Synthetic -vs- Regular Questions

[fire8033]

One last question, can anyone give me the bare bones on the advantages and disadvantages or synthetic -vs- regular oil??? I have read hundreds of post talking about this but you can get lost easy. I put approximately 1,500 miles a week on my truck, would synthetic be an advantage???

 

[Diesel Power]

One last question, can anyone give me the bare bones on the advantages and disadvantages or synthetic -vs- regular oil??? I have read hundreds of post talking about this but you can get lost easy. I put approximately 1,500 miles a week on my truck, would synthetic be an advantage???

yes , it would be a big advantage, a quality oil such as AMSOIL, would let you go from 6000 mile monthly changes to 15, 20 or 30k and higher, also you travel a good bit so the fuel savings alone is worth the investment, not to mention the untouchable protection you get from useing a 100% pure synthetic oil. amsoil synthetics have been proven to work in temps as high as 400-600* some even higher. a regular oil is at its limit when it see's 250* after that it will break down and sludge up your $40k engine---that why the most of nascar and ever the air force will use synthetic oil, the benifits are 5 fold, anothe good point is flow point amsoil will flow as low as -70* while the best regular oil will barly get around 0*, though some blends will see slightly better -20 or 30* flowability. hope this helps Oo.

 

[NIsaacs]

Cummins says you can use synthetic, however they also say, the interval is the same. No extended oil changes.





"NICK"

 

[Diesel Power]

Cummins says you can use synthetic, however they also say, the interval is the same. No extended oil changes.





"NICK"

if cummins can make more money by you bying more often then believe me they will, the majority of big rig cummins owners do extended drains, and warranty has never been an issue,they wont put somthing in the manual that would be a conflict of intrest.

 

[BBRam]

A friend of mine has been running amsoil for some time now, 10,000 on the filter, and 20,000 on the oil. With no issues. I have just switched to amsoil myself.

 

[Buffalo]

It appears to me that you get the greatest value from synthetics if they are used in conjunction with a bypass oil filtration system. This would allow extended oil drain intervals.



Driving as much as you do, I would think that you would benefit, a lot, from this combination. With as much driving as you do, you are probably changing oil every month to month & a half. This could get expensive & inconvenient. If I was in your situation, I would, seriously, look at doing this.



The conventional (regular) oils appear to be of high quality, nowadays. As long as you use a quality, diesel-rated oil. I've heard of people towing trailers for a living getting over a million miles on the Cummins engines & just using conventional oils. One in particular had 1,153,000 miles & used Shell Rotella 15X40, with 5000 mile oil change intervals & Fleetguard filters. This was back in the later '90's & the oils weren't as good as today, & we have better filters today, also (Stratopore).



Most of us will never wear-out our Cummins engines. Just won't keep them long enough. These engines seem to be easy on oil. But, if you are interested in the convenience of not having to go through the hassle of changing your oil every month, or so, then the synthetic oil & oil bypass filtration combination just may be the ticket, for you.



Joe F. (Buffalo)

 

[Diesel Nut]

As much as you drive I would say its a huge advantage. infact, the ideal setup would be a bypass filter and synthetic oil, then get on the oil analysis program. you'll see increased fuel mileage from the synthetic oil, plus the awesome filtering ablility of the bypass system. With this set up its not unheard of at all to 30-60K mile oil changes. With your mileage, I am assuming you are doing most of it freeway. That is about the easiest your oil can have it. Long, steady drive with minimal load. no problems running extended drains. Here is some info on a Mack truck that went 400K on an oil change.

409,000 Mile oil drain



Also, In my truck, over 600 hp, I plan to change at 10k. After this change, I will be installing a bypass filter and going over to oil analysis.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Any of the decent synthetic brands will provide better hot/cold environmental protection and operation - as well as better long term stability in regards to loss of the more volatile components as common to dino-based oils. Their greatest and most visible benefit is their cold-cranking ability in extremely cold climates - the hot climate improvement is there as well, just not as visible.



All that said, for the vast majority of owners in more temperate climates, and not involved in regular heavy duty operation, the lower cost and general excellence of the better dino oils is way more than adequate - in fact, of ALL the reported "million mile" engines, I have yet to see one that used anything other than plain common 'ol dino oil!



As to the "enhancement" of extended drains with synthetics, well, that ability is NOT restricted purely to synthetics, today's modern dino oils can ALSO used in extended service, and like the synthetics, are further enhanced when combined with use of a good bypass filtration system - here's a thread on that subject:



http://turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109166



You don't HAVE to use synthetics for extended oil drains!

 

[NIsaacs]

I kinda doubt that Cummins Engine Co. is going to get rich selling engine oil. Since this is mostly a "pro" Cummins Web Site, with the majority of us "heralding" anything Cummins says, does or builds, i always figured that if they didn't want extended synthetic oil drain entervals, they "might" have a reason. As far as anyone wanting to experiment with different oils and drain entervals, go for it, however sometimes there is no "magic" in the latest and greatest "stuff".





"NICK"

 

[betterthanstock]

One last question, can anyone give me the bare bones on the advantages and disadvantages or synthetic -vs- regular oil??? I have read hundreds of post talking about this but you can get lost easy. I put approximately 1,500 miles a week on my truck, would synthetic be an advantage???

Advantages:

1. Cold start viscosity is low, so it starts easily, and wears less, which is not a problem for you, it probably stays hot most of the time.

2. High temperature breakdown. Oil will stay pure much longer at high temperature (in turbo bearings, etc).

3. Much less deposits. Mineral oil has a lot of stray molecules (tar, rubber, plastics dissolved in the crude oil), that will just form sludge in the oil passages, eventually plugging up the engine, especially turbo bearings, and piston cooling jets. Changing mineral oil every 3000 miles makes it even worse, as most of these chemicals will deposit in about the first 50 hours of use. Some chrysler 2. 7 v6 and some toyota (and I'm sure many other engines too) are notorious for getting plugged up and seizing with frequent cheap oil changes (Jiffy every 3000 miles ), and they recommend synthetics as a prevention measure for those engines.



They can refine it better to get rid of these stray chemicals, and then they call it a type III synthetic, like rotella t synthetic, which is what I use.

 

[CHolman]

All I can say is go to www.longrider.com they have awesome prices. 4 gallons for $77. 00 is not bad IMO for Royal Purple...

 

[EMD-Run8]

I run Amsoil for 25,000 miles in my wife's '02 Honda Odyssey. Works like a champ and about 2 mpg better. Also, Amsoil's transmission fluids are excellent. I also hear that Royal Purple is good product.