Synthetic Oil

Oil of Choice

  • Castrol Syntec/Edge

    Votes: 233 8.4%
  • Royal Purple

    Votes: 325 11.7%
  • AMSOil

    Votes: 396 14.3%
  • Valvoline Synpower

    Votes: 160 5.8%
  • Mobil 1

    Votes: 992 35.9%
  • Other

    Votes: 660 23.9%

  • Total voters
    2,766

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HEMIMANN

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I do no towing whatsoever. I live in summer year round (snowbird). I change my oil/filter (with my hands) evey 3k miles or 6 months, whichever comes first (never gone more than 3k miles). My strategy is simply to do everything possible (other than not driving the vehicle :)), to prevent the dreaded hemi-tick -- incuding no idling, best filter (Fram XG2), best oil, etc. I'm just looking for confirmation that Red Line is still viewed as the best oil for the hemi (I base "best" on an aggregation of the 3,000+ posts that I've read here and other sites), so if there IS suddenly something better - I'm always listening and wanting to know!!
I'm also (unfortunately) a believer that the Chrysler Engineers do NOT by themselves, call the shots with regards to oil recommendations - there are some other forces at work here .... just based on my 30 yrs experience as an Engineer in a LARGE US Healthcare Company -- all decisions are not based on longevity of the product. (I could be wrong, but I think I'm err'ing on the safe side)
I know ... perhaps a bit excessive - some would even say wasteful, but hey there's lots of worse things to burn $$$ on.
I really appreciate conversing with folks on the Ram Forum site!
Thanks!
John

Ah - I see you're in Beer Town - I'm originally from Madison, so I know your climate well. Since you're not a big tower, I recommend Red Line 5W-30 year round, unless you get piston slap on cold startups in winter. I mean, even if you keep the truck in a heated garage, you'll still have left it outside some time - at work, stores, etc. Milwaukee is a lot milder clime than Madison. Even so, it still gets colder in Milwaukee than where some members developed piston cold slap with 5W-30.

If that's a concern for you, or if you do hear slap on 5W-30, switch to 0W-30 for winter. If you go with HPL Super Car 0W-30, that should be good year round, because they advertise using a more expensive shear-resistant VII polymer additive, so the oil should last a normal change interval. We are yet unsure if Red Line's change to their 0W-30 formula is still adequate for Hemi's (I have inventory of previous 0W-30).

As @Burla notes (he is Forum fluids application expert), HPL is a new supplier to us, and a number of us are just starting to use their oils. From what I've read, they are top notch and could be more optimal than Red Line for our public truck usage (Red Line targets racing mostly - we ended up using a race oil to band aid the Hemi lubrication design defect).
 

MontanaHandyman

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Ah - I see you're in Beer Town - I'm originally from Madison, so I know your climate well. Since you're not a big tower, I recommend Red Line 5W-30 year round, unless you get piston slap on cold startups in winter. I mean, even if you keep the truck in a heated garage, you'll still have left it outside some time - at work, stores, etc. Milwaukee is a lot milder clime than Madison. Even so, it still gets colder in Milwaukee than where some members developed piston cold slap with 5W-30.

If that's a concern for you, or if you do hear slap on 5W-30, switch to 0W-30 for winter. If you go with HPL Super Car 0W-30, that should be good year round, because they advertise using a more expensive shear-resistant VII polymer additive, so the oil should last a normal change interval. We are yet unsure if Red Line's change to their 0W-30 formula is still adequate for Hemi's (I have inventory of previous 0W-30).

As @Burla notes (he is Forum fluids application expert), HPL is a new supplier to us, and a number of us are just starting to use their oils. From what I've read, they are top notch and could be more optimal than Red Line for our public truck usage (Red Line targets racing mostly - we ended up using a race oil to band aid the Hemi lubrication design defect).
Can you remind me what RL changed in the 0w30 formula that makes it not as beneficial for the hemi? I just purchased 2 gallons on sale at Amazon...was thinking I mite mix it with some of my old stock and throw in some Lubegard. (and how could I tell if the oil I just purchased is the new formula?)

PS: just looked at the specs on RL website and they say 0w30 is still SN, not SP...did they just not get around to updating the site?
 
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HEMIMANN

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Can you remind me what RL changed in the 0w30 formula that makes it not as beneficial for the hemi? I just purchased 2 gallons on sale at Amazon...was thinking I mite mix it with some of my old stock and throw in some Lubegard. (and how could I tell if the oil I just purchased is the new formula?)

PS: just looked at the specs on RL website and they say 0w30 is still SN, not SP...did they just not get around to updating the site?

@Burla was in contact with their Rep. The stated purpose was to go from API SN to API SP, in effect marketing to mass consumer market - not racers. SP changes additives to lessen LSPI (which doesn't affect Hemi's and is ostensibly a harmless additive change), but SP also has a "fuel saving" aspect to it that oil suppliers lessen viscosity to a very low value within the SAE viscosity grade range. This is opposite of what Hemi engines need.

I'll use HPL's published spec data for their two 0W-30 grades for an easy example -
API SN viscosity @ 100C is 12.2 cSt
API SP viscosity @ 100C is 10.0 cSt
 

MontanaHandyman

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@Burla was in contact with their Rep. The stated purpose was to go from API SN to API SP, in effect marketing to mass consumer market - not racers. SP changes additives to lessen LSPI (which doesn't affect Hemi's and is ostensibly a harmless additive change), but SP also has a "fuel saving" aspect to it that oil suppliers lessen viscosity to a very low value within the SAE viscosity grade range. This is opposite of what Hemi engines need.

I'll use HPL's published spec data for their two 0W-30 grades for an easy example -
API SN viscosity @ 100C is 12.2 cSt
API SP viscosity @ 100C is 10.0 cSt
RL says the viscosity for their 0W-30 is 11.7 on their website, so doesn't look too bad...?
 

Travis8352

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Can you remind me what RL changed in the 0w30 formula that makes it not as beneficial for the hemi? I just purchased 2 gallons on sale at Amazon...was thinking I mite mix it with some of my old stock and throw in some Lubegard. (and how could I tell if the oil I just purchased is the new formula?)

PS: just looked at the specs on RL website and they say 0w30 is still SN, not SP...did they just not get around to updating the site?
They said they wont update the site until the new product has enough market penetration
 

Ramerica

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Anyone have theories as what is causing piston slap with Redline 5w20/30? Possibly the viscosity at 100F? At 100F RL 5w20 is 53 and the 5w30 is 71. The PUP blend I'm on now is 46-48 with no slap.

Should I bother factoring pour points just worry about keeping my 100F viscosity below 50?
 

Burla

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If they were trying to mislead, I'm pretty sure we would know nothing about the new formulas. I think there are very few corporations that release the info that redline released on the new stuff long before it hit the shelf, if it has even hit the shelf yet. I think just maybe they want the old stock to be sold, because their sp line 0w30 will be hugely popular on non hemi boards. Maybe the new stuff wont be great for our unique needs(maybe it will be good as well, we just don't know), but man if you have a di turbo it is simply a top choice their new stuff. Think about being a retailer for a minute, and you have a ton of 0w30 redline in stick, and you get people saying you got the new sp for my beemer? just another way to look at it.

and if piston slap was why you used 0w30 redline over 5w30, well this new formula stands to even be better at that.
 

HEMIMANN

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Well, that isn't how we did it in the power train biz. Pretty sure the car.biz is the same.

Rarely are old and new production data offered simultaneously.
Customers had to call us for previous versions for old stock, and in field products. That's industry standard to me. Just sayin
 

Travis8352

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If they were trying to mislead, I'm pretty sure we would know nothing about the new formulas. I think there are very few corporations that release the info that redline released on the new stuff long before it hit the shelf, if it has even hit the shelf yet. I think just maybe they want the old stock to be sold, because their sp line 0w30 will be hugely popular on non hemi boards. Maybe the new stuff wont be great for our unique needs(maybe it will be good as well, we just don't know), but man if you have a di turbo it is simply a top choice their new stuff. Think about being a retailer for a minute, and you have a ton of 0w30 redline in stick, and you get people saying you got the new sp for my beemer? just another way to look at it.

and if piston slap was why you used 0w30 redline over 5w30, well this new formula stands to even be better at that.
I guess seems misleading but i dont think their intentionally misleading people. If they were they would just say new formula is proprietary and its better than the old like you said. Molakule on BITOG has said before that data sheets are the last thing to be updated
 

Burla

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You wont be able to call for new formulas when they go obsolete. There was another oil that showed promise as the new hpl line, it was toyota and their super high moly. However, to a man it made their hemi tick louder, lol. So to date, the info we have on 0w30 redline is it kills hemi tick as good as 5w30, and then there is no proven formula anywhere, as in nada zelch, doesnt yet exist. 0w40 yes, but 0w30 redline is it. So my suggestion lets wait til redline 0w30 lets some ticking hemi's down before we go all in on saying it is garbage. BTW, I never ran it so I don't know, but we even have guys putting it in 6'4 that have licked it over shelf 0w40's. And all I see is oil companies posting less and less info on their stuff, even long standing atsm's. Everyone is entitled thier opinion, but it's my opinion redline is the only thing I can count on to daye. When that changes, I'll let you know.

btw, that "bandaid" is still holding my engine tick free, now entering year 11/12 I forget. Soon I will forget how many decades it has been since my truck ticked.
 

Burla

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as for industry standard, is that a joke? I hope so.

Valvoline and royal purple formulas look as different as can be on any given year without any notice. Maybe this is the first time redline ever changed their formula, maybe they don't know what to do, lol.
 

Burla

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where are my hemi tick testers at? The forum should send hemi395 100 bucks paypalled and encourage him to try 0w30 hpl. That test would straight be gold, either way. Mind you he just posted favorable test 0w40 amsoil after his 0w30 redline. Before we replace 0w30 redline, lets at least have something that works? 0w30 super car, someone with proven hemi tick needs to give it a shot.
 

Burla

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I havent been able to post images or youtube for some time now. Any image wasnt posted through my host. So I'm sure someone with hemi tick would be interested. if we get one, then maybe start a thread.
 

HEMIMANN

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Ok I'm in. This is important.

Preference for a v*i*r*g*i*n tick engine, or engine that started ticking again.

The concern is having a tick-killed engine with latent antiwear layer that won't tick again for unknown period no matter what oil is used.

i.e. we wouldn't know for sure if HPL killed it.
 
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