2007 Impala 3.5L/Auto Extra? 5w30/8042 miles

[racer12306]

Curiosity peaked my interest on the GM OLM in my work car. I was seeing very long change intervals while following the OLM. This is my first and only used oil analysis as this is out of my pocket and it's a work car. Seems with this information that there is no worry on my part that following the OLM will do any harm. I'm still getting used to longer than normal oil change intervals on conventional oil. While I understand that this is a completely different engine, it gives me confidence in going 10k on my '12 Town & Country with Pennzoil Ultra.

I believe the oil used is Auto Extra, it is 5w30, as that is what I see around the shop when I get the oil changed. I don't know what kind of filter, I'm assuming one of the various Fram type filters that small shops like to use.

Background: This car probably has a nearly ideal driving pattern for oil life. When I drive it to the office it gets driven 40 miles each way and it gets a number of long trips. If for some reason it is run for 5-10 minutes one day, it will have a good drive the next day. This change was done at about 15% left on the OLM, iirc, and was mainly done because I had a 1000 mile trip the next week. I believe the stick showed about 1 qt low at the time of change. Pending trips, I don't see why I can't take this down to 5-10% on the OLM. I do understand this is only one data point but it seems the wear numbers look great.

Code:


Sample Universal Averages

MILES IN USE 8042 5600

MILES 96339

MAKEUP OIL 0 qts

SAMPLE TAKEN 7/17/13



ALUMINUM 3 3

CHROMIUM 0 1

IRON 17 15

COPPER 11 16

LEAD 7 4

TIN 1 1

MOLYBDENUM 47 75

NICKEL 1 0

MANGANESE 1 2

SILVER 0 0

TITANIUM 0 0

POTASSIUM 4 2

BORON 15 45

SILICON 10 12

SODIUM 14 52

CALCIUM 2437 2052

MAGNESIUM 27 147

PHOSPHORUS 738 674

ZINC 880 810

BARIUM 0 1



SUS VIS 210ºF 58.3

cSt @ 212ºF 9.74

FLASHPOINT ºF 400

FUEL %
ANTIFREEZE % 0.0

WATER % 0.0

INSOLUBLES .2

TBN 1.8


Comments:
It's hard to say for sure what oil this is because they all use pretty similar additives -- just in different amounts. Whatever this oil is, the additives are correct for gasoline engine oil and the viscosity was indeed in the 5w30 range. And, the oil seems to be working well for you. Metals are all within the average
range, and averages are based on just 5,600 miles for the GM 3.5L V-6 engine. Your run was longer, so the comparable metals are certainly nice to see. The TBN was starting to get low at 1.8, but there's still active additive left. Try up to 10,000 miles next.

 

[Azeem]

If you had the sample after the 1000 miles trip, numbers would probably look the same.

Nice report, man. Thanks

 

[oliveoil]

Or you could have just added another quart and gone to 0% on the OLM. Now we know that you can do this. Thanks for this interesting UOA.

 

[fdcg27]

For a no-name oil and a low end oil filter, this is a pretty good UOA.
Insoluables are low and TBN is above one.
Wear metals per K are below the stated universal avaerage.
The OLM is apparently pretty accurate.

 

[racer12306]

I agree, very interesting information.

Guess GM got it right.

 

[cp3]

I don't see any reason to not just wait for the OLM to tell you to change it. Looks fine and not the worst report we've seen from a LZ9.

 

[racer12306]

That's what I plan to do, pending long trips of course.

 

[bigt61]

Originally Posted By: oliveoil
Or you could have just added another quart and gone to 0% on the OLM. Now we know that you can do this. Thanks for this interesting UOA.


+1 - impressive report, that engine has a lot of life left in it.

 

[racer12306]

Sorry to report back with some information on this.

Since the car uses about 1qt in 10,000 miles, I asked for an extra quart of oil the the oil change this week.

I was given a quart of MC 5w30 blend. I didn't ask about it, but reasonable assumption says this is what he has been using in the past.

Little heartbroken, but still a good UOA. Maybe the OLM isn't as dead on as we thought.