I did something I shouldn't have.

Pull the dipstick and take a good wiff you will know

 

I wish are dipsticks were accurate, as that also would help too, but I will make my decision after the smell test. My oil is so new that it shouldn't smell very much at all, but it always does when I change it.

Thanks for your and everyone else's feedback!

 

Reality check

Your engine made it past 105F and therefore was in closed loop and you didn't run lean which wouldn't have got unburnt gas in your oil anyway. If anything you would have been slightly rich, but with closed loop the ECU it took care of it.

How are you going to check the viscosity and what kind of smell test?

You are dreaming up a scenario that didn't happen. As already said by several people, any gas in the oil vaporizes in a warm engine.

 

It didn't run lean, it ran rich. No carbon build up occurred. It was 80 miles.

It's highly unlikely any cylinder wash down occurred. If it did, you've got some wear issues that will show up in a basic compression test.

Nothing bad happened, and you learned something.

Move along with your life and enjoy yourself.

 

When you drove it, what was the temperature gauge reading?

Lean would be lack of gas. Rich would be excessive (unburned) gas. You wouldn't be building any carbon if it was lean, let alone only for 80 miles.

No, not enough mileage to make any sort of difference or harm the oil, engine, plugs, etc.

Engine and cooling system will far exceed that 105* temperature without a thermostat. Combustion chamber gases are HOT and will make quick work of getting everything to a average temperature. Most of the time, the thermostat is there to actually keep everything cooler as it keeps coolant in the radiator longer to dissipate heat.

Open loop/Closed loop, as long as there's no check engine light, the ecm will adjust fuel mixture within acceptable parameters without harming a thing. If there is a problem with running too rich/too lean you will get a check engine light with code P0171 thru P0174 depending on conditions.

Put a thermostat back in, new coolant and drive it. Everything is fine.

 

Thanks for the correction, I meant rich. I baby my Tacoma and I swallowed my pride by admitting making a mistake, but by doing so learned more about my truck.

 

why not keep the old school green anti freeze?

 

The temperature gauge reading stayed at C, with the temperatures in the 40's.

You are correct and I got the terminology backwards, seeing it was in an "open loop".

OK, thats good to know and thought I would ask people here with more knowledge than myself.

 

After doing a lot of research, I decided to stick with what Toyota recommends and there is a difference in the ingredients between the "green" and "pink". I always used Prestone, but decided to stay with the factory recommend antifreeze from now on and it's not that much more expensive either.

 

Opening post, "soot in the tailpipe". It most definitely was running rich. No biggie, you caught it early and corrected it. I think everyone is a winner here.

You pretty much need a thermostat for the truck to run normal.

I hope some people monitoring the thread leaned a bit as well.

 

Yeah, the tail pipe is telling me it was running rich, by the black residue inside (I took a white paper towel and brushed the inside walls and it came out black).

I know I learned more about my truck after this and if it helps anyone else, that is a bonus. I would rather ask a dumb question, then not ask it and have problems with my Tacoma down the road.

Thanks for your posting!

 

The only thing that happened is the coolant took a little longer to heat up than normal, so it stayed in open loop for a bit longer. Open loop uses a preset A/F ratio that is a little rich, which is designed to protect the engine. Once your coolant came up to operating temp it still went into closed loop, which uses sensor inputs to fine-tune the A/F ratio for fuel efficiency.

You did absolutely no damage, and the oil will be fine.

 

Thanks for your response, with temperatures in the 30's - 40's range and while driving the temperature reading staying close to the C (going from "pegged" to close to C), how would I know the coolant reached operating temperature and got out of the "open loop"?

Would it be worth going to a parts place and borrow their scan tool to see if it throws out a code or would a check engine light come on, like someone stated here when it's running rich?

 

You're worrying too much. The slightly rich condition is meant to protect the engine, and is programmed by the factory as a default when there's a sensor that's out of spec. Just keep driving it, you are fine.

 

OK, I'm working on the worrying thing, because I like the motto "Don't sweat the small stuff" (I even own the book) and on are death bed, looking back at our lives 99% will be small stuff.

 

ecot. is correct. You didn't hurt anything. It takes weeks of driving in "open loop" to kill the cats.

Your engine did not get up to normal operating temperature, but its not really a big deal. Compere it to someone who has a 2 mile drive to work every day. The engine never gets up to full operating temperature, but it really doesn't hurt anything.

One of the best benefits of getting the engine up to 180-200* is to "cook" off any moisture and residual fuel that may be trapped in your oil.

If you look at the owners manual, it considers short, city driving "severe duty". When that is the case, the manufacturer suggests shorter oil change intervals.

Change the oil or take a 2 hour trip on the high way to get rid of the residual fuel and moisture.

 

I didn't look at it that way, but it does make sense doing short trips and be under the "severe duty" category. Thanks again and I will take your advice - have a great rest of your weekend too.