'03 Saab 9-5 Aero, 3,776 miles on "Saab synthetic 5W-30"

[greenjp]

Got my UOA from Blackstone yesterday. The relevant info: '03 9-5 Aero, 14,414 miles when sample taken, 3,776 miles on this oil, from March 4th to May 8th. This was the oil and filter from the "free" 10k service at the dealer. I was told it was a full synthetic, the reciept said 5W30.

Blackstone said:
"Aside from a little gas in the oil, this analysis result looks normal. You can pick up this much gas from city driving and idling. It was enough to affect the viscosity, but we doubt your engine wear could get much better than this, after a 3,776 mile oil use run. Our average sample from this type of engine has 4,370 miles, so you could go a bit longer if you wanted. Your bearing wear metals are doing very well, so we think this oil type is working well. Upper cylinder wear was average. No moisture or signs of any engine coolant found. Nice wearing Saab engine!"

And the #'s:
mine avg
Al 3 4
Ch 1 1
Fe 20 19
Cu 8 6
Pb 5 9
Sn 0 1
Mo 11 69
Ni 0 0
Mn 1 3
Ag 0 0
Ti 0 0
K 0 1
Bo 17 53
Si 6 6
Na 4 6
Ca 2761 2593
Mg 177 230
Ph 767 819
Zn 871 965
Ba 0 0

Properties
Were Should
Viscosity 55.6 56-63
Flashpoint 340 365
Fuel % 1.3 Antifreeze 0 0
Water % 0 Insolubles % 0.3 Did not get a TBN

So, what do you guys think? Looks like whatever the dealer put in did not have much in the way of Moly, that lead to any conclusions about it's possible identity?

We put those 3,776 miles at a much faster rate than we put the first 10k. Ran into some paperwork problems with the wife's Civic that kept it off the road for a couple of months, so the Saab saw extra duty. My wife put many of those miles on with her 20 mile commute, almost daily 1 mile trips to the gym and other short errands. Now that the Civic is back, the 9-5 won't be doing those short trips, so hopefully that gas % will get dropped.

I changed it to Mobil 1 5W-40 and a PureOne filter, which will stay in there for ~5,600 miles to the 20k dealer service.

jeff

 

[SSDude]

Why did you change to M1? Your UOA looks good.

 

[quadrun1]

Looks good and I think a 5,000 mile interval is fine...

What's interesting is that you have lower lead wear than my '02 Aero despite the use of thinner (non-A3) oil!

Is this an automatic?

 

[greenjp]

Nope, it's a stick shift. What does lead wear indicate?

If this stuff was indeed a synthetic blend, I have high hopes for the Mobil 1 5W-40. I'll use it again at the 25k change, and go to it exclusively after the last dealer freebie. Probably wait until 40k for my next UOA, so I can send in a 5k sample of the Mobil 1.

jeff

 

[quadrun1]

Lead is usually from lower bearing wear and it can be increased by lugging, which stick shift drivers sometimes do, especially with a turbo.

Thanks for posting this UOA!

Jason

[ May 20, 2004, 01:49 PM: Message edited by: quadrun1 ]

 

[Eiron]

Hey greenjp,

Just so you know, if it says "5W-30" but does not also list a known full syn brand (e.g., "Mobil 1"), then it's not a full syn oil. In fact, unless the receipt says "Saab oil" on it, it may not even be a semi-syn. (My dealer has used some kind of mystery bulk oil for years. When I asked what it was, no one knew for certain. One guy thought it might be Valvoline, & another thought it might be a semi-syn, but they really didn't know or care.) The only Saab-labeled oils sold in the US are 5W-30 syn blend (downgraded from an ACEA A3 rating to an ACEA A1 rating) & 0W-30 full syn (in-between at an ACEA A5 rating).

You might ask the dealer if you can pay a small up-charge & get the 0W-30 full syn instead. I think it would be worth it for an additional $8-$10 ($2-$2.50/qt) per "free" oil change.

You might also consider running a UOA a couple thousand miles before the warranty expires (is this the same time as the last free change?). That way you can see if there are any repair concerns before you're OOW.

The report looks good (for a Saab turbo!). I'm also looking forward to using this new M1 5W-40 year-round, as my climate is probably pretty similar to yours. Since you're sticking to 5k mile intervals, you might also check out zeke's 9000 UOAs running M1 15W-50. Those have to be the best Saab turbo reports I've seen!

 

[greenjp]

Changed to Mobil 1 for a couple of reasons. Saab does the 10k, 20k, and 30k services for free, using whatever oil this was and the Saab labelled "long life" filter. I did the 5k and 15k changes myself as I want to keep to 5k. Mobil 1 5W-40, which comes highly recommended here and on Saabnet, is readily available at Walmart, so I went with it. Basically a matter of convienence. Same for the PureOne filter, good word of mouth and readily available.

jeff

 

[dagmando]

The free service is the synthetic blend 5w-30 make by Mobil. Here is the bulletin from SAAB to service departments:

For 2003, the 9-5 and 9-3 Convertible requirements remain the same as for 2002. Oil changes are required every 10,000 miles under normal driving conditions. Oil requirements remain the same at either semi-synthetic or full-synthetic. For the purpose of Saab No-Charge Scheduled Maintenance, only Saab Semi-synthetic should be used. Claims submitted for Saab Long-Life Full Synthetic on 9-5 or 9-3 CV models will be returned

 

[greenjp]

Well if that's the case, then either my service advisor, ahem, "misspoke", or they go ahead and use full synthetic anyway. Going with ~5k changes should keep me from worrying about it, whatever the case.

jeff

 

[greenjp]

Eiron,
Hi. Thanks for the welcome. Liked my post re. Castrol over on Saabnet eh?

Like I said, the service advisor told me they use "full synthetic" and the reciept says "OIL5W30 4X4LITR", so whatever that all means is what this stuff was! Whatever it was, I'm glad to see everybody saying it's a good report.
Question: if zeke is getting super UOAs using 15W-50, why aren't you planning on using that? I'm thinking maybe in the future it couldn't be a bad idea to use 15W-50 for the summer fill, then 5W-40 for fall-spring. Thoughts?
The last free change is at 30k, warranty expires at 50k. I'll probably send in a sample of that 30k fill when I do the 35k change, and another at the 45k change like you suggest to make sure I have any info I need before the warranty expires.

jeff

 

[Eiron]

Hey greenjp,

Yeah, a few short weeks & you'll be spewing oil homilies with the rest of us!

quote:

---

Originally posted by greenjp:
Question: if zeke is getting super UOAs using 15W-50, why aren't you planning on using that? I'm thinking maybe in the future it couldn't be a bad idea to use 15W-50 for the summer fill, then 5W-40 for fall-spring. Thoughts?

---

M1 15W-50 is definitely my first choice for a Saab turbo. (I used it for over a year (including two Northern Colorado winters) w/o an oil change in my '90 N/A 900 & got excellent UOA results.) Unfortunately, the '99 turbo 9³ is my wife's car & it takes us at least a year to put on 10k miles (my minimum OCI interval these days). Since I can't monitor how the car would respond to this oil in the middle of a winter deep-freeze, I'm not comfortable putting it in this engine. I ran M1 0W-40 for the last interval, & was all ready to use a 50/50 mix of 0W-40 & 15W-50 when Mobil released the 5W-40. So that's what's in there now, & that's what will go in both C900s so I won't have to stock more than one oil.

If I lived somewhere with warmer (above 20°F) winters, I'd run only 15W-50. Or, if I ran shorter OCIs, I'd do just what you suggest & use 15W-50 during warmer weather & 5W-40 in the really-cold. It's the extended OCIs & sub 10°F winters that force me away from 15W-50 right now.

Similarly, if I didn't own the 9³, I'd probably use 0W-40 for 20k mile OCIs in both C900s. But the harsher turbo environment is driving the oil "stock pile" for all three cars.