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10w-30 for 6.5 in winter

chevyCowboy

I might be crazy but i ain't dumb
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Springfield Nebraska
Do any of you guys run lighter oil in the cold months of the year? never have but need to change oil and was wondering about it
 
Nope. But it doesn't get that cold here. Although I am going to switch to Rotella T6 5w-40

What temperatures are you experiencing?

I like above synthetic is better if you are worried about cold flow.
 
I would be hesitant to if you had a 97+ with piston squirters. I know rotella now makes a 10w30 for the new ford 6.7l. Don't run a regular s rated oil as it doesnt have enough detergents in it to keep the soot in suspension. I run 5w40 in mine so it spins over quicker since i run smaller batteries due to my swap and space constraints. Really lets the engine spin over better than 15w40 did.
 
As I recall the original spec for the 6.2 engine was a straight 30 weight. Not sure if it had a winter grade in the manual. Oil has improved since 1982 and the the EPA got involved in the latest oils (2007 for diesels).

I run a semi-synthetic 15w-50... Better oil pressure when it's hot. I get nervous with a "light" base oil dependent on not shearing down when hot. (Not that I see it much in 3000 mile oil changes, but 20K in a NV5600 has sheared AMSOIL down to a 20 weight from a 5w-30 weight. Oil was lifetime reduced to 50K mile changes in later years.) Unless the polymers, that can shear down, do their job you are stuck at the base weight oil.

Reaching for synthetic is sometimes marketing term, but, makes leaks worse and IMO will start the oil cooler lines leaking. Make sure you know what you are buying with synthetic. Then be prepared to fix some leaks.

In general with synthetic I see higher oil pressure when hot and easier starting same grade. Diesel synthetic oil tends to be 5w-40 unless you custom order it. (Water thin Royal Purple doesn't count as oil.)

http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/th...bility-in-a-6-2-internal-oil-flow-info.41477/

And from the above paper we can say that changing your oil to reduce soot helps oil pressure come up faster. Or in my case gapless rings keeping soot in oil down.

High soot content or burning the oil with high temperatures will thicken the oil.
 
As I recall the original spec for the 6.2 engine was a straight 30 weight. Not sure if it had a winter grade in the manual. Oil has improved since 1982 and the the EPA got involved in the latest oils (2007 for diesels).

I run a semi-synthetic 15w-50... Better oil pressure when it's hot. I get nervous with a "light" base oil dependent on not shearing down when hot. (Not that I see it much in 3000 mile oil changes, but 20K in a NV5600 has sheared AMSOIL down to a 20 weight from a 5w-30 weight. Oil was lifetime reduced to 50K mile changes in later years.) Unless the polymers, that can shear down, do their job you are stuck at the base weight oil.

Reaching for synthetic is sometimes marketing term, but, makes leaks worse and IMO will start the oil cooler lines leaking. Make sure you know what you are buying with synthetic. Then be prepared to fix some leaks.

In general with synthetic I see higher oil pressure when hot and easier starting same grade. Diesel synthetic oil tends to be 5w-40 unless you custom order it. (Water thin Royal Purple doesn't count as oil.)

http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/th...bility-in-a-6-2-internal-oil-flow-info.41477/

And from the above paper we can say that changing your oil to reduce soot helps oil pressure come up faster. Or in my case gapless rings keeping soot in oil down.

High soot content or burning the oil with high temperatures will thicken the oil.

Don't come down to hard on oil reformulation as it was actually a GOOD thing. Back i nthe 90's and early 2000's gas engines were losing cat converters at a pretty rapid rate until they found out the cause. Zinc and phosphourus in the engine oil was getting through and burning(as a little bit always will), and they found this is what was causing the high failure rates. I know many hate emission controls, but they HAVE helped(but I do feel they have gone overboard in recent years). So the oil formulation changes actually helped as exhaust emission equipment is lasting MUCH longer now. And as much as many hate them, the equipment is here to stay, so thats not up for debate. Yes the changes have caused other issues for older flat tappet engines, but there are oils that will work for them still. So in the end the oil changes have HELPED us by making the emissions equipment more effective and last longer to cut down repalcement costs as well as people just cutting cats out and leaving them out because they failed.
 
I haven't seen any proof or test results for the cat failures caused by oil. Far as I am concerned it's theory like global warming and R-12. I have run the high zinc 20w-50 and never ruined ours in 130K and did pass emissions. Now cracking, melting down, overheating, etc. from too much fuel aka poor injection system design that wouldn't cut a bad cylinder off... I have seen them fail from an engine burning excessive oil.

Engines are very "tight" today due to EPA requirements in regard to oil allowed into the combustion chamber. And for CAFE they drop thinner oil into the engines and watch may old engine designs burn the thinner oil. Like a 3.8 Dodge minivan engine with thinner oil thrown at it in later years... Burns the thin oil from day 1. Good luck getting that warranty claim done.

Regardless the first 2007 DPF Diesel oil formulation was horrible until they re-formulated it. Wouldn't make the long haul before UOA said it was done. For example the fleet manager demand for more miles (should I say the same miles as the old pre DPF oil standard) between changes is why the TBN and other items in dyno Rotella are higher than in the synthetic version today.
 
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