Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Conventional vs Synthetic Oil

[Bfoot17]

How many of us are using conventional oil or synthetic? Or are we split it between the winter and summer? Are thinking about switching over?

Thanks

 

[JSHAW]

Everything on my truck that takes fluids exept for the windshield washer fluid is synthetic. The only thing on my truck that has ever given me a problem is the transmission and there is nothing in the world that could have saved that piece of crap from puttig up with the way I used (abused) it anyway!

 

[RustyJC]

My truck is fueled heavier (DD2's - more soot) and driven only about 8,000 miles per year. Therefore, the most cost-effective and logical approach for me is to change the Delo 400 and Fleetguard Stratopore about every 3000 to 4000 miles and 6 months.



(By the way, I'm not anti-synthetic. My Acura 3. 2TL-S and my wife's Durango are run on Royal Purple and Mobil I respectively. )



Rusty

 

[2broke2smoke]

rotella synthetic

yeah i know it's not a true synthetic ...



but hey it's readily available (wally world)



only ads 18$ per oil change



a complete oil change for 50$, with the best filter available (fleetguard Lf16035)



all of the million mile trucks i've ever read about ran rotella 15-40

 

[Mike Ellis]

If I lived in a colder climate, I might give synthetic the nod. But here in Texas, the dino oil gets the job done so I see no point in spending the extra $$$. I like good old Rosmella and a Stratapore filter... .

 

[KIseminger]

Originally posted by Mike Ellis

But here in Texas, the dino oil gets the job done so I see no point in spending the extra $$$... .

This is true... ... . but there are more advantages to synthetic than just start up. Extended drain intervals, much more resistant to break down & oxidization, does not thin out as much when heated (consequently I use 5W-30), less friction, just to name a few.



I use AMSOIL in my truck and am very happy. I actually picked up about 2mpg. Cost was a factor for me, but I think it all evens out when you consider you can go quite a while between changing oil.



Not trying to start a war, it's just my experience. I ran Rotella in my truck until 55k and had no problems.



-Kyle

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

I'm with Mike - in much colder climates, the synthetics offer enough added performance to begin to justify their higher cost - but here in sunny California, no point.



"but I think it all evens out when you consider you can go quite a while between changing oil. "



Also NOT to start another oil war, but what is usually overlooked by most, is the fact that even dino oils will go out to about 32,000 miles and still retain adequate engine protection. Most users, and especially synthetic users/peddlers, are either unaware of or ignore that fact...



YOU DON'T *HAVE* TO USE SYNTHETICS TO EMPLOY EXTENDED DRAIN INTERVALS!



And if you are using extended drain intervals to save money spent on expensive synthetics, you could save the same percentage with extended drains on Delo 400...



BUT, for my money, 5,000 miles or so, and get that used stuff OUTTA there!, I don't care WHAT an oil analysis sez!

 

[mhenon]

An observation on synthetics

I changed over to synthetic oil (Mobil Delvac 1 5W/40) after putting 20,000 miles on the truck. My reason for going to synthetic were heavy towing and a need for extended drains. My wife and I live full time in our trailer and draining oil while on the road can be a pain.

Anyway, what I have noticed is a difference in the operating temps when I switched over to synthetic oil.

With Delo 400 15W/40 the truck used to run (while towing now) just over the center line on the water temp gauge. When you really got on it... like climbing a hill or passing... . it would go well above the center line until the fan started to engage. This is all pretty normal and about what you might expect.

Now with synthetic oil the truck runs with the needle right on center and moves to just over center on the hills etc. . This tells me it's running cooler and pulling the heat away from the moving parts much faster..... i. e... . less friction.

If it did nothing else I would still go with synthetic oils. The fact that I can extend the drains and not have to climb under the truck while traveling is just a bonus.



Mike

 

[mhenon]

Almost forgot!!!

I also picked up another . 25 to . 5 mpg after switching to sythnetic too. Not a big difference but it did show up as I've kept a pretty good track of the fuel used vs mileage.



Mike

 

[Texas Diesel]

Originally posted by Gary - KJ6Q

YOU DON'T *HAVE* TO USE SYNTHETICS TO EMPLOY EXTENDED DRAIN INTERVALS!



[/B]

Right on Gary, even though I hate to agree with you



And yes, *ALL* the million mile Rams used dino, hope to change that soon

 

[Houser]

Why is Rotella T not true Synthetic

I noticed that some one mentioned that Rotella is not true Synthetic. Whats up with that.



Houser

 

[KIseminger]

[q]YOU DON'T *HAVE* TO USE SYNTHETICS TO EMPLOY EXTENDED DRAIN INTERVALS! [q]



This is true. Wether you are on syn's or petro based oil you can go longer. Other countries, such as Europe, have longer drain intervals that can be up to 9k as opposed to our 3k. And w/ testing you can go longer.

 

[HMatson]

As soon as I got my beast home the Dino fluid was drained for Delvac Mobil 1.