2010 Traverse 3.6L Valvoline Dino 5W-30 5,091mile

[rbarrios]

My latest UOA
This batch was used June, July, Aug.
3000 miles worth of commuting to work.
18 miles each way. 4 city then 14 hwy. I have changed my commute time to start at 6am- and traffic is lighter- allowing for very nice cruise in speeds of about 55 MPH. Afternoons is also 55-60. I am getting 22-25 MPG by leaving at 6am.

The last 2000 miles were put on in 2 days- during labor day.
We drove from Los Angeles to Denver Colorado. 5 on board with luggage.
I used 3,4,5th gear to climb steep hills and to engine brake going down when we made our way thru the Rockies.

OLM was at 50%
I drained out approximately 4.5 qts out of 5.5.

One reason to get the UOA- was to monitor for elevated iron--- which I suspect may point to timing chain wear/stretching that affected many of the earlier 3.6L engines. Pre 2009.
(my vehicle is a 2010- built in 2009)

 

[mongo161]

Nice results with VWB! Thanks for posting your results. Will you venture on to 7K miles?

 

[901Memphis]

Not too shabby, have you considered trying Synpower?

 

[dnewton3]

Between the UOA and the OLM, it's clear you can go further.

 

[Zero]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Not too shabby, have you considered trying Synpower?


Not sure I would, if he can go 7000 on dino, but it would be nice to see them compared side by side.

 

[bigt61]

Go by what the OLM says and add the quart that was needed. 7000 doesn't look like a stretch. Nice report - thanks for posting.

 

[lonestar]

Many people say to do this or that but may not be familiar with the 3.6L DI and potential issues with the early ones. I am always amazed how VWB does in rbarrios’ 3.6L DI engine. There have been several post of people, including me, using far more expensive oil and not getting near the results noted here. After the recall OLM recalibration on my 09 3.6L DI engine the OLM ranges from 30% to 40% at 3K miles.

Since VWB is one of the most least expensive oils on the shelf I believe 5k miles might be my the upper limit on a 3.6L DI suspected to have the same timing chain that the 09s had.

rbarrios, based on what your posted you used 1 qt. over 5k miles. Did you notice it the oil stayed on the full line for about 2 to 2.5K mile and then started dropping? I am using PU and the oil level will be dead on for 2 to 2.5K miles then start dropping about a pint every 500 miles.

 

[SteveSRT8]

This UOA clearly suggests you can go a lot farther on conventional oil. Plus the added quart after 5k will further boost the oil's performance.

OP has a lot of value left in that old oil...

 

[dave1251]

I agree with everyone that posted this oil could easily go the 7K recommendation by blackstone under your driving conditions and adding a quart every 5K will freshen up what you have in the sump.

lonestar my personal advice is not to judge the performance of the oil by price or what is printed on the label. But by real world results.

 

[rbarrios]

Originally Posted By: lonestar


rbarrios, based on what your posted you used 1 qt. over 5k miles. Did you notice it the oil stayed on the full line for about 2 to 2.5K mile and then started dropping? I am using PU and the oil level will be dead on for 2 to 2.5K miles then start dropping about a pint every 500 miles.


Sometimes I drain out 5 qts. other times 4.5, 5.2 etc.
the amounts used vary by the type of driving Ive done.

But I believe the oil slowly drops over the entire mileage.

 

[lonestar]

Originally Posted By: dave1251
I agree with everyone that posted this oil could easily go the 7K recommendation by blackstone under your driving conditions and adding a quart every 5K will freshen up what you have in the sump.

lonestar my personal advice is not to judge the performance of the oil by price or what is printed on the label. But by real world results.


What I meant by my comment was that for the price of VWB you can certainly change it often and it will not break the bank.

 

[webfors]

Another excellent report on an engine that is notorious for chewing up more expensive oils.

VWB continues to impress me over the years. So much so that I just purchased a 5 year supply for the new van and returned the PP at twice the price (yes it was hard to return the PP at the sale price).

 

[wemay]

This uoa is one of the reasons I recently settled on going 5K mi between oci on the Hyundai SFS 2.0T (d.i.) using VWB. The others being Hyundai not requireing or using syn as service fill, having no engine issues using VWB in the past, and folk like dnewton3 spewing common sense. How dare he!

 

[Ross]

This is one oil that I haven't tried in my 09 outlook. I have heard about the good results, but Ihave been using full synthetic due to our winters here. With the recalibrated OLM my outlook is only good for about 4,000 miles before the OLM hits "0"

BTW your postings over on the traverse and acadia forums are very helpful and appreciated.