New member from Texas with a question about oil

Status
Not open for further replies.
H

hollnagelc

Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
56
Location
Texas, good old USofA
Ok I just learned of this forum. I don't know near as much about oils as most of y'all hope to learn here and there by reading into it. Any way first question probably asked a bunch but here it goes. I have a 2012 ram 3500 6.7 cummins completely stock. I've always ran synthetic oils but learning it may be a waste of money for me. Which is why I need to educate myself. I will be changing my oil soon I picked up 3 gallons of valvoline premium blue extreme 5w/40. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to use this for this change and go back to the blue 15w/40 in the next?

So what are y'alls opinions on using the synthetic oil on the stock 6.7 cummins shooting for 7,500 mile oci. I live in Texas so it's a warm climate moderate towing once or twice a month. Sorry for the long post. Thanks for y'all's time and help
Chris
 
Hey Chris, define moderate towing. Many hills? What is the weight of the towing? How much of your driving is city vs. highway.

Welcome to BITOG
 
Thanks for the welcome! Mostly just tow the travel trailer 36' around 8500-9000 pounds. There's some small hills. I work in the oil field so Id say most of the time is probably 70% highway 30% city. Current mileage on my truck is 4700 miles.
 
Welcome to the club, Chris.
welcome2.gif


When I first got out of the Univ. I did a stint with Schlumberger and used to do Seismic analysis and bore hole analysis. I loved the job (loved playing with pyrotechnical stuff like explosives
39.gif
) and it was interesting, but it meant 45 days on and 15 days off out in the middle of nowhere NM. The drilling crew were really good people.

Anyway, with the temps that you encounter and the loads you're pulling, I would stick with Synthetics and the best filtration you can find, since dust will be a major source of wear.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the welcome molakule and your opinion on the oil. I'm just a directional driller so I don't get to play with no explosives. Wife would get better life insurance on me if I did. Lol.
 
Hey Chris,

I'm out on the western edge of the Permian. We run a mostly dodge fleet. 5.7's and 6.7's.

We use the chevron delo 400 le in all of the 6.7's. It will meet your needs quite well. I'm sure any cj-4 would be good.
 
Welcome to the site.


I don't see the need for syns here. Your described use and environment don't necessitate syns. The 6.7L Cummins is a good engine. Presuming you're going to stick to your described uses, you'll be just fine with dinos.


I absolutely hammered my HDEO deino 10w30 in a Dmax a couple years ago, and it protected every bit as well as any premium syn. And the UOAs are there to prove it. And I was towing through the Rockies, and into the heat of UT and AZ in summer.

Also, there is a member here (biggreymegacab) that has successfully run his Cummins out towards 20k miles on dino VPB and got excellent UOA results.


Please take some time and read my "normalcy" article.


In short, you can certainly use syns if you want to. But you don't need to do so, to protect your rig the right way. If you choose to greatly extend your OCIs, and/or move to the extreme Arctic, then you might need syns. But short of that, "no".
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: hollnagelc
Thanks for the info. guys. Another question I have is who is good for oil analysis?


I think most of the hobbyist here use the Blackstone services. I use wearcheck and on occasion my local cat dealer lab. I think you get a good value using the wearcheck product. I don't really think you need the UOA analysis at the oci you are going to do though.
 
Originally Posted By: MolaKule



BTW, no offense to New Mexico.
thumbsup2.gif



None taken.
 
Last edited:
Diesels won't see the same fuel dilution as gas will. I still prefer synthetics but personal opinion and going extended oci's. Also better for higher temps you will see.
 
Thanks dnewton3 I can't for see moving into artic temps. Lol. My Texas blood wouldn't hold up in the extreme cold. I'm going to run the 5w/40 I have on this change then most likely back to 15w/40. Should've asked before I bought it o well.
 
I was thinking of just monitoring the "health of the engine" with the uoa. I figured maybe every 10-15k miles to check on it. Or would this be a waste of time / money?

Oh and what do y'all think about the bypass filters? I've never had one and not sure they'd be worth having with 5000-7500 mile oci.
 
Last edited:
I think you are on the right track. Do three 15k UOA's for trending and then stretch it out if the oil/engine combination are playing together well.
 
Originally Posted By: hollnagelc


Oh and what do y'all think about the bypass filters? I've never had one and not sure they'd be worth having with 5000-7500 mile oci.


I put bypass systems on the cat engines in the fleet as soon as we get them in. When an engine is leaving the fleet I will pull the bypass system off and use it on a new engine. The bypass system pays for itself really quick in this situation. Do not use it on the pick-up fleet.

For your truck it is going to be about 400.00 for the bypass system equipment. Maybe 100.00 or so for the hardware to install. You will save a bit of cash if you DIY. About 25-35 bucks for the filters. Then about 20-25 bucks for the UOA to monitor. You will be able to extend your OCI a great deal but you might not get your ROI for a very long while. But on the plus side you can move the equipment to your next rig (s).

If you do go bypass route I have plenty of install data I can help you with to make your install easier.
 
It can very a good bit how many miles I travel yearly. Sometimes I might get on a location for 2 months and don't drive much. Or I can get on some wells that don't take long to do and drive a lot. My best guess is 20,000-30,000 miles a year.
 
Originally Posted By: spk2000
Diesels won't see the same fuel dilution as gas will. I still prefer synthetics but personal opinion and going extended oci's. Also better for higher temps you will see.


His engine will see more fuel dilution than some due to injecting fuel for the regen during the exhaust stroke versus an injector after the turbo in the exhaust like big rigs and the LML Duramax. I haven't heard of too many Cummins guys complaining but I try not to talk to many of them, the ones I do talk to would have no idea if they were having fuel dilution issues. The 6.4 Powerstroke seemed to have the most issues, again though, most issues were seen past 8,000 mile OCI's and not on every truck.

I have no clue what gas engines see for fuel dilution.


I would agree that the OP does not need a synthetic at all and whatever decent name brand 15W40 is available to him would be my go to. Chevron Delo is hard to find sometimes outside of Wal-Mart and some truck stops but it is what I run in all of our stuff now for the same reason I listed. It is a good oil and the service from the company supplying it is top notch. Shell Rotella is probably the easiest to find along with Mobil Delvac. Many consider these the "Big 3" and go round and round debating how one ruined their engine, or the other caused more engine noise etc etc. All are good at the end of the day it seems for most people. As for brands outside of those, dnewton would have more insight as I do not follow other brands closely anymore.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

J
Consequence of switching oils, winter vs summer
2 3
Replies
53
Views
1K
johnmyster
F
2004.5 Dodge Ram Cummins
Replies
5
Views
842
cptbarkey
mbacfp
Follow up - Rethinking 5w-40 vs 15w-40 for my low use diesels
Replies
6
Views
4K
z71bill
EveryoneIsAnotherYou
2024 6.7L SO Cummins 38.2k mi; VPBE 7.9k mi
Replies
7
Views
408
Hohn
B
What oil for RAM 2012 Megacab 3500 diesel?
Replies
12
Views
878
OLEJOE
Back
Top Bottom