Opinions on this choice of engine oil (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Apr 9, 2008
Threads
22
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58
Location
Calgary, AB
Hi all..
I read in previous threads that Shell Rotella 15W40 is a popular choice for 1HD-T engines (at least that's what I found from Canadian owners). During winter months, Rotella 0W40 or 5W40 is what is used instead.

Now, I don't feel really comfortable switching Dino and Synthetic oils back and forth fearing leaks, etc... I would rather prefer to stick with one brand from one manufacturer.

I found that Petro-Canada makes the Duron line of lubes, I am particularly interested in their Duron-XL Synthetic blend. Their 15W40 and 10W40 weights in the XL line seem to be a good fit for Summer/Winter respectively.
I am no lubrication engineer by any means, but I just did a layman interpretation of the datasheets and found the Duron XL is the same or better when it comes to viscosity at lower temperatures. for ex. the Rotella 15W40 cranking viscosity at -20C numbered 6400 cPoise while the Duron XL had 4677cPoise at the same temp.

I would like to hear your opinions/expereince/recommendations.

BTW, here's the datasheets to all the above products:
Petro-Canada Duron XL: Our Products — DURON
Shell Rotella 15W40 (Dino): http://www.shell.ca/static/ca-en/downloads/shell_for_businesses/oils_lubricants/1-11.pdf
Shell Rotella 5W40 (Synth): http://www.shell.ca/static/ca-en/downloads/shell_for_businesses/oils_lubricants/1-98.pdf

:cheers:
A.
 
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I am not expert either. The first winter I ran Delo 400 15W40 as I did in the summer. On the interior runs, I always had it plugged in at night and had no problems. The last winter from Dec to mid Feb I ran Esso 0W40. It started like a breeze. However, I did notice some oil consumption. So, in mid Feb, I went back to the Delo 400. This year I will just stay with the Delo 400 or the Rotella 15W40. Rarely will my rig sit overnight without being plugged in. If I was expecting regular overnight temps of below -35 and regular daytime temps of below -25, I might be tempted to run synthetic again. The thing is that even in the winter I can get the engine good and warm driving at 110 kms/hr and climbing mountain passes. You still need the upper end of the vescosity. Even if it is -25, and you are running at 110 kms/hr the heat inside the engine is pretty much the same as summer.

I do a partial rad block/blanket when it is real cold, but keep a close eye on the water temps. Temperatures from one valley to the next can vary a lot.
 
When I was in Canada I ran Rotella 15w/40 year round. Like John says, unless you are living in very cold climates and do short runs only I would be hesitant to run a 0w/40 oil. Calgary, in my opinion, is not cold enough all the time to worry about it (are you going to change oil when there's a chinook??).
 
OK but if it's not cold out then the 0-40w won't actually have a viscosity of 0 correct? Ought it not be the correct viscocity for the temperature at hand? At what temperature is the viscocity 15w on it's way to 40w at operating temperature? If I understand this correctly wouldn't a 0-40w protect you throughout our overnight temperature range, even summer?
 
I can only tell you based on y experience. On 0W40, it started using some oil. Back to dino and she was fine. There was some chat on this subject of 0W40 actually having the correct viscocity all the way through the weight range. If I remember the experts correctly, this was not actually true. Otherwise, whey would people switch to a 10 or a 15 W 40 synthetic for the warme months. Anyways, synthetic is too much money for my old tech indirect injection. Good old high quality mineral oils is what she seems to like.
 
OK but if it's not cold out then the 0-40w won't actually have a viscosity of 0 correct?

No, that's not how it works. A 0-40w oil has a viscosity of 0 when the engine is cold and 40 when the engine oil is warm. There's no way for the oil to know outside temperatures other than when the engine is off. It reacts to the engine temperatures. I would only change to a lighter oil if the engine had a hard time starting because the oil became like molasses. I have seen it once when the oil was so thick the starter could not spin the engine fast enough to crank. The car had 20w-50 in it at 35 below in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan! It had to be towed to a heated garage and left in the garage for a day or two to warm up at which time the oil was changed.
 
No, that's not how it works. A 0-40w oil has a viscosity of 0 when the engine is cold and 40 when the engine oil is warm. There's no way for the oil to know outside temperatures other than when the engine is off. It reacts to the engine temperatures.

OK what do you use, since you're just over a few mountain ranges from me with similiar winters. I was going to use that Rotella from CanTire year round.

So if it's -20, the oil is 0w, does it gradually thicken or does it switch to 40w at a certain engine temp? I don't want to warm up my truck at 0w :meh:
 
I can only tell you based on y experience. On 0W40, it started using some oil. Back to dino and she was fine. There was some chat on this subject of 0W40 actually having the correct viscocity all the way through the weight range. If I remember the experts correctly, this was not actually true. Otherwise, whey would people switch to a 10 or a 15 W 40 synthetic for the warme months. Anyways, synthetic is too much money for my old tech indirect injection. Good old high quality mineral oils is what she seems to like.

When I went to Alaska with the 13BT I used one liter of Amsoil 15/40. Switched back to Esso XD 0/40 and the consumption stopped.

Delo is a good product; its what I use in my IDI 3B as well. Shell gets good reviews too, as does the Esso XD lineup (synth or dino).

The DI's don't soot up the oils as quickly, so the only way to reliably know how far out you can safely use the oil is to sample at regular intervals and get a baseline. I bet with a healthy 1HD-T you could run dino out to 10,000kms and it would come back well within specs. I run the synth out to 10,000kms in the 13BT and 12HT and could go longer as the results are consistant with "continue using till next sample interval". The filters are spun off at at 5000kms.

Go to bobistheoilguy and read to your hearts content, then make up you own mind.

hth's

gb
 
OK what do you use, since you're just over a few mountain ranges from me with similiar winters. I was going to use that Rotella from CanTire year round.

So if it's -20, the oil is 0w, does it gradually thicken or does it switch to 40w at a certain engine temp? I don't want to warm up my truck at 0w :meh:

He's probably further than a fewer mountain ranges away. Although I live on the wet coast, my work territory is all of the BC/Yukon and I drive all of BC in the winter. I still run the 10W40 Delco or Rotella and have done so up to -35 C. And the time it was down to -35 C I could not plug in the coolant heater. I gave it 2 glow cycles (not that it needed it) and she fired right up. Also, noticed that the oil pressure came right up. That was with Delo 400 in her. I suspect the Rotella would be the same. Let's face it Calgary does not get that cold anymore: The Climate and Weather of Calgary, Alberta. If you want to put extra $ in to synthetic oil that is up to you. But, it is not needed for your temperatures.
 
I run CdnTire full synthetic 0W-50 year round, with a Purolator Pure1 filter, -30°C to +30°C. Every oil change is tested. The tests show the oil is more than adequate, and equal to or better than Amsoil [at half the price] for the oil change intervals I run.
 
aabasiry, here is an excellant primer on oils: https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/79305-oil-recommendations-discussion-thread-faq.html While the discussion is mainly for gasoline engines, much of the inform on oils, weights, additives are relevant.

Oh...and I would not worry much about switching back and forth if you choose to run two different oils (synth and dino). It was a valid concern years ago, however does not seem to be now. I did for a season or two, before simply leaving the 0/40 in year round. No cork gaskets and typical weeping to worry about in the later generation engines.

But, as mentioned...read up, choose and monitor.

John: My 13BT seems to be very happy with Esso XD 0/40. In fact I've got it loaned out right now, and the comment was made how buttery smooth it runs/revs was made. I do have a high dose of moly in it right now too though.

gb
 
OK what do you use, since you're just over a few mountain ranges from me with similiar winters. I was going to use that Rotella from CanTire year round.

So if it's -20, the oil is 0w, does it gradually thicken or does it switch to 40w at a certain engine temp? I don't want to warm up my truck at 0w :meh:

When I'm in Cranbrook or Guatemala I use 15w-40. Rotella or Delo in Canada, Delo in Guatemala ('cause I can't get Rotella) and whatever I can get in between that's a 15w-40. If I can't get a 15w-40 I'll use a straight up 40w oil so long as it is diesel rated, ie: CF or whatever NOT SF.

I'm of the opinion that if you are consistently doing short drives then use a lighter oil but if you are consistently running longer distances use the heavier oil. My truck probably see's 80% highway or more.
 
from the article

"
It is time to dispel the notion that 0W-30 oil is too thin when our manual calls for 10W-30. A 0W-30 is always the better choice, always. The 0W-30 is not thinner. It is the same thickness as the 10W-30 at operating temperatures. The difference is when you turn your engine off for the night. Both oils thicken over the evening and night. They both had a thickness, a viscosity of 10 when you got home and turned your engine off. That was the perfect thickness for engine operation.

As cooling occurs and you wake up ready to go back to work the next day the oils have gotten too thick for your engine to lubricate properly. It is 75 F outside this morning. One oil thickened to a viscosity of say 90. The other thickened to a viscosity of 40. Both are too thick in the morning at startup. But 40 is better than 90. Your engine wants the oil to have a thickness of 10 to work properly. You are better off starting with the viscosity of 40 than the honey - like oil with a viscosity of 90."
 
I found this article in another forum, and it may be helpful to some of you? This guy makes sense and lays out a clear picture of how engine oil works.

Motor Oil 101 - Toyota Tundra Forum

Cheers

Good article but it does not apply to an indirect injection diesel engine. You can't compare a gas engine to a diesel engine - especially an indirect injection engine. Unless you have some very good filtering, the soot loading of your oil will likely max out by 7,000 kms. Detergent type is also important. JASO DH-1 oils have the correct amount and type of detergent (calcium based detergent at 30,000 ppm I believe) for a Japanese indirect injection engine. If I thought i could go 10,000 kms without worrying about soot loading and hence oil thickening, I would use synthetics all the time. But why should I pay more when my engine and a number of Toyota NA indirect injection egines have been know to do well over 750,000 kms on the correct mineral oils changed every 5,000 kms.

The only sure test of how your oil is performing in your engine is to do oil analysis at various intervals.
 
So after doing a little reading, I decided to go with the Delo 5W40 synthetic for my 3B with about 170,000 miles on it. The vendor said Delo has one of the highest detergent properties of any of the synthetics and also mentioned that Rotella is known for getting loaded up with soot. I'm in Alaska and not sure if I'll always be able to plugin during the daytime, but should be plugged in overnight. Vendor also said the 5W40 would be fine for running during the summer up here. Bought it at Alaska Oil Sales, so I assumed he knew what he was talking about.

Just throwing my experience out there, but open to comments.
 
Hi John

Good info on the detergent, synthetic oil etc; I really posted the link to reference the part about oil weights, verus viscosity and the importance of good flow through the engine!
Should have been more clear with the reference! either way this is turning into another informative thread.

Cheers All
 
what about running thicker oil for the hot days but come morning start up throw on an oil pan heater to get the thick oil thinner just cause when i run say 15-40 when the truck gets warm the oil preassure drops of (gets preatty low) but come morning/start up the oil preassure is really high 75-80psi AT IDLE
anyone have any ideas as to wats going on with my oil preassure???
please help thanks all
 

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