In service from July to 1/3/09 6,675 miles
25,490 miles on engine

2nd # is Universal averages

Aluminum 5 3
Chromium 2 1
Iron 20 11
Copper 15 6
Lead 2 6
Tin 1 1
Moly 41 69
Nickel 0 0
Manganese 1 1
Silver 0 0
Titanium 0 0
Potassium 3 1
Boron 20 53
Silicon 16 12
Sodium 8 10
Calcium 2573 2338
Magnesium 13 109
Phosphorous 597 700
Zinc 664 849
Barium 0 0
SUS viscosity @210F 62.4
cST Viscosity @100C 10.89
Flashpoint 425
Fuel% <0.5
Antifree% 0
Water% 0
Insolubles% 0.2
TBN 4.3

I was not happy with this report. A run on 10w30 valvoline at 10,430 miles had iron at 7, chromium at 0. If i knew how to post the blackstone report i would. Platimun 5w30 is in there now. I will resample at 4 to 5 grand. In will use Synpower when i drop the 5w30 platinum.

For some reason the VQ series engines likes Valvoline. I remember seeing a dynamite Durablend UOA of this same engine.

Strange, your TBN is up there, but it almost looks like your engine is still breaking in. However at 25k miles you should be good to go.

Is this mainly city driving? What driving conditions was this UOA under?

TY for posting your report, my wife has a '04 nissan and I like to see UOA's from that year.

I am a valvoline fan and i'm kicking myself for not going with synpower, instead i put in 5w30 platinum.
obviously i have no idea if the synpower would have performed better but it was my gut feeling to go with the valvoline syn.
I may go with durablend. It was recommended by a tribologist.

How are you so certain that 10-15 ppm would make a difference over the life of the engine?

Certain, none at all! It may make no difference at all but i'm trying to improve the wear.
This was a mix of highway and city. Probably 65% highway.

JCM

Check your air filter and all the intake seals!!!

Pennzoil Platinum contains no significant amount of Sodium, Potassium or Silicon. Since you live in Illinois, I'd guess there is a significant amount of road salt used.

jcm, with my limited knowledge of UOA I can understand your displeasure with the report.

I recently posted my 03 Altima 2.5L on Valvoline Conv., and it was fine. Granted it was only about 4k in 5months, but still you used synthetic. You supposedly have the "good engine" and I the the "questionable one".

IMO, you are wise to reduce the OCI, just as I was advised to increase it to at least 5K. Good luck.

Curious what oil filter you used?

I didn't see it, so I'll ask. Did Blackstone give you the miles that the UA was based on? This was in service roughly 6 months +/-


Without that UA mileage, it's hard to gauge. While there's some dust to sweep up here, there's nothing to get too upset about. If viewed against the other half of the year, it would probably be a little easier to figure.

I found the VQ series likes oil on the thicker side...

Ive been putting GC 0w30 in my fathers '00 Maxima for a while now and it seems to love it.

If that's true then why do you want opinions from a group of amateurs without the knowledge the tribologist has?

Farrafan1....For the first few changes i used valvoline AC which i had a UOA done. Durablend was recommended and i chose to use PP which has treated me well in the past. This is the second engine in this car, the first had failed at 52,000 miles. I wanted to use PP because i think it's a quality oil.

SlCraig...I tried GC before in the origional engine and if i remember correctly it caused an awful lot of startup noise compared to other oils i used.

Sayjac...I used an EaO12 amsoil oil filter on this change. Used it for 1 interval nad changed it when i changed the oil.

What caused the first engine to fail?

Darn, you also used a higher quality filter than my AAP Total grip.

I too am curious why the first engine failed. IIRC, the 3.5L was ranked one of Ward's top 10 engines several years running.

Was it a new or remanufactured engine?

I was just wondering why you would disegard the advice of a trained professional and seek the advice of untrained amateurs.