Grumpy Bear

I agree with @newdude on the camber. -.02 max, -0.1 better, equal REQUIRED. Are extended range camber bolts in play? If not then get some. That toe thing they have going on is indefensible. +.02 and EVEN. That will tear up tires. Thrust is pretty darn good. If you tow camber is okay. If you don't then loose some, a full degree, if ride and turn in is important to you.

Failure? That's your bar? Describe what success means to you. Are you one of those people that thinks you can say a thing true? It is because you 'says' it is? Apples, oranges, it's all fruit, right? City dweller and OTR all the same pot of fish. As long as I've been here the goal post is always moving further along. Won't go 80K without using oil. It did. Won't go 100K without a lifter failure. It did. Trans wont make it past warranty. It did. Lifetime is 150K you sure, Yep. TSB on rings says you are on borrowed time. Catch can or die. It didn't. Still waiting for the cam/lifters/rings to fail. Still waiting for it to use oil. In fact I'm still waiting for deposits to form. (168K) Open yours up and lets have a look at success. I replaced that piece of plastic around the starter. That's been my non-routine maintenance.

I'm officially jealous. I can hit those numbers in that temperature, just not at 701 mph. I have work to do.

Somewhere we got the notion that getting away with something was the same as it not being a problem. Like the drunk who drives because he's to drunk to walk and because he never hits anything over a long span of time comes to believe that his behavior is harmless. If rods aren't hanging out, we're good, right?

Again as true as that is what it shows is the truck is not set up for towing. @OnTheReel 's dash would be what it should look like towing as well. *************************************** General comments to attached to the newdude quote: Physics doesn't leave the room when it's towing or on track day. Thermostat doesn't do cooling, it does regulating. If the cooler is WAY to large for day in and day out task the thermostat keeps it warm enough. If the thermostat is defeated by a cooler to small then it needs enough cooler to put it in control. When I first bought Pepper my dash looked like #2 on a hot day doing 55 mph. Not quite that bad but you get the idea. I took steps to get to the OneTheReel dash look and it does quite well up to over 90 F air temps. Even with all the modifications I would need more to tow or run the Mexican deserts. GM gives us a 'starter kit' and a darn poor one at that.

As true as that 'hope' may be, the truth, it isn't. Let's have a look see, eh? Crank can fail if it is of non-spec machining clearances. Crank can fail from non-spec metallurgy. Let's look at the second first and the first last. Metallurgy. Can't fail from being to hard or to smooth in any way viscosity is useful. But it can fail from being to SOFT and if that were true then NO OIL ON EARTH will save it for the next five minutes. Liquids void of gas are INCOMPRESSABLE an as such will take more load than ANY metal can sustain. It's how a hydrodynamic wedge is formed. Hydrodynamic pressure. Kind of in the name. First thing last. Clearance is non-standard. Too tight? Viscosity won't help. Too loose? Now there is can be useful. but only if the bearing clearance is loose AND the side clearance is also loose. Guys put non-Ford rods in flatheads with narrow bearings, thus HUGE side clearances and maintain oil pressure with bearing clearance. Tis the difference between being an engine assembler and an engine BUILDER. A motor like that is truly viscosity sensitive We forget the softest thing in the rotating assembly is the bearing itself. And the goal of the 0W40 is to prevent 'wiping' that bearing which is where Stribeck comes into play. And kiddo's if it is true in that case it is true is ALL cases. No motor on earth that isn't pre-oiled on start up does not suffer 'dry start'. Worse in stop/start systems. 0W20 requires perfection every minute of every revolution. You have to have a handle on BOTH TRIBOLOGY and METALURGY to have any picture at all.

You guys have Walmart there? If so is the price of Mobil 1 0W40 double the price of Mobil 1 0W20? Same price here.

Do it early. Yes, hot and shed most early.

Did we forget? Go back in time. Most common thermostat was 180 F. There was no thermal bypass valve for the transmission. 10W40 was common oil and all were full SAPS and ATF was as viscous as an SAE 30. We didn't have GDI diluting the oil. We didn't rate a half ton pickup at well over a ton. Those meant to tow had large transmission coolers. We didn't think oil consumption measured in quarts between 3K "long drain' mile oil changes was normal. Transmission failures were pretty rare unless abused and it wasn't uncommon for an old Ford C6, Torqueflite 727 or TH-400 to go a half million miles. Diff were loaded with SAE 110 and out lasted several trucks they were moved to. Were we paying attention? Bulk oil temperature is a function of? 1.) Water temperature 2.) RPM 3.) Load 4.) Viscosity and 5.) Base oil type. and if you put a cooler on it that game changes again. Just because you motor is 'water cooled' doesn't mean fluid choices and operating/climate conditions don't have a MAJOR impact on your oil temperature. True that for the entire driveline! Where did people get the idea that a water cooled motor has a steady, tempered, oil temperature? Do we care? Oil, in SOME respects, has improved but in many others it has erased most of that improvement. What impact did hearing GM calling the 5 pinion planetary that replaced the 4 pinion an "Upgrade" to hide the fact the reduction in metallurgy offset every gain in load sharing have on those words...UPGRADE? That as a combination of all the above the units you now drive are a fraction of the reliability of a few decades ago? That every improvement in lubrication is met with a set back in either lubrication or in design or specification. More heat, lower viscosity, less cooling, more load, longer drain intervals or non-serviceable units are not the result of advancement but of greedy manufactures and apathetic consumers to lazy or ignorant to care about their own welfare or that of the machine. Engineers tell you. Information is TSB's tell you. Experience tells you. Do you care?

It's tough to find a shop that knows the difference between "In Spec" and "On Spec" and willing to go the distance to make it right. I see lots of alignment reports that are in spec and awful. I agree with newdude, let's have a look at your last report. Also, how long do you go between rotations and how many of your tires look like this?

Love this chart. Straight mineral oils reference point is 160 F. So Group IV gets you another 20 F. Not as much as you thought, eh? No one currently makes a hindered Group V turbine like oil for ICE's which would be a game changer. OEM is calling for an OCI of 7,500 miles and a bulk oil temperature of about 234 F. Yea, that isn't happening and keep that motor of your alive longer than they wish it to. I cool and operate under 200 F and currently have cut my OCI in half of the OEM recommended interval. I have been running at 2/3thds the OCI and cooling/operating below 200 F with this result. Dropping bulk oil temperatures 40 F plus increased viscosity about 2 SAE grades. Then I added one more. Darn little impact on fuel economy. Major impact on reliability. Question. 0W20 at 210 F bulk oil temps is what at 240 F? Now tow with it and run it up to 270 F + and keep your 7.5K OCI. Now tell me viscosity doesn't matter. Tell me your WONDER additives will hold the line. Explain how 7.5 K OCI is reasonable on a SAE20 running 40+ F over it's designed limits then tell me why people with vast educations in this endeavor persist in that company line? WHY and HOW 0W20 is the right choice in a world where the metallurgy is compromised for the sake of $$$$. Then explain it to me with a straight face why I should listen to such advice and keep ANY credibility.

Commentary The number one thing I hear when I do a modification or stray from the book is: "You will loose your warranty"! The second most heard thing is: "Wait until the warranty expires". The above video says both are bad advice. Okay that is forum advice. How about the GM advice? Hint, it isn't the engineering department giving that advice. He could not have been more clear; more clear about who nor more clear about what it is based on or what drives it. Not one bit of this surprised me. I've been hearing this stuff from Engineers since I was old enough to sit upright. GM is using the same thinking Zenith used to drive itself out of business. If you were paying attention to the section on the 4L60 series planetary gear fiasco you might have pickup up on the words "UP GRADE". An upgrade they were not. But it was the words used to attempt to recover from a bad discission to cheapen metals and metallurgy that had the late four gear setups failing as fast as they could install them. Perhaps you pickup on warranty parts being Tier II products? And that is the best of the rest. I was 'lucky' that the 6L80E behind the V6 didn't use that disaster of a torque converter used in the bread and butter V8 pickups and SUV's. And every time I mentioned replacing it before it crapped out I got....???? Those first two pieces of advice. Very early on I flipped the pill and when then new TBV became available I used it. Cool the fluid. Very early on I swapped to a lower temperature water thermostat. Cool the fluid some more. Swapped to a PAO based base oil D6 spec fluid. Cool the fluid some more AND give in more room. Change fluid like I own the facility which??? Keeps the valve body clean and un-abrasive. Between each step and during each step I collected, graphed and shared every step and the reasoning behind each step. And now ten years after that fact we have a GM POWERTRAIN engineer giving the EXACT same advice and to the EXACT same target temperatures even in consideration of the more robust base oil choices. Go figure. And what does cooling this unit almost a hundred degrees do? Slows oxidation AND Increased working VISOCISTY. As good fortune would have it these afore mentioned modifications also lowered my bulk engine oil temperatures to???? The values he suggest in the video. And what did he say about the claims "Todays fluids can handle it"! Pure rubbish. Early on I started using an oil with SAE40 like HTHS viscosity and cooled it some more with base oil selections which I published. [below...again] And that results in? More oxidation resistance AND more running viscosity. That 30 degree reduction is good for more than doubling oil life AND one grade in VISCOSITY. My recent move to 5W40 raised oil temperature about 3 degrees. Still a net gain in viscosity and less than 1 mpg on alcohol reduction in economy for the total package of cooling and oil upgrades. Fractions of an MPG on gasoline. I can live with that. And what has been the observed results? 188,000 miles of pretty flawless service. 3X the warranty duration. If she drops dead tomorrow...I win. I didn't write this to brag on something hidden. I've logged every move in plain site for 10 years and it has been worth every nasty comment made to me. Doing isn't' bragging. I've said this before: I'm not telling you what I think. I'm telling you what's been done. Not explaining theory. Showing an example in PRACTICE. How's that MPFI three pot looking now? Luck of the draw my eye.

@Z45 posted this link in another thread and it's worth the repost I'll comment on it later.

I agree with you. No need for name calling. Stated many times....you can get a decent service life using almost any fluid if you act in accordance with that fluids capability. That is, bend to its limitations. Look, fluid is just one piece of a total strategy. You have to give it an environment it can survive in and there is a right or wrong to it. Stack the deck in the favor of success. Keep it cool. Keep it clean. Keep it changed and keep it stress free. Plan for the unexpected. Adapt to to the unexpected. Keep the mind open.

I am now going to become INSUFFERABLE. How many have laughed at me for my use of top shelf fluids and changing them like I own the company? Told me I'm nuts and how great GM Engineers are. "Are you smarter than the GM Engineers?" Smarter? No, but it isn't the engineer is it? Start listening around 50 minutes and you will hear him give ideal fluid temps and equipment and you will hear every move I've made since I bought Pepper. Keep laughing...... Sad the state of it all. Sadder still people continue to drink the Kool-Aid. That has got to be the best hour and a quarter I've spent the internet. Thank you @Z45

Is this well understood? When GM license an oil they set the bar. That is, the license CAN tell the blender which bases it can use, which additives and how much. API ditto. ILSAC ditto and so on and so forth. Point is that ANY oil that receives the license will be very much like any other oil with that same license. Granted, this is not an absolute as some specifications have OPEN guardrails. For example the API gives a minimum HTHS value but there is no maximum hence an opportunity to 'be different' in a positive way. There is a maximum Ca value to hinder LSPI. Some chose to do just that and others do that and then add back some Mg to boost the TBN and still comply with the LPSI standard. When an oil is attempting to meet several standards this get more interesting. Knowing which standard or even auto manufactures requirements the oil is licensed for gives you an idea of the guardrails in play. In example a *W30 needs a 2.9 cP HTHS value to meet the API's minimum. If it holds an ACEA C3/C4 license that minimum is 3.5 cP and the oil can be both if that later spec it met. One of the Dexos standards is a lower deposit threshold than the API and a lower NOACK than the API. But some boutiques are HALF that of Dexos. When Shell boast use of GTL, a Group III fluid, the difference that has on oxidation and solvency is a hairbreadth above a Group III/III+. That is the change is so slight as to be imperceptible in practice. However, that GTL by nature of it's process is a lighter (lower viscosity) by and large which could mean more VM materials (depending on the formulators choices). Could mean a lower CCS. Point is the Devil is in the details and knowing those is more important than brand recognition. You don't always need to know the formula specifics if you can read the licensing and OEM approvals and what those mean to the formulator. THOSE are published.

Perhaps someone I have on ignore has mentioned this but worth stating twice if its been covered. A frequent reason an oil that 'exceeds' spec does not have a license is that little problem of base oil "Read Across". It's also the reason some of the best oils don't have an API donut. With out Read Across the oil must undergo some very expensive testing. Much more so than the cost of the license. So you get a superior oil with a more robust base oil package and an API approved add package, or better, denied being included in the DEXOS club and the API club. Sadly this non license area would also include those oil using worse or test non compliant base packages and unapproved add packages or worse. That is where discernment is handy. Pick a rose and not a skunk. I think AMSOIL, Red Line HP, Torco, and Schieffer's have cleared that "Discernment" bar pretty easy.

More than a little assembly required https://www.truckinginfo.com/118172/shell-does-engine-teardown-to-compare-protection-of-experimental-low-viscosity-oil A few things of note: 1.) They [Shell] used two criteria to judge wear. UOA elemental analysis and visual inspections. No measurements were taken? 2.) The bar set for 'abnormal wear' was really high and it was obscured by the method the data was presented. [quote] Arcy said Shell already has demonstrated that you can get 1.6% better fuel economy in on-highway trucks by going from that 4.2 to a 3.5, which is currently available in lower-viscosity engine oils. In fact 3.5 is the limit of CJ-4 oils. There is more fuel economy to be had by dropping lower, he said, although he couldn't give an estimate of just how much more. Matt Urbanak, lead formulator, works closely with the field trial team and notes that Shell currently has more than 200 vehicles on test with an annual mileage of more than 25 million miles. "It's normal to see wear" in an engine teardown, he explained. "What we're looking for is whether there's anything abnormal about that wear." [close quote] Fair enough, so what is the benchmark for the Detroit DD15 engine? 250 ppm of IRON over a 50,000 mile OCI Not total wear metals but just iron. Interesting that! Doing the math we get 5 ppm per 1 thousand miles. In testing they got closer to 2 ppm/K with careful formulation of low HTHS oils and by that they meant those at 3.5 cP. Lake Speed Jr has a benchmark of 5 ppm as well but it is of ALL wear metals combine. Let this set on the gray matter a few minutes. The OEM's and the Formulators are not looking to IMPROVE wear performance. They are trying to keep wear under a very high limit? When the get close they move the goal post? That is moving the target from 5 ppm TOTAL wear to 5 ppm IRON wear. In doing so they can claim improved economy without loosing wear control. By loosing they mean did not exceed that high bar. Not the same thing as didn't loose any ground. Look...0W20 seems to keep iron in check if "In Check" means under 5 ppm/K. But it won't keep total wear metals in check and IMPROVEMENT can be made with more.

Seven the Hard Way Not that yesterday was the first time it had ever happened to me but yesterday was the first time I saw the benefit of my own learned experience and education in a practical and personal way. Look, I understand the edge running oil viscosity into the dirt has on fuel economy. It isn't lost on me that it is also a trade off for wear and thus longevity. Even die hard low viscosity proponents can not deny that simple truth. For it is for that very purpose the additive industry has sought a 'cure' for the ill effects of low viscosity. So what happened was a loss of coolant. A rock pierced the radiator and the temperature spiked. I was fortunate to have been actually watching the temperature readout when it happened and shut it down in an instant. But it raised a question and made me thankful for my pigheadedness. Viscosity is tied to????? Temperature! The OEM spec it tied to????? Normal operating conditions! Yea, no cushion for????? Abnormal conditions. Come on man, keep up. What are abnormal conditions the OEM spec does not account for? GDI top ring land fuel dilution. Sump dilution from faulty GDI pumps leaking into the sump. Loss of coolant that does not trigger a warning SOON ENOUGH and they never do. Dad used to say the purpose of an idiot light is to tell an idiot he just torched his motor. Some of these abnormal conditions have been normalized. Like dumping fuel to heat cat converters on cold start. No CEL is set when the motor is forced into accepting 15% top land dilution/wash down. No CEL is set when driving bulk oil temperature well past rational or water temps until the system is bone dry. Power cylinder wall temperatures driven past all reason. They add cushion to the CEL system to the point they are useless. All of this requires some assembly. I've saved more motors (money) running high viscosity full SAPS oils that I ever saved in fuel costs running tap water for oil.

Ever read something over an over and over again and never get the sense of it? Then one day BOOM! I'm sharing a personal experience so hold the religion complains in check. Below are quoted the first five verse of the Bible: [Quote] In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and desolate, and there was darkness upon the surface of the watery deep, and God’s active force was moving about over the surface of the waters. And God said: “Let there be light.” Then there was light. After that God saw that the light was good, and God began to divide the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, but the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day. [Close quote] I don't know how many times I've read this passage and yet it never dawned on me that the bold statement is the beginning of the first day, and not verse one... Meaning? The heavens and earth were already in existence for only God and Christ knows how long before the creative six days commences. The creative process was as it would have seemed to an observer, had there been one, on earth at that time, and for the purpose of the benefit of the observer. Like I said BOOM! I read an unrelated book decades ago five times over twenty years before I understood the meaning the writer was conveying. It was called "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. It had noting to do with either Zen nor Motorcycles just like understanding Bible verses can have little to do with Religion. People, I observe, struggle with that distinction. Sad.... It forces one to be taught instead of to learn.

Shot up here about 40 cents in 24 hours. No clue why.

You can set hard alarms with this device too. I learned the hard way yesterday to take the time to program them. Raven caught a projectile in a radiator tube yesterday. Pin hole like the tip of a sewing needle. I just happened to be scanning the gauge when I saw it climb and shut it down well before any damage occurred. Had I not been actively scanning.....

Where did the idea that a motor should be able to run 700 rpm at 80 mph no matter what the load is come from? People wank if an automatic downshifts. They wank if the CVT increases rpm on a hill, into the wind. Same people have no issue pulling down a gear or even two with a manual transmission to pass or climb a 7% grade. Do these people need a diesel electric to get happy. Tell me. What road motor can utilize direct drive? How many can pull a 0.55:1 overdrive cleanly at 60-70 mph? Raven can. It's geared taller than Pepper!! Did we forget what the purpose of an transmission is? 3A92 Mitsubishi motor has the same power of a 1933 Ford 221 CID flathead at about the same piston speed and that motor built America. 33 Ford pickup weight about the same as a Mirage too. Some hate makes no sense even to the senseless.

2024 Mirage G4 ES Fun facts. This motor paired with it's CVT is spinning under 1800 rpm at 55 mph. Doesn't reach 2,000 rpm till about 65 mph. It doesn't strain. It doesn't fuss and passes something most can't. A gas station, several of them. Will reach local Interstate speeds well before the end of an on ramp. Parks anywhere. Quite, comfortable and a joy to drive. Only moderately more affected by truck generated windshear than a Terrain and almost the same power/weight ratio. Great daily driver and day trip vehicle. And yes, not first long haul Interstate bullet choice. So what? An Avalanche/Suburban/Tahoe to run to the post office, grocery or to work 5 miles away is overkill and wasteful. I know people in the Mirage community that routinely drive these 75 to 85 mph all day. Pull trailers with them and at least one does both. In the five door version, use them an campers and ATV's. Service in critical medical delivery putting 300 to 400K trouble free miles over their service lives. I have no issues passing anything I wish to pass and do so safely. How is that possible? I don't make STUPID passes. Besides, It's cute and cheap.