Oil with best anti-wear for Chevy 3.6 timing chain protection?

[benjy]

TIME + USE will tell!! lots of marketing on anything new BUT ONLY real driving will tell the story!!!! the more tech the more issues can happen IMO!! NOT extending changes as DI makes VERY DIRTY oil + NO thin oils for that 1/4 mpg increase + NOT a fan of any cylinder shutdown !!!

 

[Gyro Gearloose]

My son has a 2013 Cadillac SRX with a 3.6 engine. I warned him when he bought it (45K miles) about the timing chain issues and the need to religiously change the oil every 5K. He has run it over 200K miles with nothing but tire store and quick lube 5w30 oil changes.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

What year is the truck?

 

[nicholas]

My truck uses Chevy's direct inject 3.6 with timing chains. There are plenty of stories over the internet of timing chain stretch on these engines. Most "experts" attribute that to too long OCIs and dirty oil.

I like to keep my vehicles for forever, and a timing chain job is not something I want to undertake.

I figure selecting an oil with the absolute best anti-wear properties, and frequent OCIs is my best defense against timing chain stretch.

I recognize any oil meeting the dexos spec should be sufficient, but certainly some oils are better than others specifically for anti wear.

Thoughts?

Something with a lot of moly like TGMO.

https://www.stle.org/images/pdf/STLE_ORG/AM2016%20Presentations/Engine%20and%20Drivetrain/STLE2016_Engine%20and%20Drivetrain%20III_Session%203C_C.%20Esche_The%20Role%20Additive%20Chemistry%20Plays.pdf

 

[ATex7239]

Dexos approved oil. Keep it topped off. Change it often. That is it.

 

[facility1]

maybe look at vavolineEP 5w-30 or Schaeffers 9000 5w-30 for a choice for your engine

 

[nascarnation]

The early version of these started using oil at a pretty high rate. My 2004 Caddy was always run on Mobil 1 with changes at 20% life remaining on the OLM. By 75000 miles it was using a quart every 1000 miles with a six quart sump. Not many folks are going to maintain the level above five quarts and I think that's when the chains get hit with a combination of wear/stretch and then intermittent low oil pressure on the tensioner causes major malfunction.

 

[Blinker]

The LGX/LGZ doesn't have this issue. That was the older LFX engine.

I think you mean the LLT. The LLT was riddled with timing chain issues.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2012/SB-10043857-3386.pdf

The LFX, LGX, and LGZ don’t have an inherent timing chain issue. Timing system failures on these engines are most always from result of neglected oil change maintenance.

 

[Lawnman23]

I think you mean the LLT. The LLT was riddled with timing chain issues.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2012/SB-10043857-3386.pdf

The LFX, LGX, and LGZ don’t have an inherent timing chain issue. Timing system failures on these engines are most always from result of neglected oil change maintenance.

'Bright Idea' For Short Detection | MOTOR

A GM trainer was in town recently for a session on the company’s 3.6L engine series. These sessions are useful in that you get to hear what’s on the minds of the guys who design these engines. The engineers are constantly dealing with problems they have on the current product, plus whatever...

www.motor.com

Correct.

 

[Fordiesel69]

Also do not idle it. A lot of impalas that were used in poilce duty did not fair well with high idle hrs.

 

[ChrisD46]

Any Dexos 1 Gen 3 approved 5W-30 will do fine. I run Mobil 1 in my ‘21 3.6

I would rank Quaker State Full Synthetuc oils over Super Tech for wear protection .

 

[Malo83]

Run Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 in my wife's 2008 Malibu LTZ with the 3.6 since new. 85K and she runs great. 5K oil changes.

 

[nickaluch]

Change the oil with dexos approved when the OLM says to and you are fine. I have two vehicles with this motor the OLM kicks off pretty quick especially in the winter.

 

[GMBoy]

My friend Bill has told me there is one very common condition they see when a GM 3.6L comes in with a stretched timing chain. The owner doesn't check the oil level and the level is low. The chain wears partially because of a lack of lubrication. There are likely other factors in design, but the only source of lubricating oil is from the oil being picked up from the crank sprocket. When the oil level is low, very little oil gets picked up and the chain wears.

That is totally true - the lack of maintenance combined with the bad original design = a lot of failures. I will say the original issues was real on teh 07-11 model range as my 08 CTS and my parent's same car - both perfectly care for both needed chains before 50k miles so nothing made a difference.

 

[GMBoy]

My truck uses Chevy's direct inject 3.6 with timing chains. There are plenty of stories over the internet of timing chain stretch on these engines. Most "experts" attribute that to too long OCIs and dirty oil.

I like to keep my vehicles for forever, and a timing chain job is not something I want to undertake.

I figure selecting an oil with the absolute best anti-wear properties, and frequent OCIs is my best defense against timing chain stretch.

I recognize any oil meeting the dexos spec should be sufficient, but certainly some oils are better than others specifically for anti wear.

Thoughts?

So I have an 08 CTS 3.6DI purchased new. Ran Mobil 1 since new - needed timing chains before 50k miles. Since the new chains(updated design) I continued running Mobil 1 5w/30 and at 204k miles today all is well. So my recommendation is Mobil 1 5w/30 (regular, EP or HM doesn't matter), PP or any good dexos syn changed 5-6000 miles intervals.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Dexos approved oil. Keep it topped off. Change it often. That is it.

This ^^^^^^ is the ticket.
Keep the dipstick oil level at the Full Mark
Use the most recent SP license. Dexos 1 Gen 3 whenever possible
Buy a quality synthetic that's one grade thicker than the 5w30 written in our Owners Manual. We use 5w40 summer / 0w40 winter.
Change the oil every 3k.

In other words, if you keep using this guideline above, your dipstick oil should not turn black for at least 1k.
Keeping the engine oil clean and and at the dipstick full mark is why we still have the original chain on my daughter's 2016 Acadia

 

[JTK]

It's impossible to know for sure how many GM GDI 3.6L timing chain issues were due to lack of maintenance or how many were due to parts quality issues.

I recently dumped my 2019 Nissan Pathfinder with 103K miles on it due to timing chain problems with it's GDI 3.5L. I bought the vehicle used in 2019 w/ 25K miles on it. I did 3000-3500mi OCIs the entire time I owned it with synthetic 5w30 (as opposed to Nissan recommended 0w20) and used mid grade filters. This VQ35DD engine is a real problem child if you take a few moments to poke around the innerwebs. I didn't know this until after I bought it.

Ironically, I replaced it with a 2021 Chevy Traverse with the LFY 3.6L. I can't get enough of my timing chains..