Synthetic Diesel Oil

[KenR 955]

FWIW, Every time I changed the Rotella T4 oil in the 5.9. Blackstone said to run it longer. When they said to run it for 15K, I just couldn't do it. I am happy with 7,500 OCI and after 354K, I will keep doing just that.

YMMV

Ken R

 

[Gr8bawana]

Even if it’s not in the owners manual, you have been proved wrong about Cummins not endorsing synthetic oil.

I'll repeat myself one more time.
The manual says "you may use" synthetic oil. That is a far cry from endorsing the use of ONLY synthetic oil.
That's why the manual say you can use ANY oil that meets spec.
At no time did I say no one should use synthetic oil, I just said it was unnecessary to spend the extra $$ for synthetic.

 

[Fuel35 67]

You can repeat yourself till cows come home. You said

Show us where in the owner's manual it is endorsed and recommended.

I said and showed a pic of Cummins endorsing synthetic oil. I said it’s not in the owners manual (agreeing with you). Just merely showing that they do endorse it.

Im out.

 

[Gr8bawana]

You can repeat yourself till cows come home. You said


I said and showed a pic of Cummins endorsing synthetic oil. I said it’s not in the owners manual (agreeing with you). Just merely showing that they do endorse it.

Im out.

 

[Burla]

I'm thinking I'm opening a can of worms here, but I've been waffelling about using synthetic oil in my Cummins. I'm due for an oil change and am wondering if I can get double the miles from synthetic as I get from Dino. Syn is running about double the price of Dino for a gallon at Wally. If nothing else I'd rather go 10k instead of the 5k schedule I'm on now. Have Syn in all the family gas engines and have had good experience with it. Use Mobil 1 in all of them. What do you guys think?

Thanks, Mike

It is more then likely you can easily go 10k miles on a good synthetic diesel oil. And to your point on cheap synthetic, well when it comes to diesel oil the monster oils like rotealla are not as good as they used to be on the stat sheet, but lesser oils such as delo or valvoline have increased their quality very much. And with the newest diesel specs ck4 a cheap synthetic oil is a great strategy. Go to blackstone and get you a kit, they will send it to you free no obligation, when you fill it with oil you send it back with 38 dollar check because you need something called tbn, it is an extra ten bucks, so that tbn sets your interval or lets you know how the oil is at 10k miles.

When you get your uoa, you can upload without personal info using their software, and post it here. We try to get comments that help people understand some features of their uoa.

More important then oil Mike is likely your filter selection, read the oil filter thread in my sig and use a spun microglass filters with that set up. Now, next level with diesels is to go to bypass filtration, extend oci but it is a costly venture as those filters are expensive. I spent a decade putting a million miles on a Cummins for work and had a Cummins ram as well, I'd just opt for spun microglass, royal purple filter would be my choice. Not the oil though, just their filters.

 

[2016-Ram 3500]

I'm a new RAM owner and made the mistake of having the dealer change the oil while it was there for some extended warranty work - replacing the radio.

At $556 that won't happen again - I thought it was covered. To make matters worse IMO - they didn't even top off the washer fluid.

I've not been to a dealer for anything in many years, well since 1989 when a Toyota dealer fixed the same warranty problem for me 5 times - yea we had a show down. Stole a wire w/alligator clips I left for them to trouble shoot, and didn't change the oil filter of the 1st FREE oil change I negotiated with the sale. I noticed it was 1 qt low when I picked it up but didn't realize why until I did the next oil change.

Not real fond of dealers or car sales people for that matter. They seem to think everyone is dumber than they are.

 

[68PowerWagon]

I have driven tractor trailer for a couple of companies & they go anywhere between 75-100k before changing their synthetic oil. Around 10-15k they change the filters & take a sample, then top it off. If the sample comes back good they just keep using it.

 

[mtnrider]

I've been doing 15K oil changes on my 2016 since day 1. Over 90k now and zero issues. People just can't get away from 1970's thinking but hey, it's their money. Keeps the oil companies happy I'm sure.

.

 

[Livinthedream]

Well oil questions on any forum usually degrades to name calling and claims of superior intelligence by some and some who claim all sorts of miracles from anything from castor oil, marvel mystery oil, or an oil squeezed one drop at a time from a rare synth seed from a tree that grows 5 of them a year on a mountain in the jungle….. it’s amazing how angry some people get just because someone does something differently or uses a different product than they do…

As for me, I have used Amsoil in everything I own for decades be it gas or diesel. Are some of their claims purely for marketing, sure but there is not an oil company out there that doesn’t make some eyebrow raising claims. I do believe Amsoil is a superior product to many brands and My experience in using it gives me no reason to think otherwise.

One thing that has always amazed me is that some people will spend 80k on a vehicle and then add more $ in mods and accessories but will use the cheapest oil they can find, a 1.99 filter, and change the oil every 2 years if it needs it or not……..

Bottom line use a quality oil synthetic or not, a good filter, and change it at the engine manufacturers stated intervals and you will be fine! (Or use Amsoil and your truck will run forever, be faster than anyone else’ especially if it’s painted pearl white as everyone knows that’s the fastest color. )

Mark

 

[HEMIMANN]

I worked 22 years for Cummins, and 3 years for Mobil Oil Corporation in Industrial Lubricants.

The key parameter to diesel engine oil changeout is exceeding the additive package's ability to hold soot in suspension. The ONLY way to know that for sure is continual in-service oil analysis, with a lab that has access to the oil maker's soot load limits.
Period.

 

[Burla]

Not sure the Cummins needs a high performance synthetic like hemi's seam to need, but this is a really cheap price on redline synthetic. I have seen 40 dollars a gallon for this oil in a decade. I wonder if it would make a diesel butter smooth as we see in hemi's.

 

[HEMIMANN]

@Burla - Red Line might be a viable option now that Cummins B-series engines have joined their big brothers with 15,000 mile OCI. Not sure how many gallons the newest variant takes - the older ones took 3 gallons,

Not sure there are wear problems with Cummins engines. But - get this - they just changed from solid lifters all these years to roller lifters! They fought roller lifters for decades, just like the Germans, insisting only solid lifters could provide premium performance. ha ha Anyway, I doubt the oiling system in their inline 6 engines has any issue with adequate lubrication of the lifter roller and cams. The valves are in line with the bore axis, so there's no goofy, shallow pushrod angles to contend with draining oil back to the cam, which is lifted way up in the block to reach the siamese outboard exhaust valves.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Not sure the Cummins needs a high performance synthetic like hemi's seam to need, but this is a really cheap price on redline synthetic. I have seen 40 dollars a gallon for this oil in a decade. I wonder if it would make a diesel butter smooth as we see in hemi's.

Redline the magic elixir. It probably cures cancer too, right?

 

[chri5k]

I switch back and forth between Valvoline Premium Blue 15w40 Dino and 5w40 Full synthetic depending on the Amazon price for a 3 gallon case. Right now Dino is $52 and Synth is $92. Last change Dino was $56 and Synth was $52. Either way I change oil and filter at 7,500 miles. I always use a Fleetguard synthetic media filter. I tow a 13K horse trailer 2 - 3 time per month on average.

I change fuel filter / water separator every other oil / filter change and change the air filter every other fuel filter change. I think diesels like clean air, clean fuel and clean oil for a long life.

 

[HEMIMANN]

I switch back and forth between Valvoline Premium Blue 15w40 Dino and 5w40 Full synthetic depending on the Amazon price for a 3 gallon case. Right now Dino is $52 and Synth is $92. Last change Dino was $56 and Synth was $52. Either way I change oil and filter at 7,500 miles. I always use a Fleetguard synthetic media filter. I tow a 13K horse trailer 2 - 3 time per month on average.

I change fuel filter / water separator every other oil / filter change and change the air filter every other fuel filter change. I think diesels like clean air, clean fuel and clean oil for a long life.

Curious - what is recommended oil change interval in your Owner's Manual? For "normal" and "severe" service duty cycles. What model year is your truck / engine?

 

[chri5k]

I have a 2016 2500 with the Cummins. The screenshot below is from the 2500 Diesel Supplement to the owners manual. Only one service cycle listed with do differentiation between Normal or Severe. Looks Like RAM can't make up their mind since the text says 15,000 miles, six months, 500 hours or sooner if the oil change indicator tells you to change it. Yet the chart has an "X" every 7,500 miles. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[HEMIMANN]

@chri5k - wow, is that bizarre! lol Looks like it was written by a summer intern (don't ask me how I know) without review prior to publication.

I'd wager the mileage is for "severe" and "normal". As has been discussed many times in this Form and elsewhere, very few users fit under the "normal" service category the way OEM's describe it - it's almost perfect conditions for an engine; constant speed and load, moderate temperatures, high quality fuel (no biodiesel), etc. etc.

In fact, when I worked at Cummins, the Fuel Quality Service Bulletin said users had to (mandatory) change oil @ 1/2 the "recommended" interval if using any biodiesel (due to the higher deposit loads from the fatty acids in soybean oils).

So I would change oil @ 7,500 miles too.

 

[smiley]

Synthetic is superior and always will be! Zero sludge even with group 3. See. My post in synthetic thread about the promo I just found for Mobil 1 Delvac. You can buy synthetic for Dino price.

 

[Dennis Shellito]

I always run Shell Rotella T4 15/40 conventional oil in my Cummins, which is always done every 5,000 miles at the local Ram dealer. The last time I went in for an oil service, according to the receipt, they filled it with 5/40, which is the T6 full synthetic. It has shown no ill effects but I may get T4 the next oil change at 5,000 mile interval. I don't run many miles on my truck these days, and the last time interval was about 14 months. Who knows, if this full synthetic stays cleaner looking than the dino oil I may stay with synthetic. Of course, there may have been a hiccup on the paper receipt and it actually is running T4.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Synthetic is superior and always will be! Zero sludge even with group 3. See. My post in synthetic thread about the promo I just found for Mobil 1 Delvac. You can buy synthetic for Dino price.

Synthetic is a waste of $$. Does the owners manual state a longer oil change interval if using synthetic oil? NO.