Shell Rotella Gas Truck synthetic engine oil Q&A

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wwillson

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Hello BITOG Members:

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*Hello BITOG Members: We know you are all eagerly awaiting our responses to your great questions about the new Shell Rotella Gas Truck product! As an update, our responses are a bit delayed and we will not be posting them on Wednesday, January 30th. We apologize for the delay and thank you again for participating! - The Shell Rotella Team


While we've had an opportunity to exchange thoughts with several you throughout the years, we'd like to open the floor to all of BITOG for dialogue on some of the forum's trending topics. This week select members of the Shell Technical Team will be responding to inquiries regarding the recently launched Shell Rotella Gas Truck synthetic engine oil.

Beginning today, with this post, we've opened a special thread for all of you to submit your questions to Dan Arcy, Global OEM Technical Manager, Richard Dixon, Technology Manager, and Dr. Jason Brown, Global Technology Manager. Dan has almost 30 years of experience in the lubricants industry. He has held several positions within Shell including Product Technology Manager for Heavy-Duty Engine Oils, Technical Marketing Manager and Director of Business Development. Dan works closely with OEMs on new product testing and development of lubricants, and new lubricant specifications. Richard has been working on Shell Lubricants Technology for more than 20 years, putting his degree and postdoctoral degree in Chemistry from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to good use. As the Global Technology Manager, Jason has over 13 years of experience in the Lubricants business.

The thread will be open for submissions from 10:00 a.m. EST on Monday, January 7th until 4:00 p.m. EST on Friday, January 11th, after which time, Dan Arcy, Richard Dixon, Dr. Jason Brown and our team of scientists and engineers will work together to provide answers to your questions to be posted on Monday, January 28th.

We are extremely excited for this opportunity, and we have only a few notes:

1. Please use this thread only to submit questions. Members of the team have noted that there have been questions posed in various threads, but please repost the question in this thread to help us make sure we address everything.
2. Please understand that there will be some questions that we will not be able to answer. We cannot divulge any proprietary information and can only speak from our areas of expertise.
3. Our Technical Team will also not be commenting or speculating on the products of our competitors.

Thank you all for your understanding and enthusiasm - now, let's get to those questions!

-The Shell Rotella Team
 
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What is reason this oil isn't recommended for sedans or SUV that not using for towing?
 
What is the difference between this oil and a regular PCMO you make like Pennzoil Platinum or Conventional Pennzoil ?
 
Best of luck.

Currently at advance auto parts I can get a 5qt jug of Mobil 1 5w30 for $29

5qts of Rotella Gas Truck 5w30 is $60

Question 1- How are you going to compete with those prices?
 
What advantages would this line have over Pennzoil Platinum oils in the same grades for the truck/SUV applications referenced?
(assuming that Pennzoil line is not viewed as competition to the Shell line)
Would a driver of a small "performance" SUV that is not used for towing (like me) have any compelling reasons to use this oil?
 
I for one, would be more than willing to try out 6 quarts of 5w-30 for 5,000 miles in the name of posterity and science.
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted by 69Torino
I for one, would be more than willing to try out 6 quarts of 5w-30 for 5,000 miles in the name of posterity and science.
wink.gif


This is what I call a selfless BITOGer right here!
;^)

EDIT - sorry, forgot about the questions-only request. When I am bouncing around on here, sometimes I'm not really paying attention to which thread I'm in.
 
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Originally Posted by 69Torino
I for one, would be more than willing to try out 6 quarts of 5w-30 for 5,000 miles in the name of posterity and science.
wink.gif


Me too, I have the perfect test mule.
 
Question: There is some controversy on this forum concerning oil volatility as a function of time in operating service. I believe that in-service use at a lubricant's operating temperature will evaporate the most volatile/highest vapour pressure components of the lubricant, leaving behind a distilland which has successively less volatility. Others claim that they must change oil more frequently in engines because they claim oil becomes more volatile over time due to mechanical sheering.

From the perspective of the lubricant alone (ignoring transient fuel dilution, and of course, any other mechanical dysfunction), is it correct that a lubricant that remains in-service for longer will successively become less volatile?


Question: Does the presence of gasoline in motor oil change the rate of chemical degradation of additives or basestocks attributable to a chemical reaction between the fuel and the oil? Or is any accelerated break-down, if experienced, due solely to the mechanical effects of lubricating an engine with what effectively amounts to a lower viscosity, lower-lubricity lubricant if a fuel-diluted lubricant is present in an engine lubrication system?


Question: The 0W- part of a lubricant spec refers to adhering to specifications with respect to cold pumpability. Is there any sort of minimum spec in which an oil must continue to adhere to such? ie: like 100 hours @ operating temperature? When selecting an oil that we want to have great cold pumpability performance for a lengthy oil change interval in cold weather, are there any specs or figures of merit that a consumer can consider? Aside from selecting a lubricant labelled "synthetic" from a reputable vendor?
 
My question is just a little bit more basic than the previous post:

With the introduction of Shell's Gas Truck oil, will SOPUS be discontinuing the Pennzoil Ultra line of oils?

Better still, what's the difference between Pennzoil Ultra and your new Rotella oil?

And how does Shell plan to get this product into the hands of us oil nerds? Wide distribution including auto parts stores AND other retail outlets?

That question stems from the difficulty in finding Pennzoil Ultra on retail shelves. Having to purchase Ultra via Amazon and Walmart.com is not the way to win hearts. Here's hoping for good availability!
 
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The gas truck oil and t6 multi vehicle share a bottle design. Do they also share similar/same formulations? Will multi-vehicle remain in the engine lineup?
 
Question:. What is the target application for this oil? Is this oil designed to overcome the challenges of new turbocharged V6 and 4 cylinder truck engines or is this for more traditional pushrod V8 applications.
 
Why would one choose Rotella over Ultra, Platinum or Conventional engine oil in a gasoline operation? i.e. What applications was it really designed for?
 
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