I'm looking at buying my first semi truck. It's a 1995 freightliner with a cummins n14 that hold 38 quarts of oil. The truck comes with maintance records from day one. They changed the oil every 10,000 miles with Shell Rotella T 15W40 Motor Oil. So my question is this winter I will be parking the truck were we have no place to plug it in. Should I keep 15w40 or change to something else? Will it hurt that I'm not pluging it in? I live near St.louis Mo so the average winters are around 21* for a low and last around 3 months.
Semi Truck with cummins n14
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Those engines run fine year round with 15w-40. It will crank slower without being plugged in but you shoud be fine even in StL.
That engine should have some sort of heating grid in it to help it start in cold weather.
The 50 yr old NT280B that was in my 62 Pete would start @ 20F w/o any starting aids. No heating grids, glow plugs or starting fluid.
The 50 yr old NT280B that was in my 62 Pete would start @ 20F w/o any starting aids. No heating grids, glow plugs or starting fluid.
Holds 9-1/2 gallons, huh? Why didn't Cummins make it 10 gallons???
Quote:
They changed the oil every 10,000 miles
Start an oil analysis program. It'll save you a lot of money. There is no point in dumping 9 gallons of half-worn out oil when you can get a lot more mileage on it. And, the analysis of the engine and gear oil may show some problems that are starting to develop before they cause a very inconvenient breakdown.
I'd think about a synthetic 5W-40, Rotella or any other good brand in the winter. The engine will get better lube protection when it is cold with this oil. Nothing wrong with Rotella, and nothing special about it, either. My choice would be the oil made in St. Louis, Schaeffer, which will save you money in oil, filters, and engine repairs down the line. Figure much more mileage from the oil, according to the lab test results, and lower oil & filter cost per mile plus reduced engine wear.
Quote:
They changed the oil every 10,000 miles
Start an oil analysis program. It'll save you a lot of money. There is no point in dumping 9 gallons of half-worn out oil when you can get a lot more mileage on it. And, the analysis of the engine and gear oil may show some problems that are starting to develop before they cause a very inconvenient breakdown.
I'd think about a synthetic 5W-40, Rotella or any other good brand in the winter. The engine will get better lube protection when it is cold with this oil. Nothing wrong with Rotella, and nothing special about it, either. My choice would be the oil made in St. Louis, Schaeffer, which will save you money in oil, filters, and engine repairs down the line. Figure much more mileage from the oil, according to the lab test results, and lower oil & filter cost per mile plus reduced engine wear.
Hi,
rich_1833 - The N14 has a simple requirement for engine oil and this was well met by the previous operator - Shell's Rotella T 15W-40
A move to Rotella 5w-40 would be a good one combined with a Donaldson Synteq filter and oil analysis
You have not indicated what your usage cycle/application will be?
It is typical that you should get around 20k mile OCIs with a mineral lubricant and about double that using the combination I've suggested. Oil analysis will help you determine the actual OCI in the end
rich_1833 - The N14 has a simple requirement for engine oil and this was well met by the previous operator - Shell's Rotella T 15W-40
A move to Rotella 5w-40 would be a good one combined with a Donaldson Synteq filter and oil analysis
You have not indicated what your usage cycle/application will be?
It is typical that you should get around 20k mile OCIs with a mineral lubricant and about double that using the combination I've suggested. Oil analysis will help you determine the actual OCI in the end
I took an N-14 to 1.4 million miles using Kendall 15w40, Baldwin filters, and doing 30,000 mile OCI's (with sampling). Never had to open up the engine for anything more than running the overhead.
Unless you have something extreme for cold, which doesn't happen often in your area, I would stick with a good 15w40. In my ISX, I took it to 900,000 before trading it, and got hooked on a really good oil... Mystik JT-8 15w40 synthetic blend. I could get it at a local farm and home store for $58 for a 5 gallon pail (as of last July). It really gave excellent wear numbers on the oil samples, and held up well.
All of the advice here is conditional on what you are going to do with that truck and how wide of an operating territory you will cover. If that engine is in good shape, it should do you well. The N-14 is a great engine.
Unless you have something extreme for cold, which doesn't happen often in your area, I would stick with a good 15w40. In my ISX, I took it to 900,000 before trading it, and got hooked on a really good oil... Mystik JT-8 15w40 synthetic blend. I could get it at a local farm and home store for $58 for a 5 gallon pail (as of last July). It really gave excellent wear numbers on the oil samples, and held up well.
All of the advice here is conditional on what you are going to do with that truck and how wide of an operating territory you will cover. If that engine is in good shape, it should do you well. The N-14 is a great engine.
I suppose you could drain the 15/40 at the start of winter and if it is in good condition store it for use in the spring, then run the 5/40 for winter only.
I guess that could be an option for someone who runs a pickup once in a while, but most working semi trucks run over 120,000 miles a year. Just change grade seasonally if one wants to. Going to change the oil anyway in most cases.
Are you not planning to plug the vehicle in to save on electricity or because you won't have access to a power outlet where you're parking it? If you're trying to save on electricity, I would recommend getting a timer so it will only turn the power on a few hours before you want to start the truck up.
Make sure your batteries and cables are all clean and in good operating condition and 15w40 will work just fine.
we never have any issues starting any of our Cummins,CAT or Detroits in cold weather when batts and cables are good.
we never have any issues starting any of our Cummins,CAT or Detroits in cold weather when batts and cables are good.
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