I have a 2002 LS1 Z28 and have had really bad UOA's using German Castrol fir all of it's 45,000 miles life. I'm going to switch to another oil and was wondering if I should do an Auto RX cycle before switching? Whould the Auto RX help the engine with only 45,000 miles on it? Thank you!
LS1 Camaro and Auto RX
- Thread starter Chris B.
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Unless you're seeing some junk through the filler or as you drain, 45,000 seems a bit early to me.
Gasp! Don't let the GC zealots see these words. They'll send the Gestapo Elves to your house.
Quote:
Gasp! Don't let the GC zealots see these words. They'll send the Gestapo Elves to your house.
I have been using a highly reguarded adviser here on this forum for several years and 45,000 miles. I have done everything he has told me to and spent several hundred dollars paying for his advice and using German Castrol and different additives with extreemly #@$%! poor UOA results on a very babied LS1. I was told to keep with the regime and all will come out perfect next UOA. I stuck with him and the GC and all and never got 1 single decent UOA!!!!!!!! I'm #@$%! and feel ripped off to say the least!!!!!
Screw GC and all this advice I paid big bucks for. Now I'm changing up oil and trying to figure out what would be a good one to try next and if the Auto RX would be a good idea at this point.
Another thing that was total #@$%! and sent up a red flag was he told me to take the oil to 10,000 miles and this was when the German Castrol has a TBN of 1.9 and 5,000 miles!!!!!! How the heak is the oil going to make it another 5,000 miles with such a low TBN and not trash my engine more?????
Their are only two members on this site that i hold in high regards and neither one of them are in the UOA business. Beware or people who try to sell you things you dont need. My Toyota Tocoma has 390,960 miles on it and has never had a UOA done, and i never have done any internal engine work. In fact i never had the cam cover off the engine.
Chris, if it isn't too much to ask, could you show us some of those UOA results?
If we could see what your results were perhaps some of the bright lights here could add some relevant comments.
I, for one, would be interested to see what a bad GC test looks like numbers-wise...
Thanks.
If we could see what your results were perhaps some of the bright lights here could add some relevant comments.
I, for one, would be interested to see what a bad GC test looks like numbers-wise...
Thanks.
Granted, I'm a newb at reading oil analysis', but the only thing that sticks out to me is the iron at 2x what it should be. Copper always seems high in LS1s. The rest seem to be at or around other LS1s, GCs, and UAs. Again, maybe I'm not seeing what you're disappointed in.
I know I'm always disappointed when something doesn't turn out as well as advertised. I haven't tried GC yet, but I have some for the next two intervals in my LS1 to replace the M1 5w-40 that I have in it now (that I can't get anymore). I'll get the 5w-40 tested when I drain it out.
But, in the end, if we're looking at pure numbers, a thicker oil might provide the cushion to give you lower wear numbers you are searching for.
Newbie's
I know I'm always disappointed when something doesn't turn out as well as advertised. I haven't tried GC yet, but I have some for the next two intervals in my LS1 to replace the M1 5w-40 that I have in it now (that I can't get anymore). I'll get the 5w-40 tested when I drain it out.
But, in the end, if we're looking at pure numbers, a thicker oil might provide the cushion to give you lower wear numbers you are searching for.
Newbie's
I apologize Chris for my poor attempt at humor.
I now understand why you are miffed. After looking over your UOAs and engine history, I have a clearer picture of your situation. Now I suggest you hang on to your 'nads as what I'm about to say isn't very comforting.
The problem isn't the oil, it's your engine. It was defective when you bought it. And it's now a little less defective after they fixed it.
If I were you, I switch to Rotella T-Syn 5w40 and drop all the additives. The thicker oil will help with the damaged cylinder walls and excessive piston clearance. That's probably the best you can do. UOAs will never be outstanding for this engine. You'll just have to accept this. No oil can fix a defective engine.
I now understand why you are miffed. After looking over your UOAs and engine history, I have a clearer picture of your situation. Now I suggest you hang on to your 'nads as what I'm about to say isn't very comforting.
The problem isn't the oil, it's your engine. It was defective when you bought it. And it's now a little less defective after they fixed it.
If I were you, I switch to Rotella T-Syn 5w40 and drop all the additives. The thicker oil will help with the damaged cylinder walls and excessive piston clearance. That's probably the best you can do. UOAs will never be outstanding for this engine. You'll just have to accept this. No oil can fix a defective engine.
Thinking out loud here...bear with me. Your last analysis vs Universal Avg and a good example LS1 at 6000k interval.
Element /Last/UnAvg/6k Exmpl
Alum 3 4 3
Chrome 1 1 NA
iron 26 14 10
Copper 32 36 2
Lead 9 7 2
Tin 2 2 1
moly 7 58 3
nickle 1 1 0
mang 1 2 NA
potassium 0 1 0
boron 0 73 0
silicon 9 9 11
sodium 3 7 0
vis@210 64 58-65
Flash 435 >385
Fuel 0 >.5 0
Antifr 0 0 0
Insol .2 TBN 1.9 4.09
Iron is twice as high as UA. Lead up 2 ppm above UA. Copper below UA. The good-example motors are trophies, and you're lucky when you get one that works that well on GC. These motors would probably look good with about any oil.
I'd wonder about the iron, but the rest tells me your cure is to stop the additives and find an oil your motor likes better. Maybe one that has a 40 in it.
Thanks for bearing with my short excursion into Logic-Land. I'll go sit back down now.
Newbie
Element /Last/UnAvg/6k Exmpl
Alum 3 4 3
Chrome 1 1 NA
iron 26 14 10
Copper 32 36 2
Lead 9 7 2
Tin 2 2 1
moly 7 58 3
nickle 1 1 0
mang 1 2 NA
potassium 0 1 0
boron 0 73 0
silicon 9 9 11
sodium 3 7 0
vis@210 64 58-65
Flash 435 >385
Fuel 0 >.5 0
Antifr 0 0 0
Insol .2 TBN 1.9 4.09
Iron is twice as high as UA. Lead up 2 ppm above UA. Copper below UA. The good-example motors are trophies, and you're lucky when you get one that works that well on GC. These motors would probably look good with about any oil.
I'd wonder about the iron, but the rest tells me your cure is to stop the additives and find an oil your motor likes better. Maybe one that has a 40 in it.
Thanks for bearing with my short excursion into Logic-Land. I'll go sit back down now.
Newbie
Thank guys and Pablo for posting a link to my UOA's. I guess what I'm so mad at is not the acctuall high wear numbers but for the last 4 years I have been told to stick with the GC and promissed the the next UOA would stabilize and wear would be much better and every time it never happened! I paid lots of money to have my oil looked and my engine tuned based on this advice and be advised and all it got me were poor UOA results. And it is not just on this car. I have a few more I was paying to be advised on and never got good results. Only my 1997 Tahoe has shown excellent UOA's and I did that all on my own.
If it is indeed my engine is just a bad engine that is fine and I can except that. But why did it take 4 years and many UOA's to to get to that point? The last UOA on my LS1 I was told by my adviser that "I did not know you still had piston slap" even after 4 years of telling him it does have piston slap and he know this in every other UOA!!! Also with this last UOA the oil had 5,000 miles on it and a TBN of just 1.9 and I was told to take it another 5,000 to 7,000 miles with this low TBN!!!!!!!! How could that be good advice?
I'm mad because of this and not my acctual wear in my UOA's. I'm a sucker and should have seen this 3 years ago when I did not get decent results with in a year or 2. I was dumb to keep paying big bucks to be advised when I saw no results. I have no one to blame but myself for being a sucker.
If it is indeed my engine is just a bad engine that is fine and I can except that. But why did it take 4 years and many UOA's to to get to that point? The last UOA on my LS1 I was told by my adviser that "I did not know you still had piston slap" even after 4 years of telling him it does have piston slap and he know this in every other UOA!!! Also with this last UOA the oil had 5,000 miles on it and a TBN of just 1.9 and I was told to take it another 5,000 to 7,000 miles with this low TBN!!!!!!!! How could that be good advice?
I'm mad because of this and not my acctual wear in my UOA's. I'm a sucker and should have seen this 3 years ago when I did not get decent results with in a year or 2. I was dumb to keep paying big bucks to be advised when I saw no results. I have no one to blame but myself for being a sucker.
Back to the Auto RX. I have used this to fix a rear main leak and it worked! I also used it to clean a 100,000 mile chevy 350 and when we opened it up to fix a intake manafold leak and a couple other things it was soptless! So I feel Auto RX does do what it say it does.
Now with my engine at 45,000 miles would the Auto Rx help in the transission from the GC that it has had for it's whole life? Is it needed at this point? Remember the Lube Control was also used for the engines whole life so it should be spotless from using the LC. Many thank gentelmen!!!!
Now with my engine at 45,000 miles would the Auto Rx help in the transission from the GC that it has had for it's whole life? Is it needed at this point? Remember the Lube Control was also used for the engines whole life so it should be spotless from using the LC. Many thank gentelmen!!!!
Perhaps someone that knows more than me would know otherwise, but I suspect your engine is very clean and the Auto RX wouldn't do it much good. If I were you I'd try a thicker oil (5W-40) and see how it goes. It looks like others are giving you pretty good advice in this thread. I'd try the Rotella T-Syn 5w40 first, then move on to more expensive oils if you aren't satisfied or see enough of an improvement. You shouldn't need all the other additives either in my opinion.
Good luck!
Good luck!
I run 40 weights only in all our LS1/LS2's and my iron block 408.
Schaeffer 15-40 we just got a bunch of in a fire sale so I'll see how that goes. But we have really good performance and wear with:
Cosworth 10-40
Amsoil 5-40
PP 5-40
RP Racing 41
Worst UOAs I ever got in the LSX motors were with 0-30's. No thanks. LSX is a great motor. Excellent performance and longevity. FAA certified for aircraft and they don't give them out for "defective" motors now do they!
Schaeffer 15-40 we just got a bunch of in a fire sale so I'll see how that goes. But we have really good performance and wear with:
Cosworth 10-40
Amsoil 5-40
PP 5-40
RP Racing 41
Worst UOAs I ever got in the LSX motors were with 0-30's. No thanks. LSX is a great motor. Excellent performance and longevity. FAA certified for aircraft and they don't give them out for "defective" motors now do they!
I would be remiss if I failed to add Castrol GTX 10-40 also shows excellent results in some of the "Old School" guys LSX's.
Funny how the vast majority of LSXs do just fine on it.
Patman
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Mine loves it!
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