Synthetic Engine Oil Base Stocks

[3930dave]

I never used T6 but I'm beginning to think I should take a look at it? Up until now I've been using Deere 0W40 synthetic in 5 gallon buckets to keep the cost down. It's getting a little pricey now so I'm looking for alternatives. Sorry I'm dumb on this but is T6 pretty widely used in farm tractors? h

I've used it in mine, and also my 7.3. From the generator side of things, I've come across a few guys who use T6 in everything. Up here we have a 0W40 T6 that is now available as well as the 5W version.

A couple of times a year, Shell will do a mail-in rebate on jugs, $5 or so each. If you are going through pails quickly, check with Schaeffer - respected products, and free delivery (USA) if you are buying enough.

T6 is easy to get off the shelf - Wally World.

Rgds, D.

 

[DK35vince]

I never used T6 but I'm beginning to think I should take a look at it? Up until now I've been using Deere 0W40 synthetic in 5 gallon buckets to keep the cost down. It's getting a little pricey now so I'm looking for alternatives. Sorry I'm dumb on this but is T6 pretty widely used in farm tractors? h

I have been running the Rotella T-6 5w-40 synthetic in my tractor since new (13-14 years now).
I also use the T-6 in most everything else. Motorcycle, Atv, zero turn mower, push mower, pressure washer, water pump engine, Etc.

 

[mkreitler]

The best to use is AMSOIL or SCHAEFFER'S ! With SCHAEFFER'S you can get SPECIALIZED LUBRICANTS made to whatever specs. you wish if the need be. After all is's all about what you feel comfortable using and how much your machine's worth to you. Also remember any machine or vehicle is only as good as it is maintained.

 

[Garandman]

The best to use is AMSOIL or .

If it wasn't for the VERTICAL MARKETING distribution, I'd look at AMSOIL. But almost everyone who recommends it is selling it.....

 

[MikePA]

I recommend it and I'm not selling it.

 

[Diamondpilot]

The reality is if you do a half way decent job on Maintiance a machine will last a very long time.

I was doing 100 oil changes a year on about 75 pieces of equipment for the last 20 years. This year I'm upto 100 pieces of equipment band about 125 oil changes. I buy what's on sale. Both Filters and Oil. Many times house brands as long as it's in spec or close to it, ie 5W30 in place of 10W30.

In all these oil changes one thing holds true, I've never had a single engine failure or oil related issue.

Chris

 

[Garandman]

We do oil analysis periodically on our vehicles. I asked the technician what the benefit of a 3,000 mile oil change is.

"You create very high quality waste oil." :laughing:

 

[RalphVa]

Interesting thread that I hadn't seen before. I worked as a process engineer in lube oil industry for Exxon and its ER&E licencees for 31 years. Saw from the research that our Sarnia research affiliate did that Mobil 1 was the best. Switched to Mobil 1 in everything I owned a couple years after retiring after the merger. Didn't feel like a traitor then.

Even switched our nearly 25 year old 240D to Mobil 1 (and even my old Gravely tractor at the time). Doubled oil change interval to 6k miles and didn't feel bad about using a non diesel (couldn't find a diesel rated Mobil 1 locally) rated because this change interval isn't horribly long to worry about too much carbon in the oil and not be solubilized by a non diesel oil. This boosted the mileage from 29 mpg up to 30-31.

Now own and have had a Jetta TDI for 5 years (finally gave up on Benz bringing over their stick shift C class diesel). Pisses me off that I cannot get a Mobil 1 (the ESP one) locally to use in it. Only oil for it locally is the Castrol that I buy from the VW dealer. Wonder where Castrol gets it. They used to buy virtually all their US oil from Exxon. It's a Castrol 507 spec rated oil, probably some hydrotreated stuff they get from their owner in Europe but bet they buy a hydro oil from someone here. Maybe the hydrotreated wax that Baytown make in oil?

Switched my Tacoma to 0w20 Mobil 1 and have gotten a pretty good increase in fuel economy. Figure the 0w20 is probably hardly any different vis in the really hot areas of the engine that would matter due to flatter vis curve than the 5w30 they spec. Pumping losses are quite a bit lower using the 0w20 than the 5w30, apparently. I only change oil in it about every 3 years, as I hardly drive it. Wife and I hate the beast. We only drive it when we HAVE to drive another vehicle or really need a truck.

I use T6 in my 1025 JD while it's still under warrnty and likely will continue to use T6 in it or will buy some of the Castrol stuff same as what I use in the TDI. I used regular Mobil 1 0w30 in my 4010 when I had it, as I changed every year, generally only 60 hours or so on the engine, not much to accumulate hardly any carbon.

Using a 0w30 Mobil 1 in my VW Cabrio that I used to have reduced hydraulic valve lifter pounding on startup. It apparently has a hydraulic lifter drain down problem. The 0w30 stuff would just get pumped into the lifters quicker, to refill them. Did nothing for mileage. Stayed right at 31 mpg.

Ralph

 

[nova3930]

Then Pennzoil comes along with their "Platinum / Ultra" (Shell) engine oils that claim 'made from natural gas'. But if they were, they would be Group IV, not III. Claim is less deposits than de-graded Mobil 1, so I'm trying that for 1st time in my gasoline engines.

Group IV is a specific chemical definition based on the feed stock for the sythesis. Just because they're sythesizing petroleum from NG doesn't necessarily mean that it will be a Group IV oil. I this case they're just making an extremely pure version of a Group III oil....

And the one thing that gets rarely discussed in all these synthetic oil discussions, is that the base stock is one thing, but the additive package of the oil can make or break any good base stock. The add pack can make up to 25% of a typical bottled oil or lube. A lousy add pack can make the best synthetic perform worse than a great petroleum base stock with a killer add pack.

Yep. People get hung up in base stock are missing the forest for the trees. The goal of any oil is to provide lubrication, wear protection and neutralization and/or isolation of contaminants. To get those you shoot for certain performance parameters, TBN, Viscosity, NOACK, etc etc. Whether you hit those targets via base stock, additives or some combination is not really relevant as long as it hits the targets.

And as always those performance requirements are dictated by useage spectrum. OCI, duty severity, etc etc are play into exactly what requirements you need.

Pennzoils (Shell GTL base oil is a Gr. III imported from Qatar.


GTL - Gas to Liquid

Yeah, my understanding is that due to source it's just an extremely pure GIII oil. I use the Ultra in our Ecoboost cars because it's been shown to have very good NOACK volatility numbers, something pretty important in the harshe environment of a turbocharger. The lighter hydrocarbons cooking off and thickening the oil at high temperature is a bad thing for a turbo....

 

[3930dave]

Yep. People get hung up in base stock are missing the forest for the trees. The goal of any oil is to provide lubrication, wear protection and neutralization and/or isolation of contaminants. To get those you shoot for certain performance parameters, TBN, Viscosity, NOACK, etc etc. Whether you hit those targets via base stock, additives or some combination is not really relevant as long as it hits the targets.

Bingo.

I've spent plenty of time reading UOA reports on BITOG, because:

1) It's way better than what's on TV....

2) You can see fairly quickly (my def'n - a few evenings of reading) that as long as you are using just about any correctly spec'd name brand oil, at factory OCI, they perform pretty well.

3) You can start to see some nuances of how different oils perform, and adjust what you are using to suit your Care Abouts, and vehicle-use specifics. Somebody doing a lot of highway driving in a lightly loaded vehicle across Northern Canada will have different needs/priorities vs. a guy constantly pulling an overloaded trailer in Dallas or Phoenix traffic.

4) Another good-to-read section on Bob is the Oil Guy is dedicated to Unused (Virgin) Oil Analysis. Once you find an addtive pack you like in an oil, you can watch for any tweaks/changes in that section.

Agreed..... turbos are a tough application, that needs a high performance oil.

Rgds, D.