99 Tacoma 2.4 ST Syn 5w30 PH3614 5400mi

[FlyNavyP3]

1999 Tacoma Wal-Mart ST Full Synthetic 5w30 total miles 185,400 at time of sample, comments are due to my inquiry if the oil was breaking down in service, friends truck. Back story, had the valve cover off about 20,000 miles ago for a gasket change and noted lots of old hard carbon deposits in the engine. He's owned the truck since it had 80,000 miles, we suspect the previous owner was slacking on oci as all the seals and rubber gaskets are hard as a rock. Truck has been serviced with ST Full Syn at roughly 5,000 oci for the past 105,000 mi. Oil filter cut revealed the bottom 1/3 or all pleats completely impacted with hard carbon deposits. Since this sample was done 2 more have been done one with ST Full syn and a dose of seafoam in the oil to try and clean it out and the same fram filter with no noted carbon, and one more oil change with PUP without a filter cut using a Wix Gold 1515 filter for its extra capacity. Not sure what caused the random burst of [censored] but truck is still running exceptional at 195,000 mi.

 

[Kuato]

Oil looks good, sounds like it's gradually cleaning out the carbon, you just got some chunks last change....or maybe it's like that every time? Either way 5k on ST Syn is

 

[53' Stude]

+2

 

[FlyNavyP3]

A few previous oil changes revealed no excessive carbon in the filter, nor did the oil change after the one depicted in the sample here. The sample for this change depicted here was actually pulled before I cut the filter and saw the horror inside. The sample was originally taken to confirm the validity of a 5,000 mile oci on the ST synthetic. I would say that at least in this application the 5k oci is working well.

 

[53' Stude]

For the miles on the ST syn, maybe it's me but the TBN went down fast. Still good to me though

 

[FlyNavyP3]

Originally Posted By: car51
For the miles on the ST syn, maybe it's me but the TBN went down fast. Still good to me though

If I had to wager a guess I'd say that TBN has likely already plateaued at 2.4 I wouldn't be at all surprised if he could've run this out to 7,500 miles and stay above 1.0. However for the price and the wear numbers I'm not terribly disappointed in its performance considering it can be purchased for less than some of the brand name conventional oils. Sure there are absolutely better performing synthetics and conventional oils that would fare as well or better under the same conditions for more cost. But for his goals of a safe 5,000 mile oil change I think this is a good fit. Especially for the price.

 

[53' Stude]

The current SN ST synthetic has a nice load of boron in it too. It's "rollback" to $12~ for 5w20,30 and 10w30. I agree; for the price and 5k hard to beat

 

[FlyNavyP3]

I didn't know that they'd reduced the price even further. The last time I looked I think it was $17 and change. Although this report isn't anything earth shattering I still believe there is good value in the ST Syn. I'd run it in my own vehicle if my current stash ever dried up.

 

[53' Stude]

So, I went to the Wal Mart near my work or 20 miles away and online showed $12.00 for ST Syn. Price in store was $17.87. Asked a associate and showed her. Wal Marts stock # was way different and she wouldn't look into it would do anything about it. Gotta love the "people of Wal Mart".

 

[FlyNavyP3]

You should be able to "ship to store" and get the online price, or buy enough and qualify for free shipping.

 

[Shata]

I'm impressed with ST UOA I may try this ST SYN out just for kicks, if it does well in my chevy L83 [censored] for the cost.

 

[FlyNavyP3]

It's been working well for my friend in this truck. He's been running it for 119,000 miles now at 5,000 oci this sample was taken just for fun to confirm the validity of running the ST Syn for a 5,000 OCI in his truck. He reports that all is still well approaching 200,000 miles. He owned the truck since 80k.