Valv SynPower 5W20 - 7850 Miles - 07 Saturn VUE

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This is the second UOA I've had done for our 2007 Saturn VUE. (The first one can be found here.) It has the 3.5-liter V6 engine that GM calls the L66, but it was manufactured by Honda who calls it the J35A3.

The UOA done at 36K (on a 6K OCI of Pennzoil Platinum) looked good so I decided to try 7,500 miles. The OLM came on around 5,600 miles. This sample was the second consecutive fill of Valvoline SynPower 5W-20 so there shouldn't be any cross-contamination issues affecting the results.

E82298.jpg


RE: their comment about the K&N filter, I'd mentioned to them that I installed a K&N filter shortly after getting the vehicle home from the dealer, when only 215 miles were on the odometer. (I haven’t cleaned/re-oiled it yet.) Since a lot of folks on here talk bad about K&N air filters and how UOAs often show high silicon particle counts and other signs of poor filtration, I asked them if there were any signs of less than great air filtration.

Some observations…
- Iron was up just a tad; copper was down.
- Silicon was up a little and is a bit over the universal average.
- Sodium was way up. I hope that's not indication of coolant in the oil.

I'm now running Green Earth Technologies G-OIL 5W-30, despite the vehicle's spec being 5W-20. Given that it is a relatively new and unproven oil (i.e. there are only a couple UOAs posted on here thus far), I am hesitant to let it go 7,500 miles. I might go back to 6K mile intervals, sample after the second, and then consider extending my interval from there, informed by the UOA.

Let me know what you think.
 
iron was up but in line with the longer run on the oil. synpower always seems to show great UOA's, it just doesn't seem to built for extended drains
 
Originally Posted By: ruxCYtable
How come it says the make/model is Honda?


Because of the engine.


Looks good...makes me wonder just how far I could push my Napa synthetic here...
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Hoosier_Daddy
...synpower always seems to show great UOA's, it just doesn't seem to built for extended drains


I agree here.
 
Originally Posted By: barlowc

Some observations…
- Iron was up just a tad; copper was down.
- Silicon was up a little and is a bit over the universal average.
- Sodium was way up. I hope that's not indication of coolant in the oil.


Sodium is from the oil, they (valvoline) use it as part of their additive package. Wear metals are all average or below average, there is no indication that the K&N filter is causing any problems.
 
Originally Posted By: daves87rs
Originally Posted By: ruxCYtable
How come it says the make/model is Honda?


Because of the engine.


Looks good...makes me wonder just how far I could push my Napa synthetic here...
smile.gif

Excuse my ignorance. So the Saturn Vue's have Honda engines in them?
 
Originally Posted By: ruxCYtable
Excuse my ignorance. So the Saturn Vue's have Honda engines in them?

Correct. It has the 3.5-liter V6 engine that GM calls the L66, but it was manufactured by Honda who calls it the J35A3. The following Wikipedia article has some additional information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_L66_engine

The vehicle's 5-speed automatic transmission is also from Honda.
 
Too bad they couldn't have used a GM transmission with the Honda engine.

This seems like a good UOA for Synpower with the miles. As people here have even mentioned, Synpower isn't known for being a long drain oil but it sure looks like a good fit here.

I will be curious to see how the G-Oil compares on a run of higher mileage. So far I think we only have 2 UOA's on here and they are polar opposites.
 
Looks very good, but I don't know why they are telling you to extend your OCI with a TBN of 1.8. Looks to me like you already found the comfortable ceiling with this oil in your vehicle.
 
Originally Posted By: barlowc
Originally Posted By: ruxCYtable
Excuse my ignorance. So the Saturn Vue's have Honda engines in them?

Correct. It has the 3.5-liter V6 engine that GM calls the L66, but it was manufactured by Honda who calls it the J35A3. The following Wikipedia article has some additional information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_L66_engine

The vehicle's 5-speed automatic transmission is also from Honda.
Well, fantastic. I learned something toady. I think I'll go home now.
 
Originally Posted By: cchase
Too bad they couldn't have used a GM transmission with the Honda engine.

Yeah, the Honda tranny isn't anything to write home about. I haven't really had any problems with it, but it's pretty sloppy with its shift. I changed the fluid at 30K and stuck with Z1. Come 60K I'm going to switch to Valvoline MaxLife DEX/MERC.

Originally Posted By: odie
Is the 6 cylinder used in the Saturn station wagon the same motor ? Thanks.

Nope. Only the V6 VUE models through the 2007 model year.

Originally Posted By: KCJeep
I don't know why they are telling you to extend your OCI with a TBN of 1.8. Looks to me like you already found the comfortable ceiling with this oil in your vehicle.

It's probably because I checked the box on the form that said I was interested in extended oil use. I don't plan to go beyond 7,500 miles at this point.
 
So Synpower is capable of 8K drains, at least in a Honda V-6 as you used it.
If TBN retention is decent, you could do maybe 9K on Synpower.
I am impressed.
The Synpower held up better than I would have expected on a fairly long run.
 
So calcium supports antioxidant zddp? [censored] comment implies tbn drop is due to the amount of calcium in the add pack. Then sodium does not support antioxidant zddp.

Valvoline uses add pack for conventional oil in Synpower.

That's ok. An oil that works this well for so many miles is a good one. ESPECIALLY if the engine is smooth and quiet and consumption is normal.
 
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