'88 Jeep 4.0, Rotella T Syn 5w40, 4,103 miles

[MNgopher]

Vehicle: '88 Jeep Cherokee
Engine: 4.0l Inline Six
Tranny: 4 Speed Auto

Oil Filter: Purolator Pure One
Air Filter: Carquest Premium (Wix)
Oil Used: None
Makeup Oil: None

50%City/50%Freeway Mileage.

Period was from 2/04-5/04 in Minnesota weather.
I have not broken down temp details yet.

Rot 5w40= Shell Rotella T 5w40 Synthetic
Valv AC 10w30 = Valvoline All Climate 10w30
Valv 5w30 DB = Valavoline Durablend 5w30

code:

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Oil Rot Valv AC Valv DB Universal

5w40 10w30 5w30 Average

Mi on Oil 4103 3515 3455

Mi on Unit 60803 52963 49448

Date 6/04 10/03 5/03

Aluminum 2 3 3 4

Chromium 1 1 1 1

Iron 32 17 31 32

Copper 3 5 3 7

Lead 17 6 3 6

Tin 3 0 3 1

Moly 6 4 5 37

Nickel 1 1 1 1

Manganese 1 0 1 1

Silver 0 0 0 0

Titanium 0 0 0 0

Potassium 2 1 3 2

Boron 1 1 3 40

Silicon 11 9 13 12

Sodium 13 15 26 7

Calcium 2929 1939 1949 1879

Magnesium 10 10 24 328

Phosphorous818 738 766 747

Zinc 984 890 900 885

Barium 1 0 1 0

TBN 2.3 1.9 2.5

Vis@100C 11.4 8.4 9.5

Flashpoint 365 350 395

Fuel 1.2% 1.3% 0

Antifreeze 0 0 0

Water 0 0 0

Insolubles 0.4 0.4 0.4

---

My comments:

Well, certainly not what I was looking for. Iron wear is around average for this motor (the Iron King!) and is consistent with a similar period last year. Still higher than I know is possible in these motor.

The ugly number is the Lead wear. Ouch! I know one number isn't everything, but this is not good.

Viscosity also sheared into 30 weight land, though fuel dilution played some role in that. Still not any luck in lowering the fuel number yet.

This was not the first use of Rotella T syn 5w40. You will note an interval was skipped in the oil chnage sampling after I dropped the sample bottle. (Grrr..)

I will contuniue on with the Rotella, but will see what comes up in the next interval.

 

[Jay]

This is an interesting report. Your lead increased by a factor of almost 3 or more over your previous reports but there's no corresponding increase in copper or tin. The iron numbers are pretty good for this engine. Are the big variations in iron due to the MN winters?

The 20-weight oil in the 2nd column wasn't hurting your wear metals. Why did you go with the 40-weight?

[ June 10, 2004, 11:28 PM: Message edited by: Jay ]

 

[MNgopher]

Jay - yes, some of the Iron variation can be chalked up to winter weather. I see rises in Iron over the winter periods on all my vehicles.

The 20 weight oil started life as a 10w30, but sheared significantly. While it didn't seem to hurt wear, the Valvoline lineup has proven to not provide adequate TBN retention for use over the winter. Summer numbers look great, winter numbers leave no room for a longer interval.

I switched to a 5w40 as other 4.0l engines have seemed to benenfit from this weight. Under my owners manual, I can use up to a 20w50 with no problems. For me, the lead numbers leave me wondering.

Just for reference, the temps over the previous period ranged from a maximum low of -11 F to a maximum high of 90 F.

Average Temps for each of the intervals shown is:

43 66 30

(Note the good wear numbers happen during the interval with a warmer average temp - not a big surprise!)

[ June 10, 2004, 11:36 PM: Message edited by: MNgopher ]

 

[Whimsey]

Maybe it's because you show some fuel dilution with the Rotella and none with the Valv. 5W-30 DB but it looks like your wear numbers were comparable. Except for the lead being MUCH higher with the 40 wt oil. The Rotella went 650 miles more but the outdoor conditions appeared to be similar. This was a good test comparison. Perhaps your 4.0 likes the 30 wt oils better. It will be interesting to see your next UOA with the Rotella. Of course the test conditions will be more favorable with it being summer versus winter.

Whimsey

 

[TheTanSedan]

I'm not -- at this point -- in favor of 40W for the JEEP 242-6.

After last years UOA's on our 2001 Cherokee with M1 0W-40 (really, just a thickened 30W) I've been running REDLINE 10W-30. Have done another ARX treatment (25k since the previous one), as well as work to close off Si intake; new sparkplugs, air filter, fuel system cleaning etc.

May sample this run (third one), but contamination makes it rather pointless.

Next run of RL (fourth) will be the ticket; ought to be available by around end of August.

Granted, my intervals are at 7500-8000 miles (versus your much lower ones), but it'll be fun to compare.

30W is likely a better choice [so I'm betting for hot-as-**** Texas].

 

[Steve S]

Do another run with the Rotella and see what happens. One run may not tell the truth about the oil.

 

[pmt]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MNgopher:
Jay - yes, some of the Iron variation can be chalked up to winter weather. I see rises in Iron over the winter periods on all my vehicles.

(Note the good wear numbers happen during the interval with a warmer average temp - not a big surprise!)

---

Hi MNgopher - As I've mentioned before, I live about 15 mi from Lakeville - out in the country where our temperature is often 5 to 10 F lower than at the Twin City airport on cold winter mornings. So I'm fussy about the oil I use in the winter. And I've been waiting with great interest to see how you made out with the 5W-40 oil.
I've been running some Rotella 5W-40 synth. in my GMC 4.3L pickup, but only in the summer. If you study the extreme cold (-30F) viscosities for Rotella 5W-40 and say M1 5W-30, the Rotella is about double the number of the M1. I'm not sure if that means twice as thick - maybe the viscosity scales are logarithmic. But in extreme cold, the Rotella is going to be slower getting to the moving parts and thicker when it gets there. Could account for the higher wear.
Are you brave enough to run the Rotella in your Ford OHC 4.6L? Those cams are a long ways above the oil pump - I have a 96 T-Bird with the 4.6.
Good luck.
pmt

 

[JonC]

quote:

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Originally posted by TheTanSedan:
I've been running REDLINE 10W-30.

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TanSedan, do you have any previous analysis on the RL 10W30 in your Cherokee? I've been running D1 5W40 with good results, so I would be extremely curious to see the RL results. So far, I've yet to see a XW30 do better than the D1.

Jon

 

[TheTanSedan]

No UOA on RL, yet. Each OCI had some work being done to intake, valve cover or fuel system and all would have been contaminated for UOA purposes.

Next run on RL, fourth consecutive, will be done with an approximate 8000-mile period (during the hottest months).

 

[MNgopher]

pmt - I did run this oil all the way through the winter. Unfortunately I lost half of it interms of UOA when I dropped the sample in February... Grrr...

I had no troubles starting the Jeep all winter, down to - 25 (in the previous interval). It didn't seem to crank any harder than usual.

Yes, compared to M1 5w30 the CCS numbers will be about double for the Rotella (which barely passes the 5w bar). I'm OK with that, as I am still meeting the 5w requirement, which should be good enough for the cold down in our neck of the woods. I haven't had a probelm with a dino 5w30, so this isn't concerning me too much.

And Yes, I am brave enough to give Rotella a whirl in my '99 F150 with the 4.6! Its in there now!

 

[MNgopher]

I'm sticking with the Rotella for now. We'll see what the next UOA brings! Maybe the lead was an anomoly, but we'll know better around the end of the summer.

I am actually driving the Jeep much more than in the past since I repaired the cruise control - makes life much easier on the freeway! So results should come a little faster than in the past...