Originally Posted By: dustyroads
Originally Posted By: DustinAsh
I understand that trucks have ran on dino for millions of miles, this one included. He is just wanting something that is going to hold up in extreme heat more so than the delvac he was running. The spun bearing was due to an oil cooler malfunction & he was just wanting a little more protection in case of another catastrophic failure. With us selling Schaeffer's products here at the feed store he will be buying it wholesale.
Hey Dustin, you can absolutely justify running high cost oils if you extend the interval to make up for it (although I have no idea what Schaeffer oil would cost him). The synthetic oils will certainly last a long time as far as maintaining a high TBN and low acidity. Your friend could add an aftermarket bypass filter and go crazy with super long oci's with sythetics.
Most of my trucks from a '97 Detroit to a '12 Volvo had the oil temps regulated at 210 and going into the 230's and 240's pulling the mountains out west. I recently traded in a '13 Volvo that allowed the oil to run up to 246-247 before cooling it. It was free to run anything up that point.
Running 15W40 for three oci's, it would run up there near the cutoff most of the time, constantly hitting the limit then cooling, and then shooting right back up. This was without climbing mountains, just cruising at near 80k lbs.
When I switched to 10W30, it took much longer to hit the 247f limit. It would get there but it took 3-4 times the miles after the cooling cycle compared to the heavier oil.
I then tried Rotella T6 (5W40) for one oci and the oil temps seemed to run even cooler. When pushing it hard in high winds and/or climbing long hills it would eventually get up to 247f to get the oil cooler to kick in but it was the slowest to climb up to that point. Mostly, oil temps remained in the mid to upper 230's using T6.
After all that typing, I believe the Schaeffer 5W40 would only be marginally beneficial in case of oil cooler failure. The synthetic could keep temps a little lower and withstand higher temps longer (lower oxidation rate) but to what point? I don't know the circumstances of your friend's truck so it's hard to say.
His oil temp is most likely regulated at 210f or abouts, so bottom line is the synthetic won't run cooler in average situations. Yes it will rise at a slower rate when climbing a mountain but that's not a big deal (unless the oil cooler is completely ruined). If he doesn't have an oil temp gauge, that would be a good addition to the truck so to watch for such problems.
I'm a Newbie Owner Operator, and I very much appreciate and listen to Tired Trucker's, Doug Hillary's, Dustyroads', and the other very knowledgeable and experienced folks on this forum.
My Truck is still under a Factory Warranty, so I adhere to the Manfacturer's requirements; 15,000 miles or 300 operating hours. It's a bit costly, but at this point, it is what it is. I picked the cheapest priced oil from one of the Big Three brands. After a lot of research and from what I've gleaned from this site, I wouldn't hesitate for one minute to use Schaeffer's fully synthetic 5W40 HDEO in my Detroit Series 60 motor, once my factory warranty runs out. Nor would I hesitate to use Mobil Delvac 1 5W40, Rotella T6 5W40, or Delo 400 5W40. I would, however install a spinner system on my motor and get into a UOA program to recoup the added cost of the synthetic HDEO.
I currently use Mobil Delvac 1300 Super conventional from Spring into late Fall/early Winter, and I used Delvac Elite 10W30 over the last Winter. I use Mobil Delvac's Oil Analysis and I've had solid results with both the 15W40 and the 10W30.
As far having oil cooler failure, I personally doubt a fully synthetic HDEO would've prevented a spun bearing, nor do I believe one would prevent one in the future. I have an oil pressure gauge and an oil temperature gauge on my dash, and I pay close attention to their readings while I'm driving, but if a catastrophic engine failure is going to happen, they're just going to happen in my opinion.
Each Trucker has unique conditions. I don't have a shop at my house, so I use Petro/TA Truck Stop shops for my pm's. I would love to have a shop at my house to do my own pm's, -hopefully I can do that one day, even if I stayed with the brand I currently use and was only able to buy them in 5 gallon pails, it would still cut down my operating costs and I enjoy doing pm's myself.
Originally Posted By: DustinAsh
I understand that trucks have ran on dino for millions of miles, this one included. He is just wanting something that is going to hold up in extreme heat more so than the delvac he was running. The spun bearing was due to an oil cooler malfunction & he was just wanting a little more protection in case of another catastrophic failure. With us selling Schaeffer's products here at the feed store he will be buying it wholesale.
Hey Dustin, you can absolutely justify running high cost oils if you extend the interval to make up for it (although I have no idea what Schaeffer oil would cost him). The synthetic oils will certainly last a long time as far as maintaining a high TBN and low acidity. Your friend could add an aftermarket bypass filter and go crazy with super long oci's with sythetics.
Most of my trucks from a '97 Detroit to a '12 Volvo had the oil temps regulated at 210 and going into the 230's and 240's pulling the mountains out west. I recently traded in a '13 Volvo that allowed the oil to run up to 246-247 before cooling it. It was free to run anything up that point.
Running 15W40 for three oci's, it would run up there near the cutoff most of the time, constantly hitting the limit then cooling, and then shooting right back up. This was without climbing mountains, just cruising at near 80k lbs.
When I switched to 10W30, it took much longer to hit the 247f limit. It would get there but it took 3-4 times the miles after the cooling cycle compared to the heavier oil.
I then tried Rotella T6 (5W40) for one oci and the oil temps seemed to run even cooler. When pushing it hard in high winds and/or climbing long hills it would eventually get up to 247f to get the oil cooler to kick in but it was the slowest to climb up to that point. Mostly, oil temps remained in the mid to upper 230's using T6.
After all that typing, I believe the Schaeffer 5W40 would only be marginally beneficial in case of oil cooler failure. The synthetic could keep temps a little lower and withstand higher temps longer (lower oxidation rate) but to what point? I don't know the circumstances of your friend's truck so it's hard to say.
His oil temp is most likely regulated at 210f or abouts, so bottom line is the synthetic won't run cooler in average situations. Yes it will rise at a slower rate when climbing a mountain but that's not a big deal (unless the oil cooler is completely ruined). If he doesn't have an oil temp gauge, that would be a good addition to the truck so to watch for such problems.
I'm a Newbie Owner Operator, and I very much appreciate and listen to Tired Trucker's, Doug Hillary's, Dustyroads', and the other very knowledgeable and experienced folks on this forum.
My Truck is still under a Factory Warranty, so I adhere to the Manfacturer's requirements; 15,000 miles or 300 operating hours. It's a bit costly, but at this point, it is what it is. I picked the cheapest priced oil from one of the Big Three brands. After a lot of research and from what I've gleaned from this site, I wouldn't hesitate for one minute to use Schaeffer's fully synthetic 5W40 HDEO in my Detroit Series 60 motor, once my factory warranty runs out. Nor would I hesitate to use Mobil Delvac 1 5W40, Rotella T6 5W40, or Delo 400 5W40. I would, however install a spinner system on my motor and get into a UOA program to recoup the added cost of the synthetic HDEO.
I currently use Mobil Delvac 1300 Super conventional from Spring into late Fall/early Winter, and I used Delvac Elite 10W30 over the last Winter. I use Mobil Delvac's Oil Analysis and I've had solid results with both the 15W40 and the 10W30.
As far having oil cooler failure, I personally doubt a fully synthetic HDEO would've prevented a spun bearing, nor do I believe one would prevent one in the future. I have an oil pressure gauge and an oil temperature gauge on my dash, and I pay close attention to their readings while I'm driving, but if a catastrophic engine failure is going to happen, they're just going to happen in my opinion.
Each Trucker has unique conditions. I don't have a shop at my house, so I use Petro/TA Truck Stop shops for my pm's. I would love to have a shop at my house to do my own pm's, -hopefully I can do that one day, even if I stayed with the brand I currently use and was only able to buy them in 5 gallon pails, it would still cut down my operating costs and I enjoy doing pm's myself.
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