08 Chevy Express, 5w-30 M1 AP, 10,148

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Originally Posted by DoubleWasp
I will never understand the desire to stick with a 30 weight oil in these engines. There isn't any generation of them that was not stuck in boats and had 40 weight oil or thicker poured into it as the factory fill.

There is nothing in the world that these engines will "suffer" from using a 40+ weight. In some versions, it is required to use 5W-50 as a minimum spec.

An RV has no chance of getting good fuel economy anyway, so what is the point?

If there's no improvement in the next UOA, dump the 5W30 for a 5W40 or 15W40 with confidence.

5W30 is spec'd as the fill for a regular van. This van has had a house built on the back of it.


Great insight and info! I'm pretty sure I'll just dump the Pen PP in 2k check the UOA and try the Rotella T6 5w-40. I have two 2,000+ mile trips planned with in 8 weeks of each other and would like to do it on a better oil. What brand and weight are you currently using in your vans?
 
Originally Posted by zorobabel
Originally Posted by sipinkoolaid
Where would I find a list of the oils that you are referring to? I'm not very well versed in this forum or resources to find what I'm looking for. Any help in pointing me to the correct oil for my situation would be much appreciated. I am currently looking into installing a larger oil cooler.

These thick 30's have a HTHS of at least 3.5: Delvac 10W-30, Delvac 5W-30, Delo 10W-30 XLE, Delo 5W-30 XSP, Rotella T5 10W-30 (has higher Phosphorus, might not be great for the cat if you're burning oil), M1 HM 10W-30, Pennzoil Platinum Euro L 5W-30, Pennzoil Euro 0W-30. I'm sure I forgot a few.
All xW-40 oils have a HTHS of at least 3.7.
Delvac 15W-40 is pretty cheap at Walmart...



Thanks for the list!
 
If it were mine, I would run M1 0w40 and test it again at 3000-4000 miles.

PP is thin.
 
Originally Posted by sipinkoolaid
Where would I find a list of the oils that you are referring to? I'm not very well versed in this forum or resources to find what I'm looking for. Any help in pointing me to the correct oil for my situation would be much appreciated. I am currently looking into installing a larger oil cooler.

DoubleWasp's suggestion of a 15w-40 is likely a very safe, low cost bet. A 5w-40 would work, too. Despite his concern about 30 grades, a 10w-30 HDEO might be worth a shot, since it would have elevated HTHS anyhow, but a 15w-40 won't cost a lot and won't be harmful.

Now, don't get concerned about seeing no SN on the bottle/jug/pail. As long as it's one that has a CJ-4 or a CK-4 and/or an ACEA E7, E9 - brand recommendations have already been made - you'll have chosen fine.
 
Originally Posted by sipinkoolaid
Originally Posted by DoubleWasp
I will never understand the desire to stick with a 30 weight oil in these engines. There isn't any generation of them that was not stuck in boats and had 40 weight oil or thicker poured into it as the factory fill.

There is nothing in the world that these engines will "suffer" from using a 40+ weight. In some versions, it is required to use 5W-50 as a minimum spec.

An RV has no chance of getting good fuel economy anyway, so what is the point?

If there's no improvement in the next UOA, dump the 5W30 for a 5W40 or 15W40 with confidence.

5W30 is spec'd as the fill for a regular van. This van has had a house built on the back of it.


Great insight and info! I'm pretty sure I'll just dump the Pen PP in 2k check the UOA and try the Rotella T6 5w-40. I have two 2,000+ mile trips planned with in 8 weeks of each other and would like to do it on a better oil. What brand and weight are you currently using in your vans?


Chevron Delo 15W-40. RT6 is not a bad place to be, but I would personally prefer the Delo 5W-40 to RT6.

I am not concerned for a 30 grade. I just literally have no idea why it is being discussed. What possible benefit could be had with a 30 grade over a thicker grade? A 30 grade will only do two things: Match the arbitrary number on the oil cap established before the van had a house on the back and was shedding metal, and some possible nebulous fuel mileage benefit. There is nothing besides those two reasons to use a 30.

These engines don't suffer any issues from thicker grades. Never happened.

I've mentioned this before, but Volvo Penta tried using what is arguably the best 30 grade engine oil ever created (Amsoil ACD) in GM V8 engines (constant high load and rpm cycles.....like an RV) and had accelerated wear issues as a result. They and all other marinizers have run away from 30 grade completely. Volvo now specs......a 15W-40. Shocker.
 
My $0.02: one newb to another: Pennzoil Plat starts out thinner than your M1 was after 10,000 miles. It may have other socially redeeming characteristics, but I wouldn't do a big trip with it in my motor, perhaps you shouldn't either. You could probably get by without changing the filter, since it's so new, but thicker oil sounds better to me too.

Now a question / suggestion: I presume you do have cat converters on this, so maybe a little care in choosing the "best" thick oil. Some diesel oils make no pretense to being compatible with gas engines (at least on their labels). Others try to straddle the gas/ diesel fence. Such straddlers would state on the bottle Ck-4 (or whatever diesel spec) as well as SN (or SL, or SM) for the gas. So, there is the question part: should koolaidsipper look for the SL, SM, or SN spec on his diesel oil bottle? Of course, SL isn't supposed to be so great for cats either. Supposedly. Or, should he look for an oil that states A3/B4 on the label instead of A1/B1 or A5/B5 (which are gas specs, right?) IINM, A3/B4, a more "European spec," would require the higher HTHS (no bottles show the HTHS spec). Every 30 "weight" A3/B4 oil I've seen is thicker than the 30 "weight" A1/B1 or A5/B5's. Especially nowadays. I haven't compared Euro to US 40 weights. But A3/B4 0w30 has been outstanding in my Subaru.

What made me think of this was seeing some Rotella T6 on clearance at a Home Depot for $20/gal yesterday. There was no SN or similar on the label. Straight diesel-only oil?? Unlike some newer Rotella formulations, which actively "straddle." I don't remember if it was CK4 or older CJ. Maybe I should skarf it up, as some T6 has a good rep for turbo Subaru's. Someone's bound to say "that was the good (old) stuff."

I'm not an Amsoil devotee, but they had a couple stout (and thick) oils: Series 3000 5w30, and Ultimate 10w40 (?). And Renewable Lubricants SHP low-ash 5-40 (or even their SHP LA 5w30) would probably be outstanding, but now you're definitely in foo-foo territory. There's some koolaid to sip.
 
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