SynPower 5W-30 5000miles 2007 Tacoma 4.0 V6

[Texas_Tacoma]

This is the latest run on my 2007 Tacoma using Valvoline SynPower. The first run at 16K miles was using Mobil 1 5W-30 and the other two at 20K and 30K were Valvoline. This oil definately appears to be on the lite side of a 30W oil, seems to appear more as a 20W, however judging by the results the engine doesn't seem to mind it. One concern is the Sodium content in the oil. If there was a coolant leak (not that I'm concerned at this time) how would the determination be made coolant was actually present outside of looking at wear metals??? Would Potassium also show up as an offender?

[/img]

 

[defektes]

 

[PT1]

It says right in the report that the sodium is a dispersant in the additive package.

 

[RPMster]

Looks encouraging. I'm running Synpower 5W30 as well in a similar type engine - DOHC V6 w/ VVT on intake side. Outside air temps here get down to about 40 deg F overnight (at the coldest), so I've decided I'll be switching to 10W30 at the next oil change. The 10W- can handle cold starts down to 0 deg F, and 10W30 shears less than 5W30 under hard driving. I'm planning a UOA after the next OCI.

Some questions for you: what are your driving conditions like (short trips, highway driving, etc) and what's your driving style (conservative or heavy on the throttle)? What are the high/low temps like in your area?

 

[buster]

Synpower is a nice oil, but I'm not impressed with it's tbn retention. With Ashland living in the 1950's, and pushing 3,000 mile change intervals due to their quick lube business, tbn retention may not matter to them. ??

 

[Mokanic]

I think better results could be had for less money. I have two 4.0 Taco customers going past 10K for less than 6 bucks a qt. Not that the Synpower is horrid stuff. Just not the best choice for the price.

 

[mechanicx]

Nice results and can't argue with that. But what I don't get is if your last two runs were Valvoline, then why with similar miles on the oil are your additive levels all over the map like your calcium and sodium. Maybe you didn't use Synpower the time before this run and just Valvoline dino and the Mobil 1 run before that is affecting readings some? But that doesn't explain why your sodium additive is all over the map with Valvoline.

I also agree that the Synpower's TBN looks no better than a typical dino oil's. And the additive pack just looks weak in general. I just think Mobil 1 and PP are a little better.

I don't think you have coolant contamination because your potassium level would probably be elevated if you did, not to mention possibly other wear metals.

 

[buster]

All of the Valvoline oils now use Na. How does the add pack look weak?

 

[Texas_Tacoma]

This vehicle is driven about 30% highway and 70% city. Temps here in the Houston area tend to be low 40's at night 60's during the day and just plain HOT during the summer months. I'm usually a pretty conservative driver...this truck is definately no hot rod.

I have no explanation for the soduim numbers at the 20K run. I know that SynPower was used because Mobil 1 had gotten extremely hard to find after hurricane Ike came through Houston and I checked my reciepts to verify. Maybe Ashland has started using more soduim???

I don't believe that this truck has a coolant leak but my main concern with this oil IS with the high sodium levels. I realize that it's an addative but how would the determination be made that there is any coolant in the oil outside of increased wear metals with loads of sodium already in the oil??? Maybe it's time just to work this oil out of the system and go back to Mobil 1 or try PP.

 

[buster]

Did you read the previous posts? Valvoline uses Na (sodium) in all of their oils now. Don't worry about it.

 

[dsmith41]

Originally Posted By: buster
How does the add pack look weak?


Just quickly looking at the add pack elements: Very little to no moly or boron, low calcium, and phosphorus and zinc ppm are at 5xx/6xx levels where it seems common for me to see levels more like 7xx/8xx. Compare this add pack to PP, M1, PYB, etc.

Practically speaking though, the UOA looks good. Low wear metals for sure. I don't put too much stock in wear numbers but when they are this low, it is safe to say everything is good. It did shear to a think 20 weight but again, that didn't seem to affect wear. Maybe the higher sodium in the add pack makes up for the other add pack elements being low. I don't know though, I'm not a tribologist.

 

[RPMster]

A TBN of 2.5 after 5K miles doesn't seem out of the ordinary, and Blackstone felt confident enough in the results to recommend 7K for the next OCI. Not bad at all for mostly city driving, especially considering that Toyota specifies motor oil changes at 1/2 that mileage for severe driving conditions (which, technically, you'd fall under since the majority of your driving is done in the city).

I saw another UOA recently of an Acura TL running Synpower in mostly severe city / stop-and-go conditions for almost 9K miles, and the TBN was still at 1.9 with good overall numbers on the report. From what I've seen, Synpower performs just fine.

It seems like everybody has their favorite oil. Really though, with 5K to 10K OCIs it probably doesn't matter which synthetic oil brand you use - PP, M1, Valvoline, Castrol, etc. After 100K /150K /200K+ miles, the inside of your engine would probably look great with any synthetic oil as long as you space your OCIs appropriately.

 

[dsmith41]

Originally Posted By: RPMster
Really though, with 5K to 10K OCIs it probably doesn't matter which synthetic oil brand you use - PP, M1, Valvoline, Castrol, etc. After 100K /150K /200K+ miles, the inside of your engine would probably look great with any synthetic oil as long as you space your OCIs appropriately.


Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

 

[vxcalais]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Nice results and can't argue with that. But what I don't get is if your last two runs were Valvoline, then why with similar miles on the oil are your additive levels all over the map like your calcium and sodium. Maybe you didn't use Synpower the time before this run and just Valvoline dino and the Mobil 1 run before that is affecting readings some? But that doesn't explain why your sodium additive is all over the map with Valvoline.

I also agree that the Synpower's TBN looks no better than a typical dino oil's. And the additive pack just looks weak in general. I just think Mobil 1 and PP are a little better.

I don't think you have coolant contamination because your potassium level would probably be elevated if you did, not to mention possibly other wear metals.


Despite all of that the UOA are still excellent for Synpower and other Valvo products, with vehicles running 5000miles plus. Yes the additives look low but his wear levels ???