Rotella T

[Goofyexponent]

Those of you who follow my rants on Facebook, know what I am about to get into. If you choose so, you can opt out now .

I bought a 5 gallon pail of Rotella T on sale for the same price as my Cheap-o Wally world oil in a 5 gallon pail. I thought to myself "the good oil MUST be better, or at LEAST as good as my Supertech"

1000 miles into my fresh oil change, I am down one full quart. This weekend I left to go to Pugwash for an overnight stay. I get there, let the truck cool off and check the oil....down. I thought this CAN'T be right, so I moved the truck to what I thought was flatter ground and got out....let it sit for an hour or so and checked it again. Down a full quart.... 1/5 of the way through a change and I am down a full quart.

As oil wears, it will consume more and more. So my FRESH Rotella is down 1 quart 600 miles into it. So I can count on using at LEAST 1.5 gallons of top up oil.

You ask why I am mad about this? With Supertech oil, I run down 1/2 a quart over 5000 kilometers (3000 miles) and I NEVER need to add any.....EVER. I buy a 5 gallon bucket and a gallon on the side and I got enough for two full changes.

So enough about consumption. let's talk about oil pressure. Running down the highway, my gauge read a STEADY 48 PSI at operating pressure. Not a problem at all. At idle at operating temperature I would run about 22 PSI...steady.

With this Rotella, I am running about 39 PSI on the highway, and about 16 PSI at operating temperature. The oil appears to be more water like than ANY other oil I have ever came across. We use Mobil 1 in the BIG trucks at work and it's almost the same as my Supertech.

NEVER again will I use Rotella T. It just ain't good oil for my truck.

Anyone else have similar situations to report with a change of brands....namely Rotella.

 

[fordf350dually]

my cousins grandnationial did something similar. he always ran valvoline then switched too mobile 1 and his oil pressure was lower. i dont recall the numbers tho.

 

[towcat]

what rant?
peewee the cat wants his massage. you both will feel better when done

 

[jhnlennon]

Its pretty common for engines to consume oil after a change to a different brand. Sometimes it has to do with the different detergent package loosening up gunk in the rings and such and cleaning up everything. Some say its a mysterious chemical reaction, although I dont quite believe that. Usually after the rings re-seat the consumption goes back down.

Could be rotella has a much better cleaning ability then the wally world stuff and its cleaning out the deposits left behind from it. You really need to run it for a longer period of time to determine if it is indeed the oil. Bitog has alot of posts about this, usually pertaining to a switch to synthetics.

Alot of people have great luck with rotella, dont know why so many here have trouble with it.

 

[Dave7.3]

That is very odd to read, Goofy...in fact now I'm starting to think that oil consumption is just an issue with the IDIs...

We have always used Rotella around the farm in all of our machinery, none of our tractors use a drop of oil. Not even our PSD ever needs to be topped off...but the IDI still needs about a quart between oil changes.

 

[typ4]

I had the exact same results with rotella in my much newer engine, its not the engines.

 

[jhnlennon]

That is very odd to read, Goofy...in fact now I'm starting to think that oil consumption is just an issue with the IDIs...

Every IDI FORD i have owned used oil so I dont know either, my cummins never ever used a drop over a 5k drain interval nor does the 6.2 in my fathers burb

 

[Brimmstone]

We ditched Rotella completely at the yard which is a shame I have used it for better than 20 years now. I'm running Delo 400 in my personal stuff and we run lubriguard in the buses. Shell changed the formula in Rotella about 5 years ago and it hasn't been worth a damn since. I can count 8 engines I know of personally that went out and it was proved it was the oil breaking down prematurely that caused it.

 

[Goofyexponent]

What gets me is my engine NEVER uses oil.....ever. 1/2 a quart between oil changes with wally world. I even try the cheap Motormaster oil from Canadian Tire.....never a problem.

I might try another brand later on in the year. Let my truck et used to Supertech again amd maybe try mobil 1?

 

[Goofyexponent]

what rant?
peewee the cat wants his massage. you both will feel better when done

We spent the weekend 200 miles North of us. so when we came home that cat glued itself to my leg.....currently as we speak I am collecting UNWANTED cat hair on my leg!

 

[flareside_thun]

Goofy, you're not alone.....I hate rotella with a Passion. If I'm gonna spend that kind of money on "good" oil, it better not get used as fast as it does. To hell with rotella.

 

[gonecrazyi]

I used rotella and was burning a qt ever couple hundred miles. Switched to valvoline and barely use a thing. Haven't topped it off in over 1000 miles.

My old 7.3 never burned a dropped of rotella. It seems to be dependent on the engine.

 

[RANOVRU]

Ive used Rotella for the last 2 changes. Think Im gonna try Motorcraft next go around. Nothing in particular wrong with the Rotella, just want to see any possible differences.

What does everyone think about adding some Lucas additive? The thick syrupy kind thats supposed to be OK for diesels and is supposed to help compression among other things.

 

[sle2115]

I've had the same results with Rotella.

 

[gonecrazyi]

I use Lucas every once and awhile. Motor seems to run quiter and smoother.