Winter and the 1gr-fe

It was the ultimate test this week. We have an extreme cold since Sunday. I'm very impressed by the truck and the battery!

Took a few more turn to start (well any vehicule will struggle with these temperature) but for a 139k Miles truck with no block heater it handle cold very well. 3-4 min idle, took the road and 5 miles later hot air was blowing from the vent. Winter is fun again with a Tacoma !!

The weather will be "normal" for a day or two and the cold will return for a few day. Even Hydro-Québec had registered a new record for power consumption last day in the province 39 990 MW (MegaWatt).

 

I actually like the idea of using a 0W-40 oil for better cold winter starting and a little less thinning out in the heat of summer. Mobil 1 has had a "Euro formula" version for many years and a couple years ago developed a Dexos 2 ESP version for Corvettes. Corvettes were originally specified to use 5W-30 but they have since changed to the 0W-40 to include backfitting the cars sold when it was 5W-30. The Dexos version is supposedly more friendly to emissions system components like the cats, but it is more expensive and usually only available online. I have found Valvoline Dexos 0W-40 at Wally World in the past, but not recently.

 

It's been awhile, but the result are in..

Did the UOA on the engine, 6 month, 5000 km. It's been freezing cold most of January and febuary. Most of my commute is short trip, with some 5-10 idling in extreme cold, i did some hours long trip on highway but mostly on 30-50 Mph road and i did some good acceleration pull because when hot because i like the sound of this engine haha.

Result are very good. Seeing the viscosity and base number tell me that the oil was still good for another 2000km at least (oil is good for 8000km OCI) so it's a win. Metal are very low, no coolant in oil, fuel dilution is low and i'm happy with it.

Silicon is moderate it can be sand but i'm sure its the new liquid gasket on the oil pan when i inspected the inside in October.They tell me Boron is low but a quick search show that most of people with Amsoil OE have around 60 ppm on their UOA so i don't know what to think. I will do another analysis in 6 month before Winter and i will see.

The sound came back 2 week ago at startup like in October, it's only when it's around -5c to 5c, all the idler pulley are new, a full inspection of the power steering, ac, clutch fan so i know it's not that. I only hear it in the cab so for now i will suspect that it's the fuel line vibrating/tapping or something behind the engine near the floor driver side who give me the little tap. It don't sound metallic so i know it's not a heat sheild.

Happy to see nothing is destroying itself in the engine and in 10 day it will be a complete year with this truck. Best thing i bought in my adult life and i hope to see the 500 000 km number on the ODO in well 18 year if i do only 10k per year.