Synthetic oil in dt 466 e

[Sp6saz]

Hi guys trying to learn what oil I can put in my 2006 dt466e engine. I currently have 15w-40 delvac synthetic blend. can I switch to full synthetic... if so what viscosity is recommended. I've heard talk of using 5-40 sythetic I beleive it was. But I want some experience guidng me please help.

[Veloc]

It's best to run the recommended weight oil in the engine. If you're running a blend there's no problem with switching to full synthetic. Were it mine I would use Shell Rotella oil, and would stay away from Amsoil and Royal Purple.

On the numbers, they indicate flow vs temperature. The second number, in this case 40, indicates the weight of the oil at operating temperature. The first number is an indication of how the oil flows when cold. Additives are used to alter the oil's chemistry to improve how it flows when cold. In this case, the 5 indicates that when the oil is cold it will flow the same way 5 weight will flow when cold. The reason for this is thick oil is hard to pump which wears on the oil pump and costs fuel economy, and will not get in between the bearings and moving parts to protect as well as it needs to. On the other hand, 5 weight flows easily when cold, but is practically water when hot and won't protect the moving parts at all. The additives allow the 40 weight oil to act like 5 weight when it's cold but 40 weight when it's hot. The additives themselves don't lubricate, and the wider the range the more additives there are, so you want to limit the range to the minimum needed to do the job. It won't necessarily hurt to run 5W40, but unless you live in the great freezing north I would just run the 15W40. Switching to full synthetic will flow a little better anyway, so the net effect will be similar to running a 5W40 blend.

[Sp6saz]

Veloc thanks, yeah I do live in Massachusetts. It is freezing in the winter. That's the problem I'm having is it's not running well in the cold when the engine is cold. It's great once it warms up but cold it doesn't sound to great. I'm definately leaning towards synthetic because it's what I use in my harley and I've seen for myself it protects better. Much less wear on parts and runs cooler. Just like you said I'm not sure about 5w protecting very well and I'm not sure about 15w doing the job when cold. Another reply mentioned Lucas oil synthetic 15w-40 and says their engine is much happier with it.

[Veloc]

5W40 will be fine for you then. Many northerners will change the oil in spring and fall, and they will put 15W40 (or whatever their summer weight is) in for spring/summer, then 5W40 (or -10 whatever their summer oil is) for fall/winter. You can run 5W40 year round if you want, it won't cause the engine to blow up if you do, but I would change it a little more often. More additive means less lube, so the oil will wear out a little sooner.

I like Lucas fuel system cleaner, and their differential oil, but I don't care for their engine oil. When I've used it in the past I lost a bit of mileage from it, indicating that it's harder for the engine to pump. That was in a gasoline engine though, not a diesel, but I can't see it being any different.

All that being said, diesels aren't happy when cold in any case. If you don't have a plug-in coolant heater you should look into one and you should be able to find one pretty easily as they are factory options for diesel engines. You can plug the engine into the wall (120V) and it will preheat the coolant, and this will help your cold weather startup performance.

[schoolbuscraig]

What are you trying to accomplish? Better cold starts or fuel mileage? I have conventional oil in my MBE with 117k. I wouldn’t think of changing the oil to a synthetic or a blend with this many miles. I have seen on different engines gas and diesel over the years changing the type of the oil has had adverse effects, like lifter issues and oil burning. I haven’t seen catastrophic engine failure.

[cadillackid]

I run regular ole 15W40 Rotella T4 in my diesels.. winter and summer.. change the oil every 6000 , filters every 3000.. I drive them in cold winter and hot summer....

[Sp6saz]

Originally Posted by schoolbuscraig

What are you trying to accomplish? Better cold starts or fuel mileage? I have conventional oil in my MBE with 117k. I wouldn’t think of changing the oil to a synthetic or a blend with this many miles. I have seen on different engines gas and diesel over the years changing the type of the oil has had adverse effects, like lifter issues and oil burning. I haven’t seen catastrophic engine failure.

Well I just messaged the guy at the school yard where we bought the bus and he told me they put synthetic 15w-40 in it because of the heui injection system that this bus has on it. He says they need the synthetic. I'll let you all know what happens when I'm done

[Sp6saz]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

I run regular ole 15W40 Rotella T4 in my diesels.. winter and summer.. change the oil every 6000 , filters every 3000.. I drive them in cold winter and hot summer....

The guy at the bus yard where we bought the bus studs they put full synthetic in it because of the heui injection sustenance on it. He says it's stiction caused by sheering of oil molecules and flow in cold weather I'll let you all know when I'm done changing the oil today what happens

[JimboWard]

I don’t know why anyone would say “ stay away from Amsoil “. Amsoil is hands down the best synthetic oil on the market . Prove me wrong ……

[cadillackid]

Ive used various AMSoil products for many years and never had an issue out of any of them..

[JimboWard]

Same here Amsoil is superior to any other full synthetic oil. Most people shy away because of cost . Some things in life are you get what you pay for and Amsoil is one of those .

[Veloc]

Since you asked why I don't recommend amsoil, it costs (per a quick internet search) 100 bucks a gallon, while rotella costs 31 bucks a gallon. What exactly is the benefit you're paying a 322 percent premium for with amsoil? Is it 322 percent better? No, it isn't. Even under their own slanted testing it's only marginally better, and even then it doesn't win every test in amsoil's own testing. A very small marginal improvement, maybe, in performance is not worth paying 322 percent more. While it's said that you get what you pay for, it's also said that a fool and his money is soon parted. Paying 322 percent more for engine oil that barely beats out other engine oils in amsoil's own testing, and that apparently can't even pass standard API oil tests as it does not carry an API stamp like every other quality oil in the US, does not provide value for money in my opinion. No API stamp, no independently verified quality control.

But enough about that. I don't wish to participate in an amsoil flame war. If anyone else here wants to use amsoil, you certainly don't need MY permission to do so. All you need is an amsoil salesman and a second mortgage.

[Booyah45828]

I don't know why you started 2 threads on this. But I'll post it again that you'll see a big difference in start-ability switching to 5w40 vs 15w40, and your rough running when cold is caused by injector stiction. Synthetic 5w40 will aid in that too, as will hot shot's stiction eliminator. If using those doesn't work, then you'll likely need the injectors replaced.

Also the first synthetics had issues with leaks and burning because of additive packages that weren't compatible with the seals in the older engines. You can run into that, but if he's already using a synthetic, the switch to 5w40 likely won't change anything. Most engines built in the last 20 years should be using modern seals and won't have an issue.

[Booyah45828]

Originally Posted by Veloc

But enough about that. I don't wish to participate in an amsoil flame war. If anyone else here wants to use amsoil, you certainly don't need MY permission to do so. All you need is an amsoil salesman and a second mortgage.

It's not that I think it's trash, it is decent stuff. But I'm not paying 3x more for it. And I'm tired of sleazy salesmen pimping the stuff like it's liquid gold. I had one guy come in showing me before and after pictures of a ring gear in an axle. Before showed chipped teeth, after showed one with the pattern grease still on it, and he tried telling me this customer switched to amsoil and it rejuvenated the gear . Then he brought out his load tester, did his demonstration, and I showed him a video on how easily portable abrasion testers are manipulated. It didn't matter, he was defiantly ignoring any opposing info. His last test I asked him to use the rotella ruined bearing with amsoil so I could see, with my own eyes, the "rejuvenation" of the damaged bearing back to new, similar to what the ring gear went through. He packed up and went down the road.

Once again, the stuff is okay, but at 3+ times the cost, it better be 3+ times the product, and it's not.

FWIW, at one time, amsoil couldn't meet the requirements to be dexos certified by gm, the same salesman claimed to me that the cost to become certified was too much and amsoil wasn't going to pay it. At PRI, I ran into and talked to a gm tribologist about that, and he gave me an altogether different story on the matter.

Originally Posted by JimboWard

I don’t know why anyone would say “ stay away from Amsoil “. Amsoil is hands down the best synthetic oil on the market . Prove me wrong ……

You love it? Use it! I don't care. But don't peddle bull$hit about it. I don't have to prove you wrong, you made the claim, prove yourself right.

[cadillackid]

Ive used the Hotshot secret additive and also the Archoil additive in my HEUI T-444E along with the standard ole rotella T4 15W40.. (ive never run synthetic in it) one or both of the additives got me an extra 3 years out of the injectors..



one injector was defimitely going lazy before I started with hotshot secret.. didnt notice much difference.. started using archoil and after a short while I noticed the lazy injector was working all the time even when cold..

[JimboWard]

My Goodness I didn’t mean to start an oil war here by no means . I’m supposing that you heard some anger in my defense of Amsoil and I appreciate your taking the time to figure the percentages ( most impressed ). I , nor anyone that I know has ever had to take out a “ mortgage “ to pay for oil although that was before the year 2022 , things change .I only speak from years of personal experience using Amsoil that give me that warm fuzzy feeling knowing my engine , compressor , weed whipper , two outboards with Amsoil products and thats what matters to me ;)

[Veloc]

Originally Posted by Booyah45828

FWIW, at one time, amsoil couldn't meet the requirements to be dexos certified by gm, the same salesman claimed to me that the cost to become certified was too much and amsoil wasn't going to pay it. At PRI, I ran into and talked to a gm tribologist about that, and he gave me an altogether different story on the matter.

That is very amusing, as the fee is 5500 bucks to certify 750,000 gallons, or 0.0073 cents per gallon, plus another 0.008 cents per gallon over 750,000 gallons, so he lied about the price being excessive. Plus, some of their oil (on their website) is API certified, so he lied about that too. Like you say, sleazy, as he lied about two opposing positions depending on which question is asked.

Originally Posted by JimboWard

My Goodness I didn’t mean to start an oil war here by no means . I’m supposing that you heard some anger in my defense of Amsoil and I appreciate your taking the time to figure the percentages ( most impressed ). I , nor anyone that I know has ever had to take out a “ mortgage “ to pay for oil although that was before the year 2022 , things change .I only speak from years of personal experience using Amsoil that give me that warm fuzzy feeling knowing my engine , compressor , weed whipper , two outboards with Amsoil products and thats what matters to me ;)

No worries. I wouldn't have responded back on it if I hadn't been asked why I won't recommend it. I'll continue to recommend and use reasonably priced, high quality, API certified engine oils, and you can continue to pay three and a half times more for questionable oil that doesn't pass API certification. I'm glad you haven't had any engine failures from it.

[cadillackid]

rewality though is people are far more likely to blow their engine by ignoring the screaming temperature alarm and the oil P gauge on Zero long before some synthetic oil does it..


seems all the time there is the "my bus engine blew up and the oil stick was dry".. or the "the temp alarm was going off but i didnt believe it because it was 6 degrees outside".... facebook skoolie groups are a hoot sometimes..

[Hane]

Rotella 15 40 for me. I have the 444e and the dreaded 545 tranny but it’s not as bad as everyone makes out I have got plenty of miles on this set up. I have been pulling a 20 ft car hauler with it and has done quite well. I run the rotella 15 x40 in engine and transmission with zero problems In the last 8 yrs. Also added a good size tranny cooler

[Hane]

I also run a scan gauge. I have been driving a transport for 25 plus yrs. Keep it serviced and don’t over heat it and it will treat you good