Synthetic Oil

[jtedm]

Yesterday looking at Walmart Rotila regular oil is 15w40. Rotila synthetic is 5w40. Going to synthetic will that hurt the engine? Also Can I put a different oil filter on without changing the oil?

 

[Deerediesel]

No, goin synthetic wont hurt the engine. Oil change intervals for most synthetics designed for diesels are 10k miles. I dont see why you cant change just the filter if you wanted to halfway through the interval especially if your engine is exposed to harsh conditions(dust, etc. ).

 

[Diesel Power]

synthetic will not hurt your truck if anything it will be better. unless you have lots of miles and did not take care of your truck! and yes you can change your filter with out changing your oil, you should change the filter and oil together though :-laf

 

[pwr2tow]

You can change The filter ten times between oil changes if you want, it will not hurt anything. Just remember to put the amount of oil back in you take out with the filter.



I usually do a oil filter change about half way through an oil change.



Is it over kill, oh yah.

 

[pwr2tow]

What year truck and how many miles on the truck you plan on changing over to synthetic?



If it's an older truck with 200,000 miles and poor maintenance I wouldn't do it. The synthetic could loosen up sludge and varnish causing oil passages to block and causing engine damage.

 

[redram]

What year truck and how many miles on the truck you plan on changing over to synthetic?



If it's an older truck with 200,000 miles and poor maintenance I wouldn't do it. The synthetic could loosen up sludge and varnish causing oil passages to block and causing engine damage.

Really? Has this happened to you?

Why wouldn't this be a concern with just changing the oil with 15W40?



Just curious if you have direct knowledge of this happening or are just repeating a rumor that becomes fact by being repeated over and over and over?



I happen to have direct knowledge of an engine that was actually repaired by changing to a high performance oil - removed the soot and carbon from teh rings reducing oil consumption from 1 qt per 300 to 1 quart per 1800 miles on a truck that was going to be overhauled - it had 300,000+ on it... .



Cheers, :-laf

 

[DieselNasty]

My truck had 227,000 miles when I bought it and my guess is the thing had rotella t in it but the freakin thing had a fram filter on it, I know it was not taken very good care of. So I drove it for like 1000 miles like that than put a Fleetguard Microglass filter and Rotella T Synthetic 5w-40 and have had no problems so far. Im going to use nothing but the good fleetguard filters and synthetic from now on. I havent put much miles on the truck since I got it because it was off the road for months I had a wheel bearing go and the trans go and took a wile to rebuild it.

 

[J.BURCHFIELD]

Do whatever makes you feel comfortable. I added a bypass filter (2 micron) and I change filters every 20,000 and the oil every 40,000. You can do that with 100% synthetic, actually 100 % synthetic never, repeat, never breaks down. CAUTION, very important. Always fill the filter canister with oil after you put the new filter in just befofe you spin it back on. Give the filter(s) time to soak up as much oil as they will and add as much oil as you can. WHY because if you don't you will starve the turbo bearings of oil and bye bye turbo. Notice the oil line that goes directly to the turbo it feeds the turbo bearings. It is a messy job and I take the battery out to give myself more room to work. WATCH the hot cable coming from the other battery. BEST disconect it from the other battery first, to be safe from an injury. When you do your own oil and or filter chance you know that you are getting what you paid for. If you are out of hand cleaner your wifes dish detergent works well. You will feel beter knowing the right stuff is in there. The last place you can trust is a dealer. If I were to break down in front of a dealer I would call a tow truck and get towed to an independent shop, preferably one that I know. Waranty or no waranty it is worth it to me knowing I have not exposed myself to the possibility of getting ripped off. They operate under the belief that the customer is stupid and they won't believe what you tell them and make as big a job out of it as they can. They will charge you $50 for a $15 fuel filter and $63 for a $20 window washer plastic tank bare of pump and sensor and on and on it goes. When I buy a new vehicle it never goes back to the dealer. I would rather pay someone I know if I can't do it myself than trust a dealer. Through their own actions they have destroyed their credibily. I have lived a long life (77) and I have yet to find a good dealer in any brand. It seems to be the type of business that attracts crooks. Disagree if you wish, you still have that freedom.

 

[TowPro]

yes I have seen it. Mid 80's chevy 350 gasser. Girl had bougth it new but never kept up with oil changes like she should have. Just before she left Texas to move to PA, someone told her to put Amsoil in and she could go a lot longer between changes. The Amsoil loosened up all the gunk left from when she kept forgetting to change oil. All this gunk settled in the oil return holes in the heads clogging them. The engine would pump oil up into the valve cover but it could not return to the sump so it would leak real bad, plus force the oil down through the valve guides fowling out sparkplugs. She almost didn't make it to PA.



While this oil return clogging was common on Chevy's back then, yes the Synethic high detergent oil loosened up the sludge and caused the problem. This is not an attack on Amsoil, I use it myself. I was just showing that I have seen the problem.



I have also read where seals can become hard with normal oil, they get a hard deposit around them. The synethic oil then cleans out this hard deposit and the seal starts to leak. Again, not the synethic oil that was the problem, but the seal was actually already bad, the synethic cleaned out the deposits allowing it to leak.

Really? Has this happened to you?

Why wouldn't this be a concern with just changing the oil with 15W40?



Just curious if you have direct knowledge of this happening or are just repeating a rumor that becomes fact by being repeated over and over and over?



Cheers, :-laf

 

[pwr2tow]

:-laf

:-{} no thank you, :-laf