get 200k+ out of these with nothing but routine maintenance.

An odd design being a 90* V6, but it's probably one of GM's most bulletproof powertrains. I'm taking the car out to Plain City, OH this Friday and having it dyno-tuned by Intense Racing, who specializes in these engines.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: 92saturnsl2
I'm taking the car out to Plain City, OH this Friday and having it dyno-tuned by Intense Racing, who specializes in these engines.


Be sure and eat at "Der Dutchman" while in Plain City.

And be sure to show up hungry...

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Originally Posted By: 92saturnsl2
I'm taking the car out to Plain City, OH this Friday and having it dyno-tuned by Intense Racing, who specializes in these engines.


Be sure and eat at "Der Dutchman" while in Plain City.

And be sure to show up hungry...


I love the cooking out in that area. The Amish Door is my favorite.