Sure anyone can recommend a 40 or 50 weight, even a HP robbing conventional diesel oil. It's NOT what the OP wants.

I think Redline 5W-30 is a good recommendation to go along with RD30 10W-30. Any others? Maybe a M1 5W-40. Maybe Amsoil 10W-40.

Someone's all but hurt.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?
ubb=showflat&Number=1540233&Searchpage=2&Main=111687&Words=corvette&Search=true#Post1540233


German Castrol, 0W-30, 2974 miles, 1999 Corvette
Curious_George


Registered: 03/03/08
Posts: 9
Loc: Lake Mary, Florida 1999 Corvette, LS-1 5.7L 346 CI V-8 (2nd Sample)

MI/HR on Oil - 2,974 miles
MI/HR on Unit - 85,573
Sample Date - 10/26/08
Make Up Oil Added - 0 qts.

2nd Sample / 1st Sample / Unit (Engine) Averages / Universal Avg.

ALUMINUM - 2 / 4 / 3 / 4
CHROMIUM - 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
IRON - 10 / 15 / 13 / 15
COPPER - 4 / 5 / 5 / 35
LEAD - 4 / 13 / 9 / 7
TIN - 2 / 0 / 1 / 2
MOLYBDENUM - 4 / 12 / 8 / 64
NICKEL - 0 / 1 / 1 / 1
MANGANESE - 0 / 1 / 1 / 3
SILVER - 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
TITANIUM - 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
POTASSIUM- 2 / 2 / 2 / 1
BORON - 5 / 15 / 10 / 68
SILICON - 6 / 8 / 7 / 10
SODIUM - 5 / 7 / 6 / 7
CALCIUM - 1739 / 1800 / 1770 / 2354
MAGNESIUM - 513 / 430 / 472 / 269
PHOSPHORUS - 820 / 797 / 809 / 743
ZINC - 1035 / 1014 / 1025 / 892
BARIUM - 0 / 0 / 0 / 0

2nd Sample / 1st Sample / Nominal

cSt Viscosity @ 100°C - 64,6 / 64.1 / 59~68
SUS Viscosity @ 210°F - 11.51 / 11.35 / 9.9~12.7
Flashpoint in °F - 410 / 390 / > 385
Fuel % - < 0.5 / < 0.5 / < 2.0
Antifreeze % - 0.0 / 0.0
Water % - 0.0 / 0.0 / < 0.1
Insolubles% - 0.2 / 0.4 / < 0.6

NICK: Great recovery in lead accumulation! We thought that the high lead discovered last time was due to
something temporary, and the shorter time on the oil went far to bring lead down nicely. This shows that
bearings wore more agreeably on this oil's watch, and that's good. Other metals were low and well
balanced, so no new problems at parts were evident. In fact, nothing unusual was noted among wear metals
this time. Physically, the oil looked great. Insolubles were low, showing limited oil oxidation and no
combustion issues.

Check back to build wear trends.


http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...rue#Post1431424


Raced 94 Corvette LT1-RedLine 10w-40 2200 miles
sidney004


Registered: 05/26/04
Posts: 71
Loc: Castro Valley,CA Car has 72,200 hard driven miles.It is taken to road race events, this sample represents 13 hours of track use(4200 RPM to 6000RPM at 280F+) The data is listed from newest sample on the left to progressively older data. First data set(Rl 10w-40),second data set(RL 10w40),third data set (RL 10w-40),fourth data set (RL 10w-30), fifth data set(Amsoil 10w-30 + red bottle Valvoline Synpower), sixth data set(Amsoil 5w-30) Amsol EAO23 filter was carried over from last two changes(8000 miles total), changed out for next cycle. Air filter changed from foam to paper.

FE 26.....33.....30.....49.....36.....94
CR 2......3......2......2......2......5
NI 2......3......2......5......7......18
AL 16.....16.....9......13.....9......34
PB 25.....35.....25.....58.....39.....111
CU 8......8......7......7......7......15
SN 23.....23.....6......15.....6......21
SI 45.....81.....34.....18.....16.....30
B 23.....41.....20.....28.....136....3
NA 37.....33.....32.....37.....16.....28
K <10...<10....<10....<10....<10....<10
MO 965....908....726....695....231....11
P 1056...1145...1049...1303...1348...1309
ZN 1509...1564...1170...1803...1589...1968
CA 3417...3502...2633...3605...2796...3554
MG 28.....30.....27.....254....837....427
Miles 2200...2000...3800...3000...3100...6000
Fuel <1.0..<1.0...<1.0...<1.0...<1.0...<1.0
T/S% <.1 .1 .5 .1 1.0 2.0
H20 <.1 <.1 <.1 <.1 <.1 <.1
VIS 14.5...14.3...16.3...12.1...13.5...12.8

Interesting how the Al, Cu and Sn are identical to the last batch, what a coincidence!


http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...rue#Post1306952

_______________________


Here are the latest oil analysis results from my 98 Corvette

Analysis by Wearcheck Canada

5800 miles on oil
Nov 14 to July 18 (8 months)
106,000 miles on the car
Pennzoil Platinum 5w30
NAPA Nascar oil filter
Vararam cold air kit (with a cotton gauze filter)
LS1 5.7L V8 engine
7 qt oil capacity
1.5 qts of makeup oil added
Oil life monitor was at 12%


Iron 18
Lead 3
Aluminum 12
Copper 1
Chromium 2
Tin 1
Silver 0
Titanium 0
Nickel 0

Silicon 11
Potassium 0
Sodium 0
Boron 38
Barium 0
Vanadium 0
Manganese 1
Sulfur 2301
Calcium 3257
Magnesium 19
Moly 57
Phosphorus 763
Zinc 909


Oxidation 69
Nitration 53
Sulfation 57
*note, the above three values are not percentages*

ZDDP 17.5

Viscosity at 40c 58.7
Viscosity at 100c 10.9
Viscosity Index 180


I changed the oil earlier than I had planned (I always wait for the oil life monitor to hit zero) because my Fram Sure Drain plug system was starting to leak oil and messing up my garage floor. Luckily I had a spare new one to replace it.

I refilled the crankcase with Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 again, but this time I am using the Fram Extended Guard oil filter.


http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...rue#Post1456702


http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...rue#Post1288511



Elevated iron:

Royal Purple 10W40, '96 LT4 Vette, 3,150 miles
Michael SR


Registered: 08/29/02
Posts: 308
Loc: Houston, TX i forget the exact total mileage on the engine, it's roughly 30,000 miles. this was about a 6 month interval, about 12 auto-xes, some romps in between. RP was not by choice, just happened to be on the shelf at the shop when i resealed the intake manifold (note high silicon).

the engine has a GM "HOT" cam, longtube headers, and some WOT tuning (a touch leaner), but is otherwise stock.

amsoil oil filter. half a quart of makeup oil, about 1000 miles prior to draining. (the TBN is still unbelievable, even given the makeup oil.)

Al 8
Chr 2
Fe 54
Cu 7
Pb 12
Sn 1
Moly 61
Ni 1
Potassium 12
Boron 4
Silicon 65
Sodium 10
Calcium 3046
Magnesium 367
Phos 847
Zinc 1204
Barium 11
TBN 9.3
SUS 74.0
Flashpoint 355
Fuel 0.8%
Coolant & Water 0.0%
Insolubles 0.2%

blackstone's comments: Considering this engine sees harder wear than most of the engines in our average file, we think yours is wearing quite well. We did find a little bit of fuel dilution, which is common in engines that see a lot of idling and/or racing. Note silicon, probably from sealers or an additive.

i'd appreciate any and all comments and analyses. thanks.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...true#Post232343


Registered: 08/29/02
Posts: 308
Loc: Houston, TX Here is some information on this engine. I changed the rod bearings right after draining this oil. The engine had ~2000 miles at this point, and had been beat hard in both racing and countless dyno runs. Given that the bearings were "bad," and that there were visible metal flakes in the oil i drained out, i'm really surprised at how good this report is. oh, and this is using a K&N 3002 oil filter.

Al 2Cr 1Fe 14Cu 28Pb 13Mo 40Mn 1K 2B 6Si 55Na 4Ca 3614Mg 101P 812Zn 957SUS 100C 65.8flash 395fuel <0.5insolubles trace


http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...true#Post257171


02 Vette - GC - 2K miles - LS1 Engine
vettenuts


Registered: 11/14/02
Posts: 240
Loc: Rhode Island This should be fun.


I sent this sample to Terry for his interpretation and thought it would be worth some discussion here on BITOG. Here is the background, a little complicated, but here it goes. In the fall of 05 I installed a new cam, timing chain, rockers, pushrods with guide plates in my 02 Vette. Subsequent to the cam installation, I had the car dyno tuned where the parameters of the computer are updated for the new setup. Approximatley 1,000 miles later I did an oil change with GC and a Baldwin filter.

This spring, after planning all winter, I started the car after storage and drove it about 20 miles to make sure it was running good. I then put it back in the garage for major surgery again and then tore it down and installed new heads (these were brand new Dart heads so they included new valves, new guides, etc.) new lifters and new pushrods which needed to be shortened for the new lifters. The lifters were also packed with a grease that washed out in this batch of oil. The grease was black and I would suspect it had moly in it. I tried to rinse it out with oil by soaking the lifters and then rotating the roller while submerged in oil by hand. The manufacturer told me to use this procedure and not use a cleaner to do this as it might have the potential to start the motor with poorly lubricated rollers. I would guess that there was grease remaining in the lifters. The lifters were Morel's, if that helps at all. I spoke to Rick Morel before installing them to get his recommendations on preparation and followed them to a "T".

When I installed the heads, I drained the block of coolant as best I could, but there was some remaining coolant in the heads when I pulled them and it spilled. Not sure how much, if any, entered the motor but it may be the source of some of the coolant. I have not lost any coolant since the head change, at least not a measurable amount that is observed in the recovery tank. I have kept a close eye on it because of the new head gaskets. I also used Redline Assembly Lube during setup.

I also had to have the tuning in the computer changed after installing the heads. I had an issue when the car was on the dyno in that the K&N filter was clogged with pollen from all the pollen last spring. The dyno tune is the last step in the process, a street tune is done first to ensure all the fuel trims and timing is correct for normal street driving. The dyno is for WOT tuning and my tuner is very conservative with his tunes (not too lean). We cleaned the K&N with air and finished the tune on the dyno, but what we didn't realize at the time was his tuning for normal street driving was wrong because he calibrated the MAF with the clogged air filter. I then changed air filter setups and now run a system with the Green filter, but it is still an oiled filter. However, because the filter was clogged and the tune was done for street running with the clogged filter, when I put in the new Green filter the MAF was not correctly calibrated and I spent two months chasing a rich code that was turning on the check engine light. As part of my diagnosis, I also did an injector balance test. We found the problem and corrected the MAF calibration, no more rich codes since but there was almost two months of driving with this problem. Not sure if this accounts for the fuel but I did notice my tailpipes have cleaned up a bit after the fix was made. Fuel trims are now in the -2 to -6% range.

Hopefully, this explains some of the things you see in this analysis. Let me know if you have other questions. The car runs great, hasn't used any oil or coolant at all and seems to be functioning perfectly normal. So, what does the collective community think of this one?


2002 Corvette w/modified LS1
21,200 miles on car
2,190 miles on oil (oil was changed with this sample)

Iron 38
Copper 95
Tin 0
Lead 7
Chromium 8
Nickel 2
Aluminum 13
Titanium 0
Silver 0
Calcium 2,177
Magnesium 186
Zinc 997
Phosphorus 774
Barium 1
Molybdenum 12
Antimony 0
Silicon 46
Sodium 11
Boron 1
Potassium 0
Vanadium 0
Viscosity (40/100) 68.3/11.6
TAN 1.35
Flashpoint 360
Oxidation 16
Nitration 10
Water (KF-ppm)384
TBN 7.20
Fuel 219
Soot 0
Glycol/Coolant 2.027
Viscosity Index 165
Sulfate Byrproduct 21



http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...rue#Post1565742



http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...true#Post224193

Thanks for destroying this thread AJ.

The Mobil 1 held up better then the Amsoil, but not much can be determined by two UOA's.

I was wondering what he was getting at.

Both oils held up fine. It's just a misapplication that's all.

Ok guys. Question....

He stated that he never went over 3k RPM until the oil temp was 130F or warmer.

Do you think that this temp is still too cold for "getting on the engine"?

It would seem to me that 130f is still a little cool. Plus we really don't know how accurate the sensor is.

Take care, Bill

I'd recommend redline 5w40 if you want a dual-purpose oil. HTHS is, IIRC, 4.6. Which is really, really robust.

Not to knock on the product used here, as I'm a fan of AMSOIL's and I realize this was a mis-application, but whether or not the UOA shows any degradation my belief is that the oil was failing under track use.

My guess is camshaft + hot oil temps + lots of pressure = minor scarring.

I'd personally say go with one of the best known dual-use 5w40s, which in my mind is redline.

Joe

These engines have a complete roller valvetrain to include fulcrum roller rockers, so I'd think that would help alleviate cam wear issues.

The engine is still breaking-in.

I'd step up to a more robust oil as suggested.

Sooooo, which one of those is a Z06?

Very typical.......

No problem. I'll be shure to get your permission before posting some other Corvette UOAs for the original poster. I didn't think it had anything to do with you, but if you say so...ok.

I can pretty much guarantee 15w-40 would produce a better, if not ideal, result than what was already used or anything mentioned so far, but nobody wants to hear that because it's too obvious.

Maybe "held up" was a poor choice of words. "Didn't protect well in this app" might have been a better choice of words. What oil is spec'd for the engine? If it is 5W30 then the oil didn't do such a good job IMO. RL might be a better choice. Does GM call for a racing oil for this car? My guess is people who buy them use them for some spirited driving. If so maybe they should state use a racing oil?

Go easy here I want to learn the value of these UOA's.

Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as harsh or anything. My apologies. I get a bit passionate about these things.

GM calls for 5W-30 per GM4718M. I think spirited driving on the highway is vastly different than race track conditions. RL 5W-30 MAY have done a better job here, purely because it's not an SM oil.

As for the value of UOA's - let's look at this from another angle. Let us assume both of these were race track UOA's (not just the Amsoil). Although Amsoil has a bit better base oil combination, a bit higher B and is a long drain oil - it's not that much different from M1. I mean look at the viscosities and the other additives. That said - what is the problem that is inflaming everyone's anuses here? Fe. Almost all the other metals are UOA identical. Both have relatively high Cr and Ni - where is this coming from? Probably rings - break in or wear? Probably a little of both. But most likely during extended full throttle racing conditions the rings were contacting areas and taking shapes/angles that just didn't happen on the street. GM doesn't necessarily specify their street oils for such conditions. Then there remains the elephant in the room. What if there is a problem with the engine? I'm not saying there is, nor do I want the OP to worry, but looking at these two UOA's cannot rule out that possibility. The weaknesses of single pass UOA's raise their ugly head.

Would a 40 or 50 help? Maybe. Heck you could try Amsoil 15W-50 Racing Oil.



Amsoil RD50 Racing Oil

Thanks for clearing that up. My beef here is maybe GM should consider a foot note, stating that if the car is going to be driven under track conditions use oil xyz instead of GM4718M. It might just save us from these discussions? Not!