Rotella t5 instead of t4 (cannot find any)?

I can speak for Rotella. I’ve got 3 Cats that all went over 2 million km on the stuff, and they looked like new ones inside when I pulled them apart. Coolant is a problem with Cats, I always spun a pelleted filter on them at least once a year and changed the coolant at bearing rolls and never had any of the coolant related issues others had.

 

I thought it was a rumor too. That's why I went ahead and tried it. I'm not 100 percent convinced it's not a rumor anymore. Kind of wish I never used it at all now. From what I understand, it's not about the seals per se but its about the crud that's up against the mating surfaces behind the seals edges. Synthetics have more cleaning agents and as they clean/remove the gunk it opens areas for leaks to happen.

 

I generally order all my fluids from Walmart.com at the same price as in the store. Delivered to the house with free shipping if you order over a certain amount. Last time I order it $50 order got me free shipping. At that time the store I go to occasionally didn’t have any but I got over a dozen gallons online with no waiting.

 

Im hoping to hold off for doing it till i get a new transmission as well (ive put 600k on a trans that had a misding tooth on reverse when i bought it, shes due ) as doing motor mounts as well, was just seeing if you had done it yourself or roughly remembered labor cost or time involved.

 

The rear structure is a job. Labor time? Never know. I did mine along with the rear main seal, when I did the clutch. Neighbor of mine got charged $6k for same clutch, seal, and re/seal and motor mounts. At least half was Labor. I’m guessing) $800-$1600 extra labor for a re-seal. Could be anything, though. Tough job, can be done. I’ll loan you my Garbor Freight jack if needed. Use at your own risk. It’s a dirty tough Job that almost broke Me down, Lol. Well worth an extra $1000 Labor IMO, if already doing the Trans. $ 2000 total seems fair to me.

 

They have some hit and miss deals on tires also. Different 3rd party vendors. Free delivery to the Local Store, Business address, sometimes House address. Deals are few and far between. Some brands I’ve never heard of, Lol. Along with all major brands. Delvac is on a rollback deal this week. Like to catch a nice set of Firestone 24.5 Lopro Drives on rollback. Lol.

 

Delvac for the win.

*****Disclaimer ***** Without question the hardest I've ever seen engines worked were in the mixers. They used Delo.

 

That's not my understanding. You go from several hundred thousand miles or several years using mineral, then switch to synthetic, it will start to leak everywhere.

 

Rotella is the absolute best out there, in my humble opinion. Maybe I am just biased because that is all my dad ever ran. I have ran T4, T5, and T6 in my trucks. All kept the DPF filter at very low load capacity (engine oil ash content and additive package is important for the DPF filter). Oil consumption was non existent and zero blow by.

I prefer T5 15W-40 though as it is a blended synthetic. I usually change myself every 20,000-25,000 miles, and the oil lab report always come back with exceptional results regarding engine bearing wear etc. T5 is typically competitively priced and in stock at WalMart.

A side note about Delvac though: I tried it once and didn't much care for it. I had excessive regens and soot in the DPF filter. Not knocking Delvac though, maybe it was just a coincidence. Delvac is probably a decent oil and you can always find it at a bargain price.

I thought about switching to this Chevron Delo 600 ADF with Omnimax, as it is advertised as a super low ash content oil that is great for the DPF filter. I have mixed feelings though... I still think Rotella is the best.

Here is a video about how the engine oil impacts the DPF filter (and maybe even the EGR cooler and valve, I would argue).

Just my opinions though. Hope it helps! (I want a pre-emissions truck so bad )

(60) Lubricant Engineer thoughts about Chevron Delo 600 ADF. - YouTube

 

Thats not bad, i figure this one will be a solid 2 weeks down and 15 k while my mechanic does it when everything is all said and done, just want to be more ready than sticker shocked.