Amsoil ASL 5W-30, 8346 miles, 04 Toyota Tacoma

[yota4me]

vehicle----------04 Toyota Tacoma, 2RZ-FE, 2.4L, 4 cyl
OIL-------------5 qt, 20 oz Amsoil ASL 5w-30
oil additive------6 oz LC20 at oil/filter change
oil filter----------Amsoil EAO57
air filter---------Fram, new at apprx 30,000 miles
miles on oil/filter------8,346 (apprx 7 months--12/13/06 thru 7/4/07)
miles on vehicle--38,198
UOA by Oil Analyzers:
iron-------------------9
chromium-------------0
lead-------------------0
copper----------------13
tin--------------------0
aluminum-------------1
nickel-----------------0
silver-----------------0
silicon----------------19
boron----------------127
sodium---------------0
magnesium------------22
calcium--------------3506
barium---------------0
phosphorus-----------698
zinc-------------------900
molybdenum-----------54
titanium---------------0
vanadium-------------0
potassium------------0
fuel visc40---------------n/a
visc100--------------11.31
water----------------0
soot/solids----------n/a
coolant--------------NO
change---------------YES
nitr------------------22.0
oxid-----------------15.0
TBN------------------3.52
anaysis recommendations---"NO CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUIRED, OIL IS SUITABLE FOR CONTINUED USE. RESAMPLE AT NEXT REGULAR INTERVAL"

NOTES/COMMENTS:
This is my brother's truck. Probably around 60% highway, 40% city. Apprx 3,000 miles towing apprx 1300# trailer. Plugs are original (were due for change at beginning of this OCI). He purchased truck with apprx 10,000 miles on it. Since then he changed Castrol GTX 5W-30 & conventional oil filter every 5,000 miles til last oil change which was apprx 4,500 miles on Mobil1 EP with Mobil1 EP filter. FP60 added to non-top tier gas apprx every other tank. Don't plan to use LC20 with 100% synthetic oil again.
Currently using ASL with 3 oz maintenance dose of Auto-RX, Amsoil EA oil & air filters. I expect he'll be changing plugs any day now--when he can figure out how. I expect the EAA air filter to drop the silicon & hopefully the iron & copper. The high copper has me puzzzled. Other than the high copper, looks like the ASL oil & EA oil filter did a good job keeping wear in check with high silicon.

FUTURE PLAN:
NO LC20 with this oil. Resample at 10-15,000 miles. Run oil/filter to around 15,000+ miles. Possibly change to Amsoil HDD 5W-30 if wear not noticeably improved. Stick with Amsoil EA filters. Continue Auto-RX maintenance dosing if UOA's positive.

PREVIOUS ANALYSIS: none

Comments appreciated.

 

[RedOak]

Pretty nice report. I am no expert but the wear seems to be very low for the miles run. Only 9ppm of iron is very low. Yes the toyota engines wear very well but the Amsoil did very well. Nice reserve of tbn left. This should keep your engine very clean.

 

[buster]

Look at that additive package. Lot of Ca/boron. Report looks great.

 

[INDYMAC]

It's always difficult for me to gain useful information from a UOA that contains a great oil plus an extra additive. What would have been great to see from those that use additives is a sample taken with just ASL after 5K miles. Then dump your additive in for another 5K miles to see if it actually helps the ASL get to the levels of wear that you desire.

 

[yota4me]

I think the TBN would have been higher at this point without the LC20. Still looks to me like the oil could have gone another 4,000 miles or so. I'm thinking Amsoil HDD 5W-30, with higher viscosity (HDD=11.5 at 100*C, ASL=10.6 at 100*C) would provide a lower wear rate with the amount of towing he's doing. Maybe he could get around 20,000 miles out of the HDD vs 15,000+ with the ASL? Am I on the right track here? Why the high copper? Is it the towing/high silicon?
Thanks for the replies/comments.

 

[buster]

TBN isn't linear with miles. I wouldn't use any additive. Just run the oil. S3k isn't really that much better if at all. It's more of a diesel oil. Wear is so low on this report. Cu could be from anything but it's still low.

 

[Pablo]

This has some type of oil cooler, no?

 

[MysticGold04]

Might have one, not sure... He also has a 2RZ, which does have a chain, not a belt. I'd suspect this engine is a bit harder on the oil than the 5VZ series engines. I think the 3RZ is chain driven as well. Good report though for 8k+ miles.

 

[mikeg5]

the 4 bangers are chain driven. the only belt driven that i know are the 3.4 v6's and MAYBE the v8's for toyota

 

[yota4me]

A local Toyota Service Advisor told me it has no oil cooler, BUT he didn't sound very sure of that.

 

[ARB1977]

Man thats a great report. Im about to go 9 months on Series 3000 (January) and probley do my first report.

 

[Mike_dup1]

Quote:

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Other than the high copper,

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High, who said it was high? O.A.? What are you shooting for, all 0's.

13 parts per million in over 8,000 miles is not high.

Quote:

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Q: My sample has a high copper number. Where is it coming from?
A: If only the copper is high, but no other metals such as lead, tin, or aluminum are elevated, it is mostly an oxide of copper from the oil cooler. As the oil cooler is exposed to the heat from the engine oil, it can sometimes oxidize the copper, which will show up in the analysis report. This is considered a normal condition and no corrective action is required. This process usually will taper off or stop occurring over time.

---

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:

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What are you shooting for, all 0's?

---

No! Absolutely not!! If it was all 0's ..then we'd be convinced something was amiss. All 1's and 2's is about all we could handle.

 

[yota4me]

I'd like to see as many 0's as possible.
Just spoke with another dealer's service advisor. He said it comes with NO oil cooler. Parts man said NO oil cooler & none available. I asked about composition of bearings. They didn't know.

 

[mikeg5]

the v6 automatics have tranny coolers but no oil coolers for any toyota tacoma that i know of

 

[yota4me]

It's my understanding that 2005 and newer v6 automatic Tacomas could/can be ordered with tow package option, which includes oil & transmission cooler. Apparently, that's not/wasn't an option on the smaller 4 cyl Tacomas.
Here's a UOA on another 04 Tacoma 2.4L with similar total miles & OCI history. It's UOA is for shorter interval, with different oil, but has high lead, similar iron & silicon. No towing with that UOA. Maybe high silicon is normal for this unit mileage due to silicone gasket leaching still?
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