1987 4Runner 22RE 5+ years and 60,000 mi of UOA's!

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Hey fellow BITOG'ers I recently joined the site but have visited on and off for years. I decided to share my longest running history of UOA's on my 1987 Toyota 4Runner. Many different grades and viscosity listed here as a result of an oil clearance that I took advantage of at a Military base gas station I purchased about 22 gallons of oil in one shot and later purchased another 10-12 gallons all at under 27 cents per quart.

Background on the 4Runner, I purchased it from the original owners with 255,120 miles on the clock, all the service records since new were provided with it, every single tune up, oil change, inspection, brakes, tires, windshield wipers, everything performed at the dealership. Truck had seen 3,000 mi OCI since new with whatever oil the dealership used. Engine has never been rebuilt, dealership replaced head gasket and timing set at 157,000 miles, about 100,000 miles prior to purchasing the truck.

Without further delay here are the UOA's I've performed.



Unknown oil, windshield sticker from the dealer said 5w30, oil filter was a genuine Toyota filter. Iron was high in this sample, possibly due to the fuel in the oil.



First OCI I performed on the truck, used Wolf's Head 20w50 from the above mentioned stash, oil filter was a Motocraft FL-1A, viscosity was low, as seems to be a trend for this WH oil. Insolubles are a bit high in this sample, wear metals are greatly improved and the fuel dilution is better. No changes to the truck other than the oil change were performed.



Second OCI using Valvoline Motorcycle 20w50, oil filter was a Motocraft FL-1A, insoluables are high again, not sure if due to some cleaning action of these oils or something else going on. Viscocity is in grade for a 20w50 this time but just barely. Wear metals continue to trend down, TBN is still solid, no surprise for a short run.



Third OCI for this truck. This time with Valvoline Durablend 10w40, oil filter was a Motocraft FL-1A. Wear metals continue to improve, viscosity slightly low out of grade. Insoluables are greatly improved this time so I'm not sure what changed. TBN here was good and strong. Short run this time to monitor based on the previous OCI's.



This OCI was a blend of 3 quarts Quaker State Q Horsepower in the clear bottles and 2 quarts QS SUV 10w30, oil filter this time was a Napa Gold 1515. This OCI included a 1500 mile road trip to Texas and back from Florida, had a pretty harsh head wind for a portion of the trip and the truck spent about 400 miles of that on the floor just to keep up with traffic on the highway, that could be the cause of the slight increase in aluminum and iron, but the increase is pretty minor and the run was longer so I'm not sure. Oil is just barely in grade again, perhaps a touch of fuel from the truck being run at WOT for a great deal of time. Nice load of Boron in this batch of oil. After this OCI I skipped sampling a few times as the results were looking good. Next OCI not shown here was 3 quarts John Deere 5w30 (in paper and tin cans) and 2 quarts Valvoline SynPower 5w30. The next two OCI after that were Wolfs Head 20w50 with AC Delco PF-2 filters.



This is a sample taken after some engine work on the 22RE at 277,577 miles, the head gasket was starting to show signs of an external weeping and the cylinder head had some stripped exhaust studs. I elected to pull the engine and perform a valve job (seats ground, original valve guides, all new valves, springs, retainers, locks), I also added an aftermarket RV type torquer camshaft and replaced the timing set (chain, hydraulic tensioner, guides, sprockets) and reassembled it with new gaskets. Unrelated to engine oil I also replaced the clutch and flywheel at the same time while it was out, the clutch I removed was an original Toyota clutch at 277,577 and no record of it having ever been replaced in my documentation from the dealer and owner.

Oil used for this OCI was Brad Penn 30wt Break In Oil, I must admit I'm not impressed with the add pack in this oil, the HDEO that I've used in the past and the other oils I've used in this engine prior. The iron in this sample was higher as expected due to the camshaft break in ans well as the new timing set. Silicon is high due to sealant used during the reassembly process. Oil filter was a STP filter with an E-Core in PH-8A size, it was also the first filter from this engine that I cut. Upon inspection it had a media tear about 1/2" long by 3/8" hard to say if the media tear resulted in a higher wear rate or not since it was during the break in run on the new engine work. Aluminum mentioned in the post was because the machine shop sprayed the cylinder head with "Alumiblast" spray paint inside and out, the paint from the inside surfaced of the head apparently wasn't adhered very well to the head as I found multiple 1/8"x 1/8" flakes of it all throughout the oil filter media probably over 100 of them. I'm thinking this resulted in the elevated aluminum reading considering no aluminum on aluminum wearing parts were changed.



First OCI post camshaft break in, still lots of paint in the filter, Mobil Delvac 15w40 with a K&N PH-8A size filter. Wear metals and silicon trending down nicely.



Second OCI post camshaft change and engine work, paint flakes remain in the filter but are deminishing. Mobil Delvac 15w40 with Motorcraft FL-1A filter. Wear metals and silicon continue to trend nicely despite the slightly longer run.



Third OCI post engine work, still seeing paint flakes in the filter but it's down to a few dozen specs now. This time with some clearance Valvoline NextGEN 10w30 Napa Gold 1515 filter. Metals are looking great, viscosity is a little low, perhaps due to the oil being recycled as it doesn't look to be fuel this time.



This OCI was using Valvoline Max Life 10w40, still paint flakes in the filter but down to 10 or so. Silicon is back below universal averages, copper, and iron are down and aluminum is holding steady. Based on all the metals seeming steady after the engine work I decided to try a full synthetic on the next OCI for a longer run as all evidence suggests that the engine would support it. Other factors rendered that ineffective as you'll see below.



Tried a blend this time with some partial quarts I had laying around 3.5 M1 5w30, 1 CarQuest 10w30, .5 quart Valvoline 10w40 Motorcycle this run for just under 5,000 miles. Oil filter was a Pure1. Only 5-6 paint flakes this time. Unfortunately about 4,000 miles into this OCI the diaphragm in the power brake booster filed and allowed the engine to ingest unfiltered air and dust through the booster.



Short run of 20w50 Wolfs Head this time to try and flush out any remaining contaminants ingested with the bad brake booster. Filter used this time was a Hastings, still about 5-6 paint flakes in the filter. The trend of low viscosity in the WH 20w50 remains.



Longer run on the Wolfs Head 20w50 this time with a Motorcraft FL-1A filter that still showed 5-6 paint flakes from the engine work. Iron is higher than I'd like given the short run of 3,000 miles but silicon remains low. Viscosity remains low for a 20w50 as is the trend for this oil.



This UOA w/10w40 Valvolone Motorcycle oil, this oil sat for 8 months while I was deployed, it had about 400 miles prior to me leaving on deployment, then got the remainder of the OCI after I returned, filter was a CarQuest Blue 85515 (Ph-8A size), 3-4 paint flakes in the filter. Perhaps the high copper is due to corrosion of brass parts while I was deployed.



Another 3,000 mile OCI with Valvoline Motorcycle 10w40 to monitor the high copper from the previous OCI. Filter used was a CarQuest 85515 Blue, 3-4 paint flakes in the filter still.



My most recent OCI, I wanted to try another 30wt oil to test my theory of fuel economy trends with 30/40/50wt oils in use. I kept the run short to verify the copper trend had resolved itself. Wear metals look good overall, slight increase in iron over the previous fill but hardly anything to worry about in an engine with 312,000 miles on it that's never been rebuilt. Filter this time was another CarQuest Blue 85515 which still shows 4-5 flakes of paint from the engine work over 30,000 miles ago.

Current fill is Lubro Moly (Liqui Moly) 10w40 MOS2 with a Purolator Boss 10241 filter (to evaluate the efficiency and construction of the filter). I stopped using the larger PH-8A sized Ford filter and returned to the Toyota size filter to cure the startup rattle associated with the larger filters siphoning out to the oil galleys and causing a dry start. ADBV works in the larger filters but they drain out from the clean side into the engine on shut down, the dirty side remains mostly full. The filter is mounted horizontal on the engine, perhaps if it was vertical it wouldn't happen. The smaller filter doesn't exhibit the same issue with startup timing chain noise. I plan to draw a sample at 5,000 miles, I'll of course post the results here.

Hopefully you guys enjoy this history and UOA analysis in my 4Runner that I can report is still running well at 315,400 miles as of today.
 
Originally Posted By: Jetronic
just 1 question. Why the motorcycle oils? Was that to get a more shear stable oil?


because he paid like .25 a quart.
 
Great question on the MC oil, as noted above I purchased it just because it was cheap. I figured my old 4Runner wouldn't mind much, and as it turns out, it doesn't.
 
No, I don't think it would mind, but if it's oil intended for wet clutches it might not have favourable friction modifiers (for fuel efficiency). That's why I wondered. But also, it'll be on average more shear stable
 
Originally Posted By: Jetronic
No, I don't think it would mind, but if it's oil intended for wet clutches it might not have favourable friction modifiers (for fuel efficiency). That's why I wondered. But also, it'll be on average more shear stable


Funny you should mention fuel economy as the truck gets better gas mileage when run on a 30wt which the only ones I've used have been standard automotive oils. Either way the MC oils seem to be doing a fine job in terms of wear prevention overall.
 
Update to this truck, heading out on a 3,000-4,000 mile road trip in 2 weeks so I'll be dumping the current fill of Lubro Moly (Liqui Moly) 10w40 MOS2 and Purolator Boss filter in favor of a home brew synthetic blend from my stash consisting of 2 quarts Napa Synthetic 0w20 1 quart 10w40 Valvoline DuraBlend and 2 quarts 10w40 Valvoline MaxLife with a made in Korea Beck Arnley filter.

I will be taking a sample to send to Blackstone of the current fill and I will cut the Boss and post.

Pre trip preps and truck background posted HERE
 


Latest run.

Hey guys here is the UOA to go along with my Purolator Boss cut from the filters forum. Oil was in use for 5310 miles (total vehicle miles don't line up as the odometer is 6% slow) during that time the truck saw all in town use, one day at the beach driving around in the sand, one day at the drag strip (made it to the semi finals in bracket racing only to loose by breaking out frown ) 183 total hours of which 53 were idle hours.

Oil used was the LubroMoly (LiquiMoly) 10w40 with MOS2 already blended in. Odometer at time of change was 317,400 on the original never rebuilt engine. No makeup oil was added. I changed the oil because I'm about to take the truck on a long road trip. Since this sample was taken I've already put 800 miles on the truck, will be close to another thousand by the time I leave plus the 3,500 for my trip would have put me over 9,000 on this oil which I wasn't willing to do without further testing. So yeah, I dropped it with life remaining but I'm ok with that.
 
From looking at the uoa's,I'd say your 4 Runner likes 10W40 the best. That's what I'd stick with. Could you notice any differences in the way it ran on the various oil weights?
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
From looking at the uoa's,I'd say your 4 Runner likes 10W40 the best. That's what I'd stick with. Could you notice any differences in the way it ran on the various oil weights?


Mileage always seems to suffer with anything other than a Xw30 oil in it, other than that and slight changes in idle oil pressure with grades heavier than 30 no noticeable difference. Current fill is home blend synthetic blend from my stash consisting of 2 quarts of Napa Full Syn 0w20, 2 quarts Valvoline Max Life 10w40 and one quart of Valvoline DuraBlend 10w40. Should work out to be about a 5w30 ish.
 
Keeping this post alive with my most recent UOA.

This oil report is for a 0w20/10w40 2:3 yields cSt of 11.95@100C from my calculations back when I started a thread about blending 0w20 with 10w40 to reduce my stash.

Oil used was 2 quarts 0w20 Napa Synthetic 1 quart Valvoline Durablend SM 10w40 and 2 Quarts Valvoline MaxLife SM 10w40. I suspect the higher iron despite the highway run is due to the extended higher RPM running this truck experiences while nearly exclusively highway tripping (~3000-3500 RPM) when compared to my city driving where engine speeds are normally under 3,000. Additionally highway driving requires significantly more throttle input to maintain speed compared to city driving. The current fill will likely be mostly city driving again so it will be a nice comparison. I think the viscosity calculator was pretty darn close on this blend given the UOA results.

Enjoy!

 
Trying to keep this somewhat up to date... here is the most recent UOA with VWB SAE 30.

Other oils shown on this analysis in the history column are as follows:

Oil changes left to right are..

Current sample SAE 30 VWB

BLEND: 2 quarts Valvoline 10w40 Motorcycle 2 quarts Napa Synthetic 0w20 (blended and shaken in LiquiMoly jug to get some of the moly that had settled out on the bottom of the jug)

BLEND: 2 quarts Valvoline 10w40 MaxLife 1 qt Valvoline Durablend 2 quarts Napa Synthetic 0w20 (blended and shaken in LiquiMoly jug to get some of the moly that had settled out on the bottom of the jug)

LiquiMoly 10w40 MOS2 (the pre blended MOS2 enhanced oil)

SuperTech conventional 5w30 (Warren blended)

Delvac 1300 15w40

 
The 5W-30 SuperTech did a good job it seems. Just wondering why you used the 5W-30 instead of the 10W-30, or does it even matter?
 
Originally Posted By: BigD1
The 5W-30 SuperTech did a good job it seems. Just wondering why you used the 5W-30 instead of the 10W-30, or does it even matter?


No real reason. It just happened to be the jug that I grabbed that day to do the oil change. Here in Florida either would've provided similar results since we rarely get cold enough to venture into the W rating.

For whatever it's worth that was Warren made Super Tech, I've always had absolutely fantastic luck with Warren blended oils. The Super Tech here at Wal-Mart near me is now Amalie and I haven't run that yet or performed a UOA on it.
 
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