Trying to find "The One" 15w40 oil to use across my whole fleet (pre-emission diesel and gas engines)

Pick a dual rated diesel/gas oil you want to run in your 7.3L Powerstroke and use it for everything.
The old Kohler gas engines don't care if it's non-detergent/low ash or not. Oil today isn't the crappy oil of the 1950's/1960's.
The only thing that would be picky is if you have a 2-stroke diesel engine. Then you'd need a specific oil.
 
I tend to over think stuff as well.

For your needs, you will not see any appreciable difference. Non-emissions diesels and ULSD are really bomb-proof. I have several as well. A T444E in an International truck, and several Yanmar 3 cyl IDI engines.

For your old gas engines, any HDEO that doesn't thin out to water with the expected oil temps will be fantastic.

I'm in agreement that a non-detergent oil should really never be used, there is no advantage. I have a 1954 Farmall Super M and it get Rotella T4, and must have a million hours on it....no way to tell. Just keeps running.
 
Any 15w40 oil will work. All have additives that meet API specs at a minimum. Buy what is on sale. Pay attention to the deals that you will find on BITOG. I have around 40 gallons of Delvac 1300 15w40 that I picked up for an average of $6 dollars a gallon thanks to BITOG. 5, 2.5, and 1 gal containers. 15w40 oil works in pretty much all applications from air cooled to liquid cooled engines regardless of cubic inches. What matters is that the engine has oil in it, not the brand. Don't overthink it because we all have done the same.
 
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Traz, I see this is an old thread but I'll throw this out there anyway, Schaeffer's 15/40 700 series, para synthetic is a fantastic oil for your applications. I have been using it in my Deere and Takeuchi iron and in my dump trucks for 17 years. It is a CK4 oil loaded with 2 of the best friction modifiers on the planet--micron moly and penetro.
 
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Not sure if this helps you much, but my brother's company truck, a 2010 Chevy 1500, just turned over 335,000 miles using a steady diet of Shell Rotella T4 10W-30. But it's a gas V6. (4.3l) Yes, it burns a quart every 1200 miles or so. Went by the OLM except when it was inconvenient to change, when it was just reset!

The company he works for just went to Mobil Delvac 1300 Super 10W-30 for all their OTR trucks, mostly Freightliners.
At what Mileage did the OLM go off, or usually go off?
 
Not sure, but for this MY GM, it's usually around 9 or 10,000 mi. My early 1999 models were set for about 12,000 mi. Keep in mind, his use case was mostly highway in NC.
10,000 Highway Miles on Shell Rotella T4 10W-30 is great, we have members who either like this oil or do not like this Oil. I really like the HTHS Number of this Oil!
 
I have run a custom blended 0w-5 in everything for the last 30 years. This includes lawn mowers, tampers, Ford 351 Cleveland, Supercharged Chevy 454 tow vehicle, Motorhome, Skid steer and excavator diesel, and numerous cars. I go at least 30K miles between changes with 5 to 10 K changes of filters.

Well, with over 150 miles on the gas engines and over 4000 hours each on the diesels there have been no problems.
Highest consumption in a gas motor has never been over 1/2 quart in 5K miles. Turns over fast in sub zero weather and mileage is way better than factory oil.

What does this mean? Well, either there is a lot of hype out there, the manufacturers really don't know for sure what they need, or the oils are way better than they let on and can go for a long time. Testing was performed initially at 5k miles, but I gave up after 20,000 as the numbers were still good. The only issue is that soot eventually will thicken the oil.
 
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