Synthetic oils

I PM'd with him for awhile about those oil changes. he said the only thing that starts to get high on the samples is soot levels.
The gulf coast bypass filter you end up changing ever 15k miles and you have to ad a gallon of oil with the filter change so they say that is enough to reestablish the level of additives and keep the viscosity up.
On the web site gulf coast has a truck with a detroit that has run over a million miles on only one oil change. The motor was torn down at a million and inspected. It was found to be of "normal good condition for a motor of those miles" that had normal il changes. They put the motor back together, put the SAME oil back in it and are going for 1.5 million now.
Now I find that to be a bit extream but it's interesting non the less.

 

Wow, I wonder by the time he adds new filters..His sample analysis, his add on oil at the filter change etc.. If its really worth it..Id be scared to death running at that..And Im just not sure its worth a whole .008 cents per mile example.. to go synthetic..

 

If you run 3000 miles a week, you'd have to change your oil every 5 weeks with regular oil. That's 10.4 oil changes a year, but I'll round down to 10. At an average of $150 per oil change, that's $1500 a year. $150 is about the cheapest I've seen, so that's what I'll use here.

Now, if you buy Amsoil synthetic, it's about $250 for the oil, and another $30 for the filter. If you extend your oil changes to 30k, you'd cut your costs by $100 for the year, and that doesn't even count the down time saved from 5 less oil changes.

Let's say you add a bypass filter. Gulf Coast or the FS2500 are both about $600. You can now safely extend your oil changes until the oil analysis tells you to change it. A million miles may be far fetched, but going to a once a year change is easily done. $250 for the original oil, $30 for the main filter, $600 one time cost of a bypass, and the analysis kits are about $20.

The first year of savings alone will pay for the bypass filter. The bypass filter also allows you to extend your primary filter due to less particles and soot getting in there. You buy the bypass filters in bulk, and save there too. The GC filters run about $15 a piece in bulk. You'll only change them out about twice a year, and add a gallon or two of make up oil. So, that's about $80 bucks twice a year, along with 4 oil analysis reports at about $80 for the year. You just went from a minimum of $1500 a year to about $240 for the year. Oh yeah, you'll replace your primary about once a year. So, $270 a year. Once again, not including time/money saved from down time. If the analysis tells you to change the oil, add $250. Heck, you're still only at $520.

Now... Add in the fuel savings. You're going to see at least a tenth of MPG, minimum. I'd be willing to bet you see 3/10 or more. Let's say you're at 6.7, and synthetic oil gets you 7.0. At 120k miles a year, that's over 700 gallons a year saved. Even if you only get a tenth... that's still over 250 gallons a year.

Don't forget about less engine wear, less heat... All of that adds up to longer engine life.

The stuff is worth it.

 

Well its interesting to say the least..I used to avg. 7 to 8 mpg...Wear and tear is a viscosity matter regarless to what you use Synth. or reg.oil.. I did change my oil every 15000. And used 1 gallon of Lucas. My analysis would show I could have went approx. 35 to 40 % further..to extend the drain. so that puts me at around 6 a year at 155.00 ==930.00 approx. a year..From what Im seeing the first year on this system youd break even with the cost of it and all.. The sec. one youd avg. maybe 325.00 or so a year.. Total savings maybe 650.00 to 700.00 a year..I know every penny counts, but I believe this has been around a long time and the biggest majority of the industry doesnt practice this. Why I really cant say. But what I had noticed with them they have learned to extend their drains with monitoring analysis..That is interesting on the system..

 

With the higher operating costs these days almost all carries are looking to extend intervals. These systems have been around a long time, we all know how much truck drivers like changing anything. The fact that they have been around so long is reassuring to me. If motors were blowing up then they wouldn't still be around.
How can you even wonder how it could be worth it. The cost of a $2 filter every 15k miles, n oil analyasis at that time and a primry filter change around 60k does not even come close to a $200 oil change every month

 

You have to think about how these big carriers operate. They take a long time to make decisions when it comes to spending money. Even if it's to save money. They do their research on a small sample of their fleet, then see if it's worth implementing throughout. It can take a year of data before they make any changes.

We're seeing this with the wide base tires. Now that fleets know they can save money and haul heavier loads, they're jumping on board.

I'm really surprised it's taken so long to implement bypass filters and synthetic oils. The only thing I can figure, is that the logistics of the stuff being readily available in the field is difficult.

From everything I know, if I owned a fleet of trucks they would all be on synthetics and wide base tires. Fuel isn't getting any cheaper, and every penny counts. It saves me money as a single truck owner/op, so it's well worth it. If I had a fleet, my savings of about $2000 a year in oil changes and fuel times how ever many trucks is a no-brainer.

 

I do have a fleet and I do practice what I(and you as well) preach. And that is to embrace technology that is shown to improve my bottom line. I run bypass filtration sytems on the entire fleet with synthetic oil. I have anti-idling sytems on all trucks, I run michelin xta3 steer tires in all positions on tractors for maximum fuel efficiency, and do/try everything else you can think of. I have been testing the michelin x1's on a couple trucks, but have decided not to implement them fleetwide simply because my drivers don't like them. That is the only difference between you and I Beargator. I have to juggle with driver satisfaction/retention issues whenever I do anything. A happy driver is worth more to me than 3 or 4 tenths per gallon, but in many operations thatisn't true. It costs me more than that to find,hire and train one driver that meets mine and my customers standards and has the ability and desire to provide the "white glove" service that we specialize in.

As for the other poster's concerns regarding viscosity; synthetic oil does not break down near as rapidly as conventional oil. It also does not thin down or thicken up with hot or cold temperatures like conventional oil, therefor viscosity is not an issue.

As for large fleets not using synthetics and bypass systems; they are trading their trucks about every 2 to 3 years thus getting rid of them before thay ever notice the damage they have done by extending their drain intervals to 30-40,000 miles. You think the fleets change every 15k? Think again. Us Xpress, Schneider, Swift, JB and all the rest of them go at least 30,000 and some go to 40,000 before draining. If you are going to do that, it isn't worth messing with synthetics and bypass filtration.

Sorry it took me so long to jump back into this thread. I've had a very evntful week thusfar.

 

Greetings to all!

I read all about synthetics years ago and decided to try it in a new vehicle. I ordered and bought a 1998 Ford Aerostar with a 3.0 liter V-6 and automatic transmission.

Once I achieved the first oil change mileage, I drained the factory oil and installed a bypass filter. I bought and installed Mobil 1 instead of Amsoil because it was more readily available to me.

Maintenance consisted of oil samples and engine filter changes every 7500 miles and make-up oil whenever needed. Bypass filters were changed every 15,000 miles. The oil analysis would tell me a variety of things, including when to change my air filter. Interestingly enough, the Mobil 1 maintained viscosity and other properties.

The oil got an unexpected change when a bypass line failed and I lost the oil. This happened at approximately 60,000 miles and again at 130,000 miles. I sold the vehicle shortly after that.

So, after the initial oil change, I performed two more oil changes in the 135,000 miles I had the vehicle. It still ran like new when I sold it. It used no more oil than other Aerostars owned by friends and outside of the engine oil, I maintained the vehicle according to manufacturer's specs.