Brand oil used for your oil change

Hey guys what brand does everyone use for there trucks? I have the 6.7 cummins at 15w-40, haven't decided what I'm going to run just yet but thinking probably a Castrol gtx or something like it with a high mileage and full syenthic.

Also side what's the interval for oil changes I know used to be 10k on the older diesels but I was told now it's around 5-7k?

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Shell Rotella is as good as it gets, Delo/delvac is also top shelf and can be bought at Costco. Both have synthetic versions if you wish better protection and extend that interval out to say 10k miles. It is nice that you have a 2010, because you don't have the newer crappy oil spec, just use good ol Rotella 15w40 cj-4 spec is found everywhere. You supplement calls for 7500 mile oil change intervals. Look into bypass filtration, you can extend that way out if you desire too. Check out tdr, those boys run up to 100k miles on one oil change. Not that I'm recommended that, but look into it.

Burla said:

Shell Rotella is as good as it gets, Delo/delvac is also top shelf and can be bought at Costco. Both have synthetic versions if you wish better protection and extend that interval out to say 10k miles. It is nice that you have a 2010, because you don't have the newer crappy oil spec, just use good ol Rotella 15w40 cj-4 spec is found everywhere. You supplement calls for 7500 mile oil change intervals. Look into bypass filtration, you can extend that way out if you desire too. Check out tdr, those boys run up to 100k miles on one oil change. Not that I'm recommended that, but look into it.

Click to expand...

Cool thanks!! Have a link or anywhere I could find out about that bypass filtration?

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Amsoil are the ones that sell the most popular kit, it relocates the filters to up in the engine compartment. I haven't had a Cummins since like 2002, so I'm not current. The fuel has changed, I don't know how the lower sulfur diesel effects the situation or if there is a sulfur additive. Also, no matter what anyone says, do a UOA to verify you aren't subjected your engine to acid with a longer interval. Check out tdr, google it, there are guys over there that are more current. Cummins ownership is like a cult over there.

Burla said:

Amsoil are the ones that sell the most popular kit, it relocates the filters to up in the engine compartment. I haven't had a Cummins since like 2002, so I'm not current. The fuel has changed, I don't know how the lower sulfur diesel effects the situation or if there is a sulfur additive. Also, no matter what anyone says, do a UOA to verify you aren't subjected your engine to acid with a longer interval. Check out tdr, google it, there are guys over there that are more current. Cummins ownership is like a cult over there.

Click to expand...

I know it will sound stupid, but what's a UOA?

I sure will check it out buddy thanks for all the info!!

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Used Oil Analysis, I get mine here....
They send you a kit for free, you pay when you send it back. TBN is an extra ten bucks but what is most necessary when extending a drain interval.

Look into/research Rotella T6 5W-40. It is available at almost every big box store/local Walmarts/truck stops --major plus is the price per jug is very decent!

Use year round! Especially in Houston where it seems Summer year round!

Your supplement also recommends that weight Syn recommended, and the T-6 is the latest synthetic oil version of Rotella.

Thanks everyone for all the great responses, I think it's pretty apparent to run the T-6 so most likely that's what I will be running!

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Rotella t6 is the best imo but it's also the option of finning,cat Canada and volvo

CumminsTxBoy89 said:

Hey guys what brand does everyone use for there trucks? I have the 6.7 cummins at 15w-40, haven't decided what I'm going to run just yet but thinking probably a Castrol gtx or something like it with a high mileage and full syenthic.

Also side what's the interval for oil changes I know used to be 10k on the older diesels but I was told now it's around 5-7k?

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

User "SouthTexan" appears to be very knowledgeable with the Cummins, you might want to run it by him. He stays mostly over on the HD side of the forum.

Thanks for the thread. My new to me truck currently has syn 15W-40 Pennzoil in it, and is closing in on a change. Will go ahead and switch over to the Rotella, which I have liked before with other vehicles, and call it good.

Just an FYI, PQIA just released testing on 4 major diesel oils. Surprising as hell to me, Rotella doesn't have Moly, Delvac and Valvoline do. Rotella still may be the best, but I might consider running an oil soluble moly treat if I was stuck on Rotella.

I recommend this one, add to crank case, as you see it says use in all diesel engines.

Also Cummins now recommends diesel additives, cetane boost and lubricity enhancer you add to the fuel tank.

It used to be you just run diesel for 500k miles and not touch or worry about them. But modern diesels and fuels are much different, more to consider. I'm not going to say which one is right or wrong, but research it and come up with a strategy. I know the eco diesels actually had widespread INTERNAL damage forcing FCA to make new oil recommendations. I have not heard that carrying over to Cummins. But then again the writing is on the wall. Adding a moly treatment to an oil change is cheap insurance, using additives in the fuel tank every time can be expensive. You can find all-in-one treatments like this that may lower that cost. I believe that is everything except an anti gel, not sure there is much use for anti gel anymore, seams like gas stations in cold areas have solved that. But that product does everything else I believe with exception to the fuel catalyst. Here's the description.

Red Line's 85 Plus Diesel Fuel Additive Treatment is designed for use in all diesel engines and contains extremely powerful lubricants, detergents, seal conditioners, fuel stabilizers and rust preventatives, but without smoke suppressant. Red Line 85+ contains additional cetane improvers which boost the fuel 5-9 cetane numbers and additional lubricants which reduce wear in low sulfur fuel by 75%. This improvement in lubricity and cetane will reduce detonation, assist starting, help reduce smoking, help prevent fuel system wear and leakage and can provide 5% additional power and efficiency. This diesel fuel additive complies with the federal low sulfur content requirements for use in diesel motor vehicles and nonroad engines. Extremely powerful high-temperature detergents clean fuel injectors. Lubricants significantly lengthen injector and pump life and reduce ring friction which is very important for today's low-sulfur fuel. Both Red Line Diesel Fuel Catalyst and 85 Plus are available as a winterized version which will reduce the pour point of a typical fuel by 25°F.

There are a number of diesel oils tested on the oil testing web site. Click the link and see the results. Enjoy!

https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/motor-oil-wear-test-ranking/

HammerHead said:

There are a number of diesel oils tested on the oil testing web site. Click the link and see the results. Enjoy!

https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/motor-oil-wear-test-ranking/

Click to expand...

What rat hack says about hths....

HTHS (High-Temperature/High-Shear) test data only provides information on how capable various motor oils are at maintaining their viscosity under high heat and high stress conditions. But, that HTHS viscosity data DOES NOT provide any information at all about an oil’s wear protection capability. Because a motor oil’s viscosity DOES NOT determine its wear protection capability. and so yada yada

What MACHINE lube says..

Viscosity at Operating Conditions
In the early years of automotive engines, oils were simply formulated and obeyed Newton’s equation for viscosity - the more force used to make the fluid flow (shear stress), the faster it would flow (shear rate). Essentially, the ratio of shear stress to shear rate - the viscosity - remained constant at all shear rates. The engine oils of that time were all essentially single grade and carried no SAE “W” classification.

This viscometric relationship changed in the 1940s when it was discovered that adding small amounts of high-molecular-weight polymers appeared to give the oil the desired flow characteristics for both low-temperature starting and high-temperature engine operation. Accordingly, these polymer-containing oils were listed by the SAE viscosity classification system as multigrade engine oils, as they met the requirements of both viscosity temperature zones.

Since that time, multigrade oils (e.g., SAE 10W-40, 5W-30, 0W-20, etc.) have become very popular. However, they were no longer Newtonian in flow characteristics, as the viscosity was found to decrease with increasing shear rate. This was considered important in lubricating engines that operated at high shear rates (as measured in millions of reciprocal seconds), in contrast to the several hundred reciprocal seconds of the low-shear viscometers then being used to characterize engine oils.


Consequently, the need arose to develop a high shear rate viscometer to reflect the viscosity in engines under operating temperatures. In the early 1980s, an instrument and a technique were developed that could reach several million reciprocal seconds at 150 degrees C as well as exert high shear rates at other temperatures on both fresh and used engine oils. The instrument was called the tapered bearing simulator viscometer. The technique was accepted by ASTM as test method D4683 for use at 150 degrees C (and more recently as D6616 for use at 100 degrees C). This critical bench test of engine oil quality became known as high temperature, high shear rate (HTHS) viscosity. Minimum limits were then imposed for various grades in the SAE viscosity classification system.

Interestingly, it was later shown that this instrument was unique and basically absolute in providing measures of both shearing torque or shear stress and shear rate while operating. It is the only known viscometer capable of doing this.


So, Rat hack fundamental flaw is not making a test that understand this dynamic in engine oil. To heat oil to operating temp and do a one arm bandit and say this is the end all in engine oil testing is something a 9th grader would do. His 15 minutes of fame is long over, if he wants respect of the oil guys rolling around develop a long term high heat test that sees through low quality base oils, your test DOES NOT. A guy that thinks his tests prove better base oil then atsm's is an idiot. You wouldn't build a house without using atsm tested numbers, don't follow this ninth grader with the same recklessness in choosing an engine oil.

Just a thought for the 6.7L CTD owners: Ford had stirred up a HUGE can of worms with the Actual Duty cycle of your engine.

Not saying the Ford 6.7L is similar in any way to our 6.7L: A engine is a engine they basically have very similar moving parts and those moving parts need a specific type of lubrication.

I have been reading over via BITOG and I would say more then a handful maybe way more have studied their duty cycle--->Driving Habits and Style. They have some what taken heed in Fords information which they have put out.

Those who do not fall into the Severe Duty Cycle: Very little towing or only light towing have switched over to a HD 10W-30 oil & have posted some very impressive UOA.

Those who fall into the Honest Severe Duty Cycle: Those who tow most or all of the time {Med to Heavy Loads} should stick with the 15W-40 or 5W-40 Dino/Synthetic}.

I myself will mainly only tow during the summer months.
Maybe only 1/4 during the winter & 1/2 in the summer of my Duty Cycle of each OCI.

Don't know still have a few questions to ask a couple of members within BITOG that I trust.
(dnewton3 has really opened my eyes to a few things.)

Delo has a 15W-30 that is really impressive. Though I am more of a synthetic fella.
The viscosity has me more intrigued then the blend.

Just think about your Duty Cycles during your OCI and base your viscosity choice off of it.
Oils have changed so much over the past 5 years. Don't get hung up on 15W-40 is the only choice & the right choice.

I am still trying to chose a Brand of oil I want to use and continue to use for the life of my new 6.7L.

I do agree with Burla: Moly is still very important.
Some are switching to Boron which basically has the same job duty but also acts as a detergent as well... As long as the end results are similar or the same I am satisfied.

I still dream about using Schaeffers oil 9000 5W-40 but the 3739ppm {Calcium} / 1428ppm {Phosphorus} / 2152ppm {Zinc} kind of scares me a little with all the emissions on the new 6.7L CTD...

What do You guys think? I am willing to pay the extra for the Schaeffers & do 1 yr OCI.

Well great news:I Found my Schaeffers Jobber Again on eBay!
Amazon is restocked as well.
Going to be using the full line of Schaeffers diesel additives as well. (All are very reasonably priced.

Reason for me choosing Schaeffers: A$$ load of Friction Modifiers /
Liquid Soluble (patented) Micron Moly & Schaeffers own proprietary Additive Penetro... (Both plate all the high heated / high pressure moving parts to form a long lasting-slippery tenacious lubricant film. Which prevents any metal to metal contact.

Also containing the ridiculous robust additive package I showed above.

Winter Time: 1Gal Synshield Ultra 10W-30 / 2Gal 9000 5W-40
Due to very little if any towing / Using the Fleetguard LF9028 ES filter.

Once May shows its face I will pour in 16oz Schaeffers Moly E.P. (Maybe 32oz)

Doing 2yr OCI with the ES filter. (Beginning in Nov) Might go longer w/Filter depending on the accumulated mileage.

After the 25K mile mark I will begin my UOA regiment.
It might take me 4 years to reach 25K miles!

Depending on the amount of miles accumulated during the first year a 2yr OCI might be easily do able.

My DEF will probably receive more attention then my oil/filter.
Draining tank before every summer. This crap hates the heat! Fresh will be going in every summer.

Researching & Learning as I go.
That is my plan: I have NO intentions on changing it again.

I know Syn will make a great choice, but I don't think I would be using a 30 weight anything. With the issues in the eco diesel and all of the garbage around the ck-4 oils and specs, stay with 40 weight imo. I can only imagine how they will mess up real diesels if their little brothers can't handle that thin oil. Someone use that garbage for a decade, then tell me how it went, then maybe I will switch. But no way am I making an early move to run thin oil in the diesel, that's just me though. As you can see from link Ram put 5w40 Rotella in.

I would normally agree Burla.
But I’m only using 1Gal & spending hours @ BITOG & going over & over the VOA / UOA sections as well as the diesel oil thread itself.

I have seen more then 20 UOAs of the 5W-40 oils when pushed with decent loads shear down to actually a 30Wt fairly quickly to begin with. Possibly spending over 1/2 the OCI as a 30Wt.

It all depends on the stress & load put on these oils.

dnewton3 has shown via more then a handful of UOA just using The regular Dino Rotella 10W-30 within his Duramax & towing really heavy loads (during the summer months) the 10W-30 viscosity can handle the heat & stress with zero issues.
The UOAs proved this / also the 10W-30 viscosity showed / as well as many times before to have very little shearing while producing a UOA with similar or lower wear numbers then both the 5W-40 & 15W-40 viscosity oils. (He is always out to prove ——>Synthetic oils are a waste of $$$$ & not needed). In many cases he has very logical points.

Now: Would I ever just run (only) the 10W-30 viscosity in my new 6.7L? No! But in the same breath I will never run straight 15W-40 in my new 6.7L. (Especially in the Winter)

I’m only adding 1Gal 10W-30 during the winter months when NO towing will be done to possibly aid in the cold weather startups & maybe just maybe keep the shearing down to a minimum.

Like I stated: I’m learning as I go with today’s Diesel engine & oil.

I will have to visually witness and see what my first summer of actual light to medium towing produces.

I guess another fact is there is just not that many good used oil analysis with the 9000 5W-40 within a Cummins Or not that I have witnessed.
So I really have no clue or idea how well this oil is going to hold up under medium to heavy stress.
So I guess I will be the guinea pig within this forum. Which I truly don’t mind at all.

Question: Was the Eco-Diesel spec for the 5W-30 viscosity?

Thanks for your input Burla!
It is Very much respected and appreciated

No more Diesel Oil Talk from me.
The hard part is done (Brand Choice)

———————————————————————————————-EDIT:

Ok Final blog on my Oil Brand & Viscosity selection.
My OCIs could possibly be as long as 2yrs. This all depends on my accumulation of miles & duty cycles.

Starting in Nov 2018 I will drain / filter change & pour in:
2Gals Schaeffers 9000 5W-40 & 1Gal Schaeffers Ultra 10W-30 w/Fleetguard LF9028 filter.
Then in may ad 16oz or 32oz of Schaeffers Moly E.P. To boost the Micron Moly / Penetro too help protect during the summer towingadventures.

That’s it: Simple & realistic. A UOA will be done every other year to monitor the 6.7L life cycle.
I will just feel so much better knowing Schaeffers is within my 6.7L.
I am so thankful I am NOT a Drug Addict or Alcoholic nor Crack Head!

I have no doubt they uoa's would be great, just like you see with 20 weights. But uoa's show wear numbers, and catastrophic damage often occurs with zero warning, and that is what happen widespread with eco diesels, thus having FSA moving to 5w40 from 5w30. I don't doubt 5w40 will shear, I also don't doubt that 30 weight will be a wrong choice for a Cummins, but I know you have done your research as well. Here's from truck trend...


There’s an online commotion brewing regarding a technical service bulletin (TSB) released by Fiat-Chrysler (FCA) on July 20, 2016. The bulletin pertains to an engine oil upgrade from 5W-30 to 5W-40 for the 2016 Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee models with the EcoDiesel engine. This bulletin directs Chrysler-Jeep dealers to drain the factory-fill 5W-30 motor oil and replace it with 5W-40 motor oil.

Addendum cards have also been shipped to dealers which are to be added to owner’s manuals. These cards recommend the use of synthetic 5W-40 engine oil that meets the FCA Material Standard MS-10902 and API CJ-4 specifications.

Some Dodge dealers we spoke to seem to think that this recommendation applies only to 2016 EcoDiesel models. Based on the language in the bulletin, it’s easy to arrive at that conclusion. But there is more to this story.

Why Is 5W-40 Now Recommended For The EcoDiesel Engine?
It took some digging, but we think we may have found the answer. We spoke to several Dodge dealers and also FCA Customer Care. Few had even heard of the engine oil changeover or they simply read back the bulletin. But a service manager at a Salt Lake City Dodge dealership had heard all about the reason for this oil switch from an FCA warranty official. Apparently the 3.0L EcoDiesel engine is experiencing an unsettling number of main bearing failures. FCA is laying the blame on the thin viscosity of 5W-30 engine oil. They believe that the thicker viscosity of 5W-40 engine oil will cure this issue. This service manager suggested that all model years will have a 5W-40 recommendation and that 5W-30 engine oil will be obsolete for the EcoDiesel engine.

Will 2014 And 2015 EcoDiesel Engines Require 5W-40 Motor Oil?
This seems to be all but official, but you wouldn’t know it if you called your local Jeep or Ram dealer. The latest revisions of the 2014 and 2015 owner’s models now suggest “SAE 5W-40 Synthetic, API CJ-4”. Pick a model year of the 1500 model and then click on download of the “Diesel Supplement”. See page 120 for the 2014 model and page 122 of the 2015 model.

Obviously this was right when this happened, there are probably better links out there. I can't imagine using a thinner oil in a HD Cummins then an eco diesel, but that's just me. I would really put some more thought into this one Syn. What are the TDR guys using?