Synthetic Oil Brand and Weight for Powerstroke 6.7 HO

[johnmyster]

I question how any DIYer comes up with $150-$200 per oil change for any diesel pickup. GM sump is 10 qts. Ram is 12. Ford is what, 13?

2.5 gal jugs of Rotella T6 5w-40 are currently $56 at walmart before $25 rebate. Two rotella rebate cycles per year, two jugs per rebate cycles yields four jugs per year. Four of those per year is enough for three oil changes per year. Add three top shelf $20 filters, (motorcraft, donaldson, fram FE, purolator boss, carquest premium) total outlay $185 plus some tax. That's $62 per OCI.

If you insist on Schaffer’s, HPL, CenPeCo, or Amoil to run long OCI with bypass filters, that puts you in a different category and no rebates. Do your own math.

Plenty of 300-500k mile diesel pickups out there that have lived on a steady diet of Delvac 1300 and T4. My last duramax was one of them.



The recent viral RV transport driver on youtube - daves, etc. He went >900k miles on his original 6.7 before lifter failure. (2017-18 model?) He figured he was spending $370 per oil change. Fancy oil, fancy bypass cartridge, motorcraft filter, and paying a dealer to do it. He was going 15k on changes but his drive cycle (as with most RV delivery owner-operators) makes that OCI irrelevant to most of us.

Him doing his $370 oil change every 15,000 miles is the same cost per mile as me doing a $62 oil change every 1,300 miles. Go figure. T6 should hold up just fine for more than that even in the most extreme use case.

 

[JavierH19]

I'd happily spend on boutique if it can make my engine still be very healthy/almost new at 350k+ as opposed to lasting 350k+ but at poor health/near death where the rebuild cost is a lot more than what I saved in cheaping out or worse didn't make it to 350k without it wearing out. But after 341k miles my 05's lq4 6.0 still has high compression on all cylinders, runs smooth and is dead silent, and has almost no oil consumption. I still haven't bothered to update the early vc because I've just been lazy and don't see the need to update it. All of the internals are factory and untouched except the timing chain.

Never used any engine flush to clean the rings either, standard hdeo additives are good enough for me. I replaced the chain preemptively out of fear that it might snap like how it did on my ford which killed the engine which was also in great health with strong compression and no oil consumption. But all that didn't matter anymore once the chain snapped at over 2k rpm with a heavy load on the bed. But the ohc ford chain was weaker compared to these so there was no need. There was only very slight chain stretch compared to the new one so this 6.0 would've still been fine on the original chain.

I've used nothing but cheap oil in all my old trucks and I've done long drains. Mostly used 10w-40, sometimes 20w-50 and a lot of 5/10w-30 but I've settled on 15w-40 and have been using only that for about 9-10 years straight.

Lets say I owned something like a twin turbo bmw or similar then I'd spend money on boutique oils as I do want to give it the best chance of life and avoid a big bill during that life if I want it to be a daily driver that'll get 200k+. That better oil might have mitigated but of course wouldn't have fixed a design/manufacturing deficiency that destined it to fail from the start.

But there's also an argument in buying whatever lowest priced properly licensed oil for it and changing it very frequently with those savings like every 3-4k to keep the engine on a diet of fresh oil too. But if one was only going to own it for 60k miles in 15 years then being a slob with 12k/3 year intervals using the cheapest licensed oil would also work if it only needed to do that. As for my new truck its lived most of its life on wally sold euro 40 and that's far better than the dexos 20 it needs at minimum.

Edited for sentence structure. Also forgot to talk about T6 foaming 2.5x over the limit. If the foaming was that bad in day to day life then we'd hear about HEUI users having issues and there'd be coverage on the internet but even though T6 seems harmless I still don't like that they can't even follow basic CK spec and 12% noack is atrocious for a higher priced diesel oil. Although many engines last on T6 I don't trust rotella as a whole and would rather use Delvac ESP 5w-40.

 

[cptbarkey]

Ignore the rotella haters on this forum, they are mostly folks with conflict of interest and repeat the same FUD over and over.

 

[burbguy82]

Top 3 are Rotella T6 (3rd one was only used for 1,000 miles), bottom 2 are HPL No VII Euro 10W-40. Look at #1 vs #5 at the same mileage.

View attachment 267152

D892 foam test of Rotella T6 5W-40 vs HPL HDMO 5W-40.

View attachment 267153

The rotella does look more refreshing ,which counts for something.

It looks like a big difference

 

[BrendanC]

while i’m not a massive T6 fan it’s hard to argue with its price point and reputation. my uncle has a fleet of 6.7 PS service trucks, wreckers, hot shots etc and he feeds them T6 5w-40 every 7500 miles. i service a 6.7 PS and cummins at work, they get T6 every time their OLM goes off.

 

[userfriendly]

How quickly this turned into a Brotella thread.

One Mobil product that seems to be overlooked is Delvac-1 SCH 5w40.
It’s old school with a base number of 16 and SA of 1.9

 

[toxic]

I ran rotella t6 5w-40 exclusively in my lml duramax, at 280k when the crank broke, I tore it all down and it looked absolutely beautiful inside. Zero sludge anywhere, bearings looked brand new other than where the crank broke. Pistons have virtually no skirt wear, cam could **** near be sold as new. I was very impressed with how it looked inside, I followed the OLM also, 7500-10k miles OCIs. I will have a built motor in it soon and will be sticking with rotella.

 

[adam8833]

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/attachments/img_0566-webp.267128/

The answer is somewhere in there. VPBE 5-40 clicks the boxes.

I’ve seen several others recommend the Valvoline Premium Blue Extreme 5w40 as well in other threads. Seems like a really solid oil with an excellent additive pack. How would it compare to T6 5w40? At this point, I’ll most likely choose one of these two.

 

[OLEJOE]

I’ve seen several others recommend the Valvoline Premium Blue Extreme 5w40 as well in other threads. Seems like a really solid oil with an excellent additive pack. How would it compare to T6 5w40? At this point, I’ll most likely choose one of these two.

VPBE has a little higher HTHS and a little lower volatility than RT6. I buy the VPBE at NAPA for practically the same price as the RT6 at Walmart. NAPA has it on sale just about every month. I have no intention of running the 15k miles Ram calls for on OCI’s and wouldn’t run the oil that long irregardless of which oil was in the sump. If I were in a hotshot situation, then I might think about going farther on the OCI’s since it would be getting lots of miles quickly. Keeping clean oil and filters in a new vehicle hurts nothing but someone else feelings because you aren’t running boutique oil.

 

[Plumb Bob]

BITOG: "Certs and approvals mean everything! We can't trust an oil that's not certified. Standards, y'all! Standards!"

Those are your words, and yours only. No one else implied that on this thread -- except you.

Since you mentioned it, I can trust oils that are not certified (Used them many times before). I can also understand why they're superior to those that meet the minimum requirements set forth by API, but that's a whole different topic than telling someone:

• The approved oils will not perform.
• Get a junker if you're not willing to pay a premium for boutiques.

Plain and simple, the above two suggestions are a manifestation of bigotry, and to an extent, ignorance.

 

[adam8833]

VPBE has a little higher HTHS and a little lower volatility than RT6. I buy the VPBE at NAPA for practically the same price as the RT6 at Walmart. NAPA has it on sale just about every month. I have no intention of running the 15k miles Ram calls for on OCI’s and wouldn’t run the oil that long irregardless of which oil was in the sump. If I were in a hotshot situation, then I might think about going farther on the OCI’s since it would be getting lots of miles quickly. Keeping clean oil and filters in a new vehicle hurts nothing but someone else feelings because you aren’t running boutique oil.

With the current $15 rebate for T6, it’s only $8 and some change per gallon at Walmart. Excellent deal.

 

[johnmyster]

With the current $15 rebate for T6, it’s only $8 and some change per gallon at Walmart. Excellent deal.

Great deal for two gallons which gets him halfway to an oil change. Better to use the rebate on bigger sizes unless he can wait until next rebate cycle to get another two gallons.

 

[johnmyster]

BITOG: "Certs and approvals mean everything! We can't trust an oil that's not certified. Standards, y'all! Standards!"

Rotella - Bombs D892 at more than 2.5x the API limit.

BITOG: "This is fine. No problem here. It's a good oil!"

So let me get this right, Ford developed and road tested these trucks using boutique HPL/Amsoil with zerobubble amazinglube smellsbetter additive technology, and not by using oils they figured would be available to the common Joe from Everytown, Flyoverstate that has their trucks?

If specs and approvals mean nothing, WTH did Ford go through the trouble of developing their own spec and approval, and telling Joe to use it?

I mean, I never worked in a ford engine development lab, but I did get yelled at by those guys on the phone. I worked in the plant that made the 6.0 HUEI injector and we pumped plane jane shell diesel oil into our injector test dynos and test trucks. But that was 20 years ago and I'm sure times have changed.

 

[OLEJOE]

Certs and approvals mean everything when you have a vehicle under manufacture warranty.

 

[RDY4WAR]

Those are your words, and yours only. No one else implied that on this thread -- except you.

Since you mentioned it, I can trust oils that are not certified (Used them many times before). I can also understand why they're superior to those that meet the minimum requirements set forth by API, but that's a whole different topic than telling someone:

• The approved oils will not perform.
• Get a junker if you're not willing to pay a premium for boutiques.

Plain and simple, the above two suggestions are a manifestation of bigotry, and to an extent, ignorance.

I'm merely pointing out the hypocrisy of some of the same people who push certs and approvals so heavily have conveniently abandoned that stance when a favorite oil of theirs fails a key performance test of that cert or approval.

API's own audit found that nearly half (48%) of oils claiming their cert failed at least one performance test for that cert. I have no faith in it.

It's not about the value of the vehicle. I use HPL PCMO 5W-30 in a '91 Nissan pickup with the KBB value of a slurpee. If anything, it's more important for older engines to clean up, and keep clean, the deposits and coking left behind by oils that "meet the spec."

 

[userfriendly]

Show us the audit.

 

[RDY4WAR]

Show us the audit.

I was slightly off. It was 46% failed, not 48%.

Thread 'API finds nearly half of certified oils have issues'

Mar 7, 2024

The API has over 27,000 products licensed globally and analyzes over 1,000 samples annually to assure compliance. Recent results found that 46% of these samples had issues ranging from minor discrepancies to more serious viscosity and NOACK inconsistencies. Some 15% of the samples had "questionable additives" indicating a divergence from the original chemical fingerprints established during licensing.

API finds almost half of tested oils have issues
(Moderator note ... the OPs post had a link which either was in error, or was hijacked. The link has been removed; 3-14-25)

• Tom NJ
• Replies: 301
• Forum: Passenger Car Motor Oil (PCMO) - Gasoline Vehicles

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[userfriendly]

That’s part of the licensing process. Oil blenders send in samples of lubricants and fluids for API approval and some get rejected. No tickee, no laundry.

The API doesn’t go around buying products off store shelves for testing.
PQiA does that.

 

[kschachn]

That’s part of the licensing process. Oil blenders send in samples of lubricants and fluids for API approval and some get rejected. No tickee, no laundry.

The API doesn’t go around buying products off store shelves for testing.
PQiA does that.

Apparently they have since 1994:

https://www.api.org/products-and-services/engine-oil#tab-monitoring-and-enforcement

 

[RDY4WAR]

That’s part of the licensing process. Oil blenders send in samples of lubricants and fluids for API approval and some get rejected. No tickee, no laundry.

The API doesn’t go around buying products off store shelves for testing.
PQiA does that.

Yes, they do. They annually audit ~3% (at random) of commercially available oils that have their starburst per their aftermarket audit program (AMAP). This was one of those audits. See the link in Kschachn's comment above.