What oil to use in my Duramax?

[SAABDOCTOR]

I too am a big synthetic oil fan except my truck that has always been on shell rottella T your standard mobil one is not recomened for cat equiped diesels. for that their "esp" oil is what i use in my 08 mercedes bluetec. esp ( exhaust soot protection. rottella a nd delvac are some of the best conventional oils for a diesel. as they control ash and soot better than non diesel oil. i too change the oil every 5k and the fuel filter every other oilchange. it's cheaper than a pump and injectors.

[JRTJH]

There is a "conservation" consideration that sometimes is "hard to appreciate" but is a big driving force in the manufacturer's oil change considerations. Just as they are concerned with increasing fuel mileage to help reduce consumption, they are looking seriously at increased oil change intervals to reduce consumption.

We complain when we don't get the advertised 18MPG highway fuel mileage, yet when it comes to oil/filter changes, we use vast amounts of oil to change our engine oil at 3,000 miles or 5,000 miles even though the manufacturer's recommendation is to change at 7,500 or 10,000 miles (or another extended mileage interval).

Are we "wasting" resources (and money) by following "outdated" recommendations from days gone by when we do that? What basis do we use to "justify" to ourselves that changing oil at earlier intervals is "better"?

I think using SOAP programs or another oil analysis to really know what our engine is doing and following those principles or following the manufacturer's recommendations is a more reasonable (and efficient) way to manage oil change intervals rather than to follow the old, "It's the way I've always done it and never had a problem" approach.

What say you?

[hankpage]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

There is a "conservation" consideration that sometimes is "hard to appreciate" but is a big driving force in the manufacturer's oil change considerations. Just as they are concerned with increasing fuel mileage to help reduce consumption, they are looking seriously at increased oil change intervals to reduce consumption.

We complain when we don't get the advertised 18MPG highway fuel mileage, yet when it comes to oil/filter changes, we use vast amounts of oil to change our engine oil at 3,000 miles or 5,000 miles even though the manufacturer's recommendation is to change at 7,500 or 10,000 miles (or another extended mileage interval).

Are we "wasting" resources (and money) by following "outdated" recommendations from days gone by when we do that? What basis do we use to "justify" to ourselves that changing oil at earlier intervals is "better"?

I think using SOAP programs or another oil analysis to really know what our engine is doing and following those principles or following the manufacturer's recommendations is a more reasonable (and efficient) way to manage oil change intervals rather than to follow the old, "It's the way I've always done it and never had a problem" approach.

What say you?

I'll drink to that.

[SAD]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

There is a "conservation" consideration that sometimes is "hard to appreciate" but is a big driving force in the manufacturer's oil change considerations. Just as they are concerned with increasing fuel mileage to help reduce consumption, they are looking seriously at increased oil change intervals to reduce consumption.

We complain when we don't get the advertised 18MPG highway fuel mileage, yet when it comes to oil/filter changes, we use vast amounts of oil to change our engine oil at 3,000 miles or 5,000 miles even though the manufacturer's recommendation is to change at 7,500 or 10,000 miles (or another extended mileage interval).

Are we "wasting" resources (and money) by following "outdated" recommendations from days gone by when we do that? What basis do we use to "justify" to ourselves that changing oil at earlier intervals is "better"?

I think using SOAP programs or another oil analysis to really know what our engine is doing and following those principles or following the manufacturer's recommendations is a more reasonable (and efficient) way to manage oil change intervals rather than to follow the old, "It's the way I've always done it and never had a problem" approach.

What say you?

What say I?

I say change it frequently.... Change it often!

But then again, my annual bonus and retirement plan is 'weighted' (pun) in energy..

[gearhead]

Well, I could agree with all that; but....my thinking is if I am going to keep the truck a long time I'm not taking chances. I am familiar with used oil analysis. I also don't want issues with a manufacturer over extended oil changes. I like synthetics. Run it in everything. If I had a diesel I would use Rotella synthetic and probably change it at least per the maintenance reminder computer. I currently change at 5,000 on my gassers. The cost difference isn't enough for me to worry over.
Yes, my pension is 100% provided by an oil company.

[SAABDOCTOR]

PLEASE keep changing your oil at factory recomended intervals and i'll keep dropping oil pans and clean the sludge!!. yes you can go 10+ k on an oil change in a lab not in real life really read the owners manual. fine print change more often if you drive in cold heat stop and go towing on and on. Change your oil often it get all the carbon by products of cumbustion that blows by the rings and ends up as sludge in the pan. Most engine use a low tension ring so there is less friction. better fuel economy (right) just my 2 cents worth. your oppinion will differ.

[gearhead]

^^^^^SAABDOCTOR...my newest bestest friend!! LOL

.

[IdahoSRT10]

Shell Rotella T6 Synthetic.

[jsmith948]

Originally Posted by SAABDOCTOR

PLEASE keep changing your oil at factory recomended intervals and i'll keep dropping oil pans and clean the sludge!!. yes you can go 10+ k on an oil change in a lab not in real life really read the owners manual. fine print change more often if you drive in cold heat stop and go towing on and on. Change your oil often it get all the carbon by products of cumbustion that blows by the rings and ends up as sludge in the pan. Most engine use a low tension ring so there is less friction. better fuel economy (right) just my 2 cents worth. your oppinion will differ.

Well.....Ford recommends Motorcraft 10W30 oil at 7500 mi intervals if you are using your truck in 'regular' service (hauling groceries?)
If you are towing or hauling at or near your GVWR or operating in dust/heat/cold then you should use synthetic 5W40.....or, if you are using 20% BioDiesel then you should use 15W40????
I don't know - I was using Shell Rotella 10W30 (hard to find). I have switched to the Shell T6 synthetic 5W40 because of the dust/heat/towing.
I don't want to be told by Ford that I was using the wrong oil in the event of a warranty breakdown.
The synthetic oil is $5 more per gallon - but, I figure that is cheap insurance.
I change my oil & filter every 3500 to 4000 miles - and I sleep good

[Trent McCain]

I'd just let your dealer handle it. I have my Ford dealer service / repair all our vehicles. Our 2009 F350 gets serviced at 5k miles which is once a year. We service our daily drivers 1995 Ford F150 and 2002 Windstar at 3k. They use Motor craft oil. I could service them myself cheaper, but if the dealer services them, it'd be unlikely to be denied a warranty claim because of improper maint. I'd be comfortable using your free changes from your dealer with the oil they recommend, after that, I'd probably still let them service it, and enjoy driving it the rest of the time. Develope a relationship with your dealer / service writer / shop foreman if you haven't already. They should be more than willing to visit with you about your concerns and answer any questions you may have based in experience.

Trent

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[randy69]

I like to chime in f350 09 turbo diesel 6 .4 I have been using chevron turbo diesel synthec ANy Good?.?

[SAD]

Originally Posted by randy69

I like to chime in f350 09 turbo diesel 6 .4 I have been using chevron turbo diesel synthec ANy Good?.?

It is as good as any other oil that meets the same API specification. As long as that's (minimally) what you owners manual specifies, then you're doing as good as could be expected.

[ktmracer]

I use Delo 400LE conventional oil in my duramax. have 125K miles. zip oil usage. At first I changed every 5K miles. Then I started sending oil to Blackstone labs for analysis on the duramax and my car.

End result, even after 10K miles towing, TBN was still high, contaminations zip oil condition fine. they recomended that I could easily go 15K on the next change and check again. I did three more checks on the car and truck at 10K, and all three showed oil was no where near end of life or in need of changing.

Now it is just delo 400LE every 10K miles in the truck and Valvoline in the car.

FWIW I suspect you'd get the same results for rotella T or Mobil as well.

I used to be a strong 3K or 5K oil change advocate. No more. Oils and engines and fuel management have come a long long way since the 3K change interval came out. and electronics for fuel management mean that excess fuel (rich) conditions very seldom exist and fuel contamination of oil is pretty much a thing of the past. And engines control blowby so much better that combustion contamination has decreased signficantly. And oils have improved dramatically as well. That plus the on board electronics do a much better job of detemining when to change oil.

And in my duramax and car, the "change oil" indicator usually comes on near 10K miles anyway.

My neighbor has a F250 powerstroke with 250K+ miles and 10K oil changes with conventional oil. Still uses well under 1qt in 10K miles.

If 3K or 5K change intevals give you a warm fuzzy fine, but doing an oil analysis on your driving will in the vast majority of cases show that you can go well beyond that before needing to change oil.

[SAD]

No no no!!

Change frequently! Change often!!

My retirement depends on it

[Trent McCain]

I agree with the above that fuel management and filtration has improved dramatically and that oil changes can be stretched past 3K for gas and 5 for diesels. I still use the "old" standard as our diesel F350 accumulates 5K mi a year and sits in the garage for sunny days otherwise, so I go over on time long before miles. Our daily driver F150 and Windstar get serviced at 3K because my wife drives it to work, and in our small town one can be anywhere in less than 5 min, it and the F150 also make trips to the country. So for my situation, I still adhere to the old schedule. If we were running long distance on the pavement all the time, I'd probably stretch our service interval out alittle. I think you'll be fine either way.

[ktmracer]

Originally Posted by Trent McCain

I agree with the above that fuel management and filtration has improved dramatically and that oil changes can be stretched past 3K for gas and 5 for diesels. I still use the "old" standard as our diesel F350 accumulates 5K mi a year and sits in the garage for sunny days otherwise, so I go over on time long before miles. Our daily driver F150 and Windstar get serviced at 3K because my wife drives it to work, and in our small town one can be anywhere in less than 5 min, it and the F150 also make trips to the country. So for my situation, I still adhere to the old schedule. If we were running long distance on the pavement all the time, I'd probably stretch our service interval out alittle. I think you'll be fine either way.

It would be interesting to see what a blackstone lab report would show for your use case. I agree short trips = more frequent changes, and we usually put 15K miles/yr on the truck so 10K change <1yr. If it was only 5K/yr, then yup, I'd probably change it once/year as well.

[SAD]

My truck gets only 4-6K miles a year as well... I also do one 1x a year.

For my cars, I do it at 5K miles - easy to remember on the odometer if the reminder sticker comes off the glass LOL

[Trent McCain]

I'd ought to draw a sample and send it in. On my Cummins equipped Kenworths, I used to service at 10K. We installed aux centrifuse oil filters when we ordered new trucks in '09-'10. We now extend our service to 15K. I'm amazed the contaniments the centrifuse traps on these emissions engines. I don't know is the company makes a filter kit for the light duty diesels though.

Trent

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[michol02]

I use Mobil Delvac HD diesel oil from Walmart. It meets the requirements specified in my owners manual and it's $12.47 for a gallon. It costs me $40.50 to change my oil and filter(do it myself). I change it when the dash display gets close to 0% oil life left, which will be soon. I will get about 6500 to 7000 miles out of this past oil change.

[chris199]

I use Rotella Triple Protection.

Just as an aside....two GMC dealers and multiple GMC techs tell me there is nothing to lube on 2013 3500HD front end. I will look for myself but can this be true?

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