5w30 Castrol Edge in 2010 Traverse ,2440 Mi on oil

[robd]

This is a Blackstone report (Castrol Edge 5w30)

Comments
Rob: Thanks for the note about the dark oil. It was fairly dark, but still looked pretty good as far as our tests are concerned. Silicon was the only element out of line, but this is mostly due to harmless sealers used when the engine was assembled and should wash out nicely next time. Wear looks good, so the engine is mostly past break-in and seems to be doing well. Universal averages show typical wear levels for this type of engine after approx 5100 miles on the oil. The TBN was strong at 3.9, so active additive held up nicely. 1.0 is low. Try 5000 miles on the next oil.

2440 Miles on oil
5240 Miles on unit.
sample on 4/25/10
No makeup oil

Aluminum 4
Chromium 1
Iron 16
Copper 19
Lead 0
Tin 4
Molybdenum 77
Nickel 0
Manganese 2
Silver 0
Titanium 0
Potassium 0
Boron 41
Silicon 23
Sodium 3
Calcium 2880
Magnesium 20
Phosphorus 674
Zinc 852
Barium 0

SUS Viscosity @ 210F 55.0
cSt Viscosity @ 100C 8.78
Flashpoint 420F
Fuel % < 0.5
Antifreeze % 0.0
Water % 0.0
Insolubles % 0.3
TBN 3.9

 

[21Rouge]

I know this isn't a very long OCI (but as well the engine should still be in the break in period); even so the wear #s look good (when we compare to other GM 3.6L DIs with posted UOAs).

What oil filter did you use?

What driving conditions does this car experience?

But in any event Castrol EDGE looks promising for this DI engine. Rob I do hope you refilled with EDGE and will run it to 5k miles and hopefully report back.

 

[robd]

Oil filter AC PF48, and the car sees some trip driving(about 25 miles to work). Also wife drives a lot of stop and go around town. I have 5w30 Edge in the Traverse now and will run for about 5000 miles.

 

[Nederlander75]

Is this the direct injection 3.6L motor?

 

[21Rouge]

Originally Posted By: Nederlander75
Is this the direct injection 3.6L motor?


MY 09 and 10 only come with the a DI engine.

 

[Nederlander75]

That being the case Im impressed with the Edge, even in a 30wt and such a short OCI on top of break in.

 

[Zedhed]

TBN is only 3.9 after only 2440 miles? Why is everyone making such a big deal about PU? That oil would only last about 5k miles at that rate.

I'm not impressed with this oil, Amsoil would have much higher TBN after just 2440 miles.

Why did you change this expensive oil at such a low OCI?

 

[BigTallV]

robd, many thanks for posting this UOA of Edge. It's great to have this info. I have some Edge in my stash and will be going into my Outlook shortly.

The TBN does seem a bit low considering the miles. Did you do a full drain or was this a mid-run sample? Does your vehicle see use of remote start or periods of extended idling? Sample was at end of April, how long did you run this oil for?

Thanks again for doing the UOA and posting.

 

[robd]

I never let the vehicle idle for long and this was a full drain. I changed the factory fill in Feb with 2800 miles on the Traverse. It seems these direct injection engines are very hard on oil and makes a good case for only using a quality synthetic. I thought the viscosity was a little low for a 30 wt. There was no fuel dilution. I plan on keeping with the Edge but will limit my oil change interval to 5000 miles max. I wonder how many of these engines are driving around with a conventional oil and using the OLM for 9000 to 10000 miles.

 

[21Rouge]

Originally Posted By: Zedhed
TBN is only 3.9 after only 2440 miles? Why is everyone making such a big deal about PU? That oil would only last about 5k miles at that rate.


You need to know some history with this engine type in a Lambda vehicle. There are several UOAs posted for this DI powerplant and much more often then not it trashes even quality synthetics. What we see in Rob's UOA (albeit for a short OCI) are quite promising #s. We will be able to make a more definitive conclusion re the success of EDGE in this application when we see a subsequent UOA for a longer interval i.e. in excess of 4k miles (hopefully 5k miles).

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Out of grade in < 3K. What ever happened to stay-in-grade?

 

[21Rouge]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
What ever happened to stay-in-grade?


It doesn't have to shear much to go out of grade as EDGE 5W30 is a thin oil right out of the bottle.

 

[ottotheclown]

Starting to notice a trend in some of these uoa reports, with tbn being low for a 15,000 mile oil, which it really is not, and a note from Blackstone in favor of 3ish with only 2,500 miles. It could be like iron and Mobil 1. Edge = low tbn re. miles on oil. Something to think about now they coming out with a 0-20 5-20 oil. I am for sure.

 

[demarpaint]

IIRC this engine even beats up the RLI oil which costs about twice what Edge costs.

 

[robd]

What would be the bad results if next oil change I would run Edge 10w30 instead of the 5w30 due to the 10w30 having a lower NOAC number and also having a somewhat higher viscosity?

 

[21Rouge]

Originally Posted By: robd
What would be the bad results if next oil change I would run Edge 10w30 instead of the 5w30 due to the 10w30 having a lower NOAC number and also having a somewhat higher viscosity?


I wouldn't jump to any conclusions yet as this UOA shows lots of promise for this oil. The wear #s are quite low given this engine and given it is for sure still throwing out break in material.

Rob, I believe you replaced the EDGE 5W30 with more EDGE 5W30. As was suggested do run this oil for at least double the distance of this past OCI and UOA again. This will give you a much better idea if 5W30 is the right choice.

Given your driving habits any idea when you will accumulate 4k to 5k miles on this fresh oil?

 

[lonestar]

Originally Posted By: robd
What would be the bad results if next oil change I would run Edge 10w30 instead of the 5w30 due to the 10w30 having a lower NOAC number and also having a somewhat higher viscosity?


Where did you find / get NOACK %s for Edge? In my attempts to get that info from Castrol they said they did not give out that information.

 

[whitesands]

The wear numbers look good especially for a new engine but the TBN looks low for that amount of miles...It will probably work well for this engine just keep the OCI's at 5,000 or less when using this oil and it should be fine...

 

[robd]

I never got a NOACK for Edge but given the trend with other brands I think it would be lower than the 5w30. Also this summer we will be towing our boat to the Outer Banks and would like the 10w30 to be in there for 90F + temps and towing 3600 lbs.

 

[Brons2]

as mentioned by others, wear numbers are not bad for a new engine still breaking in but the v100 and TBN are low. I personally would look for a thicker 30wt considering how hard this DI engine is on oils. Others may disagree, as always YMMV.