Anyone run Rotella 15w40

[idiabuse]

best quality lube/filter instead of most popular

I dont mind changing oil at all. Its just something u have to do to get the bigger ticket jobs into the shop. Theirs no driving at my shop, I answers phones, wrench, collect money, wrench somemore, answer more phone calls, and collect more money.



His truck is still running great. He was just in last week for an oil change and maintence check and I will probably see him in about 3 weeks for it all again.

No problem with work but is that the best available solution for everyone? Oil changes based on popular theory instead of actual data and results of oil analysis? Alway's a better path of maintence for the owner and the mechanic when you can read results and make decisions based on lab results. More time to prepare and make proper adjustments.

The popular way of oil changes is what we call Run To Failure RTF, instead of what we rather do Root Cause Failure Analysis RCFA.

Better to see it coming on a lab result way in advance than to drain it away until the day you have failure from no previous data.
Just my opinion on diesel engine maintence.

even though I burn WMO I dont need every crankcase of oil I can get through popular oil change intervals, it is easy enough for me to get 100s of gallons any day of the week.


Javier

 

[460mudsports]

The 91 my dad bought new had about 200k on it when I sold it. We used Rotella in it from new. It used about 2 quarts in a 5k oil change after about 100k. We also had a 86 Chevy K1500 with a carbed 305. It also got Rotella and used about 1.5 quarts in a 3k oil change and is still running with about 210k on it.

I think the biggest problem people have with engines running Rotella is the oil that was used before the Rotella. Rotella is a high detergent oil when compared to regular oils. When you change from a regular oil to a high detergent oil, the high detergent oil will remove the varnishes and buildups inside the block. This can lead to higher oil comsumption around the valve guides and rings. An engine that started out on Rotella or another high detergent oil doesn't have this issue.

I have rebuilt a couple of Chevy gas burners that had been run on Rotella. One that had been on Rotella since new, looked new inside -- no buildups or varnishes. One that had only had Rotella for the last 20k out of 100k, only had a bit of buildups in the corners of the heads. These engines were not worn out due to the oil used: one was a 400 small block out of a 74 Caprice that my Granpa used whatever oil was on sale in until we got it and changed to Rotella. The other was the 305 out of my 82 El Camino that had one of the bad camshafts from the factory that lost a lobe at about 80k.

 

[Kalashnikov]

Agreed about people thinking too much about oil. These engines will run with hardly any oil in crankcase from the get go. As long as it's got something in there lubing it I doubt it's going to matter much.

I had seen a 95 F150 with a 5.0 and over 200k miles and the oil supposedly hadn't been changed in years but it still ran fine.

As long as it's kept up and chnaged with the filter when it's suppose to be I don't think it'll matter what oil you run.

As far as filters go, Wix has filters for the 7.3s that filter to 10 microns.

 

[tanman_2006]

I do know a guy that runs a lawn mower buisness and does carpentry work for my family's construction buisness that has an 82 Chevy C1500 350 engine that has 400K on it and the guy only ever changes the filters and tops off with USED lawn mower oil. Now it does run like crap and smoke but it still runs.

In other words he takes better care of his mower than his truck lol.