Company I work for just purchased a new rig for me,09 F550 with 26,000KM and 3200 engine hours.Nice truck but I think its going to be trouble down the road!

 

I have used 5w-40 Shell Rotella T6 Full Synthetic since i have owned this truck(since new) i really don't think you can get much better quality oil in terms of oil flow. Not have running the oil i have could have resulted in a much earlier failure.

Heres a sample ruffly 35K miles ago, i was inquiring on extended oil intervals while using the FS 2500 bypass oil filter system. Based on this Blackstone OS and several others, the only thing this engine has ever been out of the norm was iron. Blackstones explanation was the application of towing causing the extra wear in comparison of other trucks samples of similar application. Its now apparent where a good portion if not most of that iron could have been coming from.

Are you suggesting the 30wt oil to increase oil pressure. With modern synethic oils now i personal have not seen a noticeable change doing that on other applications when sticking to synethics. Conventional oils on the other had i have seen a difference.

My thoughts are the engine was engineered to use a certain spec and weight oil. If you change the oil outside the spec to fix an issue(lack of oil to the top of the head during low engine rpm) what other issues might you cause in the process. That would be my only concern

 

On another note, the dealer ordered me some additional plastic retainer clips to repair the rocker arm assemblies i bought from them. They even offered free of charge......such nice guys..lol So at least all the parts are serviceable if you just wanted to do one or had to repair one.

 

Wow must be a boom truck or some type of service truck that they use a PTO a lot. Thats only .5 average MPH, and i thought mine was low.....

 

I've got that noise coming from my 08 with 50,000 on it, just not quite that loud i think. Well maintain with little to no idling. I've changed oil every 4-5k since new.
Can a few more people on here please go out and check theirs to see if they have the noise also and report back? It is a little troubling to me only after 50k mine could be heading south.

 

30 wt oil can protect better than multiweight polymer oils, under certain circumstances.
That are actually superior to a multigrade, except for the viscosity when cold.
15w40 is 15 wt oil with enough polymers in it to bring it to a 40 wt rating, but it is still just 15 wt oil.

This is at least what I've learned so far.

 

truck is service body with crane and Vmac compressor , but those combined have less than 700 hours. Unit was from Alberta.I think it spent lots of time idling in the cold.

 

Any updates on this one? My 08 had this issue at 130000. Was told it could be anywhere from a $4000 repair up to a $15000 repair if needed a short block but wouldnt know until got inside. Ended up trading it off for a new gasser. Love diesels but seem to have too many issues anymore. Shoulda kept my 02 7.3

 

In the 50s Ford and GM both had oil problems to the valve train. On the 272 292 and 312 eng on Ford had a problem with the center cam brg. would turn and you would lose oil to the valve train. We would put a t in the oil presure switch and use brake lines and tie that into a bolt in the valve cover that also was ths oil presure that feed the rocker shaft we would drill it out so the oil could feed the rockers. Ford made a drill bit that you could drill out the cam brg. but it would turn again and you had to drill again and after a few drillings you had a bigger problem brg. was gone. I had one that we used a t on the oil switch and brake lines up to the valve cover and welded it in the cover drilled holes in it and sprayed oil to the rockers as you said it worked good and saved a lot of engines. They also sold a kit it was about $3.00 plus labor but that was half day of your wages for the week. I was working in a gas station for $1.00 per hour and gas was .08 cents a gal. I was lucky when I got that job I had been working on farms for .50 per hour. in 1970 I went to work on the rail road got 2.97 per hour thought I was the richest guy in town.

 

I would have had time last week to do the repair but when i opened the new push rods i noticed they where rusted so i sent them back. Between now and the new year i don't think ill get to it, i hoping for mid Jan. I did order a set of valve covers and intermediate valve cover spacers off E-ebay for 50.00 for both sides to study and see what i can come up with. For 50.00 bucks its a cheap enough to play with and figure out.

 

Had ticking noise in my lifters on the driver side few weeks ago. Brought by the dealer and he told me if they don't race the engine for 25 seconds after changing the oil it seems to never have proper oil to the lifters. So with the truck in park and warmed up he raced the engine (pedal to the metal) for 30 seconds and my ticking noise went away. At 40K for my 2010 he told most frod diesel mech no longer do this and he was thinking why so many are having the problem. He said the next time I bring her back for 45000 mainteance they are going to go ahead to repalce both sets of lifters but if there's any damage besides wear they are going to short block it. It pays to have full maintenace plan and full converage from dealership.

 

That is just plain wrong. Full throttle it with no oil in the thing from an oil change.


Just wrong.

 

Sounds kinda hokey Aye, something I wouldn't do to an enemy let alone a customers truck.

 

I would be inclined to think so.
BUT
We had a detroit diesel generator at work, it was a series 40 I think, navistar on the cover, dt466e I think.
It had something wrong with the electronics, or was just programmed to run to 1800 RPM, it didn't have an idle or we never figured out how to use idle on it.
So it was either off, or 1800 RPM, all the time. No idle warm ups or nothing.
I mean, it would get started at -20, and smoke it's way up to 1800 RPM within a few seconds. Oil changes were the same thing, start it, and it would instantly rev up to 1800 RPM.

It did that for years, and the only issue we ever had with it, is that once a year the rear seal would start leaking, and the generator head would spray a little oil mist on the walls. Not much, just wipe up every day with some rags.
The last I saw that generator, it had 38,000 hours on it, and still never reprogrammed for an idle mode, and ran just fine.
I know thats an older generation diesel engine, but I think it is somewhat proof that people are too concerned about cold engines and oil and such. Also it got 15w40 esso oil, the cheap stuff, nothing fancy.

Think of it this way, is there a computer calibration to keep you from red-lining it when cold? No, there isn't, so they must not see a problem in doing so.
Is there a high EGT calibration that reduces power? Yes, there is, and a lot of guys with tuners exceed it a lot of the time, and think it's ok.

So why are we fine sometimes exceeding factory limits on one thing, but have so much trouble doing something that was never a factory issue?

An old mechanic once told me it takes about 25 rotations of the engine to get oil to the heads on an old car, so weather it's 500 RPM or 9000 RPM, it still takes 25 rotations. I don't know if that is totally true, even if it is, there would be some leeway on that, but the faster the RPM, the higher the pressure, the sooner parts get lubricated.

I'm not saying red line RPM is a good idea after oil changes, but I don't think it would really do anything that bad. I don't think I'll try it either though, lol.

 

Sanddemon,

I am wondering, the oil you used maybe is not an ideal oil for these engines?
It seems that some of these engines lasted longer than yours, even with normal 15w40 oil.
In fact I know a few of them personally that have more miles, and no rocker arm problems, or any problems actually, even towing.

I have to admit, I think synthetic oils are 90% hype, 10% performance. And my opinion on this is based on the fact that
guys that use synthetic that I know, seem to have just as much problems as anyone else.
IMHO, synthetics are best for small air cooled engines that have no block heater, and get hard to start in winter.

The reason I was thinking something like straight 30 wt oil, is that it is a stronger oil, that has more shear strength.
A lot of guys use it in racing engines to keep parts from wearing out so the concept is sound that it is a better oil.
Of course the major shortfall is the cold starting ability.

15w40 is 15 wt oil with enough polymers to bring it to a 40 wt when hot, but the oil structure itself is still 15 wt oil.
So seeing how 30 wt oil protects better than 15w40, obviously the polymers are not as good at lubricating as oil weight.
In fact, seeing as how 30 wt apparently protects better than 15w40, it is likely that polymers do not aid in lubrication more than a little bit.

There is a lot more to an oil than weight and detergents, and I think that maybe it's time to think logically instead of following directions.
1990 era diesels used 15w40 for lube oil, and they were in the 200 hp range and lasted a long time.
Now we are in the 400 hp era, and using the same oil, with "improved" detergents.
Sure new engines have stronger parts, but the problem is, the moving parts still rely on oil to protect from wear.
So with all the increase in power and heat, why do we still use the same oil?
I think it's fair to say that oil is a major reason why things wear out faster.

For EG, the 6.4 is higher HP than an old motor, and tighter valve springs, so more pressure on cam lobes lifters etc. How is the
same oil we used on a 6.9 IDI engine going to make a 6.4 last as long?

If you look at a lot of newer cars, they use thinner and thinner oils for fuel economy.
Maybe they have done the same thing for our trucks, but instead of fuel economy, we have been
increasing power year after year.

Does anyone have any factual proof or experiences or evidence that thicker oil or single grade oil causes damage or premature
wear to any of these newer engines?
Everyone says it's a terrible idea, but has anyone actually tried it or done a back to back comparison using blackstone etc?