Oil & Fuel Regular oil or synthetic

[PoorMansCat]

I do not use synthetics in diesel engines... imho, its not worth the $$$$ vs. dino oil.
One could argue that you can run the oil longer, but unless you install a bypass filter system, and routinely change the primary filter and do oil sampling.... there is no gain. If you do the above described added maintenance, where is the savings?? If the tractor/engine in question is built of decent quality, it will give the same service life as a synthetic engine... And most likely, the engine will not be the reason is the tractor is retired/sold..
I have seen several diesel engines and/or turbochargers destroyed by a particular brand of synthetic oil... but rather than start a brand bashing war... I'll keep the brand name to myself..

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I do not use synthetics in diesel engines... imho, its not worth the $$$$ vs. dino oil.
One could argue that you can run the oil longer, but unless you install a bypass filter system, and routinely change the primary filter and do oil sampling.... there is no gain. If you do the above described added maintenance, where is the savings?? If the tractor/engine in question is built of decent quality, it will give the same service life as a synthetic engine... And most likely, the engine will not be the reason is the tractor is retired/sold..
I have seen several diesel engines and/or turbochargers destroyed by a particular brand of synthetic oil... but rather than start a brand bashing war... I'll keep the brand name to myself..

I have to agree the concrete proof is lacking that engines of any type will last longer on synthetic vs approved dino specs.

With that being said after having moved all the stuff that we change to Rotella T6 5W-40 synthetic it did seem to make the 1976 265 MF 60hp Perkins diesel a little less noise.

I still prefer the 100 hour change for tractors/50hour for small engines and 3000 miles for the Chevy/Ford big block engines but will do a filter only change if changing time/location is not ideal.

We went with Rotella Synthetic to avoid the diesel engines and/or turbochargers destroyed by a particular brand of synthetic oil you mentioned.

 

[sw03]

I have to agree the concrete proof is lacking that engines of any type will last longer on synthetic vs approved dino specs.

With that being said after having moved all the stuff that we change to Rotella T6 5W-40 synthetic it did seem to make the 1976 265 MF 60hp Perkins diesel a little less noise.

I still prefer the 100 hour change for tractors/50hour for small engines and 3000 miles for the Chevy/Ford big block engines but will do a filter only change if changing time/location is not ideal.

We went with Rotella Synthetic to avoid the diesel engines and/or turbochargers destroyed by a particular brand of synthetic oil you mentioned.

I use a real group 4/5 synthetic since it will reduce wear if you bother to do UOA's here. Last longer is up in the air on that one. I like the reduced oil changes etc. Rotella T6 is a hydro-cracked oil and a group 3+; not a true synthetic but close. This is old school info here.

Now LC20 and a dino oil will be way better then R T6 by itself....

 

[rswyan]

I do not use synthetics in diesel engines... imho, its not worth the $$$$ vs. dino oil.
One could argue that you can run the oil longer, but unless you install a bypass filter system, and routinely change the primary filter and do oil sampling.... there is no gain.

You don't necessarily have to run a bypass filter (which I have done) to run extended drain intervals with a good quality oil (synthetic or dino)

I have a 2006 Dodge Sprinter van with a Mercedes 5 cylinder diesel engine. Factory fill as I understand it is Mobil 1 Synthetic 0w40 - and M1 0w40 is all I have ever run it.

Normal change interval (per the manual) is 10,000 miles - which in theory equates to 165 operating hours (figuring a 60 mph average speed)

In practice, it probably is more like 200 hours (or more), since one would be hard pressed to make a 60 mph average speed for all operating time (while engine is running)

If your Sprinter is equipped with the Mercedes ASSYST maintenance system (mine is), which monitors oil quality via a sensor in the oil pan, you can extend the drain intervals until the system tells you the oil needs changed (which I do)

Typically, using the system, I see drain intervals of 13,000 to 18,000 miles, dependng on a variety of factors - which is something on the order of at least 215 to 300 hours of operating time.

This is using only the stock primary, full-flow oil filter which is just a normal-sized pleated paper element, that fits into a hole in the timing chain cover.

I have had UOA's done when running only the stock OEM filter, and had Blackstone tell me that at 18K miles the oil was still good and could go further.

Longest drain interval ever did when I had the bypass filter on it was around 50,000 miles (equates to probably 800 to 1,000 hours of operation ... or more ....) .... and when I sent a sample of that oil in to Blackstone, they came back and said it was still looking good and could go further.

BTW, according to Blackstone my UOA's showed some of the lowest wear metals that they had ever seen for this particular engine (OM 647) :thumbsup:

The vehicle currently has 345,000 miles on it .... and runs like a top

 

[Dargo]

I use a real group 4/5 synthetic since it will reduce wear if you bother to do UOA's here. Last longer is up in the air on that one. I like the reduced oil changes etc. Rotella T6 is a hydro-cracked oil and a group 3+; not a true synthetic but close. This is old school info here.

Now LC20 and a dino oil will be way better then R T6 by itself....

About the only consistant I've seen in diesel engine failures is Rotella. It's the cheapest diesel oil for a reason, and that reason isn't because it's the best! Sorry, but 100 out of 100 times I'd take Rural King's house diesel brand of oil over Rotella based on what I've seen. It's not always the case, but generally when you buy the cheapest, you get the cheapest.

 

[PoorMansCat]

I have a 2006 Dodge Sprinter van with a Mercedes 5 cylinder diesel engine. Factory fill as I understand it is Mobil 1 Synthetic 0w40 - and M1 0w40 is all I have ever run it.

Normal change interval (per the manual) is 10,000 miles - which in theory equates to 165 operating hours (figuring a 60 mph average speed)

I think that maybe IF it came with synthetic, I would consider staying with it... but it would still be a hard sell for me...
I have recently started pushing my oil changes out to 10K on dino oil and stock filtration... I pulled an oil sample at 2K and another at 7K and other than the mileage and date, everything was basically the same....

 

[Carl Bert]

Longest drain interval ever did when I had the bypass filter on it was around 50,000 miles (equates to probably 800 to 1,000 hours of operation ... or more ....) .... and when I sent a sample of that oil in to Blackstone, they came back and said it was still looking good and could go further.

What exactly do you mean, when you say you run a bypass filter?

I am a Mercedes fan myself. My wife drives an E320 with 220,000 miles and no major issues, 6000 to 8000 between changes. I have a CLS500 with 26,000 miles, 10,000 miles or 1 year between changes. I use synthetic in both.

If you read back in the posts, you will see where I wrote that my dealer strongly recommended that I not use synthetic in my B26. He said maybe in a different model, but definitely not in a B26. Still to this day that comment makes no sense to me. I didn't want to take any chances, since it was my first 50hr oil change, so I went with Kubotas brand, but I definitely want to use synthetic from here on. That is unless I find definite proof that I shouldn't.

 

[rswyan]

What exactly do you mean, when you say you run a bypass filter?

A bypass filter basically takes a small portion of the overall oil stream and constantly filters to a very, very fine degree ...... as opposed to a full-flow primary filter, which filters the entire oil stream, but not to as nearly a fine a degree. Here's a short article from Blackstone that describes bypass filtration:

Bypass Oil Filtration

There are a number of companies that offer and market bypass filtration systems commercially - here are a few:

Amsoil Bypass Filtration

Filtration Solutions Worldwide

Gulf Coast Filters

ECO Micro Filters

and of course, Frantz:

We Filter It

Or one can roll their own using any variety of filter housings and elements (McMaster-Carr has a wide variety of elements and housings)

Personally, I initially choose to go with a specially modified MotorGuard filter housing (either an M30 or M45 ... don't recall offhand):

MotorGuard M30/M60

.... done by a guy out of the DFW area named Ralph Woods.

MotorGuard used to make/market filters for oil filtration back in the day, then the new management took over and didn't want anything to with oil filtration and refocused their efforts (using the same filter technology) on air filtration (I have an M45 on my plasma cutter filtering air as well :thumbsup - hence the need for modification, so all internal components are suitable for immersion in hot motor oil.

The MotorGuard units will filter out particles down to 1/10th of a micron ... and you can't beat the fact that the filtration media is readily available almost anywhere ... and is dirt cheap (less than a buck :laughing

Here's a picture of the MotorGuard unit on my Sprinter, opened for element change and a picture of the "element" itself :laughing::

 

[rswyan]

I also plumbed one in on the transmission :thumbsup::

 

[rswyan]

Currently both units are off the vehicle, until I can reconfigure things. The MotorGuard unit filtering the engine oil will be replaced with one of these (see attached image) - to reduce servicing.

It's a centrifuge which is driven by pressurized oil.

The MotorGuard will probably be repurposed to the B2910 Kubota ... or the Cummins in my pickup (although it really doesn't get driven enough to even bother with it )