HDEO 5w40 or 15w40 for 2011 Cummins 6.7?

[FlyingTexan]

I destroyed my work truck I was so proud of. Transmission blew going down the highway which resulted in a wreck that totaled it. It had 236k miles and was great till it wasn’t. Glad it was only minor injuries in a car I took out.

Since that ruined my Thanksgiving I hopped online and started doing some digging. Found a high mileage 2011 Ram 2500HD that’s deleted and tuned, one owner, looks to be exceptionally maintained for its age. Dealership gives a small warranty for the powertrain so I’m pulling the trigger on it. It’s not my daily driver, mostly for hauling trailers and boats. It has 280k miles and I’ll probably put 3k miles a year or so on it.

Given that’s it’s deleted, tuned, and has the older 6.7l vs the newer 6.7l with the hydraulic lifters, also that I’m on the Texas coast, would you run the 5w40 or the 15w40? I’m looking to place an order with Amsoil here to change all the fluids. Want the piece of mind with which way to go.

 

[6.7 CTD]

Your truck specs 15w40 above 0F and 5w40 below 0F. I’d run 15w40 if you’re in Texas.

 

[Vexorg]

I destroyed my work truck I was so proud of. Transmission blew going down the highway which resulted in a wreck that totaled it. It had 236k miles and was great till it wasn’t. Glad it was only minor injuries in a car I took out.

Since that ruined my Thanksgiving I hopped online and started doing some digging. Found a high mileage 2011 Ram 2500HD that’s deleted and tuned, one owner, looks to be exceptionally maintained for its age. Dealership gives a small warranty for the powertrain so I’m pulling the trigger on it. It’s not my daily driver, mostly for hauling trailers and boats. It has 280k miles and I’ll probably put 3k miles a year or so on it.

Given that’s it’s deleted, tuned, and has the older 6.7l vs the newer 6.7l with the hydraulic lifters, also that I’m on the Texas coast, would you run the 5w40 or the 15w40? I’m looking to place an order with Amsoil here to change all the fluids. Want the piece of mind with which way to go.

I was running Rotella 5w40 year round in my 2014 until the dealer jacked the price to the sky. I now run 10w40 and will continue that for the forseable future. I get to see -40F / -40C so cold flow is a requirement to me, not sure you'd ever see that. Either one you have picked would be fine, I'd base my decision on the best price.

 

[Seppie10]

15-40 will suit just fine and cheaper.

 

[kschachn]

Your truck specs 15w40 above 0F and 5w40 below 0F. I’d run 15w40 if you’re in Texas.

Yep. Winter rating is determined by expected starting temperature.

 

[FlyingTexan]

I was running Rotella 5w40 year round in my 2014 until the dealer jacked the price to the sky. I now run 10w40 and will continue that for the forseable future. I get to see -40F / -40C so cold flow is a requirement to me, not sure you'd ever see that. Either one you have picked would be fine, I'd base my decision on the best price.

It’s mainly because of the variances in engine designs where they’re now even doing 10w30. The OG manual and Grok both said 5w40 but didn’t know if that was for their benefit or mine (like CAFE laws). Thanks for the info.

 

[fantastic]

15w-40
What truck got wrecked and was there any notification beforehand (not blaming just wondering)

 

[UNC054]

Any 15w40 off the shelf at Walmart, several Full Synthetic options available. Just change it regularly and it will serve you well.

 

[BrianF]

A conventional 15w40 would work plenty good.

 

[TnT_M]

I destroyed my work truck I was so proud of. Transmission blew going down the highway which resulted in a wreck that totaled it. It had 236k miles and was great till it wasn’t. Glad it was only minor injuries in a car I took out.

Since that ruined my Thanksgiving I hopped online and started doing some digging. Found a high mileage 2011 Ram 2500HD that’s deleted and tuned, one owner, looks to be exceptionally maintained for its age. Dealership gives a small warranty for the powertrain so I’m pulling the trigger on it. It’s not my daily driver, mostly for hauling trailers and boats. It has 280k miles and I’ll probably put 3k miles a year or so on it.

Given that’s it’s deleted, tuned, and has the older 6.7l vs the newer 6.7l with the hydraulic lifters, also that I’m on the Texas coast, would you run the 5w40 or the 15w40? I’m looking to place an order with Amsoil here to change all the fluids. Want the piece of mind with which way to go.

I run 15w40 in my 2012. It does just fine here in Iowa for 99% of the time. On those 0F mornings I take the wife's van because she's not going anywhere when it's that cold anyway.

I've had good luck with Mobil 1300 currently on sale at Sam's and Mystik JT8 from Farm & Fleet.

 

[FlyingTexan]

15w-40
What truck got wrecked and was there any notification beforehand (not blaming just wondering)

A 2014 2500HD 6.0l. Some hard shifting but nothing crazy. Was actually on cruise control leaving Houston on the highway. Truck suddenly threw the check engine light and gearbox was unresponsive. I was in the far left lane but no traffic around so exited highway 59
On the feeder before the beltway. There was only one parking lot before car lots with no place to pull over so I looked and started crossing lanes. The car on the right was 100% hauling but still my fault. I didn’t have much speed/momentum left so tried coasting into the parking lot. Maybe it was the semi stall because I was out of momentum and they thought I’d be clear but they hit me going full speed. We were ok. Weight of the truck helped a ton. My puppy Quimby might have a little ptsd lol

 

[johnmyster]

Delo XSP 400 15w-40 (full syn) is currently $52 for the three gallon box at walmart and Delo just finished a $30/3 gal rebate. At $22/box, it's hard to do better for 15w-40.

Mobil is also generous with rebates on their Delvac Extreme 15w-40 (full syn.) You can't go wrong with either.

I switched to Delo ADF 600 for reasons not relevant to your use case. See my signature before starting "best oil filter" thread. Buy those from Crossfilters or get Fleetguard LF16035 from Genos along with all your other filters for the truck (currently running black friday 10% off.)