You're confused by my wanting fresh oil at reasonable intervals in my $200k worth of equipment? 5,000 is not only easier to remember, but every 5,000 miles my stuff gets new oil. New oil is better than old oil, analyzed or not, as best I can tell. Better yet, I can focus on running a business instead of mailing out endless samples of oil and maintaining whatever records come with that world of tedium.Welcome!
Your post was a bit confusing, you said that 5w-40 doesn't come cheap but also that you are "dumping" your oil at 5000 miles. 5000 is easy to remember but is probably costing you $$
In your place, wanting the same oil year 'round and (probably) wanting your expensive equipment to last, here is what I would do. It will require some record keeping and startup effort, but will save a lot in the long run:
Go with Schaeffer Oil. Get on their oil analysis plan and safely extend your intervals using their excellent diesel and hydraulic oils. Available in 55gal drums I believe and with the right rep your motor oil cost should be around $6.60 per quart and possibly lower. You can probably safely run your oil well over 10,000 miles, which makes it less expensive per mile than Rotella. 5w-40 or 15w-40 are available(as are 10w-30s), depending on your temps and pan heater plan.
But don't take my word for it. There are numerous testimonials from various industries on Youtube. Some are running their oil in excess of 15,000 miles and cut their maintenance budget by more than half with less part failures.
If this is something you might entertain, BITOG member salesrep is a Schaeffer rep, or you can shoot me a PM and I'll be happy to give you the contact info for mine.
Nothing personal taken. You asked what I would use and I gave my opinion.You're confused by my wanting fresh oil at reasonable intervals in my $200k worth of equipment? 5,000 is not only easier to remember, but every 5,000 miles my stuff gets new oil. New oil is better than old oil, analyzed or not, as best I can tell. Better yet, I can focus on running a business instead of mailing out endless samples of oil and maintaining whatever records come with that world of tedium.
The OP stated my intention is not to extend OCI, and that I'd prefer to change the oil and be done with it.
If I did want to sample my oil for the purposes of extending my drain intervals, I could do that with, well, any oil, including T6, which I can readily purchase for less that $6.60/quart.
Nothing against Schaeffer's. I've been considering it. There's just something unlikely about finding the word "testimonials" in a piece of genuine advice.
Nothing personal, of course.
keep doing what you are look at a lab report maybe can go 7k on changes.Hello, newly minted member here.
I own a small wrecking company and I'm trying to decide on an engine oil for the diesels, as part of an effort to create a robust (i.e. foolproof) maintenance program. I'm based in New England.
The diesel "fleet":
(2) newer 6.7l powerstroke superduties. One is an F350 that is used variously as a daily driver/sales vehicle and regularly tows between 5k and 10k lb. It might spend a week hitched to a gooseneck dump trailer, during which time it's expected to start, haul a load real quick, and come back in the dead of winter. It goes to landfills a lot and sees a lot of dust. The other truck is an F550 packed with tools, fuel tank, etc. It doesn't typically tow, and is used simply to drive tools to a job site, where it stays all day.
(1) 2002 Isuzu npr diesel. Dusty tow pig, attached at the hip to a dump trailer.
(1) New-to-me 2002 cat 3126 motor in a 1995 road tractor. I haven't done much with this truck yet, but I expect to be grossing about 40k lb typically. No short trips. Hauling clean equipment, so not especially dusty.
(1) Kubota V1505 powered telescoping forklift. Enormous amounts of dust. Lots of idling. Lots of cold starts. Depending on the weather, I'll either let it idle for hours with intermittent use sprinkled in there or I will start it as needed, perhaps ten times a day. Sometimes - whether for security reasons or out of respect for neighbors- idling is not an option, so it will get started, then immediately move a big load, then shut down again. We're talking as little as two minutes of work for the machine in some cases.
I currently have Rotella T6 5w40 in everything but the cat motor (which has the previous owners oil still). I like the cold start snappiness of the 5w40, but it doesn't come cheap. And regarding OCIs and getting more out of it, I feel like dumping oil at 5k mi is more intuitive and will require less fussing around. In other words, I guess if I lived in Texas I would use 15w40 and dump it every 5k mi and be done with it. FWIW, I do my own preventative maintenance, in my shop.
I'd like to use the same oil in everything, to keep things simple. I'd really like to use the same spec year round, but we'll see. My biggest concern is my forklift getting beat to death from 15w40 in winter.
What would you do?
EDIT: typo