Diesel oil in gas engines

[doxford jim]

Hi Guys,

Would appreciate your thoughts on using a diesel rated engine oil in gas engines. Reason being I have a mixture of diesel and gas engines on various equipement from rider mower thro to JD450 crawler loader. Up until now I have been using different oils in different aplications. However I thought with the newer detergent oils, a 5W40 or 0W30 C4 oil would work well with pretty much anything.

I have a few oil changes coming up that will use most of the different oils I have left over. I thought it would be a big help to settle on just one general purpose engine oil. Where I am it gets cold in the winter, so a 5W40 or a 0W30 would probably work well for me.

Anyay, your thoughts on this would be appreciated.
2 tractors - 1 diesel, 1 gas. one 15hp rider mower, 3 different size gerators (2gas, 1 diesel), gas snow blower, 2 diesel pickups etc. - you get the picture!

Thx.

Jim

 

[Egon]

I do believe the oil for the different engines may be formulated differently to deal with different bypass products.

 

[RalphVa]

Think the only difference in getting the diesel rating is additives to better keep the diesel soot in suspension in the oil. Doubt this additive will present a problem in gas engines. I use Mobil 1 in all my engines now, generally 5w30 in everything except my 1983 Benz that calls for 10-40w oil. I use either 5w40 or mix 5w30 and 15w50 at 50/50 for it just because multi weight 40 has been difficult to get at times. Right now, it has the 5w40 Mobil 1 I managed to find last oil change back in September. Still hasn't used a drop in that ole 25 year old engine.

Ralph

 

[thatguy]

I worked for a large, regional truck rental company and we used the same 15w40 oil in everything from gas pickups to class 8 trucks... We never had any oil related engine problems.

Brian

 

[hudr]

Personal experience:
Growing up we bought Shell Rotella 15w40 in 55 gallon drums. If it was on our place it had that oil in it. Gas, diesel, propane... Car, truck, semi, tractor, combine, lawn mower, whatever. Most of our stuff lasted longer than the neighbors' but that may been due to the fact we actually CHANGED said oil from time to time as well.
Once again: personal experience. No scientific data to back that up and your mileage may vary.

 

[Z-Michigan]

Gas and diesel oil standards are different for a reason... BUT there are a decent number of oils that meet both standards, to some extent. Check out Shell Rotella 15W-40, Rotella-T synthetic 5W-40, Mobil 1 "turbo diesel truck" 5W-40, and all the various truck oils you can find at walmart, auto parts stores or truck stops.

For your diesel pickups - well, what years, are they turbo, do they have EGR? If they have EGR, you will have best performance with CI-4+ or CJ-4 oil. If it's a 2007+ model, you MUST use CJ-4 oil or else you will destroy your particulate filter.

For everything else - well, current standards for oil are SM for gas and CJ-4 for diesel, but the other engines probably aren't nearly as picky or pricey as a truck. Many oils I've seen are rated SM/CF, which is OK for diesels that do NOT have EGR systems (nor 2007+ particulate filters), as well as being the current standard for gas engines, good for any gas engine unless it specifically says not to use a detergent oil (pretty unlikely).

 

[AlanB]

As Z Michigan said, the Rotella is rated for both, and so are several of the others out there.

I personally did exactly what you are looking at a couple of years ago. We have a lawncare / landscaping business and I found that the DW was putting the wrong oils in the wrong vehicles and it caused me more angst then anything.

Now I just buy Rotella 5W-40 synthetic by the gallon at Wally world (about $50 a drum more expensive then jobber price and comes in nice gallon cans)

It makes it really straight forward to tell which oil goes into the engine of one of our vehicles. (maybe pieces of equipment would be more accurate)

 

[doxford jim]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your replies. You have all pretty well answered my questions and it looks I will be just buying one oil in the future. Sure going to beat wondering if I have enough oil for this or that and then having to look to find it.

My pickups - one is 1986 F250 with original engine and transmission, runs well.
The other is a 2002 Dodge 3500 dually with the Cummins. Neither have the latest fiters or EGR systems. The Shell oil is perfect for them.

I thank you for your replies.

Jim

 

[Soundguy]

Look at some big co's with legacy gas engines and newer diesels.. For instance.. Walk into a CNH dealer and ask for a jug of oil for an old gasser like a ford 8n... they will hand you their 15-40 oil off the shelf. Then ask for a jug of oil for your new NH diesel... they will hand you the same oil.. etc.. If in doubt.. look at the oil rating.. ever notice that many oils carr both the 'S', and the 'C' ratings.. etc..

soundguy

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your replies. You have all pretty well answered my questions and it looks I will be just buying one oil in the future. Sure going to beat wondering if I have enough oil for this or that and then having to look to find it.

My pickups - one is 1986 F250 with original engine and transmission, runs well.
The other is a 2002 Dodge 3500 dually with the Cummins. Neither have the latest fiters or EGR systems. The Shell oil is perfect for them.

I thank you for your replies.

Jim

 

[RWEST]

Walk into a CNH dealer and ask for a jug of oil for an old gasser like a ford 8n... they will hand you their 15-40 oil off the shelf. Then ask for a jug of oil for your new NH diesel... they will hand you the same oil.. etc.. If in doubt.. look at the oil rating.. ever notice that many oils carr both the 'S', and the 'C' ratings.. etc..

Most parts guys are not that up to date on things - whatever they stock is what they sell. It's up to us to find what's best, that's why we have places like this!!