Diesel Engine Oil

kenmissouri · Jul 12, 2007

My Kubota recommends 10W30 engine oil for diesel. I've always been able to buy it at my Kubota dealer. Anywhere else I look seems to only have 15W40 diesel rated oil. Does anyone know if Valvoline makes a 10W30 engine oil for diesels?

j845125 · Jul 12, 2007

Valvoline doesn't make 10w-30 diesel oil, but Motorcraft and Amsoil both do.

Sully2 · Jul 12, 2007

kenmissouri said:
My Kubota recommends 10W30 engine oil for diesel. I've always been able to buy it at my Kubota dealer. Anywhere else I look seems to only have 15W40 diesel rated oil. Does anyone know if Valvoline makes a 10W30 engine oil for diesels?

It doesnt HAVE TO BE 10W-30. And if ya read their specs close...they are close to being pre-historic. There is probably 50 top noth oils..in weights from 5W-40 to 15W-40 that will do you fine.

cp1969 · Jul 12, 2007

Rotella makes 10w-30 diesel oil. That's what I'm running. I get it at O'Reilly's.

kenmissouri · Jul 13, 2007

I was afraid Valvoline wouldn't make that weight. Rotella at O'Reilly's, eh! Rotella is a Shell product isn't it? I'm a little afraid if it is Shell because around 35-40 years ago Shell oils had a reputation for gumming engines up, something about a parafin in them. Amsoil I hadn't heard of. I was told by the service manager at my Kubota dealer not to use 15W40 as being too heavy.

cp1969 · Jul 13, 2007

Don't worry about Rotella. It is probably the most widely used oil in diesel engines out there.

Z-Michigan · Jul 15, 2007

I'm a happy user of Rotella-T synthetic 5w40 in my two diesel vehicles (Ram pickup and Jeep CRD). Readily available at walmart, not too pricey, and seems to work very well.

BotaBigot · Jul 15, 2007

kenmissouri said:
... I'm a little afraid if it is Shell because around 35-40 years ago Shell oils had a reputation for gumming engines up, something about a parafin in them...

Instead of trying to explain about paraffin-based oils in my words (I'm not an expert), I copied some info from Quaker State's website...

"There are two basic types of crude oil, naphthenic and paraffinic. Most conventional engine lubricating oils today are made from paraffinic crude oil. Paraffinic crude oil is recognized for its ability to resist thinning and thickening with temperature, as well as its lubricating properties and resistance to oxidation (sludge forming tendencies). In the refining process, the paraffinic crude oil is broken down into many different products. One of the products is wax, and others are gasoline, kerosene, lubricating oils, asphalt, etc. Virtually every oil marketer uses paraffinic base stocks in blending its engine oil products."

DieselPower · Jul 16, 2007

Actually there are three major type base oils. Paraffinic, Naphthenic, Aromatic. All oils contain aromatic and napthenic rings. Paraffinic oils have more saturated rings and long paraffinic side chains.

The main problem with the stability of oils, and the materials that they are compounded into, involves the presence of polars and aromatics. These compounds contain impurities like nitrogen, sulfur, or oxygen which are highly susceptible to oxidation and color degradation when exposed to UV light and/or heat. Highly refined paraffinic oils have the lowest proportion of polars and aromatics and the highest proportion of saturated chains, making them the most stabile oils.

Aromatic's have the lowest flash point, Naphthenic fall in the middle and Paraffinic have the highest flash point. The higher the flash point the better.

Paraffinic base oils are the most widely used in engine oils. Napthenic and Paraffinic are mostly used in other types of oil.

SkyPup · Jul 16, 2007

kenmissouri said:
I was afraid Valvoline wouldn't make that weight. Rotella at O'Reilly's, eh! Rotella is a Shell product isn't it? I'm a little afraid if it is Shell because around 35-40 years ago Shell oils had a reputation for gumming engines up, something about a parafin in them. Amsoil I hadn't heard of. I was told by the service manager at my Kubota dealer not to use 15W40 as being too heavy.

I believe it was about 65-70 years ago when Shell Oil had the waxing paraffin problems, but that was all associated with the forceable takeover of Holland by the Nazis. Ever since then, there has not been any problems with excessive waxes or paraffins in refined Shell products.