Is there a preffered engine oil for a 94 IDIT?

sparky8251

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Just bought this wonderful beast of a truck and got it back on the road (had brake issues). With that coming to a close I need to do a complete fluid change.

Seems Mercon V for the transmission and typical gear oil (plus friction modifier) for the diffs.

What about engine oil though...?

I have no idea what the mileage is on the engine, but its likely 230k-260k (the odo is broken and I'm guessing based on stickers and the previous owner comments).

If it matters at all, I'm also using Diesel Kleen as a fuel additive.

I just want to get tons of life out of this engine so give me your best recommendations!
 

Kizer

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A lot of members will tell you that their trucks "drink" conventional Rotella ... my 93 IDIT nor my 85 N/A 6.9 use more than a quart between changes. The IDIT just turned 98k and the 85 is at 140+.

I recently went down the "rabbit hole" on oil additives. Based on what I read, I decided to use OptiLube oil fortifier. I also use their fuel additives.
 
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sparky8251

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"Drink?" You mean burn it off or something?

And since I realized I left this out, engine is a 7.3L IDIT if that changes anything. ... Whoops.

As I'm new to this stuff almost entirely, whats an oil fortifier used for?
 

Kizer

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"Drink?" You mean burn it off or something?

And since I realized I left this out, engine is a 7.3L IDIT if that changes anything. ... Whoops.

As I'm new to this stuff almost entirely, whats an oil fortifier used for?

"Drink" = "use / burn a lot of". I suspect the most of the problems are related to valve seals ... but I am no expert on this.

Oil fortifiers are used to mitigate perceived deficiencies in the engine oil that's available at "box" and parts stores...they claim to reduce friction in the parts of the engine that use engine oil for lubrication.
 

FordGuy100

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Delo 400 is probably the most popular choice here in the IDI world it seems from my observations, and I've used it for most of my oil changes. I've also used Rotella and it was fine in my truck, burning no more than it does Delo.

Really any Dino 15-40 diesel rated oil is fine. If you are in a colder climate a 5-40 synthetic might be a good choice for easier starting (theres also European Diesel's that spec 5-30 diesel oils, but they are pretty spendy). Some people run Royal Purple or Amsoil or other higher end synthetics as well. I change mine every 3k miles or once a year, and in my truck I don't see the point for synthetic's additional cost.

Drain whats in it and try something. Monitor oil consumption, oil pressure (if you have an aftermarket gauge), etc. If it doesn't seem up to par, try something else. The old train of thought was 1 quart/500 miles is about the limit of whats considered ok. I think my truck is at 1 quart/1500 miles on Delo, and its probably mostly from leaks.
 

Randy Bush

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I have a couple IDIs one NA and the other factory turbo , use 15-40 Rotella in them all the time with no problems, year around and we have cold weather.
 

BeastMaster

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Delo fan here. Wal-Mart. 15W40...has "Diesel" written on the jug. Comes in 1 and 2.5 gallon jugs.

NAPA has our oil filters. I believe they are made by WIX. They come in a pretty box for retail. And they come in a plain white box, for the trade, for about half the price.

I do like the Stanadyne and Hot shots diesel fuel treatments. I can easily hear the difference. I normally dose mine to one repurposed 220ml plastic whisky bottlefull to $20 worth of diesel fuel.

Watch your coolant though...seems our 7.3's have an Achilles heel: cavitation. So mine gets the red Chevron Deli ELC (Extended Life Coolant) that comes preloaded with anticorrosives. I believe the red NAPA ELC is similar.

Edit: .Oh, and the tires...get the 10 ply load rated E, Light Truck (LT) tires. The passenger rated stuff is not really up to ***** for us.
 
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IDIBRONCO

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I usually buy Mobile Delvac 1300 in mine. Wal-Mart is quite a drive for me and this is usually about the cheapest name brand oil at Orscheln's Farm and Home so I buy it there. Although I have been going to Wal-Mart more often lately since closing of the local store chain that carried some of my preferred feline related products (one for going in, one for going out-imagine that!) so I may change in the future.
 

IDIBRONCO

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Hey Wes, look! Someone used your sister's nickname. I knew you should have got her to join up!;PokeLOL
 

sparky8251

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Delo fan here. Wal-Mart. 15W40...has "Diesel" written on the jug. Comes in 1 and 2.5 gallon jugs.

NAPA has our oil filters. I believe they are made by WIX. They come in a pretty box for retail. And they come in a plain white box, for the trade, for about half the price.

I do like the Stanadyne and Hot shots diesel fuel treatments. I can easily hear the difference. I normally dose mine to one repurposed 220ml plastic whisky bottlefull to $20 worth of diesel fuel.

Watch your coolant though...seems our 7.3's have an Achilles heel: cavitation. So mine gets the red Chevron Deli ELC (Extended Life Coolant) that comes preloaded with anticorrosives. I believe the red NAPA ELC is similar.

Edit: .Oh, and the tires...get the 10 ply load rated E, Light Truck (LT) tires. The passenger rated stuff is not really up to ***** for us.

Well... That bit about the coolant is good to know. I'll be sure to do that sooner rather than later. And yeah, when I do get around to wheels and tires (missing spare tire and the wheels be rusty) I was going to get heavy duty tires.



One last thing I have as a question: I've seen some indication that we can use early Powerstroke oil filters and that they have a much smaller filter micron wise. Is there truth to that and if so what is the part number?
 

IDIBRONCO

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That's true about the filters. Some people like the extra quart of oil capacity. I don't care either way, but I use them for the better filtration. The Motorcraft number is FL1995. They are available at Wal-Mart for about $10.
 

sparky8251

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Sweet! I don't care too much about the extra oil either but the better filtering? **** yeah! Sign me up!

First up for me is engine oil! I'll probably go with the high end royal purple or amsoil. Given the mileage on this, I'd like to agitate leaks if they are going to happen and then fix them. Plus... I can afford the expensive stuff for now, so I will baby this as best I can :)
 

Kevin 007

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Synthetic is definitely overkill but its your truck, you can do whatever you like. Part of the beauty of it.

Bear in mind that these are dirty engines. Your syn oil will become overly suspended with soot long before the oil itself actually wears out....so you can't really get long drain intervals out of these trucks with syn oil (which is the benefit of syn oil).

Cheaper mineral oil, and change it at the specified drain interval is the ticket. And these trucks have logged millions of miles that way without grief.

I DO use syn in certain things...including powerstroke 7.3 and 6.0 trucks, due to the injection system. But here, we are talking about idi's
 

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