Shell Rotella T

[roperteacher]

Hey there, I was reading the latest TDR issue and saw the article on oils. I saw the quote that someone put in there that said they wouldn't cross the street for a free crank case full of #4 ( #4 was the Rotella T from a list of I thik 8 different oils)...



Are you guys using it? I just changed my oil and used the ROtella T 15/40. I thought it was a good choice? Same with Delo 400 and others. . Tell me what you think. .



Thanks!Oo.

 

[DHuffman]

Some people think they know more than they really do... Remember, everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how off-base.

Rotella T is as good as the next brand - my grandfather's '94 Powerstroke is at 435,000 miles and he only used Rotella. I used Rotella in my '97 Powerstroke with no issues.

I plan to use Delo 400 in my CTD, but I'm sure it would last just as long with any of the other major brands in 15W40.

Later

 

[rbattelle]

In a frenzy to buy as much CH-4 oil as I could before it disappeared, I bought a smorgasbord of oils. Up until the last oil change (at 69000), I ran exclusively Valvoline Premium Blue 15w40 (2 reasons: loads of molybdenum, and the Cummins symbol on the bottle).

As I type this, I have a load of Mobil Delvac 15w40 in the crankcase. Sitting on the garage floor are 4 gallons each of Rotella T and Delo 400.

At the next change I'll go with the Rotella T. After that, it'll be the Delo 400. After that I'll run a mix of 1-gallon each of Delvac, Rotella, and Delo in the crankcase all at once. Then, finally, I'll go back to the Premium Blue.

I change oil every 3k, like clockwork. I'm not concerned with running any of these oils, as I consider them all top-quality.

Ryan

 

[WCounts]

In the TDR test all oils were CI4 except for the Rotella that was CJ4. All the oils tested have now switched to CJ4. Valvoline claims CJ4 is superior to CI4. We don't have much choise.

 

[roperteacher]

Thanks everyone, sounds like I made atleast a good choice. May not be everyones favorite, but certainly a quality product. I change every 5,000 now unless I am bored at 3,000 then I do it then as well. . Thanks!!

 

[MChildress]

I'v run Rotella for 15-40 for 12 years. Running it in a 95 Powerstroke since new,a 97 Powerstroke,John Deere tractor,Masey Furgeson tractor,and a 04. 5Dodge 3500 with no problems. I know they have changed the blend but I'll stay with Rotella, I'v trusted Shell this long. I do believe they are all real close to the same now days. I ran Delo 40 in the 6. 9 Fords but there was a foaming problem with the oils with the Powerstroke when it first came out and Shell was one of the first to address the the foaming problem with Rotella. I made the switch and never looked back.

 

[JFlagg]

I ran Rotella 15w-40 for the first 90Kon my truck, then swithed to their synthetic. My oil analysis, showed only minimal wear using it, everyone I now runs it also. Now if I could find that person with the free crankcase full... . I'd make like Frogger for it:-laf

 

[HSpiering]

I see John over at Carson said 5-30 is best to get lub to the turbo faster. I guess the only way to do that is a synthetic. I hate to spend the extra $$$. Not when regular oil was about the same in the test.

 

[JoelMartin]

As you probably all know the powerstroke injectors are hydraulicly actuated so the thicker the oil the better and faster it starts. Rotella T tends to be a thinner oil so I would recommend Delo 400 or some other thicker oil. It might work real well in cummins; I would probably stick with a thicker oil. Just my . 02 cents.

 

[Grizzly]

I have had the best luck with Delo400 15W-40. I see no need to switch to anything else.

 

[klenger]

Since I don't know squat about selecting oil brands, I choose to use Delo 400 because it meets the correct spec, but more importantly, I like the pretty blue bottles.

 

[480RUGER]

What about the smell? Any difference with 400? I always use Synthetic Rotella which smells much less then the regular to me. I guess I just like the blue jug too LOL.

 

[MConyers]

The only time I really noticed a smell was when I switched to the Synthetic Rotella, haven't tried the regular. Mobil Delvac 1300 Super, Delo 400 or Valvoline Premium Blue didn't smell as much to me.

I probably would have stayed with the Delo, but the price went up at Sam's Club and the Rotella Synthetic (claimed) wasn't a whole lot more at the local farm supply store.

 

[Buffalo]

Back around 1998, I believe, a gentleman wrote an article in the TDR regarding high mileage trucks. He & his wife towed travel trailers, commercially, & had accrued 1,153,000 miles on their '94 Dodge.



The nice thing was that they had documented everything that had ever been done, along with frequency, to their truck. They changed oil every 5000 miles, used Fleetguard filters & Shell Rotella 15-40. The engine had never been rebuilt.



They bought 2 new trucks to replace the old one but, kept the '94 to be used as a back-up truck incase one of the new ones was in the shop.



Personally, I've been using Chevron Delo-400, 15-40, CI-4+ in both of my trucks. I like the added moly & boron in its makeup.



The new CJ-4 is a whole new "ballgame" & I'm a bit confused about just how good the new oils are. Confused enough to buy the last 5 cases of Delo CI-4+, at Costco.



I phoned both Schaeffer's Oil Co. & Chevron & talked to their engineering dept. Both engineers said that the NEW blend is a stronger product than the old CI-4+. Remember, they have a product to sell to us!!! However, I've read a number of articles that say different. Expecially, if you own an older, non particulate trapped, engine. The newest trucks have no choice. Most of us do have a choice.



One of the interesting things from Schaeffer's was that, only their Series 7000, 15-40, synthetic blend has changed to the CJ-4 classification. Their fully synthetic, Series 9000, 5-40 will remain a CI-4+, until 2010. This information came from the phone call to their engineer. He did say not to worry about using the new CJ-4 in the older trucks.



I do remember reading on 'bob is the oil guy.com' that the Delo, CI-4+, with the Moly & Boron in its additive package, was such a robust oil that its quality was approaching that of fully synthetics.



I suppose the new CJ-4 could be an improvement but, the CI-4+ was considered to be a very high quality oil.



Joe F. (Buffalo)

 

[BLively]

shoot, i just switched over to Rotella synthetic because of the price! sure beats the heck outta paying 25-30 bucks for a gallon of oil. i used to use the Valvoline Extreme Premium Blue, but it got too high for me.

 

[DerekW]

Wade over at NGM Diesel sells amsoil. he was telling me about he runs amsoil in his race truck. I decided I wanted to run synthetics to get more MPG so while my truck was 3 hours away from home at wades shop I told him to swap everythign to amsoil for me. then he drove the truck to my house some 190 miles away from my shop and got it to me at 12AM this morning. he also adapted very well to me not having a phone for a contact. I am very satisfied with wade, NGM Diesel, and the amsoil. I pulled the dipstick today after 400 miles since oil change and It smelled good. it didnt smell like regular oil. u should try that stuff.

 

[DerekW]

Back around 1998, I believe, a gentleman wrote an article in the TDR regarding high mileage trucks. He & his wife towed travel trailers, commercially, & had accrued 1,153,000 miles on their '94 Dodge.



The nice thing was that they had documented everything that had ever been done, along with frequency, to their truck. They changed oil every 5000 miles, used Fleetguard filters & Shell Rotella 15-40. The engine had never been rebuilt.



They bought 2 new trucks to replace the old one but, kept the '94 to be used as a back-up truck incase one of the new ones was in the shop.





Joe F. (Buffalo)

Thats a cummins for you. and my buddies want to spend their big settlement check on 08 superdutys for him and his wife and the son wants a d-max. ugh. I think i got them confused wat to buy after a trip around the blcok in my truck. they used to have one like mine but had to sell to make 8 thousand dollars profit cuz thats the husbands game buy for dirt in a bucket and sell for cheap. I wish they could get on here and see that a cummins last 1 million miles no rebuild

 

[BDanner]

won't even take a free case of Mobil

Hey there, I was reading the latest TDR issue and saw the article on oils. I saw the quote that someone put in there that said they wouldn't cross the street for a free crank case full of #4 ( #4 was the Rotella T from a list of I thik 8 different oils)...



Are you guys using it? I just changed my oil and used the ROtella T 15/40. I thought it was a good choice? Same with Delo 400 and others. . Tell me what you think. .



Thanks!Oo.

Robert Patton and John Martin also wrote:



#5, 6, 7 are middle of the road oils. "Not great, but not bad either. There are tons of these types of diesel oils out there and they do a perfectly good job of lubricating your diesel. I imagine these oils are all API CI-4 oils, and suspect that they are ok for your engine. If you are looking at price versus performance, oil #5 is hard to ignore, because it only costs $7. 68 per gallon.



The above #5 oil amazingly turned out to be "Walmart Super Tech Universal", he would not even take a free case of oil #3 Mobil Delvac 1300 Diesel



#6 was Castrol GTX Diesel and #7 was Motorcraft Super Duty

 

[roperteacher]

I have run the AMSOIL 15/40 Syn and liked it. I just had a slight rough idle condition for a couple weeks and changed it out just to rule that out as a cause. But yep, everything else is AMSOILED!

 

[jnelson]

Ran Rotella 15-40 for 435,000+ miles in my 01 CTD.

Ran Rotella 15-40, amsoil, Delo, Castrol in my 04. 5 CTD.

Ran Rotella, Amsoil, and Lucas in my wifes 04. 5 CTD.

Ran Rotella 15-40, Amsoil, Delo, Castrol, and Lucas in my 06 CTD.

Now I run Rotella Synthetic in both my trucks now.



Why? Longer change intervals, cost, and I can get it at Wal-mart.



I dont think it matters what oil I used, there all good. My truck never complained. Not to mention I have a combined 790,000 miles on 4 trucks with no oil related problems.