When to start oil analysis?

[ron in sc]

In searching I've not really been able to find definative answer to "When is the best time to start doing oil analysis"?

Some say wait until engine broken in at say 25,000 miles with OCI of 4K to 5K miles or wherever you decided is your OCI.

Car is a 2009 Toyota Avalon with about 1500 miles on it. I plan to change oil at 2000 miles using the 5w30 dino oil sold by dealer, just to avoid any future discussions involving warranty issues. Then at about 4K to 5K miles change again but to Mobil 1 5w30 and determine OCI from there.

My guess is that I should start with analysis at the time the engine has about 4K miles on the Mobil 1 oil. Of course this is a guess maybe I should wait until more mileage. Also if I started thread in wrong sub-forum please move to correct place.

 

[saaber1]

Totally depends on your objectives. What questions are you trying to answer with a UOA? f.e. is there anything wrong with my engine?, is this oil performing well in my car?, how long should my OCI be?, when is breakin complete on this car?, etc. etc.

 

[Bill in Utah]

To avoid any future discussions involving warranty issues you will need to remain at 5k or every 6 months for your OCI (whichever comes first) for 5 years or 60,000 miles.

In my Toyota the best UOA was with Castrol GTX. This is over pretty well every other oil out there (syn and conventional) and many UOAs.

If you are doing the UOAs for trending, I'd recommend changing the oil @ 2k with any SM oil you'd like.(No need for stealership oil. Toyota wants API cert oil in there, they could care less about type or brand)

Then again @ 5k then go for the 5k OCI. At 10k do your first UOA. Then another one @ 20k and then however much you want to spend.

Make sure you do get a few BEFORE the end of the power train warranty runs out just in case there is a leak or something.

Take care, bill

 

[Johnny]

I would start when you make the change to Mobil 1. Then I would send in a UOA every time you change the oil so you can see how it is trending, like on this report.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/pp-5w30-7105mi-vq35de-v6-07-nissan-murano.101530/

You did post this in the right section.

 

[Bror Jace]

I tend to start after 10,000 miles on a new vehicle. That's because I do 2,000-3,000 mile oil changes when they are brand new and short OCIs tend to be very clean ... and not particularly illustrative.

 

[Nyquist]

I'm doing one on my fiance's Cobalt this change to check for antifreeze and such. It's got about 15,000 miles.

 

[Patman]

I would do it right from the very beginning, but that's just me. I would like to see how the factory fill looked, and would also like to see the downward trend in wear metals to get a good idea of when the break in is actually completed.

 

[benjamming]

Originally Posted By: ron in sc
When to start oil analysis?


Factory fill drain

 

[ZZman]

Anytime is a good time.

 

[FZ1]

The other school of thought is Never! Just use bob's site to pick a good brand of oil,a good oci within the oem recomendations,and you are good to go. Use the money saved toward a better Bass boat.