'14 Durango 3.6L, PUP 5w20, 7.5k, TBN/TAN

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'14 Dodge Durango 3.6 pentastar V6
this vehicle sees mostly interstate and rural state hwys. Daily mileage varies between 54-80 a day.

Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 5w20

Just over 7,500 miles for this OCI.

In service: 12/27/15
Drained: 4/28/16

Previous fill was Trop Artic 5w20

This is my second UOA from the Pennzoil Promotional Program. (Thanks SOPUS)

Overall I was pleased with PUP. Engine ran smooth, quiet and the oil had a slight dark honey look to it when drained. I have no doubt the oil could have gone to zero on the OLM.

I did email Blackstone to make sure the universal averages were based on 6,500 miles, which I think they are.

Included a couple more photos for fun. Oil filters are NAPA Golds.

Thanks.

Screenshot_2016-05-24-18-36-15_zpsybtdvmyu.png



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Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but that copper reading is a little worrisome. It is trending down but at 48k miles all the usual harmless sources of it should be out of play by now....
 
Originally Posted By: double vanos
Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but that copper reading is a little worrisome. It is trending down but at 48k miles all the usual harmless sources of it should be out of play by now....


My understanding is these engines are known for throwing copper, several have said it comes from the oil cooler plumbing. I've read other pentastar UOAs on here and copper has always been high.
 
Originally Posted By: Mantooth
Originally Posted By: double vanos
Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but that copper reading is a little worrisome. It is trending down but at 48k miles all the usual harmless sources of it should be out of play by now....


My understanding is these engines are known for throwing copper, several have said it comes from the oil cooler plumbing. I've read other pentastar UOAs on here and copper has always been high.
At least it is trending down, universal averages show 36 Cu, & you're half that. Could staying with the same brand oil help?
 
[/quote]
At least it is trending down, universal averages show 36 Cu, & you're half that. Could staying with the same brand oil help? [/quote]




It very well may. Problem is my oil stash looks like a petroleum rainbow with all the different brands of oil I have.

$1.99/qt Trop Artic at Orschelns
3 5/qt jugs of Valvoline SYN Power for the price of one at Wally World.com
QSGB/QSUD from the SOPUS rebate program
$2.99/ qt NAPA Syn
Crazy low price on Havoline on Amazon

They make it hard to stick to one brand
grin.gif
 
Makes me wonder what a conventional to 0% would look like given that's what the manufacturer recommends. Would be worth a try with the Havoline you put in just to see?
 
Originally Posted By: Mantooth
Originally Posted By: double vanos
Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but that copper reading is a little worrisome. It is trending down but at 48k miles all the usual harmless sources of it should be out of play by now....


My understanding is these engines are known for throwing copper, several have said it comes from the oil cooler plumbing. I've read other pentastar UOAs on here and copper has always been high.


The Pentastar is one of at least a few that give higher copper readings. My Ford 3.5 uoa's are the same. I'm not a chemist but I believe that it's a matter of an oil's chemical makeup that really makes a difference in these engines (GM V8's are another). Castrol and Valvoline oils seem to produce very low copper in the same engines. Synthetic oils in general also produce lower copper in these same engine families. I wonder if it's the sulfur content of an oil that does it?

I'm pretty sure that it's just chemical leaching but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. It just seems likely to me based on the various uoa's out there.
 
Originally Posted By: dustyroads
Originally Posted By: Mantooth
Originally Posted By: double vanos
Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but that copper reading is a little worrisome. It is trending down but at 48k miles all the usual harmless sources of it should be out of play by now....


My understanding is these engines are known for throwing copper, several have said it comes from the oil cooler plumbing. I've read other pentastar UOAs on here and copper has always been high.


The Pentastar is one of at least a few that give higher copper readings. My Ford 3.5 uoa's are the same. I'm not a chemist but I believe that it's a matter of an oil's chemical makeup that really makes a difference in these engines (GM V8's are another). Castrol and Valvoline oils seem to produce very low copper in the same engines. Synthetic oils in general also produce lower copper in these same engine families. I wonder if it's the sulfur content of an oil that does it?

I'm pretty sure that it's just chemical leaching but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. It just seems likely to me based on the various uoa's out there.


I read/heard the copper readings are coming from the oil cooler and are nothing to worry about.
 
Originally Posted By: zuluplus30
Makes me wonder what a conventional to 0% would look like given that's what the manufacturer recommends. Would be worth a try with the Havoline you put in just to see?


Yeah, that wound be interesting for sure.
 
Originally Posted By: zuluplus30
Makes me wonder what a conventional to 0% would look like given that's what the manufacturer recommends. Would be worth a try with the Havoline you put in just to see?


The first UOA on the report was VWB 5w20. I was told 7,500 was doable but I can't imagine taking the OLM to zero. Zero would probably be 9,500 to 9,750 miles. I'm guessing TBN would be below well below 1.0 by the point considering it was 2.8 at 5,700 miles.

I'll let someone else guinea pig that test.
smile.gif
 
Blackstone got back with me regarding universal averages. They are currently based on 7,300 miles so I was just a hair above with 7,500.
 
Originally Posted By: Mantooth
Originally Posted By: zuluplus30
Makes me wonder what a conventional to 0% would look like given that's what the manufacturer recommends. Would be worth a try with the Havoline you put in just to see?


The first UOA on the report was VWB 5w20. I was told 7,500 was doable but I can't imagine taking the OLM to zero. Zero would probably be 9,500 to 9,750 miles. I'm guessing TBN would be below well below 1.0 by the point considering it was 2.8 at 5,700 miles.

I'll let someone else guinea pig that test.
smile.gif



Don't blame you. Mine called for approximately 8K intervals in my Wrangler by the monitor. But it sees way too much dust/offroad and idle time to make me comfortable. I backed off to 5k-6k with conventional.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Mantooth
Originally Posted By: zuluplus30
Makes me wonder what a conventional to 0% would look like given that's what the manufacturer recommends. Would be worth a try with the Havoline you put in just to see?


The first UOA on the report was VWB 5w20. I was told 7,500 was doable but I can't imagine taking the OLM to zero. Zero would probably be 9,500 to 9,750 miles. I'm guessing TBN would be below well below 1.0 by the point considering it was 2.8 at 5,700 miles.

I'll let someone else guinea pig that test.
smile.gif



TBN does not drop linearly so it might still be OK.

There has to be some science behind their OLM, hopefully.
 
For a 4 month OCI and still a hearty TBN this fill looks like it could make 6months or 10k easily with those driving conditions. I'm sure other high-end synthetics could do that as well as long as driving conditions remained the same.

As for conventional, my general opinion is that 6,000-7,500 is the limit range of how far I'd go on any dino in almost any app.
 
Originally Posted By: badtlc
I wish my Chrysler T&C had the same OLM % reading. I'm so jelly.


I know the feeling, our Journey only has a warning light. I've never seen it since it's never been to zero. It doesn't even acknowledge a reset when I change the oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Indiana79
For how well the trop artic did I would consider just sticking with that and save the $$


Trop-Artic is still on my radar, I have one oci of it left in my stash and I will probably run it out to 7,500. I'll UOA it to see the Cu and Fe numbers compared to PUP. I'm not expecting a huge difference, I just like to satisfy my curiosity.
 
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