What grade oil for long distance truckers?

[srivett]

Say I had a truck running from Northern Ontario to Southern Texas. Would I want to stick with 15w40 during the winter? Do transports even run 10w30 during the winter? Temperature variation could be from -40 to +40C on this trip.

Just wondering.

Steve

 

[brian]

Truck drivers have bigger concerns at 40 below than their oil. They need to keep the diesel in the side mounted tanks from turning solid. Anyone in the lower 48 would probably have 15w-40 in there and let the rig run overnight in very cold with heavily winterized fuel and lots of antigel.

 

[Stinky Peterson]

Steve you would do well with one of the synthetic 5W40 oils. You application would justify the high cost, but don't expect to run a lot more miles.

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
my 500hp Series 60 Detroits run in an ambient range from -15C to 45C (within 6 hours or so)and until six years ago I used 15w-40 viscosity(mineral & semi synthetic)without an issue

Now I use a 5w-40 synthetic - of course no issues either. In this country we do not have many areas where -20C would be reached (mountain tops perhaps - but not in a truck).
We expect we could go to -20C as a minimum without a problem though

The economics of synthetics revolve around using LL oils filters (like Donaldson's Synteq?) and my average OCI over many years is 90k kms. Average oil consumption has been 1ltr per 6000kms

Block heaters (remote or on-board) are used in the cold extreme in many countries - not here though

Fuel is circulated (and acts as a coolant) in the engine's fuel galleries - my trucks carry 1620 litres in four tanks - and fuel temperature is monitored by the engine's ECM. High and Low fuel temperatures are alarmed for engine durability reasons and etc.

Regards
Doug

[ February 24, 2005, 11:25 PM: Message edited by: Doug Hillary ]

 

[Palut]

Since you're in Canada where its available, would XD-3 Extra 0W-40 fit the bill?

 

[srivett]

It would certainly run the bill up!

The typical truck held 40 litres of oil back when I worked on them. We actually had a call to repair a US transport and when we got to it the driver didn't even have a winter jacket or boots with him. He came up from somewhere in the US and from what I can tell he never planned on getting out of the truck while in Canada.

When I asked this question I was thinking mainly of the time the truck spent parked in Northern Ontario. I think that after a run to Texas and back the O/O would want to chill out for a couple days. I suppose the O/O would run 15w40 along with coolant and oil heaters.

Steve

 

[Cyprs]

Srivett, the 0-40 XD3 100% POA syn runs 4.20 litre at Esso Bulk here in Canada, Buck more per litre of dept store shelves, it has great summer heat visc rating 100C of 15.7 and pour point of -48C or -60F. TBN of 12.2.

I find a premium 15-40 oil at $2.75 to $3.00 litre Canadian currency, the XD3 only costs me an extra $14.00 on 12 litre oil changes on my Dodge Cummins, that is great value and with a little extension on OCI it works out much same price as dino anyway.

The days of paying $8.00 litre Canadian are over if you know where to look. (I know nothing about large diesel trucking and oil requirements, I only assume this 0-40 XD3 would fit the bill for your purpose, XD3 is CI-4/SL, the specific specs for different diesels are on the bottles or Esso web site. Good luck.

Cyprs

 

[oilpan49]

I've been pondering this myself. Of course, if you work for a company then it doesn't matter because it's there decision what oil they use.

Now say if your owner/operator then yea it's all up to you. Some reasonable combo would be say, Delvac 1300 series and LC would be cost effective and at the same time, keep the motor clean. D1 5w40 with LC would be an excellent combo too. Truckers get paid by the mile. So they can rack up some long hours and high speeds on the road while hauling 80K lbs. Especially out West. If your doing 90, HA! truckers are probably doing 110,,,,,,AR

 

[Gene K]

Most Class 8 Diesels are only rated for unaided starts down to 20&#176F (-7&#176C). As stated most Truckers will not turn off a truck if oil will have time to cool to below this temperature unless they can "plug in" or have a generator.

I have discovered that most Class 8 engines will fire to 10&#176F (-12&#176C) or 0&#176F (-18&#176C) depending on whether they use a 2 or 4 battery starting set-up (all the electric starters are 24V). This is unassisted assuming they have adequate #1 Diesel blended in to avoid jelling and excellent batteries. I dont have any experience with the air starters so I cant help you on those.

The vast majority of US Truckers use 15W-40 year round. A small minority use 5W-40 Synthetic. The very small remainder are almost all Amsoil HDD 5W-30 users.

Gene

 

[srivett]

I was in at the local truck shop and was told just about everybody uses 15w40. They haven't put any 0w40 in a truck this winter but they will do it if asked.

Steve