Did UOA on Rotella, Delo, Valvoline, Amsoil and Penn Euro-L 5w30 (factory fill at the time). Different packages were evident however all wear metals similar and differences statistically insignificant. IMO Valvoline did have slightly lower #s yet insignificant. My take away being all are great and price point is my deciding factor. Interestingly the price of Amsoil 0w40 was negated by 19k runs. In the end the higher price was a wash considering it saved me 1 oil change every 20k.

Couple of thoughts...go a full 10k otherwise your wasting oil and money as demonstrated by TBN and wear metals in your UOA. BS recommended going 15k after they okayed 13k. I now change 11-13k. Don't go beyond 10k or use a non approved oil in an engine under warranty.

 

Did UOA on Rotella, Delo, Valvoline, Amsoil and Penn Euro-L 5w30 (factory fill at the time). Different packages were evident however all wear metals similar and differences statistically insignificant.

This is why I argue to the Amsoil koolaid drinkers that you don't need a boutique oil when t6 works well for the application. It's like driving a Rolls Royce when a Honda will still get you there.

 

Silver being 0 is a huge difference since the outer babbitt layer on the mains is silver.

 

Don't tell everybody to just get T6 in the correct viscosity. That way when I go for more oil there will not be such a demand that I can't get some.

 

Isn't the Kool-Aid 'Multilevel Marketing' flavor, hence the incentive to argue? I do believe it is superior for extended runs however its also 2023 and not 1972.

To your point and my engine results, the majors produce comparable wear metal numbers in 10k as Amsoil did in 19k.

 

Isn't the Kool-Aid 'Multilevel Marketing' flavor, hence the incentive to argue? I do believe it is superior for extended runs however its also 2023 and not 1972.

To your point and my engine results, the majors produce comparable wear metal numbers in 10k as Amsoil did in 19k.

The real point being most of us would never go 19K between oil changes so we will never know if the numbers would be comparable.

 

First - use a better lab.
Second - @biodiesel will tell you I recommend Delvac1 and Premium Blue as better shelf options.

As for the differences - you see what at least appears to be lower wear metals with the Premium Blue.
I don’t fully trust the sample as you should have slightly elevated copper (chelation) with the switch.

The Valvoline is more friction modified. You see Moly added, with less Boron (which while a mild friction modifier is more an anti-wear at mid-temps).
You see the TBN hold up better. This is the magnesium detergent. It has more of the expensive magnesium detergent, and less cheap calcium detergent. This works better in an engine with relatively minimal blow by and fuel mixing. In a “dirty” environment, like a methanol car, simply having more detergent will be beneficial, so a load of cheap calcium works. With extended intervals, and street engines, this balance with more premium detergent is superior.

While I very much prefer results from an ISO lab (Polaris, Wear-check), which will have GC Dilution and Oxidation, as that provides some valuable insight, this shows that the oil is vastly better.

I recommend running it the9K they advised, and testing it. If they tell you to extend further, divide the interval, swap filters, and continue extending - until wear metal rates elevate, or TBN depletes.

 

First - use a better lab.
Second - @biodiesel will tell you I recommend Delvac1 and Premium Blue as better shelf options.

As for the differences - you see what at least appears to be lower wear metals with the Premium Blue.
I don’t fully trust the sample as you should have slightly elevated copper (chelation) with the switch.

The Valvoline is more friction modified. You see Moly added, with less Boron (which while a mild friction modifier is more an anti-wear at mid-temps).
You see the TBN hold up better. This is the magnesium detergent. It has more of the expensive magnesium detergent, and less cheap calcium detergent. This works better in an engine with relatively minimal blow by and fuel mixing. In a “dirty” environment, like a methanol car, simply having more detergent will be beneficial, so a load of cheap calcium works. With extended intervals, and street engines, this balance with more premium detergent is superior.

While I very much prefer results from an ISO lab (Polaris, Wear-check), which will have GC Dilution and Oxidation, as that provides some valuable insight, this shows that the oil is vastly better.

I recommend running it the9K they advised, and testing it. If they tell you to extend further, divide the interval, swap filters, and continue extending - until wear metal rates elevate, or TBN depletes.

So given the choice would you go with Delvac1 or Premium Blue ? Currently they are almost the same price

 

After reading a lot about the bearing failures and their relation to oil, to me, the fuel dilution seems to be a possible culprit

 

Here’s what we know - some of these were failing before 20K, often before 10K - many of those were likely due to machining tolerance issues. Line bore as it’s been said.

We’re seeing a group of them with higher mileage failing, which has been occurring throughout. FCA documented this in filings - high load, low RPM.

T6 did not improve oil film strength over the 5W-30. It has a similar HTHS (bearing film thickness) performs worse under a heavy loading (it’s 30% thinner at a factor of 10^7 load than the 5W-30) is less resistant to dilution, and has almost all primary ZDDPs, so it’s very slow to react/easy to strip compared to the 5W-30 Euro.

If you know a bit about engines - when you slow it down, and increase load - the crankshaft tends to twist a lot. Do this across a resonance frequency, and you can end up with a destructive harmonic vibration. Destructive resonance frequencies occur at lower RPMs.

I recently did an oil change for someone who shortly thereafter, in spite of a perfect oil report, had an engine failure. He said the truck had dropped economy - was down to sub 21 on the highway on long trips - was seeing 15-17 average.

My initial assumption was DPF. But the report didn’t show signs of that. No dilution, no additional soot, nothing.
After the engine replacement, he dropped in for an oil change again - I went looking around the truck for problems - what we found on his - the left rear park brake shoe was rusted and applied 50% of its travel motion. Hammered it loose, in spite of running 10 mph faster the rest of the trip - mpg went from 19.7 highway coming here (I’m several hours away) to 23.7 by the time he reached his destination.

I would assume anything that causes a significant load would risk the engine. The change in oil appears to be aimed at using the thicker oil to create a windage bath that acts as a crankshaft damper. Given the fact I still see failure(s) posted weekly, I’d say it had limited efficacy.

 

It's difficult for me to put 15,000 miles on either truck in a 12-month period. If my trucks were strictly highway warriors, then I would run 15,000-mile intervals with a bypass filter and Amsoil. Instead, my idle times, short trips, towing, heavy biodiesel use, and emissions is pretty hard on the oil.

 

Luckily we were just over an hour from our camping spot and we do a family vacation. My oldest son carried on to the camp ground with his 19 Hemi, dropped of his pop up camper and family and came back for us. While he was gone my wife and I unloaded the truck on the side of the road and called for a tow for the truck to the nearest dealer in Kingston. While waiting for the tow I took my tune off so as not to loose it. My son didn't like pulling my trailer as he got around 9 mpg. My Eco was running at around 16. I had my younger son bring my Jeep Grand Cherokee to the camp site on the Friday before leaving the campground on the Saturday for home. I pulled my older son's pop up home and he pulled my TT. His truck didn't have a brake controller, so it was a careful drive home and a few more fuel stops for him.