UOA or not?? On, new to us '04 Tacoma 3.4L

[Ramblin Fever]

Bought this truck in October/November last year with 31k; ran it with dealer oil, Pennzoil regular 5w30 for 4k; then put in GC 0w30 for the last 6k.

Should we run a UOA or is it pointless after only 1 oci on GC?

 

[ARB1977]

UOA tells you how well shes running although at 31K im sure shes doing fine. My truck has 69K and havent yet done a UOA.

 

[Hermann]

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Should we run a UOA or is it pointless after only 1 oci on GC?

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My plan is to do a UOA on this my second fill of Havoline 5w-20. The car will be at 30K then and I feel this is a good time to see how the engine is wearing. I changed the air filter during the previous OCI, so it should tell me if my air filtration is working right. When I change oil on my Rhino ramps 5.0qts out of 5.4 total fill are removed because of the tilt. This means there is very little of the previous Kendall GT-1 left in the system.

 

[mitchcoyote]

Unless you are trying to extend your drains, a UOA is overated and a waste of money...

 

[Patman]

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Unless you are trying to extend your drains, a UOA is overated and a waste of money...

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[ekpolk]

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Bought this truck in October/November last year with 31k; ran it with dealer oil, Pennzoil regular 5w30 for 4k; then put in GC 0w30 for the last 6k.

Should we run a UOA or is it pointless after only 1 oci on GC?

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The informational value of a UOA at only 1k miles would be limited indeed. That said, I disagree with mitch's comment. There seems to be a pervasive belief among some that unless you're a fleet operator, or you intend to run very long OCIs, UOA is worthless. This simply isn't true. Of course, UOA does not provide perfect, complete information about your engine, but it will tell you things that you really can't get anywhere else. I do them a couple times a year. My motivation is not primarily to support a long OCI, but instead, to confirm that my engines are healthy and that I'm not doing anything grossly wrong. Yes, I know, there are millions of people out there who go for years just fine without any UOAs. Of course, the difference between them and me is that they're just hoping their engines are healthy. I know that mine are. Do you have a coolant leak? Is your PCV system working properly? Is fuel diluting your oil? Is your intake allowing raw abrasive dirt into your engine? Are you using your oil too long? Have you made a poor oil choice? These are all questions that a UOA can tell you. For anywhere from $25-50, you can get a solid answer to all of these questions. Again, I prefer knowing to hoping and guessing.

 

[ekpolk]

Oooops, sorry, I fed him I think. . .

 

[Bill in Utah]

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Unless you are trying to extend your drains, a UOA is overated and a waste of money...

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So is that why you never run them and answer most posts with the following;

Mobil 1 or Amsoil

My $30 UOA saved me $1200... And a engine.

Yep, UOAs are a waste of money...

Back to the orginal question.

I'd run one to confirm that everything is good and to start a baseline for more UOAs.

So many people here just run xxx oil and think because its $6 a quart, they are covered.

Others do UOAS and PROVE what works and what does not and in the end, get longer life out of their engines and save $$.

Take care, bill

 

[Ramblin Fever]

Guess that's what I'd like to know, whether or not this engine *likes* the GC, as well as whether or not it's a good oil choice for the driving style it's faced with.

I'm not expecting to find any issues, 'Yota's are known for being gentle on oil, but, I want to make sure this engine likes what it's swimming with - before spending $$ on oil it might not agree with.

 

[Ramblin Fever]

Forgot to say thank you all!