Use Mobil Clean 5000 5W30 or Exxon Superflo 5W30. One or the other is actually the factory fill used by Chevrolet in your HHR's Ecotec engine.

Exxon-Mobil supplies motor oil to GM.

 

Sigh....the urban legend that won't die.

Pennzoil and Quaker State oils, both now owned by SOPUS (Shell Oil Products US), did have that reputation at one point but is no longer the case.

 

Over the past 14 years I have had the chance to inspect engine failures due to sludge. In all cases the vehicles had an alloy block & head and oil change records for changes at 3000-6000 miles (per warranty) and all used Q-State or Penz. Failures all happened within the warranty period and were at first turned down do to lack of maintanence. Dealer and owner records proved otherwise. It's still happening.

 

I used Pennzoil conventional 10W30 in my '94 dakota from '94 until last year. Granted from 2000 through 2006 the truck was driven less frequently but I still got it out and drove it up to operating temp for an hour every other week or so. Anyhow, when you remove the oil fill cap you can see deposits inside the vavle cover, quite a bit. I no longer usePennzoil in it. Son started driving it as a daily driver last year and I started using other oil in it back when he started driving it.

 

Whoa.
I'll give my first Beacon of Reality Award on the HHRnet to Black Rose.

 

I may be wrong here in how I'm reading this, but are you saying you change the oil every 16,000 miles?

 

Yes, but....only under the circumstances listed, ie: use of a premium 10W30 synthetic and change of filters about every 4000 miles.

I've used this drain interval for about 15 years on all sorts of light-duty gasoline engines which are driven more than 10,000mi annually.

I also back this up with spectrographic oil analysis at every change. Only one time have I ever seen the results come back marginal and that was a number of years ago when Red Line Oil and I were testing the 10W30 to find the limit. We were using a 2.8L V6 in a Chevy Beretta and we took it out to 24,000 miles. With the engine using 1qt per 3000 miles, that was close to the limit of the additive package Red Line uses. Because your replenishing part of that each time you add oil, engines that use more oil can actually go farther on drain intervals and engines which use less oil cannot go as far.

I'm going to guess that for the Ecotec in my HHR, 16-18,000 miles with a filter every 3000-4000 for a filter change will be my norm. My guess is my first change on that schedule is about a year away and I'll report back on my results.

I do not recommend extended drain intervals with ANY 5W30 oil normally used in HHRs. I do not recommend this for any synthesized hydrocarbon synthetic such as Mobil 1. The only oils I would suggest for extended drain intervals are 10W30, ester-based synthetics.

 

To support my past post, Honda issued a TSB on the Passport (Isuzu Rodeo, V6, alloy engine) model due to sludge and varnish build up based on this issue in the late 90's. The fix was Synthetic oil. The early warning was lifter noise as they would start to click.

The cases I was involved in always had shown that Penz and Q-State oil had been used. This was not a problem with non-parifin based oils or Synthetic.

Not a mith unless there is no parafin in these oils anymore.

 

Hib.....

I'm not "slamming" you but, I think you're being a bit to "general" here. You're telling all the people that changing oil at very long intervals is o'k.....NO MATTER WHAT. But, you know nothing of how or what each persons vehicle application is. I think this is a bit "risky".

Also, isn't the proprietary additives in each oil manufacturers product the major determining factor for oil change intervals (of course, along with the use factor).
At least, that is what I have encountered through 15 years of oil analysis.

For example, if someone is an exclusive short trip city driver, their oil change interval will probably be "sooner" (because of additive dilution) than someone who drives 100 miles/day of exclusive interstate.

Changing the filter regularly and not changing the oil, does nothing but remove metallic and other particles from the oil. What about anti sludge properties, anti foaming properties, anti wear properties, etc. Aren't they "used up" after a certain period of time/use (once heard that oil really doesn't wear oil......it is the depletion of additives and sludge that causes concern).

This is why, when people ask about oil types and intervals, I continually say, "whatever makes you comfortable". It is really dependent on the "quality" of the oil product and their respective, and personal, vehicle use.

So what am I misunderstanding, here.

 

With all due respect, Snoopy, I agree. You did misunderstand.

First, I never said that extended drain intervals are ok "NO MATTER WHAT" for "...all the people..." and I think if you reread my posts, there's no real implication of that.

What I said was that extended drain intervals are possible under certain conditions and with use of certain kinds of engine oils. I never advocated the idea for "...all the people...". In fact, there are several "I statements" in the post, so it should have seemed clear that I was only talking about my own experiences, but, I admit, others may use this information to make their own decisions on the issue. I also supplied some documentation to support the idea that my choice of extended drain intervals are compatible with the duty cycles my vehicles see and the type of oil I use.

Now...
My oil analysis tends to refute that idea, however, that's only under the conditions I use my vehicles--which I'd term a high-performance street duty cycle--and only if Red Line 10W30 syntjetic oil is used. As I may have said previously, the only time an analysis of Red Line 10W30 came back hinting that the additive packages had become marginal in effectiveness was a 22,000 mile test I ran using a GM 2.8L V6 engine in a street high-performance duty cycle. After that, I pretty much set 18,000 mi as my target for extended drain intervals.

IMO, it's a factor but it's on par with other factors, as well, such as viscosity gain, moisture content, etc.

Obviously, short trips--which are one of the most severe duty cycles to which you can subject a gasoline engine--are NOT a duty cycle which is acceptable with an extended drain interval. Same is true of regular operation in dusty environments.

In closing, let me repeat: extended drain intervals: 1) are not for every one, 2) can only be used under certain conditions and 3) can only be used with a limited number of premium, ester-based, synthetic engine oil brands.