Engine Oils

[Valkyrie99]

I'm sure this has been talked about in the past at great length. But I'm wondering what most use for engine oil. Synthetic? What weights? I live in So Cal with winter trips to Montana. Thanks

 

[DRR-24V]

I also live in So. Cal. with annual trips thru N. Mex. ,Wyo and back. I have used the Delo 400 with good results with regular oil changes. LOVE THAT DODGE !!

 

[EMDDIESEL]

I use Rotella 15W-40 with 7k oil changes. I may go to synthetics at some point, but right now i cant justify the expense when it is so easy to do an oil change and conventional oil is so cheap. I dont tow either. Any major oil companies oils are good as long as they meet the specs for Cummins. Rotella, Delvac, and another brand that i am blanking out on right now. Amsoil is good too. If and when you go to Synthetics, dont forget that Mobil 1 is NOT approved for diesels. They do have a Synthetic version that is, but its not called "Mobil 1"

 

[drag racer]

Mobil 1

... just to clarify what EMD states, "regular" Mobil 1 is (or at least was) certified for use in older diesel engines which required the API rating "CC" or "CD". DO NOT use "regular" Mobil 1 in your Cummins. As the diesel oil spec's were superseded, rather than upgrade Mobil 1, they just came out with an all-new oil, "Delvac 1," which of course carries all of the latest ratings for diesel engines (CG-4, CH-4).

 

[HC]

The Delvac 1 I bought 6 months ago met CG-4, CF-4, but not CH-4. I'm looking at the old bottle as I type. However, the CG-4 meets what my 2001 owner's manual calls for.



Right now I'm using Amsoil HDD 5W-30, which claims to meet both the CH-4 and CG-4 ratings. But Amsoil has not "licensed" their oil with API. This decision has caused strong feelings on both sides; some think Amsoil should belly up to the bar and pay the API fees to get "official" sanctioning showing compliance with the API standards; others argue that this is just money in API's pocket, and proves nothing. I've resolved the issue in my mind by doing oil analysis with a company not affiliated with Amsoil, as long as my test results and wear rates come back good, I'll remain a believer.



Synthetic will give you an edge for cold winter starts in Montana, but even up in Canada many report satisfaction with the 15W-40.

 

[RichB59]

oil

I'm useing Delo 400 at 3000 mile intervals. Delo is a good non synthetic. Also no bad odor . LOL



Rich

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

3K oil changes

I think changing conventional oil at 3000 miles (unless your truck is still new) is a waste of oil. I did oil analysis 2 or 3 times when running standard oil and at 5,000 miles it had a LOT of life left in it, could've kept it in for 10,000 miles easily.



One thing about these modern, clean-running diesels. . . there isn't nearly the oil-harming byproducts of combustion (water, acids) compared to gasoline engines, so other than building up soot or eventual thermal breakdown, there isn't much working against the oil running in your Cummins. I would strongly recommend going 5K and then doing an analysis a couple times for reassurance, then you'll realize you're throwing good oil away at 3K.



Next time you check the oil on a gasser that has 3000 miles on a change, and take a good whiff of the oil. Stinky!! Now try it on a diesel. . . still has a new oil smell with a touch of diesel scent



Vaughn

 

[C Schomer]

Just changed to Royal Purple syn 15w40. I did 3 anals on the LE so I have something to compare to in the future. Craig

 

[Cooker]

I'm interested to see how the RP stacks up to the LE. Keep us posted.

 

[Pete Peterson]

Changing the oil every 3000 to 3500 miles with a Fleetguard filter and Shell Rotella T or Delo 400 and your motor will last longer than you will Synthetics are great and I mean great oils, but if you must change your oil often as I do then the fossil oil will keep up with the more exspensive oils. There is no safety of flight issues here so the synthetics just make you feel good knowing you got the best oil made, but like I said the fossil oils will do the same job , you just change it more... ... ... ..... Pete

 

[Cooker]

I agree about the "fossil" oils. I change the oil every 3500 miles and the last two samples have hard iron counts of 8ppm and 7ppm. Not too bad for a dino oil huh?



Granted there are other advantages to synthetic oil like better flowability in cold weather and the ability to extend the drain intervals, but I'm staisfied with dino engine oil. The rest of the truck is another story.



-Ryan

 

[TwoSlick]

Vaughn,



I generally run Amsoil for 15k-20k in my gas engines without a by-pass filter. My oil analysis results are consistently excellent, although you do see more oxidation/nitration in a gasser than in a diesel power plant.



TwoSlick

 

[Archive]

I recently went from Valvoline to amsoil. I have always changed the oil at every 3500 miles. I am coming up on 3000 with the amsoil and it is starting to drive me crazy thinking of going longer. I may just change it anyway.

 

[trning]

oil

My company uses delo 400 in all our trucks. We have all sizes of cummins engines in the fleet. With oil samples being taken our oil change interval is 12,000 miles for the small engines and up to 50,000 for the N14 engine.

 

[GBerry]

I use the delo 400 mostly because I have one of the life time change deals from the dealer and they change it at 6k and I change it the 3k point saves me money and the worries of ? and i figure it cant hurt! ... . i was at the Cumminsnorthwest site and saw something on oil changes this is what i found in the faq part under (what maintenance changes for the 24v)... ... The only maintenance required is regular replacement of oil and oil filters at 7,500 miles and fuel filter replacement at 15,000 miles. The air filter should be replaced when the "Filter Minder" installed on the air cleaner box indicates a dirty filter. Valve adjustment is not required until 150,000 miles. ... . while Im sure they know what they are talking about 7500mi for a oil change still seems like a lot of miles to me guess im still a gasser head!! maybe if i had any idea were to get the oil samples check and knew how to read and understand the results then I could get onboard with the entended change's idea

hope this hasnt got too long for all ya's

GB

 

[tom sweeney]

i recently switched from Rotella to Delo 400 every 4-6k. . tom

 

[Archive]

Delvac1 @ 5k. intervals.

 

[John]

Originally posted by Cooker

I'm interested to see how the RP stacks up to the LE. Keep us posted.

I am also very interested in the results between the two oils.



I have been using the Amsoil Series 3000 5W-30 HDD synthetic this past year with excellent results. Oil analysis results have shown this to be the best oil yet in my 24v CTD. Prior to the aforementioned synthetic, I used (in descending order): Amsoil 15W-40 HDD&M (2nd best... very good/excellent oil analysis results), Valvoline/Cummins Premium Blue 2000 (2k mi. ) , Red Line 15W-40 synthetic (not worth the expense when weighed against the marginal oil analysis results I received), and for break-in oil I used Valvoline/Cummins Premium Blue (mineral oil).

 

[Ray Torresdal]

The Cummins add for the QSB5. 9 and QSC8. 3 engines advertise oil change intervals "up to 500 hours. " This from their add on page 51 of the latest Diesel Progress magazine. I doubt any of our vehicles see the dirty operating environments that the ag, or industrial engines see. If one drives enough miles to justify diesel, surely oil changes at 3000 miles are a waste of good petroleum resources. Ray

 

[TwoSlick]

Rob,



Do some oil analysis testing on the Amsoil in your crankcase. You will find it has hardly degraded at all after 5000-7500 miles. These Cummins engines don't produce that much soot and the Amsoil synthetics will easily suspend/disperse over 5% soot with no increase in viscosity or wear rates.

Normally I'd set an upper limit of 3. 0% on soot for a pickup truck diesel engine, just to be conservative.





I have dozens of customers running 10,000 mile drain intervals in the VW TDI diesel engine. This has only a 4. 5 qt sump and also has an EGR valve that dumps soot and acidic combustion by-products back into the oil. Many of these folks are doing oil analysis and are still seeing TBN's of 11-12 after 10k miles- with no makeup oil added .



TooSlick