Rotella 15w40 vs Motorcraft 15w40

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I know some of you guys may be 50/50 on this question maybe not. I have a 2002 F350 4x4 Ford Superduty diesel with the 7.3

I have only used two brands of oil 15w40 Motorcraft originally when the dealer used to change the oil and as of the last 2-3 oil changes I went with the Shell Rotella T 15w40.

No problems with the Motorcraft 15w40 I think it is a decent oil. No problems with the Shell Rotella T 15w40 I think it is a decent oil. Truck likes both. The problem up until recently is I could not find the gallon jugs of Motorcraft 15w40 anywhere not even the dealers they only had the quart bottled or 55 gal bulk.well, since the truck takes 15 quarts it was a hassle to deal and get rid of 15 empty bottles. Recently, I have seen the gallon jugs of MC 15w40 at Parts America 9.98 gallon.

The Rotella is sold in gallon jugs at most automotive places as well as truck stops, easy to find and priced at 9.98 gallon.

My situation is should I stick with the Rotella or go back to Motorcraft? Is one better quality than the other? I really don't have a clue? Which oil has more bang for the buck?


Ruby
 
simple gifts

I know that was a loaded question, but honestly I was hoping for some feedback. I guess maybe I should just flip a coin on this one?
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Somehow I knew you would get around to asking this.... lol


His next to last sentence says it all
LOL.gif
 
O2zx9r

No doubt about that. I think Rotella is the best selling diesel oil on the market with Delo most likely right behind that.


Ruby
 
Use whichever you can find on sale. If the same price, then whichever is closer to your route of travel. If at the same place, then flip a coin. Seriously, they're both good oils (as well as many other brands), and it's doubtful your engine will know the difference.

Much more important to do UOA and routine maintenance than worry about which of these two oils is the better.

BTW - a friend of mine has a 2003 7.3 PSD. He overfills his truck every time by 1 quart. (That's only a 6% overfill, and you can't hardly tell on the dip stick). That way, he's buying 4 gallons and he doesn't have to worry about single quart bottles. Oh - and he's been using generic TSC Traveller oil 15w-40 since the day he did his first oil change, and does OCI's at 5K miles. Truck has 276K miles on it now, and runs fine. Never been hopped up; just driven like he stole it.
 
Originally Posted By: Ruby
O2zx9r
No doubt about that. I think Rotella is the best selling diesel oil on the market with Delo most likely right behind that.
Ruby


Mobil Delvac 1300 Super is the #1 choice for professional truckers (yes, overtaking Rotella) if you look at truck stops.

Motorcraft is likely a rebrand of cheapest ConocoPhillips 15W-40 - Fleet Supreme.
 
I don't know that you can look at the shelves of a truck stop and make an automatic assumption about which brand is the best selling.

For one, what is on the shelf is likely a "top off" for a trucker. The engine will get it's fill from a drum when changed out at the service center. Also, lot's of trucks on the road are not even owner/operator type, but company owned, so a company is choosing the brand, not the driver.

And why is brand X the best selling? It just means that brand X has done the best job of manufacturing and marketing the oil at a price that the masses are willing to pay. That's economics, pure and simple.

The original poster was discussing the availability of MotorCraft and Rotella. My answer to him was buy what he can find in gallon jugs at the least price, put in 4 gallons, and not worry about it.
 
FWIW, when I bought my first diesel back in the '80s, I looked in the trash cans of various truck stops (then the most reliable place to find diesel fuel) all over the country and saw mostly Rotella-T. That shaped my oil decision to a large extent. Greater knowledge and oil analysis in the years since has more or less vindicated the WAG I made then. R-T: not the best but very good and a good value. I still am driving that same truck, BTW.
 
I (effectively some guy on the internet) didn't make the #1 determination (especially by looking at shelves), but rather the independent trucking industry trade magazine owner (Newport Communications) performed the research.

Rotella and Mobil Delvac are the same price at truck stops (indeed covering owner operators and company drivers). And for a bit more than economics, CAT, Volvo, Mack, Detroit Diesel, & Mercedes Benz all choose Mobil Delvac technology to design and develop their engines (there are many cheaper oils that meet minimum specs to choose from). Rotella used to practically be the only game in town for 20+ years, but that has changed today. I'm not aware of any OEM that chooses Shell to help them design their engines.

Rotella is Shell's premium offer, Motorcraft is likely a fleet grade (non-premium) formulation from CP. Rotella and Motorcraft are both decent products and meet minimum specs.
 
I have to quibble with Motorcraft being only a fleet grade formulation, it was the only formulation that was developed initially for the Ford diesel oil spec with the International engine in mind. Not that there was anything so special about the spec that many other comparable oils couldn't quickly test and certify for it. At the very least the MC 15-40 formulation was an early adopter of the use of hydro-finished/ hydro-cracked oils from CP in the standard diesel oil market, leading Rotella in this area by more than a few years.
For years despite the popularity, or maybe more correctly because it was a non-premium fleet grade that led to its' popularity, Rotella was hardly a premium oil. In the past few years Rotella has been playing catch-up and now seems to be a vastly improved product compared to what it was a few years ago.
 
Supposedly Rotella T was what International used in the original development of the 7.3 PSD. Of course that was now about 13 years ago and a lot has changed in oils since that time. I ran Rotella T for 140k+miles and have used either Delo or Delvac or even Delvac 1 since and I can detect absolutely NO difference whatsoever in how mine runs...I only do an oil analysis every 50K or so with no problems ever noted...
Moral of this story? Flip a coin!
 
Originally Posted By: jmac
In the past few years Rotella has been playing catch-up and now seems to be a vastly improved product compared to what it was a few years ago.


Especially in the area of the general pour pt property. I believe CH-4 Rotella had one of the worst pour pts of any HDEO on the market at a measly -15F.
 
The Motocraft 15W-40 has a good VOA. It high in silicon to prevent foaming. I read somewhere that the crankcase oil is used to pressurize the injectors in the Fords ( Not sure which diesel engine it was though.) The original oils foamed sometimes which cased problems.
 
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OilGuy - thanks for providing your reference. It lends credence to your claim; I appologive if I offended you.

Overall, I have to keep the OP's question in mind here. He was asking about the use of Rotella or Motorcraft in regard to the ease of availability of the products in quarts vs. gallons in his area. If I understood his concern, he didn't want to have to use (15) quart bottles if he could avoid it; his goal was convenience. His other question was if either MC or Shell had a performance advantage over the other.

To answer his question, (again), if either brand is available in gallon jugs at a good price in his area, then my suggestion was for him to get the 4 gallon jugs of brand X, and put them all in. Overfilling by 1 quart in a total of 16 is only a 6% increase and would be hardly noticed, if at all, on the dipstick. This is an older powerstroke (7.3L); there is a reasonable margin for error before the oil level would get anywhere near the crank for aeration concerns.
As for the performance of one brand over the other, I don't personally believe it exists. Either more than meets the original performance criteria. As another posted stated "flip a coil".
 
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No problem, but thank you for being courteous:)

I wanted to briefly address the mis-statement made about Rotella still being #1, then I tried to contribute insight to the OP regarding the fleet-grade performance nature of the CP rebrand.
 
Here's a couple of interesting links. I found them on the dieselstop.com (a pro-Ford truck website).

They are pictures that suggest that Shell Rotella had a promotional tour with a Ford truck, and that the factory fill was/is, interestingly engough, Rotella.

I cannot vouch for the validity of the pictures since I don't know their true origin. Although I am inept at such things, there are people who excell at creating digital images. So take this at face value only.

http://www.svtgalleries.net/gallery/data/6072/medium/CIMG27231.JPG
http://www.svtgalleries.net/gallery/data/6072/medium/CIMG27471.JPG


IF there is any truth to these claims of Rotella Factory fill, then why sell MC at the parts counter ????

Just something for further enraging debate! :)
 
Ford is pretty proud of their Motorcraft brand. I haven't seen an exception yet - even for their GT. Maybe creative marketing for a brand struggling in the heavy duty segment?
 
Originally Posted By: OilGuy
Especially in the area of the general pour pt property. I believe CH-4 Rotella had one of the worst pour pts of any HDEO on the market at a measly -15F.


A oour point of -15 degrees F? Pardon my skepticism, but that's only 1 degree C below the MRV for a 15W40 oil!

- Scott
 
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