2002 tiffin zephyr Cummins ISL?

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Hi all, I was wandering if there would be any harm in me switching oils in my cookoff machine? Its a Cummins ISL-11 500HP 1550TQ engine with allison 4000mh tranny. Generator is a Cummins onan that actually has an isuzu 1500 cc na engine. It's been on regular tractor diesel oil all its life and so has the generator. It usually got Kawasaki 10w-40 utv oil which is Cj-4 oil blended by citgo or it had CNH AMBRA 15w-40. Engine has 99k and the genarator has 4k hours. They both dont burn a drop of oil between changes.... no emissions whatsoever on either engine. I was thinking of going to just regular rotella t4 since my free supply has dried up..... or should I keep on using the same tractor oils?
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My buddy has a prevost and I WAX his butt everywhere we go. His has a Detroit and it uses oil all the time.
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My wife and oldest kiddo when we cleaned up at the Houston livestock show and rodeo world championship bbq contest 450+ teams
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I think any 15w40 will be fine. The chevron delo 400 looks the best on paper and has a huge following. You can't go wrong with any 15w40 though.

Does your buddy have a 2 stroke Detroit?
 
Originally Posted by Jmoney7269
They both dont burn a drop of oil between changes........ or should I keep on using the same tractor oils?


What you have been doing is just fine.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
I think any 15w40 will be fine. The chevron delo 400 looks the best on paper and has a huge following. You can't go wrong with any 15w40 though.

Does your buddy have a 2 stroke Detroit?

He has the series 60 Detroit and had nothing but problems out of it. His coach weighs 52k#, mine only weighs 43k pullin the cookwagon. When we first met on the road in meridian tx at the national bbq championship I asked him the same thing.... I love those old two-strokes! He was showing me all around it and how it had this big engine mounted 24vdc genarator and this big oil reservoir that holds like 1.5 gallons of oil so when it gets low you can just turn a valve and add oil. I said "that's pretty cool".
Him: "yours doesn't have that"
Me: "nope mines a Cummins, it doesn't burn oil"
He got a huge kick out of that. It's kind of a inside joke between us now when I see him with the engine doors open, I always squawk at him "what you doin to that thing, adding oil?"
 
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That's odd. Those series 60's are usually very good. I wonder if he has a leaking turbo? When you get a chance get one of the boost boots off between the turbo and intake. See if its oily.
 
Pretty nice rigs.

Usually you can get 15W-40 Traveller (TSC house brand) on sale a few times a year at Tractor Supply. It was around $35 for the 5 gallon pail. A very good, and good priced oil.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
That's odd. Those series 60's are usually very good. I wonder if he has a leaking turbo? When you get a chance get one of the boost boots off between the turbo and intake. See if its oily.

It's funny you say that...... he just had a huge power loss coming back from a cookoff. Smoked really bad, no power and had some oil puddling after it sat...... turned out he just popped off the boot on the turbo...... well at least that's what prevost told him after he spend $2k having it looked over..... that makes perfect sense why he is always adding oil, because he only has 220k on his coach. I'm gonna holler at him today and let'em know to get that checked out. Thanks for all the help yall!
From all the trouble I have seen him have you couldn't give me a Detroit..... bad injectors, broken rocker arms, dropped a valve once.... I'll stick with a cummins.
 
I worked for a trucking company that ran a bunch of series 60's @430/470 HP. Rarely did they give any trouble and they were ran hard. Always 80000 lbs,up Baker grade, mountain pass and cajon on 110+ days,dirt roads etc. Most if not all made it to 800k before being traded in. I can only think of 2 that failed.
 
Your Cummins ISL will easily run on wetted down sawdust for lube, and muddy water for fuel. Stout engines!



I think in order to get a proper oil recommendation, we are going to need a large "sample" of this BBQ.........haha
 
Originally Posted by redhat
Got any cool pics of some of your work? I am pretty hungry.

Our newest bbq trailer
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Texas state championship steak cookers association
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Back to back wins best brisket in Texas lockhart state championship "big Bertha" trophy
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Houston rodeo chicken 1st place 2017 back to back year wins go texan best bbq
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I have slowed way down on the bbq contests...... we have two kids, a barndomonuim house payment, extra taxes, extra health insurance, private school tuition, etc..... so it's just not in the operating budget right now to spend money on cookoffs. We write it off as a loss and charity through my dr. Smoke bbq company, and cookoffs can be pretty profitable, they can always be expensive after a weekend or two of getting your pecker knocked in the dirt..... cant win em all. Sometimes we win big, sometimes our butts stay glued to the chair..... it's a fickle sport.... generally if you're good at something, you're always good at it, well not competition bbq, sometimes its dependent on the area and what style you cooked. Did they want sweet, or salty, or peppery bark, or spicy, or bland, or mopped bbq..... kind of a guessing game.
 
Droolworthy BBQ without a doubt.

As stated any name brand 15W-40 will do fine in your engine.
The power is overkill for the weight of your rig. But hey, nice to have it if you need it.

For a comparison, I rode shotgun in a Volvo day cab with 13L 425hp/1650 tq with iShift transmission pulling 2 x 53' trailers, total GVW was 140,000 lbs. (Canada eh!)
Total trip was 12 hours - 7 hours driving and 5 hours for pickup/ drop off trailers.
Fuel use was 5.0 MPG.
 
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Originally Posted by Danno
Droolworthy BBQ without a doubt.

As stated any name brand 15W-40 will do fine in your engine.
The power is overkill for the weight of your rig. But hey, nice to have it if you need it.

For a comparison, I rode shotgun in a Volvo day cab with 13L 425hp/1650 tq with iShift transmission pulling 2 x 53' trailers, total GVW was 140,000 lbs. (Canada eh!)
Total trip was 12 hours - 7 hours driving and 5 hours for pickup/ drop off trailers.
Fuel use was 5.0 MPG.

You are right about the overkill on the power but it SURE IS FUN! Haha I love pulling up next to other rvs and blowing their doors off at red lights with their little 360 hp 6.7 or 400 ISC. I can easily run 85 down the highway and pass traffic no problem. My buddys prevost takes forever to get momentum with it matted to the floor.
All the research I have done says this is a great engine.
We are looking at a newer 2006 travel supreme tag axle coach a friend of mine dad owns and it has a ISX Cummins red top 500hp/1950tq and they have a stacker trailer they pull and say they dont even know it's back there. I read that the Cummins ISX 15L can easily be turned up to 600-650 hp with a mild tune......

My ISM Cummins in the zephyr was turned up by Cummins from 450 to 500 and gained 100tq and it made a huge difference......
I know motorhomes aren't made to go fast but it really sucks to go slow at the same time.
My second coach was a 5.9L Cummins 275 and it was dog slow pulling a trailer. We put a 75 hp chip on it and it was a totally different machine!
The wife was MAAAAADDDD when I came home with another rv as a "fixer uppper"..... she just didnt know I already sold "old blue"
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When I met my prevost buddy kelly. He has a really cool cookwagon also
[Linked Image]
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I buy these rvs at auctions and remodel them, keep them a few years and sell them for what I for in them.... people will pay good money for a older coach that has been remodeled and well maintained.
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Originally Posted by Srt20
I think in order to get a proper oil recommendation, we are going to need a large "sample" of this BBQ.........haha

That's pretty much what I was thinking. I was going to suggest a trip to Regina, where we can go visit all the distributors, and I can show him around. It might take enough time to span across a lunch and a supper.
 
T4 15W40 is a pretty good oil, but if you can find a decent farm store the Mystik JT-8 15W40 is a better deal. I don't know what farm stores are in TX, but there's a Chicago/northern Plains chain called Blain's Farm & Fleet, I've seen JT-8 there as low as $25 for a 5 gallon pail after rebate.
 
Originally Posted by Jmoney7269
Originally Posted by Danno
Droolworthy BBQ without a doubt.

As stated any name brand 15W-40 will do fine in your engine.
The power is overkill for the weight of

My ISM Cummins in the zephyr was turned up by Cummins from 450 to 500 and gained 100tq and it made a huge difference......
I know motorhomes aren't made to go fast but it really sucks to go slow at the same time.
My second coach was a 5.9L Cummins 275 and it was dog slow pulling a trailer. We put a 75 hp chip on it and it was a totally different machine!
The wife was MAAAAADDDD when I came home with another rv as a "fixer uppper"..... she just didnt know I already sold "old blue"
[Linked Image]
When I met my prevost buddy kelly. He has a really cool cookwagon also
[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]
I buy these rvs at auctions and remodel them, keep them a few years and sell them for what I for in them.... people will pay good money for a older coach that has been remodeled and well maintained.
[Linked Image]

Originally Posted by Jmoney7269
Danno said:
Droolworthy BBQ without a doubt.

As stated any name brand 15W-40 will do fine in your engine.
The power is overkill for the weight of your rig. But hey, nice to have it if you need it.

For a comparison, I rode shotgun in a Volvo day cab with 13L 425hp/1650 tq with iShift transmission pulling 2 x 53' trailers, total GVW was 140,000 lbs. (Canada eh!)
Total trip was 12 hours - 7 hours driving and 5 hours for pickup/ drop off trailers.
Fuel use was 5.0 MPG.

You are right about the overkill on the power but it SURE IS FUN! Haha I love pulling up next to other rvs and blowing their doors off at red lights with their little 360 hp 6.7 or 400 ISC. I can easily run 85 down the highway and pass traffic no problem. My buddys prevost takes forever to get momentum with it matted to the floor.
All the research I have done says this is a great engine.
We are looking at a newer 2006 travel supreme tag axle coach a friend of mine dad owns and it has a ISX Cummins red top 500hp/1950tq and they have a stacker trailer they pull and say they dont even know it's back there. I read that the Cummins ISX 15L can easily be turned up to 600-650 hp with a mild tune......

My ISM Cummins in the zephyr was turned up by Cummins from 450 to 500 and gained 100tq and it made a huge difference......
I know motorhomes aren't made to go fast but it really sucks to go slow at the same time.
My second coach was a 5.9L Cummins 275 and it was dog slow pulling a trailer. We put a 75 hp chip on it and it was a totally different machine!
The wife was MAAAAADDDD when I came home with another rv as a "fixer uppper"..... she just didnt know I already sold "old blue"
[Linked Image]
When I met my prevost buddy kelly. He has a really cool cookwagon also
[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]
I buy these rvs at auctions and remodel them, keep them a few years and sell them for what I for in them.... people will pay good money for a older coach that has been remodeled and well maintained.
[Linked Image]
 
It may "suck" to go slow on US Interstates but you know what? It is irrelevant in most of the rest of the world. Like Mongolia, Siberia or even Europe and Australia. Although I am sure you would never dream of going to those places.
 
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