2001 Chevrolet Silverado 5.3L VML 5W30 11,300miles

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Well, this is from my coworker's truck, who was very lax on changing his oil this time around. He went about 11,300 miles on Valvoline Maxlife Synblend. He didn't add any make up oil on the run and only 4 of the 6 qt capacity was left.

ANTHONY: There's quite a bit of metal here. Averages show typical wear for this type of engine after about
5,700 miles on the oil. You're getting a lot more metal in your oil than we'd expect, even for a long oil run
like this. Aluminum, chrome, and iron can show upper-end wear, and iron and lead can show bearing wear.
Nickel is probably a steel alloy. Check the air filter in case silicon is abrasive, though maybe some of this is
wear-in, if you've had work done recently. The sodium is oil additive in this case. Try just 3,000 miles next
oil to flush metals and monitor.


Aluminum 18 3
Chromium 5 1
Iron 73 19
Copper 12 27
Lead 91 7
Tin 5 1
Molybdenum 23 73
Nickel 5 1
Manganese 1 5
Silver 0 0
Titanium 1 1
Potassium 5 4
Boron 7 46
Silicon 28 11
Sodium 322 52
Calcium 2173 2075
Magnesium 13 183
Phosphorus 572 698
Zinc 724 829
Barium 0 0

V @ 210f 57.2 46-59
V @ 100c 9.43 6.0-10.2
Flashpoint 395 >355
Fuel Antifreeze 0.0 0.0
Water 0.0 Insolubles 0.3 <0.6
 
If he can't be bothered with maintenance on a schedule and trades often then the next person down the line will reap the results, not him. The owner will just have to remember to trade up before the problems become serious.

This UOA is just a warning. Probably no harm so far but it's coming.
 
That's why I did the UOA,I wanted him to see what happens when you don't take care of your stuff haha. I don't think it would have been that bad if he kept the level up. He said his change oil light was on for a while and at one point it told him to check the oil level!
 
Originally Posted By: dave1251
This report would look a lot better if your friend would just keep his oil level topped off.


I agree, this would look much, much better IMO if he had simply added a couple quarts along the way.

That said, while I am a huge fan of Maxlife I don't put it in the 10k plus oils bracket.
 
He drives it back and forth between work 15 miles a day mostly highway, and then drives to Dallas and back from Tulsa on the weekends. I think I scared him, cause he has had it for 6 years and has no intentions of getting rid of the truck.
 
Originally Posted By: dave1251
This report would look a lot better if your friend would just keep his oil level topped off.


I agree, im betting the TBN was gone a few thousand miles ago. Nothing wrong with ML but he needs to keep up on his maintenance and realize that it isn't an 11k mile oil.

Im sure if he starts changing it at 5k miles and keeps it topped up it will trend back down and wear well the rest of its life.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: tomcruise
He drives it back and forth between work 15 miles a day mostly highway, and then drives to Dallas and back from Tulsa on the weekends. I think I scared him, cause he has had it for 6 years and has no intentions of getting rid of the truck.

So was he aware that oil needs to be changed, what's his excuse ?
If I intend to keep a vehicle for a long time I would at least keep up with the oil level , not neglect it like that.
 
Originally Posted By: laserred96gt
Originally Posted By: tomcruise
He drives it back and forth between work 15 miles a day mostly highway, and then drives to Dallas and back from Tulsa on the weekends. I think I scared him, cause he has had it for 6 years and has no intentions of getting rid of the truck.

So was he aware that oil needs to be changed, what's his excuse ?
If I intend to keep a vehicle for a long time I would at least keep up with the oil level , not neglect it like that.


There is NO EXCUSE. He said he had never done that before, so I dunno what was up with him this time around and why he thought it'd be OK. All I know is that the UOA opened his eyes to the importance of proper maintenance.
 
I've got 2 99 silverados with the 5.3,one of them has a comp cam in it,and an 01 sierra c3 with a 325/375 engine.
I run 10000 mile intervals on them all. Of course I use an on sale syn,no blends.
Anyway the 2 99s have almost 300k on the odo and consume no oil between changes,are spotless inside and run flawlessly.
The c3 has 225k on the odo and mirror the other 2.
There is more going on here than just running the oil too long. Way more. The first gen LS engines are as close to indestructible as they come and even my extended intervals aren't causing any harm.
I'm running 20k oil filter intervals too.
I'm thinking bearing issues on his truck by the lead number.
There's way more to this than just too long an interval,way more.
 
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