Hey all. I dont know if anyone has mentioned this yet but Rotella T now has a 5-40 grade hd oil for diesels. It has all the same API specs as the 15-40. The only down side is its synthetic and twice the price per gallon. I emailed rotella asking about the operation/cold start temp of this 5-40 oil compaired to there 15-40. They said the 5-40 retains the same upper limits to operation tempurture but cold starting drops from 10degrees to -20 degrees. I plan on putting it in only december-feb/march. when it gets cold here and go back to 15-40 for the rest of the year.
Hope some of this helps you cold weather dwellers out
Christian

 

Why wouldn't you run it all year 'round, if it has the same upper operating range? Price?
Mike

 

yes price. 15-40 is something like 7.50 a gallon now. 5-40 is 15$ a gallon. I dont see any other benifit but cold starting. I change my oil every 2months. My dad changes his every 5 weeks. So we go through alot of oil and spending twice as much would amount to alot of cash

 

Rotella 5w40 is good stuff! Nice starts in the winter.
I have ran it for a while in my 04.5. Right now I am trying some MOBIL ONE 5w40.

 

Its nice to hear someone has used it and likes it. Let me know how that mobile one compairs in price and performance.

 

[ My dad changes his every 5 weeks.

Is there a reason why your dad changes his oil every 5 weeks?

 

I ran the Mobil 1 last winter, as opposed to my usual Delo 400. Truck started much better, even down to about -20 without being plugged in. As far as performance, it seemed to get about 1 mpg better, and it didn't blow up. Sent a sample off to Blackstone, never heard anything back, and the check never got cashed. Got lost I guess.

 

he puts 5000miles on in 5 weeks. And he changes his oil every 5000miles. I dont run the extended distances so I change mine every 2 months thats at 3000miles. Actually my oil at 3000miles looks worse then his at 5000. I think the 24 and common rails can go signifagntly longer on oil changes.

 

i hope price is the only downside you see there???

you could run longer than that.. i am currently running 0w40 XD-3 synthetic and i change 2x per year... [next one is in november or so]

 

I think the owners manual recommends intervals of 7500 for highway miles 3750 for extreme conditions.

The 5w-40 Rotella is not a true synthetic, but a highly refined dino. You could blend in a gallon of syn with the 15w40 for cold start protection. I'm running rotella in both my truck and bike.

 

Wonder if it still smells for the first little bit, like 15/40.

 

Yes, It stinks like heck for the first 500-1000 miles, but other than that I am very impressed with it. Very favorable oil analysis, and it still looks great with 6500 miles on it, mostly daily driving, some heavy towing. Apparently I am not allowed to post attachments, or I would post my blackstone sheet from the last oil change.