Oil suggestions?

[Power Surge]

What does everyone run for oil in their FEs, especially in the hot summer? I used Castrol GTX (high zinc content) 10w30 for the first 3k on my motor and it's time for some fresh oil. Is anyone using 10w40 or even 20w50 for the hot summer? I'm pretty new to FEs and just don't know what they like. Thanks!

[mpanten]

When I bought my car ( not an FE) I was suprised to learn that Keith Craft recommends 15/40 diesel oil. I called them to double check. Sure enough, they said there are a lot of additives and cleaners that make work really well. They also mentioned that synthetic was good but it had a tendency to find leaks that normally would not be there.

[CSX 4027]

Valvoline Racing Vv851
We Have Done A Lot Of Testing And No Matter What Anyone Says, This Is All I Will Use In A Solid Lifter Motor

[55312]

Rotella 15w40. This is the older formulation from the end of last year. High zinc content diesel truck oil. Problem is, they changed the formulation to reduce the zinc in January. I bought 3 cases last winter when I got word of the zinc reduction. I'm not sure where to go after I use this up

Tim

[BigRed427]

I have a 427 FE and use 20W50 w/a Motorcraft filter

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Rowtella T 15/40 is hard to beat, been using it exclusively in everything I own from the garden tiller and riding mower up to my F-250, wife's car, daughter's car, 65 Fastback, and my company car (Toyota)........ for about 15 years now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW: as of today the Toyota has a tad over 352,500 trouble free miles on it and other than the oil in the motor when shipped from Toyota, it has had nothing but Shell Rotella T 15/40 in it with oil/oil filter changes every 4,000 miles..................

David

[CSX 4027]

It used to be good but the formula has now changed. You won't hear the same touting going forward

Originally Posted by DAVID GAGNARD

Rowtella T 15/40 is hard to beat, been using it exclusively in everything I own from the garden tiller and riding mower up to my F-250, wife's car, daughter's car, 65 Fastback, and my company car (Toyota)........ for about 15 years now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW: as of today the Toyota has a tad over 352,500 trouble free miles on it and other than the oil in the motor when shipped from Toyota, it has had nothing but Shell Rotella T 15/40 in it with oil/oil filter changes every 4,000 miles..................

David

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Steve;
they may have changed the formula, but so far it works for me...... I don't think I have ever gotten rid of a vehicle with less than 100,000 miles on it and have not had any problems with any vehicles I've had, so far, knock on wood.......

As long as I get the mileage out of my vehicles like I have been getting without any engine problems, I'll stick with Rowtella T........

I also use it for the break-in/dyno of my race motor, then afterwards switch to 20/50 Mobil 1 synthetic.......The Mobil 1 holds up a lot better to the high oil temp I see in the race motor........

David

[ENTDOC]

http://www.lnengineering.com/oil.html

[CSX 4027]

For street vehicles like your 250 etc etc, it will be fine regardless of the formula change.
We did see a change in lifters that came out of a race motor with the newer formula.
I personally wouldn't use the new formula for anything high performance solid lifter.
Mobil 1 has also gone thru many changes.
For racing it was good, then it was bad, then it was good again. I haven't been using it except in my Lightning Motor truck and have had 25,000 flawless miles so, I guess it's good in that application.

[Power Surge]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I went with the Rotella T. Ironically, I've used it for years in my powerstrokes, but it never dawned on me to use it in anything else.

I understand Steve's point of the different formula, but my motor is far from requiring anything like Steve is used to. It's just a mild, all iron, hydraulic lifter FE.

My main reason behind the question was to see what weight people were using in the hot months.

[CSX 4027]

Originally Posted by ENTDOC

http://www.lnengineering.com/oil.html

Great link........Thanks for posting it

[ENTDOC]

it is one of the few seemingly unbiased reports I have seen

[rdorman]

Did the formulation of the Synthetic 5W-40 Rotella T change?

[DavidinDurango]

If you are running flat tappets the zinc content is a concern.

If you are running roller tappets, any good modern oil should work, choose a correct wt. for your conditions.

Rumor is GTX scooter oil has high zinc but I haven't confirmed this yet.

FWIW, I find the Rotella holds pressure better than the previous "gas" oil I was running.

YMMV

[RedCSX1]

I run a Pure Power one pass oil filter. which means that the oil is filter in one pass through the filter media instead of flowing along the side of a paper filter into the plastic by pass. Anyone that is running the cheap five dollar oil filter on their $20,000 or more FE is crazy in my opinion. Its amazing the stuff the filter trapped, and I was extremely careful during the engine assembly process.

I also run Rotella T in the Cobra and the Yamaha FJR1300

www.gopurepower.com

[Nantucket427]

I was surprised when my machine shop told me to run Pennzoil long life diesel motor oil in my FE. I have got 15w-40w in it right now. I used GTX before the rebuild. I can safely say that the engine has better oil pressure and the oil seems to be cleaner longer with the Diesel Motor Oil. I am very satisfied with the oil, 5000+ miles

Here is the link.

http://www.pennzoil.com/products/LongLife/pickups.html

[mpanten]

Keep in mind that if you are like most people on this board you will not be waiting 5-7k miles between oil changes. Im no expert but any of the good 15w40 diesel motor oils should work well. Mobil 1, Castrol, Rotella, all would be fine choices. I run Castrol, if anyone has information that I should be running something else or that there is something wrong with the Castrol 15w40 please let me know.

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Keep in mind that if you are like most people on this board you will not be waiting 5-7k miles between oil changes. Im no expert but any of the good 15w40 diesel motor oils should work well. Mobil 1, Castrol, Rotella, all would be fine choices. I run Castrol, if anyone has information that I should be running something else or that there is something wrong with the Castrol 15w40 please let me know.

I agree with you 100%..........I started using Rotella T 15 years ago, cause Wal-Mart carried it and it was less expensive than any other deisel oil they had......Now I can get it a little cheaper than Wal-Mart at a Shell bulk plant 15 minutes from my house and can get it in 5 gal. containers or 55 gal. drums as well as the one gal. containers..........I get my race gas there, so I generally get a good supply of oil while I'm there getting race gas..........

David

[MaSnaka]

Whats the reason for running deisel oil in a gas powered FE? I have never heard that before? Thanks John