API Oil Ratings

[sw03]

You want to look in your owners manual and use the proper oil.
Just a thought!

True and most manuals are wrong on weight though. That is why they have TSB's for changes. I dislike the API bigtime.

 

[Johnp33]

I as a mechanic was involved at a truck dealership in a test with synthetic oil in an a group of 6 N14's these trucks hauled chips over 2 mountain ranges an 11 hour trip they did it twice a day 5 days a week. We had other trucks, exactly the same specs hauling the same loads same wrought. When the N14's came out they had injector problems, we were in these engines often.
We installed spinner filtration systems on all the trucks. The trucks that used the Delo 400, or Shell Rotella, changed the oil at the 15,000 to 20,000 Mile area. The synthetic oil units we would change the oil filters, at regular intervals and take oil samples.
I changed the Mains and rod bearings at 200,000 Kilometers, on most every truck, after the job was done I would wash the bearings then tape them together, upper rods and lower mains, with the WO # when the trucks were near the 600,000 Kilometer mark they were having a meeting on the costs and advantages, the motors with the synthetics were full of a very smooth black jelly, standard oil units were clean.
When the costs of the oil samples and the fact the trucks with the synthetic used more oil, the costs were the same, I put the bearings on the table and asked them to pick the 6 best and the 6 worst, they had over 20 to chose from. Every one wrote down the WO# of there choices. Every best bearing was from the standard oil and every worst was from the synthetic.
There was no difference in fuel mileage. The synthetic experiment ended. Back to the standard oil.
I use synthetics in my gas units, and my little loader, my duramax gets shell rotella 15/40 standard oil.
Just a thought!

 

[megaboz]

I as a mechanic was involved at a truck dealership in a test with synthetic oil in an a group of 6 N14's these trucks hauled chips over 2 mountain ranges an 11 hour trip they did it twice a day 5 days a week. We had other trucks, exactly the same specs hauling the same loads same wrought. When the N14's came out they had injector problems, we were in these engines often.
We installed spinner filtration systems on all the trucks. The trucks that used the Delo 400, or Shell Rotella, changed the oil at the 15,000 to 20,000 Mile area. The synthetic oil units we would change the oil filters, at regular intervals and take oil samples.
I changed the Mains and rod bearings at 200,000 Kilometers, on most every truck, after the job was done I would wash the bearings then tape them together, upper rods and lower mains, with the WO # when the trucks were near the 600,000 Kilometer mark they were having a meeting on the costs and advantages, the motors with the synthetics were full of a very smooth black jelly, standard oil units were clean.
When the costs of the oil samples and the fact the trucks with the synthetic used more oil, the costs were the same, I put the bearings on the table and asked them to pick the 6 best and the 6 worst, they had over 20 to chose from. Every one wrote down the WO# of there choices. Every best bearing was from the standard oil and every worst was from the synthetic.
There was no difference in fuel mileage. The synthetic experiment ended. Back to the standard oil.
I use synthetics in my gas units, and my little loader, my duramax gets shell rotella 15/40 standard oil.
Just a thought!

I'm not going to get into the debate that mine is better than yours, but I will tell you that one synthetic isn't the same as another.

I have ran all the major brands, and often at regular change intervals, you will not see an issue. If you do, most likely it wasn't the oil but a part already getting ready to fail.

The topic of which oil is better can be debated forever, but for the most part no one is going to change their minds on what they are going to use.