Redline 15w40, 2015 RAM EcoDiesel 3.0L, 6,146mi

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Here's the latest UOA from my 2015 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel. The Redline 15w40 was ran over the summer camping season towing our travel trailer. I'm not impressed and wouldn't run it again. Lucky I got it at deep discount of $50 for 3 gallons.

Towed our travel trailer over a lot of "hard" grades: Kingsbury Grade between Tahoe and Carson, I80 between Sacramento to Truckee, Grape Vine, Cuesta Grade by San Luis Obispo, Pacheco Pass from Santa Cruz to Los Banos. So this little 3.0L was definitely worked hard but it held its own. I think that the finned oil pan with increased oil capacity along with removing the skid plate so it had better air flow under it definitely helped with the high temps these trucks see. That along with removing the sound deadening foam that's stuffed in and around the engine and leaving the engine cap/cover off.

If I had kept running this would the increase in soot be a concern?

The high silicon is from changing to an AFE oil pan. That increased the capacity 1.5qts to an even 12qts total.

Filled it with more M1 TDT 5w40 that I have on hand and bought at deep discount. Will be running the Valvoline Heavy Duty Maxlife 15w40 next summer camping season and will get an UOA from that.



(I do UOA's for fun and as a hobby)


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I've used Redline driveline fluids (MTL, D4atf, and numerous diff lubes) and they've all done well. But looking at the UOAs here on bitog, I'm thinking their motor oils don't justify the price. The YT channel project farm recently did a motor oil face off and Amsoil came out on top. But to me, the underlying theme was all the oils Project Farm tested, regardless of price, performed well. There's a point of diminishing returns, where the extra dollars per quart just don't translate to huge wear reductions.
A cheaper oil could have produced the same or better results.
 
Looks ok to me. The silicon even without the new pan is a trademark of Red Line, they always have higher levels of silicon, straight from the bottle. The soot is a different story. It will be interesting to see if it diminishes with the M1 in it now or if you have a cylinder bypassing extra combustion by-products. The last oil had a high fuel load that the Red Line didn't have. Interesting.
 
I think you've already found your answer, and would personally stop with the musical oil choices... JT8 synblend and RT6 give the best individual data points, and it's not on the order of splitting hairs over a couple PPM. Both of those oils are well respected, and I'd say you'd gain more knowledge about your engine by sticking with one of those for 2-4 OCIs in a row. Especially since you knew your silicon was going to be high this time, and gasket silicon is not abrasive, there's nothing to explain higher iron and aluminum counts.... which leads back to JT8 and RT6 giving the best overall picture for your engine, in your usage from the data collected so far. Get some trends instead of individual data points and make a decision from there.
 
I should a couple of things that changed between this OCI and the last one.

My truck had the Approved Emissions Modification (AEM) tune flashed to the ECM at the dealer as part of the EPA lawsuit against FCA. Perhaps that's where the higher soot came from?

Also, the new oil pan (along with the increased capacity) has a magnetic oil plug.
 
You mentioned soot; Yes it would be a concern. Probably high due to hard towing pulls. I guess the AEM would reduce NOx emissions, increasing soot some, although shouldn't be too much difference.
The soot is likely responsible for the higher iron wear this time around.
I'd just pick the cheapest qualified Rotella at walmart. Name brand stuff, easy to get.
 
That AEM is junk. I know you're in California but a tune and exhaust dropped my soot and EGTs dramatically. If only you had a way to get around it these days.

The oil looks fine but that soot from the new programming on EGR isn't doing you any favors. Have you replaced your factory EGR cooler under warranty and did you sign up for the class action lawsuit for 2014-2016s?
 
Thank you for posting, I too had the AEM recall, which i'm not happy about and wish I could've opted out. Doesn't have that nice deep torque band anymore and always wants to downshift from 8th on the slightest grade, everything feels somewhat numbed.

I'm running Mystik JT8 10W40 since your good results with that brand and heavily discounted pricing locally, gonna run it down till I see single digits in the forecast then put in 5W40 or 0W40.
 
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