Oil question,?

If you let truck sit overnight the oil will all be in the pan and will drain more completely faster. If you crank that doggie up before draining the oil has to drain down to the pan before out the drain plug so it will take longer.

 

It'll take longer to drain.

Cold oil don't flow anywhere near as fast as hot oil. You'll definitely be draining all day in January. Not so much in July.

 

I guess you could plug it in while its sitting overnight?

 

Better to drain it after running. Flows better and puts all the contaminents in suspension. One of the reasons its recommended to sample oil after the engine has been running.

 

I usually dont admit when I’m wrong, just on principle, but you make a lot of sense.

 

The only oil used by us for over a decade, is Shell 5W40. It will continue to be used in the future.
Those new Cummins engines when they arrive, best make friends with Shell 5W40, because they aren't getting anything else. Delo, nor Delvac will be going in them. Cummins can recommend anything they want. We have no low hour engines, so Shell has been good for us.

 

I may have told this tale before, but I'm getting old enough to be able to hide my own Easter eggs, so I apologize for any repeat content.

This was in the late 80s and I know engines and oil have changed a lot since then.

I took my truck into Western States truck shop in Boise for some recall work. Cat had learned that drilling an additional hole in the block provided more consistent cooling for #5 and #6 cylinders as I recall, and they needed to pull the head.

I was my normal nosey self and was watching the work. In those days they didn't chase you out of the shop as long as you behaved. The mechanic pulled the valve covers and asked me what oil I used, to which I replied Rotella, which was the most common oil used amongst my peers that had Cat engines. He said wow, this is really clean for a Rotella engine. I then asked him what he meant, and he proceeded to tell me that Rotella oil seemed to throw deposits that were easily seen on the valve covers. I asked him what oil produced the cleanest engines and he replied Delo. He also REALLY emphasized that he had no knowledge that one was better than the other, and said over and over that he wasn't suggesting that Rotella wasn't a good oil, just that he noticed a difference when taking them apart.

I switched to Delo 15w 40 then. We ran Delo 5w 40 in everything from pumps to heavy equipment until recently. It is so much easier to have one oil for everything, and the 5w 40 full synthetic makes winter starting at sub zero temps much easier. Most times there is no power on our job sites to plug the equipment in. We sample every change, and change at 250 hours or less.

The problem we faced was that we would have to buy gallon jugs, as buying a 55 gallon drum from the distributor was considerably more expensive per gallon than buying gallon jugs from the local parts store.

We now buy Citgo 5w 40 from another distributor, and we can take our service truck there and have it filled.

I hope we don't regret the change.

 

We have a great deal with a business called Western Equipment. We buy ours in 5 liter jugs, so bigger than a gallon.
We get a really good deal there, also buy a significant amount of other things there.
The Shell oil we use is full synthetic.
I don't watch hours or kms, every 6 weeks no matter what my truck gets an oil change.
Kms would be considered low by most people.
Its worked good for me all these years, so I don't plan on changing. Some may claim that I do too much maintenance, but that's fine by me. It gets new fuel filters every other oil change, and all fresh fluids annually. Around Christmas/New Years we close down, you'll find my baby sister and I in the shop then, going truck after truck, having a good look at them, and changing coolant, differential oils, transmission fluid, and fixing anything that we see. Also pulling the tires, changing those that need changing, checking brakes, seals, rad hoses, and all the rest. Every truck gets new shocks at that time as well. Drivers are responsible for greasing their own truck, changing oil, and doing so as I tell them. Greasing is weekly or more, as is checking tire pressures with a gauge, oil changes every 6 weeks, fuel filters every 12 weeks. Dad has been handed the task of trailer maintenance over the past few years. When a trailer is going to sit, he goes over it, and repairs as needed.

 

I should add drivers have to weekly grease whatever trailer they are pulling, and put a gauge on the tires also.