Shell Helix HX7 5w-40, 12608km in SAAB B258/Opel C25XE

[turboseize]

This is a sample from my wife's car. I had the oil changed immediately after the purchase (luckily, there was a car wash(oil change place between the sellers home and the next Autobahn onramp). The previous oil was only 8000km old, but had been in the car for four (!) years, so I did not want to drive several hundred kms with that.

The engine is 2.5 litre v6 - in the SAAB, it's called B258, but it is exactly the same as the C25XE from the Opel/Vauxhall Vectra A or Calibra. This is the small variant of the GM 54° V6 .

OIL Shell Helix HX7 5w-40
MILES IN USE 7835 (12608km), 10 months
MILES 145083 (233489km)
SAMPLE TAKEN 18/02/10 (date format for the civilized part of the world: 02.10.2018)
FILTER: Mann w712/75

wear metals (mg/kg)

IRON 23
CHROME 1
TIN 1
ALUMINUM 4
NICKEL 1
COPPER 8
LEAD 1
MANGANESE 0
pq-index
pollution (mg/kg)

SILICON 12
POTASSIUM 1
SODIUM 7
WATER (%) 0.16
IR-GLYKOL negative
FUEL (%) 1.27


Additives (mg/kg)

CALCIUM 2605
MAGNESIUM 18
BORON 24
ZINC 1036
PHOSPHORUS 770
BARIUM 0
MOLYBDENUM 38
SULPHUR 3027


state of oil:

visc. @40°C (mm2/s) 82.46
visc. @100°C (mm2/s) 13.15
VI 161
OXYDATION (A/cm) 10
NITRATION (A/cm) 8
SULFATION (A/cm) 7
dispergency* (%) 91
SOOT INDEX** 0.2


* the german word was "Schmutztragevermögen", hope I translated that right.
** the lab has introduced the "Rußindex", an in-house tool to check for soot in gasoline oil, as soot from direct-injection engines will not show correctly in the standard test for diesel oils


Wear metals read slightly higher than I hoped for, but are far from worrysome, especially considering that
- for emissions reasons, the gearbox will hold first gear up to over 3000/min before allowing the first shift to 2nd (warm up the cat faster). I have found out that I can circumvent that by choosing the winter programme, but I discovered that only after a few months, and I can not rely on the wife to remember that
- car is driven mostly by a heavy-footed starting driver with little mechanical empathy (read: wife)
- some of that might be sludge/varnish dissolving (remember the prevous owner's four-year-OCI).

The driving profile was a mix of short tripping in the city and long distance drives, some moderate (130km/h), but mostly heavy-footed (i.e. 160-190km/h where possible).

Water might be condensation due to some short tripping, potentially exarbated by the fact the valve cover gaskets did not really seal anymore. No coolant for sure, as no glycol can be found.

The sulphur reading may be skewed because I used a gasked refresher trying to resurrect the badly leaking gaskets (which only worked temporarily). We replaced the valve cover gaskets after the next oil change.



There also is an article on my blog (in german): https://turboseize.wordpress.com/20...7-5w-40-im-saab-b258-opel-c25xe-12608km/

For a look at the filter, see https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/5009848 or https://turboseize.wordpress.com/2019/02/12/oelfilter-fuer-den-v6-mann-w712-75-12608km/

 

[Kamele0N]

SULPHUR 3027 ??? Is this due to some strange additive in your oil?

EDIT: sorry.....found it! The sulphur reading may be skewed because I used a gasked refresher trying to resurrect the badly leaking gaskets (which only worked temporarily). We replaced the valve cover gaskets after the next oil change.

 

[Kamele0N]

* the german word was "Schmutztragevermögen", hope I translated that right.

Try to split that word appart....
"Schmutz tragevermögen", ...then it translates it as a dirt, wear assets.....or "wear and tear" of that oil....basically it tells us how "worn out" that oil is

 

[turboseize]

"Vermögen" mean both wealth (i.e. assets) and capability. Literal translation would be "dirt carrying capability", which I thought would sound strange to a nativ eenglish speaker, so I chose "dispergency".

 

[Bjornviken]

Why do you use this oil? Why not SHU 5w-40?

 

[turboseize]

Because HX7 was what was available at a reasonable price at the next car wash place (that also happens to do oil changes).
When I bought the car, the current oil was four years old. I had to drive over 300km back, and I did not want to do that on the old oil. There was this cheap oil change place nearby, so I had the oil changed there.