Looking for a "go-to" oil

[meborder]

I may be asking the impossible.

I'm looking for a cost effective go-to oil i can use for my loader tractor (Farmall-806 gas), 1979 F350 (460 gas), 83 K-20 (350 gas), and 88 OMC sterndrive (4.3l v6)

the 806 we are getting this week and it is in really great shape. the engine runs like a top and i want to do right by it and get it what it needs. it will see service year round, so a straight weight oil is probably out.

the f350 is our back-up heavy hauler. usually gets at most 300 miles a year, but is usually worked out pretty good hauling hay when we do use it. not used at all in the winter (2wd and useless in the snow). Generally gets an oil change every year. never smokes but seems to go through oil when hauling heavy loads. I've tried 10w30 and 15w40 and neither seem to be better than the other.

the k-20 is the plow truck and all-around farm truck. never tows anything and gets lots of idle time. it is the spray rig and fertilizer rig and might run for 10 hours a day (non stop) when doing those tasks. currently going on year 2 for it's oil change. running walmart 10w30 and the oil is still nice and clean and i have never had to add any in 2 years despite using as i do.

for the cars i use Trop Artic oil. our local farm store puts it on sale for $1.99/qt about twice a year and i stock up when i can get it cheap.

is there any reason that the 806 would need something different? The farm places around here sell Mystik and Traveller brand oils that are labeled "heavy duty" ... but i have no idea what that really means.

the manual for my boat recommends straight 40 weight and the f350 might get along just fine with that as well, but it's nearly impossible to find and it wouldn't work for the other stuff that needs to work in the winter. the marina says i need 25w40 for the boat, which as i understand is really just straight 40 weight and costs 2-3 times what i pay for the trop artic.

In my perfect world, i'd buy one oil that would work for the tractors, both pickups, and the boat ... but all the different recommendations tend to get confusing and seem somewhat mutually exclusive.

sorry if i posted this in the wrong place. and sorry for such a long post
thanks in advance.
Mike

 

[NMBurb02]

I don't know what I'm talking about, but from hanging out on BITOG for a while, I am going to throw out Rotella T6, which is an HDEO 5W-40.

 

[mongo161]

AFAIK....Tractor Supply has a sale on Shell Rotella 15W-40 in the 2.5 gallon jugs until the end of the month.....which is like....Today!

You might find that the Shell Rotella may meet all of your warm/hot weather needs.

Keep the synthetic blend PCMO for the cold winters.

 

[NMBurb02]

Originally Posted By: mongo161
AFAIK....Tractor Supply has a sale on Shell Rotella 15W-40 in the 2.5 gallon jugs until the end of the month.....which is like....Today!

You might find that the Shell Rotella may meet all of your warm/hot weather needs.

A 15W- seems a bit thick for low annual miles in South Dakota winters. Maybe T5 10W-30 or -40, but I don't know about 15W-40.

 

[drolds]

Mike, The straight 40 spec for boat is surely obsolete. Think 10W-40 or 15W-40. I service a number of diesels and did a little research recently not related to this site. One option would be 15W-40 for all. Since all of the equipment you listed is likely equipped w/ a flat-tappet camshaft, seeking an oil w/ a higher ZDDP (zinc-phosphorous) content would be desirable. If you want a one oil for all, the CI rated Amsoil heavy-duty diesel & marine AME 15W-40 covers flat tappet cams, diesel and marine specs.
Another option for your farm fleet would be to use a 10W40 marine or 15W-40 diesel-marine oil for the boat only(Amsoil makes both). For the others, the Amsoil Heavy- duty diesel 5W30 HDD is an incredible 30 grade synthetic oil. Considering where you live, high temps will be only for a few weeks. The 5W will be great for your extreme winters. The absence of any shearing in high temps in heavy duty applications with this oil makes it more impressive than many heavier oils. Great UAOs have convinced me. 2 year OCI should be fine in your F350. Thats my 2 cents. These particular oils are high zinc & not for DPF diesels.

Dr. Olds
1994 Dodge Intrepid ES 3.5 V6 Amsoil 10W-30 Signature & Amsoil ATF

 

[901Memphis]

Supertech high mileage 10w40 or Defy 10w40

 

[bubbatime]

Based on your ridiculous cold climate:

1) 5W30 in your Ford F350 and Chevy K20 year round

2) 15W40 or SAE40 in your boat year round. No need for expensive 25W40.

3) 10W30 Shell T5 in the Farmall year round

4) Or you could just run 5W40 syn in all of them.

 

[Black_Thunder]

i'd say T6 as well.



but I've heard rumors of shell making a T5 in 10w40 so be on the look out for that, I know I am.

 

[dnewton3]

T5 10w-30 year round in all of them.

It's not optimum for any of them, but if you value the ease of one-stop shopping on your garage shelf, this will do well.

The T-5 10w-30 has essentially the same cold pumping factor as T6 5w-40 believe it or not, and the T5 costs less, and is more applicable to the gassers. I see no need for a 40 grade in any of them, including the boat.

Wecome to the site

 

[A_Harman]

One oil for year-round use in that diverse collection of engines? That's a challenge. How much do you want to pay for the oil?

The best oil mentioned here so far is AMSoil HDD 5w30, but it's precious at $11/qt and you'd probably have to order it online.

Shell Rotella T5 10w30 is a synthetic blend that goes for $6/qt, but you can find it on sale occasionally.

You can get Rotella T6 5w40 for $21/gal every day at WalMart. But it's primarily a diesel oil, and you don't have any diesel engines. But it's OK for gasoline engines because it's dual-rated CJ4/SM.

I have no idea what oil grade International specified for their agricultural gas engines. There must be some BITOG'ers who would know. Or maybe you can find a Farmall owner's manual online.

If Mercury specifies a 40-weight for the 4.3 marine engine, I'd take it seriously. But your boat doesn't need to be able to cold-start, does it?

You live in South Dakota, which makes me think you need a 5wXX oil for reliable starting in the brutal cold. Maybe even a 0wXX. How about M1 0w40? You can get 5-qt jugs of it every day at WalMart for $28, and find it occasionally on rollback for $25. But somehow I think it might not be the best choice for a Farmall tractor. Has anybody out there in BITOG land run M1 0w40 in a Farmall gas engine?

Overall, I think the best imperfect choice is RT6. It suits the need for your marine engine to have a 40-weight, and gives good cold-start performance for your K20 plow truck in the SD winter. It will provide protection for your F350 for the 300 miles a year that you work it hard, and can go for years between changes.

 

[bullwinkle]

I run Mobil Delvac 1300 15W40 in the Mercruiser 350 Magnum (it's a 1989, not sure if it's new enough for roller cam or not)-but other than your boat the TropArctic ought to be good enough for all of them, 5W30 in winter, maybe 10W30 in summer to cut down on the oil burning a little.

 

[meborder]

WOW, lots of good suggestions.

to the best of my research, the original spec. oil for the Farmall was a low ash SAE 30. But it's a late 60's unit, so the spec is a tad bit dated

The Rotella T5 10w30 makes a lot of sense, and I don't have a problem spending a little extra if there is good reason. but this leaves me asking:

* what will the T5 10w30 do for me that the Trop Artic 10w30 won't. Both are advertised as a synthetic blend and both appear to be dual rated.

as for the boat suggesting straight 40w, my understanding is that there was concerns that the viscosity modifers used would tend to break down under extreme conditions like constant WOT. that being said, the dipstick says to use 10w30, and that's what is in there now, but it really hasn't been used in 2 years now either.

Maybe i should just concentrate on getting the 806 what it needs, and then find a good 15w40 for the 79 ford and the boat. those two never start in the winter, so cold performance is a non-factor. If, for some reason, i would need the truck in the winter (which i never have), i could always put a pan heater on it for a day or so before hand.

the k20 ... it's been super happy with the supertech 10w30. i think this fall when i change it i'm going to do an UOA to see what comes back. might try a switch to trop artic 5w30 and see if it likes that or not.

and yes, these are all flat-tappet engines. the boat supposedly has roller rockers, but still flat tappet cams.

they are also all "once a year" oil changes, so whatever i use has to stand up all year long ('cept the onces that don't get used in the winter at all).

thanks for all the input! i'm very open to all suggestions!
mike

 

[A_Harman]

The T5 10w30 is higher viscosity than Trop Artic, so it would come closer to satisfying your boat's 40-weight recommendation.

 

[artificialist]

Ignore the hype of the Mercury Marine 25w40. In the boat UOA section, one man found that the stuff shears worse than a major brand of 15w40.

I guess if you didn't want to run 15w40, Tractor Supply has T5 10w40 synthetic blend which may be a good deal for you.

 

[bubbatime]

On second thought, just run Shell T5 10W30 syn blend in everything (or the cheaper Trop Artic that you like)

 

[meborder]

Looks like i can get T5 10w30 at walmart for about 16/gallon. so that's what i think i'll do. The only thing that bothers me about that is our walmarts are bad about keeping up their stock, so i'll just have to make sure i stock up and have it on hand before going into winter.

as a backup our local farm store sells Mystik brand oil, and they have their JT8 10w30, which is also a HD oil. the numbers on the Mystik are very similar to the T5, so i think it will make a good candidate as well.

i have to admit that i'm not used to spending that much on oil, but the new tractor is worth it.

and it is only 25 quarts total if i do everything, and only once a year, so it isn't like i'm going to go broke over a few bucks worth of oil. only an extra $50 over the trop artic i usually use. I'll also feel better using the HD 10w30 in the boat.

I plan to do an oil analysis when i change oil on the new tractor, but i'm not sure it is worth doing a UOA on the current oil as i have no idea how old it is (looks like it has been changed recently though).

thanks again for all the suggestions and the help!

 

[dnewton3]

Mystik 10w-30 semi-syn is an excellent alternative to the T5. If you can get the Mystik for a decent price, that would work very well.