Winter Time 5W40 oil?

[Woody35]

im going to change my oil cooler lines on friday and i was wondering since im going to do an oil change at the same time should i switch to 5w40. i do a lot of city driving and cold starts so im pretty rough on the engine. any suggestions

 

[Joey D]

i run delvac 5w40 all year

 

[Matt Bachand]

I run Mobil-1 0w-40 or 5-40 Turbo diesel formula all year round too.

Just because its not 'cold out', 70 degrees is still too cold for oil to be at its best lubricating properties. Synthetic still flows better at any temp, and 5w or 0w still has advantages w/cold starts, even in the summer time.


Not to mention heat protection too. On engine turnoff, oil can get backed up in the turbo if you don't let it idle enough to cool down. Synthetic also protects more against this type of abuse.


If this is your first synthetic jobby, get ready to hear fast cranks, smoothness, more turbo, and improved engine performance.

 

[Odlaw]

x2 on that. I just switch to rotella T syn. 5w40 and now my new GM-8 whistles at idle ):h and it spools much faster....even has a 5 second or so spin down you can hear (at the tail pipe)after the engine stops.

we're a bunch of turbo whistle lovin freaks aint we??

 

[Pruittx2]

Look for the 5 quarts and a filter deal. I got mine at Autozone, for $29.99 bought to kits,, and used almost 8 for the change, set 2 aside to top off as needed,, and will use the second filter about 7500 miles in. the way I drive that should last me till May!! =)

 

[Woody35]

i dont really want to spend that type of money. do you guys know if 5w40 comes in dino oil

 

[jamierayo]

No -that's just one of the advantages of synthetic -greater viscosity range.
If you're trying to save a few bucks, check the price of Rotella synthetic from Walmart.
Conventional oil flows about as well as wheel bearing grease at sub-zero temps. Synthetic is well worth the extra $.

 

[Odlaw]

i dont really want to spend that type of money. do you guys know if 5w40 comes in dino oil

You're not really spending any more money (some would argue you're actually spending less).

I pay around $12.00 for 4 quarts of dino diesel rated 15w40 - $3.00 per quart
I pay $20.00 for 4 quarts of syn 5w40 - $5.00 per quart

At double the oil change interval with synthetic, for every oil change I spend $40.00 plus filter(and have 2 quarts left over) - for dino(the same amount of mileage = 2 oil changes) so I would spend $48.00 plus filter and have 2 quarts left over.

Now that Wally World has consistently started carrying rotella synthetic for $19.98 per gallon - I keep a watch out everytime I'm in the store because for some reason they mark the price down to $15.00 per gallon(once or twice a year) - I usually buy at least 4 gallons at that price.

I would like to run Royal Purple or Amzoil but RP is scary high priced - like $9.00 a quart IIRC, (haven't checked the Amzoil price with our local oil geek here yet, but MY local amzoil guy is pretty high...but he's real smalltime - doesn't do a lot of business...might be why his prices are higher).

 

[Woody35]

i guess ill check the prices around here. my uncle is a autozone parts manager so ill be talking to him about that over thanksgiving dinner.

 

[bk95td]

This summer I started switching everything over to a synthetic blend 5w40 that I get from local farm supply store. The price is about $2 per gallon more than 15-40 dino. I haven't run it through the winter yet but it pours much faster than dino. Full synthetic is the way to go but I would put a better than factory filtering system on before switching to take full advantage of the extended change intervals. Greg from lubrication specialist told me he has run his d-max for 100,000 miles on the same oil.He has it analyzed to keep tabs on it. He also has a very good filter set up. He's running amzoil.

 

[mitchedo]

How many miles should one put on a new engine before switching to synthetic? I've got about 4K on mine.

 

[iamdave0887]

Last winter I ran Amsoil 15w-40 and could really notice a difference on how the oil pressure came up when the engine was dead cold vs the first winter i had the truck and was running Rotella 15w-40 dino oil. You could tell the oil was as thick as glue in the cold.

 

[Missy Good Wench]

Guess I am just old school
I run either Delo 15-40 or Rotella T 15-40 year around.

Cold here can be in the low teens and highs in the upper 90's to near or slightly over 100F

Never found any reason to use the exotic stuff.

I have run the Synth in a couple rigs but never really liked it that much. Out on the super slab it can be hard to find.

I have seen more truck stops selling some of the Synth stuff now than in past years.

Missy

 

[Woody35]

im running the regular dino 15w40 but got to get this old beast to run another 100k miles so synethic is the way to do that

 

[Odlaw]

One of the things I've noticed with syn is when the temps are say, above 90 outside and I'm towing something fairly heavy - the syn oil doesn't thin out like dino does when it gets hotter.
This is not a scientific finding, just judging by the oil pressure gauge.
But as I stated before the biggest difference I noticed was how well the turbo spools - specially at lower rpms...and with my truck being a hand shaker I need all the help I can get when dropping back to 1200-1400 rpm between gears.

 

[Matt Bachand]

It is also fine to add DINO to a synthtic fill if you need to. They say try to stick with the same brand if possible, but anything is better than running low on oil. Of course, why not just get a few extra quarts of your brand for spare. SHould carry spare anyhow.

What cracks me up about this oil analysis thing, is its almost the same price to change the oil, or get an analysis.... If the analysis comes out poor, your down. And if it comes back good, whose to say something doesn't go wrong within the next 10k miles?

However, if there is some coolant leakage, or increased metal wear happening, you wouldn't never know it w/out analysis. However, ignorance IS BLISS, and even if you know its going on, what are you going to do about it?

I think changing at 5,000 or 7,500 miles is good for me. Thats either 2, or 3 times a year as I average 15k / yr. I do grease things about once every other month or so ... Original balljoints on this heavy plow rig, so must be working.

 

[Woody35]

i was talkin with his uncle and he is going to give me his employee discount so ill be getting some of that shell rotella 5w40 synthetic tommorrow. should be a fun day tomorrow. putting in new injectors, glowplugs, relocating pmd, and finally some new and improved oil cooler lines.