Best Engine oil

[randybailey]

Ok, i have an 01 LB7 and i have always used Rotella oil. Would a syntheltic be better and which one is best?

[lmholmes11]

Everyone has there opinion but it really depends on how you drive your truck, ie how many miles do you put on it in a month? If you don't drive it all that often synthetic probably wouldn't be worth it

[Mark Rinker]

It is my opinion that Rotella 15/40 conventional oil is the Budweiser or Marlboro Lights of the diesel oil marketplace. i.e. Available everywhere, reasonably priced, performs the intended function.

That being said, I have arrived at Mobil Delvac (black jug, non-synthetic) for the reason that it stays in the engine without loss of volume due to breakdown under near constant towing use of my trucks. Rotella? I was always adding more between changes. That didn't seem good to me.

It still turns black immediately after the oil change in these later EGR engines (which use the oil as the medium carry soot out of the engine into a recyclable liquid, rather than venting to atmosphere) but so far I have done about forty 10K mile interval changes with Delvac over latest 5 trucks listed without a hint of ring wear or increased blowby.

My .02 worth. I like the stuff. Kinda like Miller Genuine Draft I guess. ;)

[Heartbeat Hauler]

Ok, i have an 01 LB7 and i have always used Rotella oil. Would a syntheltic be better and which one is best?

The one that meets the spec for your truck that is available whenever you need it, and fits your wallet.

I'm a Rotella 15w-40 guy, and I add 10 qts every 5000 miles...along with the filter.......:D

If you want to go 15,000 to 25,000 miles on an oil change then I would definitely go the synthetic route with UOAs, or if you live in a very cold climate, other than that conventional oil is my recommendation.

And another thing, if you have an LB7 like I do, then I would save the extra money synthetic costs and use fuel additive, add a lift pump and secondary fuel filter. Injectors are a PITA!!!! :eek: :D

[chessy56]

When my '01 2500HD was still under warranty, I had a dealership sponsored oil change service. At first, they were using 15W-40 Mobil, but later I was told of an oil pressure problem GM uncovered under cold weather conditions. The dealership began using Mobil 5W-40 synthetic under some GM service bulletin before my truck was 1 year old. Since then, I've been using mostly Rotella's 5W-40 (T6) synthetic. I change my Baldwin filter at 4K miles, then the oil & filter at 8K miles. I've sent multiple oil samples to the lab for analysis and each one of them have come back clean- no contaminents, no fuel or coolant in the oil and no metalic debris. I've got ~269K miles on my LB7 engine now and am getting around 25 mpg on a long distance trip (speed ~57 mph, ~1700 engine rpms and no head wind to buck). I put 600 miles on the truck weekly. Only after nearly 7K miles will I begin to see the oil starting to turn brown- never saw that with dino oil (it was always black before the 4K mile oil/filter change).

Just my experience here; I can't argue with what the others are seeing (it is what it is). Now, if I can get just a little more life from my injectors. (Odd, just after my mileage began to increase a couple of years back, my injectors began failing. Now that I'm getting higher fuel mileage again, I'm wondering if my next set is just around the corner. Coincidence?)

[SoTxPollock]

You tellin me you can actually drive 57 MPH for 600 miles? How is that possible? I tried driving 55 once way back when that was the national speed limit, I almost fell asleep. Whats the secret?