Under valve cover pics 207,000 miles

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WobblyElvis

WobblyElvis

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2006 Malibu 2.2 litre, 207,000 miles. The valve cover looks a little better than the pics show and the valve train/head looks a little dirtier than the pics would lead you to believe. Engine runs fine, consumes 1 qt/4,500 miles. Timing chain has slight slop in the middle of the sprocket if I give it a good pull. Don't know if this is normal.

OCI has been anywhere from 5,000 miles to 15,000 miles. Average of around 8,800 mile per OCI. %60 city/%40 highway driving. Most winter days it sees one or two short trips of 2 miles or so but usually a small highway drive in the morning as well.

Oil has been mostly store brand conventional. Maybe 3 OCI's have been group III synthetic usually store brand. Remaining OCI's have been a mix of what I have, conventional and group III syn. The 15,000 mile OCI was all Group III.


I'm a little surprised at how dirty the valve cover is but I don't think I'll change anything.




Removed the valve cover due to a leak.
 
The Buick Century my father had given me was a lot worse. It was meticulously maintained with conventional oil with close to 2/3 less the miles. I'd be willing to bet the underside of the valve cover would have looked better on a steady diet of synthetic oil. Having said that the underside of the valve cover really doesn't mean much, everything else looks OK for the miles.
 
You're a lot more of a risk taker than me. These engines are prone to timing chain issues when oil changes are extended too much. I'm surprised yours held up so well. When I saw your OCI I was expecting to see top end synthetics and only highway driving.
 
Originally Posted By: Bullwinkle007
Look how far behind GM is during this time period. Honda had VTEC, so did Toyota,

This is the low end engine. GM did offer a VVT version of this engine in higher end models.
 
Originally Posted By: caprice_2nv
You're a lot more of a risk taker than me. These engines are prone to timing chain issues when oil changes are extended too much. I'm surprised yours held up so well. When I saw your OCI I was expecting to see top end synthetics and only highway driving.


I have seen a copy of the service bulletin for this engine and the bad timing chains were only installed for a few months during the 2006 model year. This one is not included.

BUT... it did have a defective cam chain tensioner that I replaced a few years ago.
 
Originally Posted By: csandste
In line with the Blackstone matra that there's not that much difference between synthetic and conventional.


Well that may be true if the engine is not one known to have issues. If it is then synthetic will definitely help. Synthetic is also handy in the north of the USA when you need an oil change in January and its 0F out and 2 feet of snow and you decide to push it another 1000 miles hoping for better weather.

Both of my Subaru engines require synthetic oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Bullwinkle007
Look how far behind GM is during this time period. Honda had VTEC, so did Toyota,


Oh please. At this same time period, GM was producing the world's first pushrod engine with VVT, which is a pretty huge technical accomplishment. These engines are much nicer than the vehicles GM put them in.
 
Looks great. Conventional did a good job in this low power/heat/pressure application, as it should.
 
Modern dino oils performed very well.

My 200K mile Accord was as clean as a whistle. Same goes for my RSX on any brand dino or clearance syn/dino mix.
 
One of my vehicles is a 2005 Cobalt bought new. Just turned 294K miles today. Always followed OLM, sometimes going below 0% with whatever (usually 5w30) I had on hand - which could be PYB, VWB, MaxLife, Mobil 1, or often what Firestone used (conventional), used to be Kendall, now QSGB. Never had valve cover off or any timing chain/tensioner issues. The 2.2 Ecotec must be easy on oil.
 
The one time I took the OCI to 15,000 miles and the Fram Ultra oil filter to 20,000 miles. I used group III synthetics at the time and the OLM ran down to zero twice. So double what the OLM said. A UOA said the oil was still good. 3 quarts were added during that run.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: csandste
In line with the Blackstone matra that there's not that much difference between synthetic and conventional.


Well that may be true if the engine is not one known to have issues. If it is then synthetic will definitely help. Synthetic is also handy in the north of the USA when you need an oil change in January and its 0F out and 2 feet of snow and you decide to push it another 1000 miles hoping for better weather.

Both of my Subaru engines require synthetic oil.


At 0F (-18C) wouldn't a 5W20 still drain pretty good? even on a cold motor? Let alone if you warmed it up a hair.

Heck, pull the plug, go inside for ten minutes. Or twenty.

IMO, the ground is nice and hard, no dust to kick up, not wet, no rain, no skeeters, no sweat dripping onto glasses. Winter isn't all bad.
 
Thank you for posting
thumbsup2.gif


Did you follow the OLM?
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Bullwinkle007
Look how far behind GM is during this time period. Honda had VTEC, so did Toyota,



2008 Cobalt SS Ecotec 2.0L LNF....
VVT on Intake & Exhaust camshafts
Direct Injection
Turbocharged
260HP/260TQ
GM factory certified up-rate calibration....290HP/340TQ

2008 Honda Civic Type-R 2.0L K20Z4
VTEC
201HP/142TQ

Look how far behind Honda was during this time period.
 
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