2013 Equinox 2.4L AC Delco 5w30

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Im not sure what to think about this one. 5000 miles on the oil and I checked it and was just touching the stick, so I changed next day. It was 1.5 quarts low when changed/sampled. She usually takes it to 20% oil life left on the monitor, Im guessing equals around 7500 miles and it has always been maintained by the dealer, and I have never checked the oil so Im guessing it has been ran very low on oil several times "but no oil lamp". There was some warm up/idle time but not much. My wife drives moderate/heavy footed. 95% city. Changed to M1EP 5w30 and planning on 5k mile oci from now on. Any advice/suggestions?

20190606_171010.jpg
 
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If I'm not mistaken, your Equinox falls into the Equinox/Terrain oil burning class action lawsuit. The final hearing on that should take place sometime later this year in early October this year.



LINK
 
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The 100C viscosity is lower than most 20W starting viscosities. So you're running a a thin 20 weight by the time of a change there.
 
Have the vehicle and engine. The time to change the oil in the 4-cyl pig is when it starts to burn it at a considerable rate -- and believe me this engine does. For me, that's around 4K miles. Running any oil past that point in this DI engine is asking for trouble, like timing chain elongation issues, etc.

If the driver is continually revving the engine, driving it hard, a shorter 3K mile interval is likely in order.

I don't want to hear that this engine can handle extended OCI's. It cannot.

This 4-cyl is not my easy-on-oil 5.3L V8...
 
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These 2.4's are oil burners, and if let to get low, the damage accelerates rapidly.

3k changes, and check the oil regularly are SOP on these if you want them to last.

10W-30 or even 10W-40 HM oil wouldn't be out pf place here.
 
1.5 low and no oil light? When the wife's caddy got to quart low (bottom of crosspatch) here check oil light would come on, thank god!!!
 
Originally Posted by addyguy
These 2.4's are oil burners, and if let to get low, the damage accelerates rapidly.

3k changes, and check the oil regularly are SOP on these if you want them to last.

10W-30 or even 10W-40 HM oil wouldn't be out pf place here.

I agree with you.
 
Originally Posted by GaryPoe
Im not sure what to think about this one. 5000 miles on the oil and I checked it and was just touching the stick, so I changed next day. It was 1.5 quarts low when changed/sampled. She usually takes it to 20% oil life left on the monitor, Im guessing equals around 7500 miles and it has always been maintained by the dealer, and I have never checked the oil so Im guessing it has been ran very low on oil several times "but no oil lamp". There was some warm up/idle time but not much. My wife drives moderate/heavy footed. 95% city. Changed to M1EP 5w30 and planning on 5k mile oci from now on. Any advice/suggestions?


Your iron wear rate is high even for GDI engine. Based on 568 samples from BlackStone, the rate is 5.7ppm per/1000m, and 2.5ppm/1000m for the same non-GDI engine.

Your fuel dilution is actually above 3%, which is where the above normal wear rates occur. See attached pic of the spreadsheet.

Make sure you have the most current OLM calibration. GM changed it back in 2012/13 because it was resulting in higher than normal OCIs. You can take it a dealer to have them check and update. They should not charge for it.

Looks like your oil viscosity is starting to thicken, normally the fuel will thin it out, but over time it will breakdown and start to thicken.

I would use an oil with high TBN and boron amount. Your boron originally was 105, and has depleted by about 80%. On my Equinox, this is consistant and seems to be buffer for the fuel dilution. I recently switched to Amsoil SS which has 374ppm of boron, and TBN of 12, and viscosity of 10.

Ecotec GDI Wear Rate v Fuel Dilution.jpg
 
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Update on this thread. Checked the oil at 1500 miles after oil change and it was 1.5q low. I found out we had purchased the extended warranty after calling chevrolet and the dealer. (I now remember fighting them for an extended warranty) That same day we received the lawsuit letter in the mail so I put the car in the shop the next day. It has been in for over 2 weeks they are fighting with the extended warranty company for new piston rings (the issue) and whatever else. My wife made her last payment Friday. Its sad that its in the shop while making the last payment, but I hope it clears and we can resolves this issue and will be more reliable in the long run.
 
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Final? Recap? The car was in the shop for over a month. The dealer couldnt deny or confirm the pistons and rings were the issue (it is) without tearing the engine apart $1000 looksee. they also said the entire motor may need replaced "worse case" (would have been the case) chevrolet would pay $700 to help us pay the $8,000 for a new motor. Extended warranty wouldnt pay if there was carbon found on the piston, we know where thats headed.... so in a nut shell. Chevrolet and the dealer sold us a car they refuse to fix. This house hold will never own another GM vehicle and if your looking to purchase one. Think again.
 
Originally Posted by GaryPoe
Final? Recap? The car was in the shop for over a month. The dealer couldnt deny or confirm the pistons and rings were the issue (it is) without tearing the engine apart $1000 looksee. they also said the entire motor may need replaced "worse case" (would have been the case) chevrolet would pay $700 to help us pay the $8,000 for a new motor. Extended warranty wouldnt pay if there was carbon found on the piston, we know where thats headed.... so in a nut shell. Chevrolet and the dealer sold us a car they refuse to fix. This house hold will never own another GM vehicle and if your looking to purchase one. Think again.

Holy smokes man..i am speechless after reading this. I feel bad for ya.. have you thought about consulting an attorney? This is the first I've looked at your UOA and I think BS is on crack on this one. Your iron is high, you've got issues with both fuel and insolubles (excessive blow by??). Look at your flashpoint... and you went from a SAE30 at 100c to a mid SAE 20, probably not a sufficient oil film to prevent iron on iron. There's a good chance those rings are shot..but I would personally go with a thick 10w30 for now with the highest TBN I could find...and high AW additives like moly and boron. So yeah, basically a HiMi formula as others have suggested and limit it to a 3~4k oci at most.
 
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Originally Posted by GaryPoe
Extended warranty wouldn't pay if there was carbon found on the piston, we know where that's headed....


???????

Proof once again to never waste money on an extended warranty
 
My wife's car has been a oil eater since we got it with 35k on it. I've tried a few things to slow it down and it seems it might have worked until recently. She had a engine warning light come on., And after we took it to the garage, t he code was for a exhaust cam solenoid. I checked the oil level which was holding steady up to the point where the light came on, and it was down 3/4 of a qt. Now I'm wondering if that might be one of he causes it uses alot of oil. Replaced the solenoid and will keep an eye on the oil level to see if it had anything to do with it. I wish she never bought this car. Also, what does a exhaust cam solenoid do, and why do cars today need one?.,,
 
Originally Posted by BigCahuna
My wife's car has been a oil eater since we got it with 35k on it. I've tried a few things to slow it down and it seems it might have worked until recently. She had a engine warning light come on., And after we took it to the garage, t he code was for a exhaust cam solenoid. I checked the oil level which was holding steady up to the point where the light came on, and it was down 3/4 of a qt. Now I'm wondering if that might be one of he causes it uses alot of oil. Replaced the solenoid and will keep an eye on the oil level to see if it had anything to do with it. I wish she never bought this car. Also, what does a exhaust cam solenoid do, and why do cars today need one?.,,


Probably to control the variable valve timing, it it's on the sprocket end of the camshaft.
 
My mother's car has one of the 2.4 DI in it, in a '12 Buick Regal. It has burned a quart every 2000 miles since it was new. The only upside is is now at 86k miles it has not actually become any worse. Ditto on eating exhaust and intake Cam phasor solenoids, thankfully they're really cheap on Amazon for the Delco part $35, and super easy to swap in, one bolt!

Being an engineer myself I see a fatal combination of design decisions/flaws in that these cars DO NOT have a low oil indicator of any kind, an OLM calibrated for 7.5k miles, combined with a low tension piston ring design which has a GM acceptable spec of 1qt per 1k miles! Following dashboard indications they will happily let you run them right out of oil and ruin the engine, which at a 7500mi OLM and even 1qt every 2k, you'd be down to .5qts.... goodbye engine. At least my Audi 2.0T which burned oil since new for the exact same ring design reasons as this GM engine, gives a dashboard warning and alarm at 1 qt down.

While the average reader of this forum is the type who would religously check their oil dipstick, unfortunately in this millennial era you cannot expect most drivers to even to do that, while simultaneously producing engines that will burn oil from new. Most operators will assume the Oil Life Monitor also incorporates quantity, or even means that, and will not understand their engine running out of oil and seizing while the oil life monitor reads over 50%.

Regarding blaming GM for this, while you can fault them for not fixing it taking poor care of their customers, the move to low-friction piston rings with Alusil/Nikasil cylinder liners causing oil consumption and fuel-in-oil issues was widespread among European, Japanese and American auto manufacturer in the era after 2005. From Honda 4cyl and V6s, to Ford 5.0 V8s, to VW/Audi engines, I don't think this many dealership rering jobs had been done in 50 years. The quest for MPGs is really to blame.
 
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