01 ram 2500 5.9 w/ 250k miles

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Mar 27, 2015
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361
Location
New York
I’m curious on what you guys would recommend on a newly acquired 01 ram 2500. I don’t know what has been run previously. But I’m wondering what is regarded as the best HDEO’s in the current market. It seems delo, valvoline, rotella, and delvac have all had their following over the years but which has stood the test of time? I live in NY so we do see cold temps during the winter. I was thinking of something that has a 5w40 variant for winter and a 15w40 variant for summer. But what do you guys think.
 
I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the brands you mentioned. My 6.7L recommends 5w40 below 0F. I live in Iowa and run Mobil Delvac 15w40 year round but don’t drive my truck to work if it’s going to be below 0F. I also think there are several lesser known brands with good additive packages. Mystik and Travelers come to mind.

just my $0.02
 
This is one of those questions that has no good answer. Most name brand oils (and many off brand) meeting the latest diesel spec are superb oils. If you want to save a few bucks, change over seasonally from 5w-40 in winter to 15w-40 in summer, no harm there. If convenience is important and stocking the same oil, use 5w-40 year round. Shell Rotella and Chevron Delo are both top notch, each having a 15w-40 and 5w-40 syn version, but there's plenty of other great oils out there.
 
Or find a good 10w30. Rotella T5 isn't bad. I use a conventional 10w30 CK4 CES20086 oil that still has slightly better cold flow that T5. All for several dollars a litre less than T5 or T6.

Cummins approves 10w30 in the ISB engines. Bworks fine in my 6.7. 10w30 flows almost as good as a 5w40 in the cold. Works just fine in my 6.7 on the prairies.
 
Or find a good 10w30. Rotella T5 isn't bad. I use a conventional 10w30 CK4 CES20086 oil that still has slightly better cold flow that T5. All for several dollars a litre less than T5 or T6.

Cummins approves 10w30 in the ISB engines. Bworks fine in my 6.7. 10w30 flows almost as good as a 5w40 in the cold. Works just fine in my 6.7 on the prairies.

I’d use a 10w40 but I’m not sure that I would use a 10w30 especially on a motor with 250k on it. The 10w weight would certainly help with the cold starts over a 15w.

Just my $0.02
 
How deep do you want to dive into this?


Read the thread above showing oil analyses on my 2001 Dodge 2500 diesel.
Rotella T6 5w40 with Redline oil supplement worked pretty well as a year-round oil.
I ran Motorcraft 15w40 on my '08 Dodge, and it worked well.
Was not impressed with Mobil Delvac 1300.
The Cummins engine is not hard on oil when talking about shear stability, soot loading, oxidation, and TBN retention.
You do have to respect the slider cam followers, which is why I took to supplementing RT6 with Redline additive.
The Motorcraft oil has high ZDDP, as required by Ford for their valvetrain wear issue on the 6.7 Powerstroke.
Buy oil at Walmart, they have better prices.
 
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with over 800K on cummins engine, i promise you it doens't care. long as it's diesel spec and the correct grade for the climate you live, it'll be fine. i personally run what ever is on sale. my 12v to my 6.7 all start just fine below -10. all with well over 400K on them.
use what your pocket book will allow. or what makes you feel good inside.
personally i run travllers in my 12valve only because it leaks. and usually valvoline 15/40 in my other two.
I change oil every 10K miles.
 
according to the Exxon Mobil site Mobil 5w40 TDT doesn’t carry the Cummins CES 20086 approval. I use Mobil Delvac Super 1300 15w40 in my Ram.

just my $0.02
True now, however it used to say meets or exceeds the approval. Alot has changed over the years since I've started using the TDT. Honestly the approvals don't mean as much to me. It's very good oil. I like the Delvac version and also Valvoline as well.
 
I run delvac 1300 15/40 in my 01 cummins with a 113k miles. I change it every 5k and no problems whatsoever. Since you just got this truck I would suggest to run couple of short OCI with some thing like Super Tech or Kirkland oil. Maybe run for 2k-3k to "clean" and flush the motor. Depending on how much abuse it had and how often they changed oil. Don't try to run any cleaners or additives yet. After couple of short oil changes see how it comes out and then use what ever your heart desires.
 
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