So if you look in our books no where does it recommend 5w-40 but it also say 10w-30 if you are below about 32, and 15w-40 is not recommended below 5 degrees, so

My question is this for a truck with higher milage that it always loaded day in and day out (no less than 500lbs in the bed ever) often pulling a trailer.  The truck sees -30 to plus 45 during the winter months alone.  What do I use I have been told all you can use in a 24valve 5.9 is 15w-40  but then have been told that I should run 5w-40 in winter but amsoil and dodge/cummins don't list that weight as recommended.  What would you guys recommend?  

Sorry to beat a dead horse....

 

 

I have always run 15w 40. I dont see the single digit temps very often at all where live and even in my travels for work. The teens I see some but mostly just in the 20's. Never had any issues with the 15 40 in 15 years and 390k miles.

I've been using the 15w-40. I see maybe a week worth of time where the temperature falls to at least -30*F like right now its +27*F. I never panic about oil viscosity a few days of cold isn't going to break the truck. I'm not going to panic and constantly change oil everytime the weather changes. In the next few day I'm forecast to go right back down to 0*F again.

 

I'm not going to change oil just for a few night worth of cold.

1 hour ago, WiscoRedkneck said:

So if you look in our books no where does it recommend 5w-40 but it also say 10w-30 if you are below about 32, and 15w-40 is not recommended below 5 degrees, so

My question is this for a truck with higher milage that it always loaded day in and day out (no less than 500lbs in the bed ever) often pulling a trailer.  The truck sees -30 to plus 45 during the winter months alone.  What do I use I have been told all you can use in a 24valve 5.9 is 15w-40  but then have been told that I should run 5w-40 in winter but amsoil and dodge/cummins don't list that weight as recommended.  What would you guys recommend?  

Sorry to beat a dead horse....

 

 

I'm an amsoil dealer and I run 15 -40 oe synthetic all year round no issues it has a lower pour temp it is around -37 so u would be fine it still stays liquid enough even my distributer runs 15-40 in his 4ty gen and never noticed it crank slow it's all about the pour temp bud

Thanks for the replys and I see at least 2 weeks below 5 degrees.  My thoughts were this switch to synthetic and increase change interval and then need to plug in less.  

That's a big deal to me since where I see those temps are up north at the logging camp and power is had by a generator so plugging in isn't just that up there....

U can run oe synthetic 15-40 I get that for just upwards of 60 bucks a case 

2 hours ago, WiscoRedkneck said:

My thoughts were this switch to synthetic and increase change interval and then need to plug in less.  

 

I'd say be careful doing this... 

I switched to 5w-40 at ~170,000 miles and I'm over 220,000 now. I run it year round, -30* to 100* loaded up and towing. Main reason is extended oil change intervals. The oil analysis always come back looking good.  

But as with any oil debate you need to do what works best for you, and gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside. 

here is what i do..i only change my oil a few times a year.. spring the trucks get 15-40, all summer long, then fall i run 5-40.

do i need to? not really, but i have several times when it's well below 0, and well, i'm OCD.

if you see lots of starts at -30, then i would run 5-40, Valvoline, Rotella, what ever your pocket book can handle, any really that meet the spec will be just fine. i;m a fan of Valvoline and Travellers from tractor supply.

as for extending drains, only a UOA can tell you how far you can go.. i change my oil at 7500-8000 miles. my UOA tell me i can go to 10K, with the TBN at 7.6...

 

5 hours ago, Buzzinhalfdozen said:

I switched to 5w-40 at ~170,000 miles and I'm over 220,000 now. I run it year round, -30* to 100* loaded up and towing. Main reason is extended oil change intervals. The oil analysis always come back looking good.  

But as with any oil debate you need to do what works best for you, and gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside. 

 

Winning answer.....

I drive semi for a living, we use 15-40 year around. I don't go where it gets hot much, but do go to the north end of Michigan peninsula in winter never had any problems.

26 minutes ago, klcammie said:

I drive semi for a living, we use 15-40 year around. I don't go where it gets hot much, but do go to the north end of Michigan peninsula in winter never had any problems.

 

 

Exactly. All the big over the road trucks around here including logging trucks run 15w-40 year round.

When you look at semi-truck running 15w-40 petroleum engine oil year round up here in minus weather. That why I can't buy into the synthetic oil or having to back down to lighter weight oils idea needed for winter time for our little trucks. Then like here you might have 5-7 days of minus weather and then next week it could be near +30*F. I can't see the need to panic and change oil every time the weather drops cold. Like tonight its +22*F here at the house +15*F in New Meadows. 

 

Then there is logging company up here in New Meadows that leaves their truck all sitting outside unplugged and no they don't change oil every time the weather changes to super cold.

There are MANY oils available that don't require you to change it with the weather. 

 

Running dino 15w-40 at -30°F, without any pre-heat, is just plain dumb. The cold pour point of most dino 15w-40's is -25-27°F so at -30° the oil wont flow properly.. hell it won't even flow at -10° at a decent rate and there is a reason Cummins doesn't want it ran below 5°F.  

 

If you want to run one oil year round, and live where you experience 0°F or colder, I would run a synthetic 5w-40 or 15w-40. Amsoil AME 15w-40 is what I run year round. It flows well in the winter and it handles the heat of towing better than dino oil. I get 12 months out of each oil change. 

 

I had to run dino 15w-40 one winter and even with moderate above 10°F temps the time to build pressure was substantially longer. Startup is the single most damaging time to oiled components, so good, fast flowing and clingy oils are important. 

 

http://vid79.photobucket.com/albums/j156/ah64id/Yotatech Stuff/IMG_11971.mp4 

 

10w-30's can be ran in the ISB; however, there aren't many that meet the Cummins requirements for a 10w-30 so it's best just to steer clear of them. 

i ran this one once.

http://hd.valvoline.com/our-products/valvoline-premium-blue-8600-es-synthetic-blend-heavy-duty-diesel-engine-oil

but the price point wasn't there for me. i can get the 5/40 and 15/40 way cheaper.

So after getting everything fixed I did a start up below zero plugged in with 15w-40 dino and it took about 15 seconds for oil pressure and one shut down and restart after 10 seconds of no pressure.

0 degree start no block heater with 5w40 synthetic got me pressure in 4 seconds... 

I will no longer run 15w40 dino in the winter and IMHO below 5 degrees for multiple days it is unwise to run dino oil 

BTW today is the first day of the week to see 0 degrees whaw-hoo we got a heat wave 

Where do you live?  Vostok Station?

Hahaha I share time in Bell Wisconsin with the second log camp in Carbury, North Dakota 

I'm leaving for ND on the 18th just for grins it -21 up there right now

Edited January 11, 20178 yr by WiscoRedkneck