Grumpy Bears 2015 Silverado 2WD

Grumpy Bear · September 11, 2019

Did the post mortem on the 100K parts.

Wowsers!

Did you know the factory plug wires have a limited lifetime warranty for the original buyer? They all metered perfectly.

Not a single plug gas seal was blown and they looked quite good yet. No gap erosion at all. Still .040" and no misfires.

Air filter, which was installed at 80K, could have gone quite awhile longer.

Photo taken at sundown in the parking lot of our new Loves' Truck Stop at the intersection of Ill 251 and I-88. Note I'm parked in the RV lot. How appropriate. Fresh as a daisy!

Grumpy Bear · September 12, 2019

I check out a new product from time to time and this time I'm giving Red Line SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner a hard look.

After the milestone tune up I had an intermittent idle roughness that was driving me buggy. Scanner shows nothing. O-scope shows nothing and yet it was. Made me think. GDI isn't just pressure and volume sensitive. It is PATTERN sensitive as well. Hum.

So I bought a few bottles. I routinely have used Chevron Techron, Seafoam or Chem Tool B-12 every 5K so this was a reach.

On the trip yesterday I put up the KR gauge and noticed straight away that even a steady road speeds of 50 mph on level ground I had 5 to 7* of KR. Mileage had been trailing off last five tanks and I thought the plugs and wires would correct that. Seems it made it worse. What was turn key 30 mpg was now a struggle. Yes, I am not counting the 'service/gopher tank.

I added a full bottle and metered an amount of fuel that gave me 15 gallons on board and headed out. YIKES! After about 20 miles it's up to 9* KR and never goes to zero even down hill unless the injectors shut off. Yet I 'feel' nothing. Hear nothing. I ran that down about most of the way way, added another bottle and a 3 gallon splash to mix it. Then gave her an Italian tune up for a few miles. By the time I got back to the Illinois boarder she was singing like a Lark and on the top off it rang up 30.6 for the tank in unfavorable conditions. I have 30 miles to home and by the time I am home the 'this trip' meter is at 33.3 mpg. We added another 200 miles to that tank today and am currently right at 32 mpg over 230 miles. KR is zip on the level and normal up mild hills once more. 500 miles on the cleaning cycle.

I bore scoped nothing. What people in YouTube videos call 'caked' is normal once a motor reaches 'carbon balance'. (pistons) So I don't give that much thought. What I was interested in was the cleaning of the injectors and restoration of the spray pattern. Pretty sure I have that handled.

NONE of the previous cleaners were able to keep it clean nor strip it clean. Remember, I made gas for Chevron and was a died in the wool true believer. Time to trade horses. Seafoam was my dad's thing and so I followed. Dyson recommended the Chem-Tool B-12. Meh.

But just to be sure lets give it the month and collect some data before we get carried away. The trends will tell us what is real and what is WOW.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Grumpy Bear

Grumpy Bear · September 13, 2019

https://utilitywallet.com/best-fuel-injector-cleaners/

After reading this digest and finding out Techron 'maybe' has more PEA by percentage than Red Line SI-1 my results, I would venture, are a result of the dose size. Techron say "up to'" 70% with no floor and Red Line says 30-50% PEA. It also has a higher dose rate for the 'shock' treatment of dirty injectors. After these two the doses get much smaller or even non-existent.

Then there is this. Red Line has a synthetic lubricant Techron does not contain. Fuel is the only lubrication the injector gets.

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9/13/2019 update:

Oh boy. I was struggling to stay above 30 mpg. Now it does it into a 17 mph headwind. Idle is smooth. Back over 30 with 'clean up tank'.

Pepper had been at 30.8 mpg for the last 4,000 miles

Trailed off to 30.4 over the next 1500.

29.9 for the last 1,000

Clean up tank of 600 miles 30.7

32 mpg on next fill.

I'll track a graph the remainder of this month then post.

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9/14/2019 update:

When it rains it pours. Went out for some drink and got trapped on I-39 for 1 hour and 18 minutes traveling 3 mph when I was moving. Gobbled down over a gallon of gas in under 4 miles. Topped off and added the 2.1 gallons and 53 miles to the previous tank lowering that result from 32.0 to 30.8.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Grumpy Bear

Doublebase · September 14, 2019

On 9/8/2019 at 2:44 AM, Grumpy Bear said:

100,000 Mile Services

100,541 actual at time of service.

Change Inlet filter. AC-Delco, OEM. (last changed at 80K and filter looked quite good yet. Note to increase interval).

Clean MAF.

Change oil. 3 quarts 0W20 + 3 quarts 5W20. Working off some old stock. 20% OLM left.

Clean and swap K&P oil filter elements. Nothing really to clean.

New Plugs. AC-Delco, OEM. A tad of copper paste on the treads.

New Plug wires. AC-Delco, OEM. Retained factory metal heat shields. There is no factory replacement for these. FYI.

Scope the coils.

Inspect hoses, belts, vacuum lines and PCV hoses/connections, battery load test. No issues.

Evap checks. Solid.

Check coolant strength and residuals.

Run diagnostics.

Drop and fill 8 quarts Red Line D6 transmission fluid. Now 95.5% Red Line 4.5% OEM Group III.

Drop and fill rear differential fluid, AMSOIL 75W90 Severe Gear. ( Note the gasket needs to be replaced on next fill).

Power bleed brakes. DOT 3

Rotate and balance tires. Pressure checks and wear checks. Amazing.

Brake inspection. These might last longer than the truck.

Clean and grease caliper slides.

Suspension inspection. Perfect front to back. No measurable wear or damage.

Cabin Air Filter WIX. I do not like this filter and will find an alternative. NAPA got cheap. Now China made, missing side boards thus sealing stinks. AND it's more expensive than the last one by several dollars.

Check lights, signals and all controls.

General condition survey.

3 mile test drive.

Have four very small rock chips to repair. We need to do something with the front bumper. It has the measles. She's picked up a chip in the passenger side lower headlamp lens. I'll look into that. Black plastic grill has a small rock divot or two. Nothing visible from a foot away. That black plastic piece under the wipers is getting milky. I'll try some dressings. Under side is dry as a bone and rust free save some surface rust on the leaf springs packs.

To do list:

Alignment check.

Clean radiator air inlet side.

Lubricate locks and latches.

Look into getting the windshield polished.

I've decided not to install the bypass filter system.

Lower fans temperature setting to lower peak water temperatures. (see below notes).

Notes:

During the trans fluid procedure she was left idling for an hour to get over 195F for the fluid level final check. Used .36 gallons of fuel.

Water temp peaked at 216 F.

Oil peaked 221 F.

Trans peaked 201 F.

Down the road after I got her back we logged 50 miles and at road speeds trans temps were under 150F and I had to run 55 mph minimum to maintain 195 F on the oil on this 64 F night. Water rock steady at 173F.

Excellent! I love this stuff! The thing I love is that you drive it, you enjoy it and you document. Keep it up. The best thread I've ever seen (besides this one) was a Lexus GS350 thread, back when I owned a Lexus LS 460...the guy drove for work and he was meticulous with his ownership and maintenance. He eventually sold his GS with 300,000 plus and bought the LS460, but he didn't keep it long.

Since the last time I checked in on this thread (less than a month ago) I've put 3,000 miles on my truck. I've done an oil change (Rotella Gas Truck 0w20 synthetic). It's my second oil change using this oil - the only reason I'm using it is it's price, it's rebates and it's solid reviews on bob's the oil guy. It has a very high moly content for a shelf brand oil - overall I'm happy with it - just received my rebate check yesterday for $20...so I spent $44 for two 5 quart jugs, and received $20 back...$24 for 10 quarts of synthetic is too good of a deal for me to pass up.

I recently purchased Iron X to remove some of the rail rust on my paint, it really was starting to stand out out on the white. I never even knew such a thing existed, as I've always had darker colored cars. This product works amazing! The only problem is that the smell of it is so bad - I don't think I've smelled anything this bad in my life - the reviews mentioned it, but I just didn't believe it. But it just works...no clay baring, no scrubbing, the rust is gone in minutes.

Keep up the good work, grumpy, love reading about pepper.

Grumpy Bear · September 15, 2019

Thanks for dropping in Mike! I need to know more about this Iron X product. The Terrain is a rail rust magnet.

You drive allot too. Mileage matters when you drive as much as we do although I do mine for fun.

Her entire recorded history tank by tank. I added the orange bar and data label to pinpoint the start of 2019 highlighting the difference between this year and the previous two. Should be easy to see the summer highs and winter lows year over year.

Concentrating on the last four tanks. The only one below the line is the tank where it sat in the shop idling forever and the remainder of that tank used as the family parts chaser/shuttle buss while the Terrain was getting the camshaft phaser and 100 K service done. The third tank is a combination of the aborted tank as we sat well over an hour on I-39 in a wreckage backup. That added to the following tank of 400 additional miles at 32.00 mpg. I did this to keep the record 'honest' as those events in life are the definition of life, eh? Otherwise we would have to back to back tanks of :

800 combine miles at exactly 32.00 MPG.

I think that even though the record for the injector cleaning is short it made it's bones. Of greater note is the fact the entire summer is solidly above the 1 standard deviation bound meaning since the sixth sample it is no longer an aberration but a solid trend and new warm seasons centerline. It's easy to read the 36 point moving average peaks and valleys which represent a statistical 5% upward slope.

This is not the first vehicle I've kept such records on but it is the first vehicle where the peak was not obtained by 40K miles. The distance to that peak is a strong indicator of the engines life span as it is a direct refection of its wear rate. If I don't wreck it this one could be around awhile.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Grumpy Bear
Spelling

CadillacLuke24 · September 22, 2019

AC Delco Fuel System Treatment Plus - 88865595

They very recently changed their formulation, it used to be basically rebranded Techron. I decided to give it a shot. I did go a little strong on my test dose, I used two whole bottles.

Fuel economy JUMPED based on hand calculations from tank to tank. There was a very noticeable increase of at least 1.5 mpg per tank, and it was consistent across fuel brands (E0 usually nets 0.5 to 1.5 mpg better than E10).

I can pull up specific numbers, but it was an eye opening improvement. He does run a bit better as well.

Grumpy Bear · September 23, 2019

On 9/22/2019 at 6:08 AM, CadillacLuke24 said:

AC Delco Fuel System Treatment Plus - 88865595

They very recently changed their formulation, it used to be basically rebranded Techron. I decided to give it a shot. I did go a little strong on my test dose, I used two whole bottles.

Fuel economy JUMPED based on hand calculations from tank to tank. There was a very noticeable increase of at least 1.5 mpg per tank, and it was consistent across fuel brands (E0 usually nets 0.5 to 1.5 mpg better than E10).

I can pull up specific numbers, but it was an eye opening improvement. He does run a bit better as well.

I'd heard that AC Delco was Techron somewhere. We can add it to the cleaners that use PEA as the primary detergent.

All I've been able to ascertain to date is that the main difference between them is the percentage of PEA. I dropped a full bottle of Gumout Regain into a 2 gallon can for my mowers. I've used PEA to clean carburetor pilot jets and needles without disassembly Works every time. You know that machine that will start but won't idle or one that takes a huge amount of choke or primer. Brings them right back.

Peppers tank is only 26 gallons but I use two bottles as well for the 'shock' then a half ounce per gallon in between 5K mega doses.

Grumpy Bear · September 26, 2019

Perspective

Compared to the EPA sticker average and the US Government's numbers. https://www.fueleconomy.gov/

I took these records and broke Peppers numbers out in 10K increments then plotted in this graph. The green values are primarily over winter months when I compared dates to miles. Forget for the moment the reasons for this result and focus on the result. Looks real different that the running average chart I normally post.

1.) Peppers last 10K miles is 11% over her life time average.

2.) Last 10K is 27% above the EPA sticker number

3.) Last 10 K is 80% above the National Average!

Here's the perspective: Given the Life Time average and using $2.75 per gallon yields:

a fuel savings of .....

$5,552.33 / 100,000 Miles

Compared to the National Average (Joe Average)

In 342,000 miles I've covered the purchase price of this truck!

The question isn't what kind of mileage does the truck get.

The question is what kind of mileage do YOU get with it?

Maybe I should invest in some deer whistles!

:seeya:

Grumpy Bear · September 30, 2019

September MPG Numbers

September looks to be a good month in my area to drive. It also looks as if the gains year over year are peaking signaling the end of the break in. I suppose most people consider the break in over when the rings have a good seal.

I use this as a guide. This is an Archard Equation wear simulation plot. By my estimation Pepper has just entered the steady wear phase of her life. This initial wear area now nearly complete. Wear increases clearances that reduce viscous drag thus reduce fuel usage. Time in this graph can be related in several ways. Miles, time, load....

In past vehicles this first phase is usually complete in under 40,000 miles. The longer this takes, and given nothing abnormal in operation, the longer the machine last before the severe wear state. This is a good one.

Grumpy Bear · October 10, 2019

Last post I considered 'wear' rates and normal wear rate related end of service life. This post 'stress' related failure is the subject. First question you have to ask is what is stress? Webster defines it as:

1 : constraining force or influence: such as:

a : a force exerted when one body or body part presses on, pulls on, pushes against, or tends to compress or twist another body or body part.

In a motor some stress is good. Stress or 'a force exerted on one body' like gas expansion on a piston top 'pushes against, (and) twist another body...crankshaft, to convert chemical energy into mechanical energy. Problems occur when 'stress' on a object is greater than the mechanical strength of that object. When that occurs we have a component failure. A stress related failure. This type of failure has nothing to do with quality...it has to do with physics. Simply more load (stress) than the object can bear. How much load an object can bear or stress it can suffer has a great deal to do with more than it's specifications: that is, material, dimensions, geometry, fit and finish, it's design elements and expected loads.

Simple example. Combustion pressures reach several thousand pounds per square inch and the piston alloy and thickness and heat treat are designed to handle it....unless....the part is over heated as during detonation, forced induction past the design or deprived of cooling either by loss of water in the jacket or loss of oil or the oils properties. All heat functions that lower the strength of the alloy to a point of failure.

In a DOD system that uses timed hydraulic events the lost of oil 'pressure' interrupts these precisely timed events and creates loads far beyond the design of the lifters normal load bearing parameters. Sometimes it's just a bad batch and is quality related BUT as one can see from the chart a design related failure happens very early on in the devices life cycle. Those that happen randomly during the useful life portion and not quality related failures and one must look elsewhere for the root cause. More often than not this is a lubrication maintenance issue. It can also be from actual over loading such as over spinning the motor or the result of another component failure such as a broken valve spring, failed keeper etc.

Why am I even writing this? To remind my self that I control the loads and the maintenance that assure a normal life cycle once I'm past the first period in the products life cycle. I must remind myself. The barrage of 'the sky is falling' post will challenge the resolve of the most dedicated at times.

Grumpy Bear · October 11, 2019

I still collect every gallon and mile and note aberrations and events, cause and effect for obvious events. It's a lot of data and visually it becomes busy. Intermediate and long term averages tell a more complete story. I've chosen to plot multiples of 9 then add life time and the cumulative averages to paint a more complete picture. I also cut the chart in half. That is we are looking at the data for the 18 and 27 period trends starting 1/1/2018. A continuation of the 9 period plus life average and cumulative are from the beginning of the record (8/2016). The center of that would be the current central tendency or average.

A look at the 9 tank average if full of information. Seasonal swing primary and it is huge. The line shows that I drive allot more miles in the warmer months than the winter. It shows current trending and impact of single tank aberrations. Such as major services where the shop lets idle for an hour during a transmission service or unusual service like becoming the daily driver when the shuttle car is down for an extended period. It smooths out tank to tank filling station pumping deviations. Equipment failures such as the multiple water thermostat failures (Jet Equipment).

Error bar of the 9 tank average shows current central tendency. The center of that would be the current average.

18 period average of the tank over tank smooths that data more dampening single events to show a more general seasonal trend.

27 period average of the 18 period average. Ever fingerprint a camshaft? Such a line shows rates of change. For a cam this would be not the lift per degree but the difference in lift per degree per degree. Hope that makes sense. A momentum line if you will.

LIfe time Average is what it means. All miles / all gallons.

Running Average is the addition of the current tank to all previous tanks. Interesting line. Shows the progress or lack of over time. However without looking at the shorter trends one may believe something was wrong, for example, at mid line where it took a dip when if fact that dip was the result of a major seasonal swing shown in the 9 and 18 period averages. So no problem.

I'm going to add more thoughts to this post soon.

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Winter Fuel: EPA sources say there is a 1.5% difference between winter and summer fuels BTU content. So...a few tenths of a mpg. Not a major player.

Fuel Source: Gasoline is a chemically defined and Federally controlled chemical that must conform to the ASTM D-86 distillation curve and meet the Reid Vapor Pressure standard by season and region. Regardless of the refinery it is distilled at it is the same range of hydrocarbons and has the same heating value. Not a major player. Any difference comes in the additive package but must meet the Federal minimums. Sort of like 2% milk is 2% milk regardless of the cow it is milked from.

Ethanol Percentage: Now this does have an impact. E-10 will net roughly a 3-4% lower fuel economy. E-15 nets 4 to 5% less. So a 17 mpg truck could get around 0.5 mpg better mileage on E-0 v E10 but a 30 mpg truck might get 1.5 mpg better on E-0 V E-15.

It takes several tanks after a switch to realize the full impact of a ethanol percentage change. More so if you do as I do and fill at half a tank. Charting that impact might take a summers worth of data.

As can be seen from years worth of data mileage is affected but much bigger hammers and over time changes with wear and condition to a point that until a time and season have passed you have no idea what your looking at until it is long in the rear view mirror. This chart shows a 27% swing from first winter to this summer but only a 6% change in Running average while year over year it has averaged a 3% increase for every 10,000 mile driven.

Conclusion: When I hear people say I got 2 mpg better mileage switching from Shell to COSTCO or my mileage tanked because of winter blend or any other such non-data driven hot air I am humored. When they want to argue about it......well......

Edited October 12, 2019 by Grumpy Bear

Grumpy Bear · October 21, 2019

I posted this to another thread but don't want to loose it.

The GM LT1 uses a variable displacement oil pump that enables more efficient oil delivery, per the engine’s operating conditions. Its dual-pressure control enables operation at a very efficient oil pressure at lower rpm coordinated with AFM and delivers higher pressure at higher engine speeds. Extra pressure can be requested from the pump for the oil jets on the pistons. The oil jets are used only when they are needed the most: at start-up, giving the cylinders extra lubrication that reduces noise, and at higher engine speeds, or when the engine load demands, for extra cooling and greater durability.

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According to studies backed by the department of energy, the average car will be at its advertised MPG at 55 mph. But as the speed increases:

- 3% less efficient at 60 mph
- 8% less efficient at 65 mph
- 17% less efficient at 70 mph
- 23% less efficient at 75 mph
- 28% less efficient at 80 mph

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Edited October 23, 2019 by Grumpy Bear

Grumpy Bear · October 23, 2019

Super Tech Synthetic 5W20 v Red Line Synthetic 0W20

Compare to the Blackstone Universal Averages for this motor.

Copper-Iron-Aluminum

Results are given in ppm/1K miles for the OCI

apples and apples

I like my choice.

Grumpy Bear · October 27, 2019

A Usable Comparison

Three primary elements wear elements.

These are the raw data results from both Dyson and Blackstone divided by the OCI intervals.

Universal Averages are from the Blackstone Library for the GM Gen V 4.3 V-6 motor only.

This is how Blackstone evaluates samples from differing OCI's.

The Super Tech 5W20 is their Full Synthetic. The Red Line HP is also synthetic.

Both Dyson and Blackstone make note that bearing materials for this motor are naturally high.

In fact the unweighted numbers from Copper for the Red Line and the UA were identical 25 ppm results. The UA number was on a slightly higher OCI interval. 5K v 6.7K. The Super Tech numbers were on 7.5K OCI's.

Ergo chart results are ppm per 1,000 miles.

Raw data in previous posts.

This is just interesting. Lowest wear in Fahrenheit converts to be about 175 F to 230 F. Knowing that lowest thermal oxidation rates are under 200 F and the need to keep the oil over 185 F for at least an hour to drive off moister narrows the useful value to sweat spot.