As promised a few times, I finally removed my oil pan to take pictures of what it looks like inside after a 40k mi/6.5 year OCI with Esso XD-3 0W-30 Full Synthetic.
Details:
GM LH0 Engine (3.1L V6) manufactured 1992
Received diet of either dealer oil or Wal-Mart Pennzoil every 3k from 1992-2003 (100k km's)
January 2004, installed XD-3 0W-30 (100k)
April 2008 Coolant Leak from defective LIM gasket (156k km), filled with cheap XD-3 15W-40 as flush oil
September 2008 re-filled with XD-3 0W-30 at 162k km's
May, 2015 227k km's
So 227 - 162k = 65,000km ~= 40k miles
This is what it looked like with the oil pan off after 40k miles on the same oil!!
These pictures were taken prior to doing any wiping. I feel so confident about the 40k mile oil change that I actually saved this 40k mile oil that I drained and will be adding it back in when I reassemble everything.
Any questions? Feel free to ask. But let this be a lesson that there's nothing wrong with 40k mile oil changes in engines for which it is appropriate. The "official" oil change spec on this engine, BTW, was 7500 miles.
Details:
GM LH0 Engine (3.1L V6) manufactured 1992
Received diet of either dealer oil or Wal-Mart Pennzoil every 3k from 1992-2003 (100k km's)
January 2004, installed XD-3 0W-30 (100k)
April 2008 Coolant Leak from defective LIM gasket (156k km), filled with cheap XD-3 15W-40 as flush oil
September 2008 re-filled with XD-3 0W-30 at 162k km's
May, 2015 227k km's
So 227 - 162k = 65,000km ~= 40k miles
This is what it looked like with the oil pan off after 40k miles on the same oil!!
These pictures were taken prior to doing any wiping. I feel so confident about the 40k mile oil change that I actually saved this 40k mile oil that I drained and will be adding it back in when I reassemble everything.
Any questions? Feel free to ask. But let this be a lesson that there's nothing wrong with 40k mile oil changes in engines for which it is appropriate. The "official" oil change spec on this engine, BTW, was 7500 miles.