Grumpy Bears 2015 Silverado 2WD

AtlasFBG2 · November 6, 2019

Grumpy Bear

I just got my second test results back a couple days ago. I will post the report here again. The 20 weight oil seems to be holding up good in the 4.3 v6.

Both of these reports was a mix of 3 quarts 0w20 and 3 quarts 5w20.

My truck has the factory oil cooler which is where the higher copper is coming from. My understanding is most of the 4.3 v6 don't have the factory oil cooler.

Edited November 6, 2019 by AtlasFBG2

TXGREEK · November 7, 2019

Grumpy Bear

I just got my second test results back a couple days ago. I will post the report here again. The 20 weight oil seems to be holding up good in the 4.3 v6.

Both of these reports was a mix of 3 quarts 0w20 and 3 quarts 5w20.

My truck has the factory oil cooler which is where the higher copper is coming from. My understanding is most of the 4.3 v6 don't have the factory oil cooler.

Super Tech oil???????

Sent from Above

AtlasFBG2 · November 7, 2019

46 minutes ago, TXGREEK said:

Super Tech oil???????

Sent from Above

Yes both test was Walmarts SuperTech Full Synthetic. From the same jugs. Pretty good oil for $14.50 per 5 quart jug.

Got some Rotella Gas truck 5w20 in the engine now. Probably wont test that one.

Then I got Pennzoil 0w20 Probably have the Pennzoil tested to see how it compares to the Super Tech.

Edited November 7, 2019 by AtlasFBG2

Grumpy Bear · November 7, 2019

AtlasFBG2:

Blackstone's last Universal average OCI was 6,700 miles for the Gen V 4.3 LV3 motors. Using those values and normalizing all results to 5,000 miles it looks something like this:

Red Line Super Tech Universal

Aluminum 2 3 3

Iron 12 11 19

Copper 24 28 17

I don't know why they don't report like this because that is how they compare in house. Anyway, kudo's. Nice improvement from your last report.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Grumpy Bear

Grumpy Bear · November 19, 2019

Allot of focus on cost recently. Wife signed us up for Costco and then got the card. 4% back on gas. Today that pump price on 87 octane is $2.22/gallon. With the 4% card rebate $2.13/gallon. Current lifetime 27.58 mpg or 7.7 cents per mile. That's cheap for a truck.

Local average of 87 octane according to GasBuddy is $2.44. National average 17.3 mpg for this set up comes to....14 cents/gallon. 45% below average fuel cost per mile.

Funny what rabbits I will run down when bored. :cheers:

Grumpy Bear · November 28, 2019

105,000 Mile Services

11/27/2019

105,367 for an OCI interval of 4,826 miles. About 2-1/2 months. Guess I'm slowing down.

6 Quarts Red Line HP 0W20

Clean K&P oil filter

Rotate tires which are now at 5/32" tread remaining. Very even wear. Adjust tire pressures.

Check brake wear and freeness of slides. They may never wear out.

Pretty vanilla report. Needs a good bath.

Grumpy Bear · December 1, 2019

This is how I fix the chips in Pepper.

Grumpy Bear · December 6, 2019

November MPG Numbers by Year

2016 24.9

2017 25.4

2018 25.3

2019 25.3

It's been awhile since I've seen a November this wet, this cold and this windy. Totally happy with these numbers.

Year over year total miles driven per month continue to decline.

This also ends the fall term for 2019.

Fall Season mpg by Year

2016 25.5

2017 26.8

2018 28.8

2019 29.4

swathdiver · December 7, 2019

On 12/6/2019 at 12:06 AM, Grumpy Bear said:

November MPG Numbers by Year

2016 24.9

2017 25.4

2018 25.3

2019 25.3

It's been awhile since I've seen a November this wet, this cold and this windy. Totally happy with these numbers.

Year over year total miles driven per month continue to decline.

This also ends the fall term for 2019.

Fall Season mpg by Year

2016 25.5

2017 26.8

2018 28.8

2019 29.4

Awesome, here's mine:

Wonder what it might look like if I went month to month like yours?

Grumpy Bear · December 7, 2019

8 hours ago, swathdiver said:

Awesome, here's mine:

Wonder what it might look like if I went month to month like yours?

That's a meticulous record sir. Your fuel cost for the lower alcohol fuels, is that 90+ octane fuel?

I'd love to see the 'life book" on this truck when she's put to rest. Be a great read.

swathdiver · December 7, 2019

3 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

That's a meticulous record sir. Your fuel cost for the lower alcohol fuels, is that 90+ octane fuel?

I'd love to see the 'life book" on this truck when she's put to rest. Be a great read.

Thanks Marty! E15 is between 89 and 90 usually. E20 is usually about 2 points higher and so on. "Put to rest"? I'll be put to rest before the truck! Hope its my last one and that I can keep wrenching on it with my children long after it becomes an antique.

I'm not good with those fancy graphs like you are, I try but they look awful! Fun with Excel!

Grumpy Bear · December 7, 2019

3 hours ago, swathdiver said:

Thanks Marty! E15 is between 89 and 90 usually. E20 is usually about 2 points higher and so on. "Put to rest"? I'll be put to rest before the truck! Hope its my last one and that I can keep wrenching on it with my children long after it becomes an antique.

I'm not good with those fancy graphs like you are, I try but they look awful! Fun with Excel!

One thing that made me ask about the octane was the pricing you pay in your area. I never get that price spread around here between E10 87 and E-85.

swathdiver · December 7, 2019

18 minutes ago, Grumpy Bear said:

One thing that made me ask about the octane was the pricing you pay in your area. I never get that price spread around here between E10 87 and E-85.

It sure can vary. Thanks be to the Gas Buddy app but still mostly find that my regular stations have the best prices anyhow.

The current tank is all Chevron 93 with two bottles of Techron and the needle is barely moving with that stuff. I drove ten miles out and back the other day and only lost about 6 miles on the Fuel Range!

If I can purchase Mobil or Chevron for less than $3.00 a gallon I'll run it over E85. When running that E15/Unleaded 88, I add a couple gallons of E85 to bring up the alcohol content, the motor generally gets better mileage on that too and it costs less as well. My last tank with an alcohol content of 20% cost just fourteen cents a mile to drive. The record for this thing is thirteen cents a mile. That tank also delivered my second longest distance between refuelings, the longest was on gasoline.

Burning E85 the truck can easily do 300 miles, the record is 340. She'll do 100 miles more on gasoline or E15/E20 with a record of 442. My last trip out of state with continuous driving was just before we began this log. So no uninterrupted highway runs yet. Mathematically she should see 468 miles between tanks on a highway run with E0-E20.

Grumpy Bear · December 12, 2019

Updated Newer

Edited January 24, 2020 by Grumpy Bear

Grumpy Bear · December 31, 2019

December MPG Numbers

2016 - 24.6

2017 - 24.6

2018 - 26.3

2019 - 26.5

Miles Driven by Year & Annual MPG

2016 - 7,764 - 25.48

2017 - 35,983 - 26.72

2018 - 31,246 - 27.99

2019 - 22,124 - 29.24

Start of a new year although technically there are two 'winter' months left in my 2019 for tracking purposes. I'm going to close out the Excel workbook and start anew as conditions are going to change. Speed will increase and oil viscosity will as well. Both of these affect the DOD 'on time' which has accounted for a good deal of the economy progress. Aero drag to a lesser extent and oil viscosity alone, the least. A nice little concert whose time is now past.

Nothing to crazy is planned. + 5 secondary roads, +3 mph primary roads, state/federal highways. + 7 mph Interstates. Wind speed and direction permitting. Going back to *W30 summer. This will drastically reduce the DOD 'on time'.

Baby needs new shoes soon and replacements, to date, have been a moving target as manufactures phase out old favorites and usher in the new breed of unknowns. Well see what the next few months deliver. I really want a P rated tire. "They" really don't want me to have one.

How bout that. A 100,000 mile break in....

Didn't have to beat it like I stole it to seat the rings. She uses no oil between the 5K OCI's even with 0W20. Still on factory rubber and brakes and nothing but a pinion seal to complain about.

But WIAT, how about the next hundred thousand?

:dunno: