Rotl T5 10w30, 7.3 miles, 2011 F350, 6.7L

[chas_man]

Folks,

Following are a couple of UOA's I have had run on my 2011 Ford F350 pickup (crew cab, single axle, short bed) with the 6.7L diesel engine. The first UOA was on the oil-change I had done at the dealer - the oil brand is unknown, but it was a 10/30. The next UOA was on my fill of Rotella T5. The driving for the latest UOA was fairly light duty - moderate towing, some heavy loads in the bed, but mostly running empty on the freeway or around town. Air and fuel filters were changed at 15K miles.

I wanted to check the accuracy of the OLM hence the TBN analysis - it had clicked to "change oil soon" status. There was still about 300 miles remaining before it would notify to "change oil immediately" when I changed the oil. The TBN shows there was a lot of life left so Ford's OLM appears to be set very conservative.

The added fuel in the sample may be due to a PCM re-flash Ford did on the truck. After the re-flash the re-generations to burn off the DPF jumped dramatically - every 70 to 100 miles. It's now back to a more normal interval of 150 to 200 miles so I expect the fuel content to drop substantially during this oil change interval.

Blackstone comments -- wear metals are improving but engine is still new so further progress is expected. Keep an eye on oil level as it appears to be adding fuel. TBN was fine so the OLM seems overly cautious.

Code:


OIL Dlr 10w30 Rot T5 10w30 UNV AVG

MILES IN USE 6.7k 7.3k N/A

MILES (Unit) 14.7k 22k N/A

SAMPLE TAKEN 3/29/12 10/05/12 N/A



ALUMINUM 26 20 12

CHROMIUM 1 1 2

IRON 38 35 32

COPPER 5 5 5

LEAD 0 0 1

TIN 0 0 1

MOLYBDENUM 8 2 28

NICKEL 1 1 1

MANGANESE 1 1 1

SILVER 0 0 1

TITANIUM 0 0 1

POTASSIUM 0 0 2

BORON 15 18 21

SILICON 5 6 8

SODIUM 3 8 7

CALCIUM 2050 2380 1788

MAGNESIUM 146 26 401

PHOSPHORUS 1031 1073 1020

ZINC 1237 1246 1163

BARIUM 0 0 1



INSOLUBLES % 0.4 0.4 < 0.6

WATER % 0 0 < 0.1

FLASHPOINT ºF 455 380 > 400

SUS VIS 210ºF 60.7 61.1 59-65

cSt @ 212ºF 10.41 10.52 9.9-11.9

FUEL % < .5 2.0 < 2.0

ANTIFREEZE % 0 0 0

TBN 3.9 > 1.0


Thanks - Charlie

 

[Brons2]

That looks like older Rotella, or they changed the formulation recently maybe? On most of the newer stuff that I have seen, it has more magnesium and less calcium.

As for your report, aluminum seems high but maybe you've still got break in metal, if this is just your 3rd oil change. Iron seems in line with universal averages. Decent, not great, but decent report.

[edit] I see that you live in Sunnyvale, CA. Very, very mild climate. One of the mildest in the USA. Have you considered using 15w40 Rotella instead? Probably save you some money and work just as well or better.

 

[Donald]

What is called for? Most diesels use 15W40. The pollution controls on the newer diesel trucks suck. Kind of like the newer red gas cans that suck. Why can't they leave it alone until its perfected. For a diesel truck, its far from being perfected.

 

[chas_man]

The truck comes from the factory with 10w30, and in the owners amnual 5w40 is only specified for use with bio-diesel or if you are running severe service cycles. I have Delo 5w40 Syn in there right now to try out, but have a lot of T5 waiting on the shelf for future oil changes. Great price on the T5 10-30 at Walmart - $12.95 a gallon. While the temp in the SF bay Area is mild, we spend a lot of time in the Sirras during the winter so a 5w or 10w is appreciated when starting on those cold snowy mornings.

 

[fpracha]

Originally Posted By: chas_man
The first UOA was on the oil-change I had done at the dealer - the oil brand is unknown, but it was a 10/30. The next UOA was on my fill of Rotella T5. The driving for the latest UOA was fairly light duty - moderate towing, some heavy loads in the bed, ...
Originally Posted By: chas_man
The truck comes from the factory with 10w30, and in the owners amnual 5w40 is only specified for use with bio-diesel or if you are running severe service cycles. I have Delo 5w40 Syn in there right now to try out, but have a lot of T5 waiting on the shelf for future oil changes. Great price on the T5 10-30 at Walmart - $12.95 a gallon. While the temp in the SF bay Area is mild, we spend a lot of time in the Sirras during the winter so a 5w or 10w is appreciated when starting on those cold snowy mornings.
It would be worth knowing if you noticed any fuel savings when moving from 10W to the 5W oil?
Are the (morning) cold starts any better with the current 5W-40 compared to the previous 10W-30 ?

 

[dnewton3]

I am not intimately familiar with the Delo 5w-40; cannot comment directly on that.

As for the T5 vs (similar to Delo) T6, the 10w-30 T5 has the same cold-crank rating as the T6. Essentially, you're not going to see any "easier" or "better" starting with the 5w-40 T6 than you would contrasted to the 10w-30 T5. The Sierra range will never get so cold as to find any distinguishable difference in that regard. The two products are more than capable of good starting for that environment.

As for the wear in this rig, it's looks fairly decent. Trending down is good. Way too early to know real variance or averages, but the direction is good.

If this continues, eaisly could do more miles in the OCI. I do realize that the OEM OCI would limit if contending with warranty.

 

[Pwr Stroke]

Thanks for sharing a UOA on the 6.7 Power Stroke

 

[Powerstroke]

Originally Posted By: dnewton3
I am not intimately familiar with the Delo 5w-40; cannot comment directly on that.

As for the T5 vs (similar to Delo) T6, the 10w-30 T5 has the same cold-crank rating as the T6. Essentially, you're not going to see any "easier" or "better" starting with the 5w-40 T6 than you would contrasted to the 10w-30 T5. The Sierra range will never get so cold as to find any distinguishable difference in that regard. The two products are more than capable of good starting for that environment.

As for the wear in this rig, it's looks fairly decent. Trending down is good. Way too early to know real variance or averages, but the direction is good. I would presume the Amsoil to be Group 3 with PAO mixed??

If this continues, eaisly could do more miles in the OCI. I do realize that the OEM OCI would limit if contending with warranty.


Have any info on how the Amsoil OE 10w30 diesel synthetic compares to the Shell Rotella T5 10w30?? Looks like the advertised numbers are identical, with T5 having a 10 TBN and Amsoil 9 TBN, not really a big difference wiith the CJ4 oils. Even the pour points are close, -42 T5 and -38 Amsoil. Amsoil does have 3.6 HTHS. Just wanted to see a more direct comparison of these two oils