Switching oils

[RMcKinney]

I have a 1995 2500 TDR Stock with 280000 miles on the odometer that i don't drive much and
I want to change the oil, oil filter and the Fuel Filter before winter gets here.
It has Valvoline Premium Blue 15W-40 and i have Rotella 10W-30 T4.
Would there be any problems with switching these oils?

 

[fest3er]

10W30 is OK from 0-30°F (from my '98 12V SM); a block heater gets you down to -10°F. Over 30°F, 10W30's too thin. YMMV.

 

[Killer223]

it'll be fine. nothing wrong with the 10w-30. if youre going to tow in phoenix on a 120 day, you might want a 15w-40, else. it'll be ok.

 

[Bob4x4]

T4 is not a synthetic and is not a recommended wt for the Cummins.Why not just buy the right oil and not sweat it

 

[cerberusiam]

Premium Blue 15w-40 and plug the block heater if it gets too cold for that.

 

[GAmes]

It is an old time throwback that changing oils is detrimental. As long as it is a diesel oil feel comfortable using it. My 800,000 mile original engine used the best oil from day one. Whichever was on sale. I routinely use synthetic 10W-30 mixed with conventional 15W-40 in the winter. A little thinner oil makes starting the engine in very cold weather easier on the batteries and starter. If I was always in the great white north in the winter I would go 100% 10W-30 or even 0W-40 if I was way north.

 

[Joe Mc]

FWIW - I've never used any other weight than 15/40, Premium Blue or Rotella. MHO = if it gets real cold plug her in, get a timer and set it 3 hours or so before you plan to leave.

 

[GAmes]

FWIW - I've never used any other weight than 15/40, Premium Blue or Rotella. MHO = if it gets real cold plug her in, get a timer and set it 3 hours or so before you plan to leave.

So what do you do if you are away from home and the motel doesn't have any outside electrical receptacles and the temps fall to 8f. Sit and wait for the temps to rise? Grind your starter until the engine coughs to life, then wait, it seems, forever for the oil pressure to come up? Not that the block heater warms the oil that much anyway, it only warms the block, not the pan. Or use a lower weight oil, get instant starts after the grid heaters do their thing and see normal oil pressure rise. Not all of us have the luxury of being home every night.

 

[Gumby79]

No plug find a heat sorse that uses eletrons in a jug.

Watch that oil presure . When extra cold/ high "viscosity (-4°f-20°c cheveron 15×40 is 6400cP) the oil will pop the oil filter by pass valve to prevent oil starvation." Also in the case of a filter failure. And remain bi passed till the oil "cooler", its a heat exchanger it goes both ways. I verified this last month when I blew an oil cooler in south central Ut. The pressure releaf is set for 9psi differential accrost the oil filter on my late 1st gen. This is how the blockheaters heat the oil . By running the oil through a hot water~106-180 bathbefore trying to push molasses theough a coffee filter. Ive been mesuring my oil filter temps with an IR non-constant and they match, my thermastat and digital water temp
Solutions
Add one of these heatso.com/eberspacher-hydronic-d5wsc-heater-12v/
Its bacicly an 18kbtu diesle fired boiler set for 160 shutoff. Burns .1ga of diesel/hr and 2.3A on high. Do like the army(I wound up with a demilitarized unit for a HMMWV )and run the exhaust through a baffle to directly heat the oil. Most far north euros and Russian fock runnem 10-15 min and hot block,melted snow and heat. This is a"Barney Bad A#$c blockheater fully self contained, fule,water ,and combustion air all controled by an on bord brian that can be run as a heater for your rv off the shelf parts . Or you can go diy Ninja and use a point of use tankless propain water heter that is flow /temperature controled. Add an acquit "temperature rated" water pump(this is the hard part with less than a castiorn body) and set of check valves to prevent unwanted flow/heater running from engines normal flow.
I would have proformance data cept listed as new never installed strate from DERMO were they fry the classified part the brain. Never used my... this thing did~ 10 years in Alaska . Seased water pump. Full of rust. Was pulled out of service for the rust jamed water pump not workin most likley. Pump is fine now, if I only had a brain..
Dreem big and chisle down to realty.

 

[Woodenhead]

I have run nothing but 14W40 in both my 12V trucks for many years. I used to live in Canada and spent a fair bit of time in Alberta winters West of Edmonton. It was never a problem for me but I usually plugged in at night and let always the truck warm up before hitting the road. Unless you're in some fairly extreme cold for extended periods like Gumby, stick to the 15W40.

As far as switching brands goes, there's no harm in that.

 

[Gumby79]

I am /have run 15w40 as well with all new charging systom ,bat. 2w ,alt ,reg month-old and over nighting no power available was ok but grumpy smokey basterd -5through -19. @-23 no dice, cummins spec is -20°f plug is mandatory optinal from -5. At extreme temps the batteries louse capacity by -40°f c it only has 5% of rated. The oil is a brick. Cummins figured out what temp the extra load from the oil pump=more amps needed by starter × reduced amp yeald from bat. × 250A grid for 1.5min = too low rpm to fire. This was diminstrated on last years coldest day for me, it was -37 in Butte last winter in the same time frame.
On oil bypassing.
True if proper maintenance is done and you arenot louseing any thing. your oil in the pan is safe to go through the bearing and shouldn't shorten engine life.

 

[SAndreasen]

I have a 1995 2500 TDR Stock with 280000 miles on the odometer that i don't drive much and
I want to change the oil, oil filter and the Fuel Filter before winter gets here.
It has Valvoline Premium Blue 15W-40 and i have Rotella 10W-30 T4.
Would there be any problems with switching these oils?

Change my tractor from 15 40 to 5 30 Diesel rated engine oil every winter

 

[The patriot]

I dont have a whole lot of subzero time in my truck.
The little I do, 15w-40 was fine. I do however have healthy batteries and starter. 2 cycles on the grid.
Even plugged in at that temp it seems to take forever to warm up....if you want to call it that.
I just let it idle for 10-15 mins and let the grid heater do it's thing. Even then start out slow...

 

[Missouri Mule]

If it is really cold out you mite want to block off the radiator (something adjustable would be nice) , if you do that the heater will work better and it will be easier for the 15w40 to flow. If your minus zero I would run a thinner oil. I only had Mule/Moose down to 28-25 that was in 2010 here in FL. 28. In KC. 15w should let the ctd to turn over at pretty low temps. In KC for gas engines 10w-30 was OK in cold weather.

 

[Matt42]

it'll be fine. nothing wrong with the 10w-30. if youre going to tow in phoenix on a 120 day, you might want a 15w-40, else. it'll be ok.

A hot day in Phoenix? I'm not certain that 15w-40 is thick enough. On those 125 days west of Phoenix, I wonder if asphalt might work better.