hoghead

what should my oil change intervals be using RotellaT syn 5w40. I have also been thinking about changing to schaeffers 9000 synthetic I have an uncle that owns an excavation business and he loves it and it is not that much more expensive, just looking for some first hand info from my first gen brothers.

wannadiesel

At least yearly for Rotella syn. Rotella syn is not much better than a good dino oil, it's a group III synthetic which means it's just highly processed dino oil. Top quality synthetics like Delvac 1 are capable of going 100k in the right application.

To be totally safe, the best thing to do is run it for the normal interval (6 months or 6k) and send a sample in for analysis. The lab can give you a good guesstimate on how much longer it could have safely run. Run it that far the next time and retest. A filter change can make a big difference in how long oil can be run safely, the quart of make-up oil gives a "second wind" to the TBN.

Back when my truck was not severely overfueled, a year or 12k was deemed to be a safe interval for dino Delvac 1300s. Now I'm dumping too much soot in the oil so I need to change every 6 months.

lowwag64

are alot of you 1st gen's running full syn.or still on fossil? I am running 4 gasers on full syn. with K+N filters with change's @ 10,000 kms.
I was wondering if I should change to syn.on my diesel? It's got 280,000 with dino oil and no problem's?
anybody heard good or bad about Mobil 1 oil + filters?

89dieselkong

I run Mobil 1 Delvac in mine and change oil and filter every 6mo/6000 miles. Seems to work for me

wannadiesel

Since you live in the frozen North, the 5W-40 Rotella T syn would be a good choice for you. 15W-40 is pretty thick at -20 C. For those of us in milder climates synthetic is hard to justify given that they go so long on dino oil. There's no need to change it so soon, either. Unless your truck never gets warmed up when you drive it (constant short trips) 20k km or a year would be plenty often.

Col.

I Run Long Rider Oil and a Oil Guard By Pass System, Works Great ,On My Older Truck 2005 56,000 Just Had a Oil Report ,Looks Great Good For More Maybe 100k Before next oil Change ?? So Far on My 2006 Dodge i Have 20 k same set up .

Col.

IraPatterson

I have heard with basic synthetics that you can easily go 8,000 to 10,000 miles in between changes. However, has anybody heard that Cummins, as well as most diesel companies do not condone the use of synthetics in their engines? I use Vavoline Cummins Premium Blue 15-40. When I first got my truck (four or so years ago), Valvoline made synthetic and non-synthetic, and I used the synthetic. About 6 months later Valvoline stopped making the synthetic version because Cummins, as well as some other diesel claimed synthetics did not have the proper lubricating properties, and Dodge actually voided the warranty on my Mom's 2004 solely because it had synthetic oil ran in it for one 5,000-mile period. True, warranties to not matter on ours but, I have wondered about the other claim (lacking correct lubricity properties) ever since I heard it and was told that is why Cummins stopped the production of their (Premium Blue) synthetic motor oil.

Ace

It's best to run dino during the break in period, which can be anywhere up to 40-50k miles for these engines, depending on how they are used. I suspect that is the issue any manufacturer may have w/syn engine oils. The answer to how long you can run any oil, syn or dino is as usual: it depends on alot of factors. There is a guy w/a 1st gen here in CO somewhere up in the mountains that has been running Delo 400 year round with a bypass filter like mine. He posted good analysis results on BITOG with runs of up to 26k miles IIRC. Delo 400 is conventional oil. Blackstone's comment on the last run he posted was "your engine doesn't seem to care how long you run the oil."

But that is using a real diesel truck rated bypass filter which increases the sump size by about 6 quarts, not to mention cleaning the oil about a thousand times better than the full flow filter. I don't plan on removing my drain plug ever again. Annual Gulf Coast and full flow change = 7 quarts of fresh Rotella T-syn in the sump with a sample to Blackstone. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.

The point is, if you want to do extended oil change intervals, get the used oil analysis done to keep it under control.

mhuppertz

What lab do you guys use for oil analysis?

hoghead

and adding to mhupertz comment about who do you use to analyze. How much does it cost and what is shipping cost. ball park of course.

Ace

Blackstone. Last time (about six months ago) I bought a 6-pack of kits and they were about $20 apiece, IIRC. But they don't care what the sample comes in. They told me I can send it in a soda bottle if I want, as long as it was clean. Use UPS not USPS though, because the Post Office is paranoid about used motor oil being a dangerous/toxic substance.

Cowboy_Customs

The short, sweet answer to your question, is:
ONLY an oil analysis can tell u that.
I check mine every 2K, with amsoil. Thats what I run in my Ford currently, and what will be in my Cummins soon.