When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
My main thought about you saying you were switching away from the rotella was just wondering if you had experienced an issue with it, which does not sound like it is the case.
Not at all... I have been using T6 5w40 for the past 8 years and my pre-CK-4 stockpile is gone. I have seen nothing but great results and the comment from SkySkiJason only solidified what my uneducated opinion.
You are right that the viscosity is the same once warmed up, but based on my reading and research there can be underlying differences past viscosity.
Your use and temperatures are vastly different than mine. I drive the truck like I have nowhere to be in the right lane. I maintain speed at the posted speed limit, but do not travel over 65 MPH. That is why I achieve 11 - 13 MPG towing heavy and 18.5 MPG not towing. You running synthetic 5w40 absolutely seems like the right call. I was/am exploring the options available to me and testimony from people like jstihl, BWST, MD_7.three and many others helps people like me make an informed decision.
I am glad this thread was created prior to making a purchase of Triax Xw40 though, came just in time for me.
Not at all... I have been using T6 5w40 for the past 8 years and my pre-CK-4 stockpile is gone. I have seen nothing but great results and the comment from SkySkiJason only solidified what my uneducated opinion.
You are right that the viscosity is the same once warmed up, but based on my reading and research there can be underlying differences past viscosity.
Your use and temperatures are vastly different than mine. I drive the truck like I have nowhere to be in the right lane. I maintain speed at the posted speed limit, but do not travel over 65 MPH. That is why I achieve 11 - 13 MPG towing heavy and 18.5 MPG not towing. You running synthetic 5w40 absolutely seems like the right call. I was/am exploring the options available to me and testimony from people like jstihl, BWST, MD_7.three and many others helps people like me make an informed decision.
I am glad this thread was created prior to making a purchase of Triax Xw40 though, came just in time for me.
your mpg is impressive, I generally am 11.5-12.5 running around locally, 10 towing. One time I got 14.5 on the highway, empty, and I was almost estatic lol. Work truck gets about 7.5 plowing and cindering, which is 3x better then the 5.4 does
A lot has to do with where I live, the fact a lot of my trips are under 15 miles with lots of idle time, and my right foot of course.
I will be curious as to what I get towing the 5th wheel on highway, locally in the mtns, my last trip was 8.9, but tuning wasnt nearly dialed in yet.
The centurion does not get run near as hard as my work truck
Byron,
Not disputing your results but would ask that you do the DB test again when the Triax has the same 2000 miles on it the Mototcraft did. I find that my truck gets louder with any oil as the miles go up.
No worries at all Paul. I definitely will. The app is so easy to use. I can do it daily LOL. So far my truck has been pretty easy on oil. We shall see how it turns out.
Quoted the below information from another thread which was originally quoted from FTE'r Khan over in the OBS sub-forum. I have included the quote here as it clears up a bit if the details about the Truax 5w40 vs 15w40 without going into elemental analysis of the oil.
Khan posted this to OBS forum a while ago..
I copied it here,valuable info.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Well I have some slush box goodies waiting to be installed in the garage, but since oil for our trucks are a hot topic, I reached out to Triax for some info regarding their approval process, and the fact their data sheet for the 5w-40 shows 800ish ppm Zinc/Phos, yet claim the Ford approval. I'm sure this info has been covered before, but it never hurts to get the info from the source periodically to make sure it's up to date. George is the man.
Also, the link lets you compare overall formulations, such as CJ4, CK4, etc. The Volvo standard is pretty interesting though. I ran the 15w40 Fleet Ultra from Triax and didn't notice much, though that may be due to the AC injectors not being worn. I may give the 5w40 Fleet Supreme a try after my next oil change.
Hello,
I am curious about the specs for your 5w-40/15w-40 oils in a 7.3 powerstroke application. I see that the Fleet Ultra claims the Ford spec, but Ford does not have that on their approved oils listing as of this year. I know Ford is concerned about the lack of Phos/Zinc in the oil, and the 5w-40 Fleet supreme shows under 1000ppm for both zinc and phos.
What is in the additive package that makes up for the lack of zinc/phos? Are the Triax oils going to show up on the Ford approved oil listing any time in the future?
Hello Jake,
Our Fleet Supreme and Fleet Ultra oils perform absolutely superbly in all powerstroke applications. The data on the zinc at 800 is old, the current zinc level is about 1100-1200, also about 150 ppm molybdenum carbonate and 400 + ppm nanoboron. Those last two are what significantly changes the performance and makes our oils perform the way they do. This is a significantly boosted and improved additive pack vs anything else on the market. Hands down no competition.
Claiming a spec is normal, we basically are guaranteeing specification. In this case, the Ford Spec requires a API CJ-4 / CK-4 compliant oil. That's it. Nothing special about it. The ford specs are basically clones of the API Specs, no difference.
To get approved by Ford one needs two things:
Use a standard, unmodified additive pack, which is readily available for purchase on the market. Almost everyone uses one of 3 additive packs (Shell, chevron, mobil, shaffers, amsoil etc)
Pay Ford a "license" fee of 500K USD one time and then a % of every gallon of oil you make with their approval on it. If you want Ford to license your own additive pack, you need to pay them over 1 million USD fee + % of every gallon made. As a manufacturer you become a permanent cash cow for Ford.
Needless to say we are not going to be doing this. Not ever. We have modified our additive packs to offer substantially improved parameters on every level (no, Ford doesn't care). Better oxidation, better frictional properties, etc. Basically our oils are like a Hennessey Mustang vs a stock Mustang. Some people want that stock car, most do not however, when given a choice.
We do have a great many API licensed products, it took 5 years to get the approvals because they are all modified.
Also - for your reference, look here: https://online.lubrizol.com/relperftool/hd.html - this will give you a good idea of what the specs are and the level of protection for each. The absolute best diesel HD spec, with the highest required protection level is the Volvo VDS 4.5. You can never go wrong with an oil that meets this for any Powerstroke.
Jeff, how do you plan to get the oil out of the 5 gallon bucket and into the truck? You using a pump or have a pour spout or something different? I am very cautious about buying the buckets due to their somewhat cumbersome ability to use them. Maybe I could buy a single gallon jug and pump oil from the bucket into the gallon jug and then into the truck from there.
I was going to pour the pail using a funnel into an empty 1 gal or 5 qt oil jug that just had clean motor oil in it, and use it to fill the truck. Figured it's difficult enough to find this Triax oil at the right price, I better be flexible on the containers it's sold in, as much as possible. Might need some kind of a spout for the pail to make this less messy.
I just toss my clean oil fill funnel in the oil fill spout and hoisted the 5 gallon bucket up and slowly let it gurgle out the bucket's fill spout. Yeah my scrawny arm was a touch sore afterwards but I'm lazy. I don't want to go thru all the work it takes to properly clean out secondary containers to avoid cross contamination of oils, water, or granular contaminants.
We take big steps at work to prevent that on all our lubes, (as in 3foot tall 10" diameter kidney filters, that pump very slow at low pressure, every time you pump into secondary containers) and when you're pumping a 330gallon tote into a 1700gallon lube oil tank that came from a 10k gallon storage tank and you have to go thru the training we do and they drill in the effects of cross contamination, with these large volumes of dedicated containers for every lube type vs the contamination you would get in the dilution of just 5 gallons into a washed out milk jug, or 1 gallon jug of some other oil type that you had laying around that may or may not have had the lid off during a sweeping of the shop, or curious beetles, or even rain, I ain't risking it to save my arm a little work.
Grow a pair, take a lifting break if ya need to. The 5 gallon bucket will pour in from under the hood
I just toss my clean oil fill funnel in the oil fill spout and hoisted the 5 gallon bucket up and slowly let it gurgle out the bucket's fill spout. Yeah my scrawny arm was a touch sore afterwards but I'm lazy. I don't want to go thru all the work it takes to properly clean out secondary containers to avoid cross contamination of oils, water, or granular contaminants.
We take big steps at work to prevent that on all our lubes, (as in 3foot tall 10" diameter kidney filters, that pump very slow at low pressure, every time you pump into secondary containers) and when you're pumping a 330gallon tote into a 1700gallon lube oil tank that came from a 10k gallon storage tank and you have to go thru the training we do and they drill in the effects of cross contamination, with these large volumes of dedicated containers for every lube type vs the contamination you would get in the dilution of just 5 gallons into a washed out milk jug, or 1 gallon jug of some other oil type that you had laying around that may or may not have had the lid off during a sweeping of the shop, or curious beetles, or even rain, I ain't risking it to save my arm a little work.
Grow a pair, take a lifting break if ya need to. The 5 gallon bucket will pour in from under the hood
Some of us have very sore pairs from snipping........ So yea......
Anyways oil goes in, dont make a mess, several ways to do that.
I just toss my clean oil fill funnel in the oil fill spout and hoisted the 5 gallon bucket up and slowly let it gurgle out the bucket's fill spout. Yeah my scrawny arm was a touch sore afterwards but I'm lazy. I don't want to go thru all the work it takes to properly clean out secondary containers to avoid cross contamination of oils, water, or granular contaminants.
We take big steps at work to prevent that on all our lubes, (as in 3foot tall 10" diameter kidney filters, that pump very slow at low pressure, every time you pump into secondary containers) and when you're pumping a 330gallon tote into a 1700gallon lube oil tank that came from a 10k gallon storage tank and you have to go thru the training we do and they drill in the effects of cross contamination, with these large volumes of dedicated containers for every lube type vs the contamination you would get in the dilution of just 5 gallons into a washed out milk jug, or 1 gallon jug of some other oil type that you had laying around that may or may not have had the lid off during a sweeping of the shop, or curious beetles, or even rain, I ain't risking it to save my arm a little work.
Grow a pair, take a lifting break if ya need to. The 5 gallon bucket will pour in from under the hood
Tried to rep ya Wes but I'm in jail. "Grow a pair"....hahahahaha.....my thoughts exactly....even though I bought gallons jugs for a reason.
This is a great idea Paul and thank you for bringing it up as a suggestion. It just makes sense that oil would be allowing an engine to be quieter when it is fresh and right out of the bottle. Maybe @jstihl can provide some insight as to what he has seen from his vehicles if they have put on a decent amount of mileage/idle time since he first poured the oil in.
Josh, Amazon is where I am planning to purchase my supply of Triax 15w40 Fleet Supreme. I have noticed the price can vary based on the day of the week, so keep an eye out for that too. Traditionally on Amazon, the prices "could" go up a bit on Thursday through Sunday and back down a bit on Monday through Wednesday. This is not always the case, but is at times.
eBay can have deals at times, but usually the prices are on par with Amazon. Once in a while eBay will have a 10% off of everything coupon and we could take advantage of that. Additionally, sometimes sellers have the "make an offer" button available to us as shoppers. Currently Amazon is their only "authorized retailer".
I contacted Triax shortly after reading the results experienced by jstihl about selling direct from their site and they said they are still working on it, but hope to be operational soon.
If you happen to run across any deals or sales, I would be interested in knowing as I am in the market to change to the oil in the truck out before spring.
Thanks for sharing your purchase information with us all to learn from.
I know amazon raised their price on triax shortly after buying my first 4 gallons, was $89 and went up to $96, so I bought my next fout gallons from eBay for $92. I will keep my eye out for another sale and stock up some more. As far as the noise reduction after the oil change I could see where it would be possible the engine might get louder over time but as of right now I am still on my first tank of fuel so I can't really comment on this yet. I did notice somewhere else on the internet that it seemed like triax was saying that the 5w40 was Superior to the 15W40 but I don't remember the words exactly. I will be looking forward to trying the 5w40 on my f450 with tired injectors. Sous you might want to stick with the 5w40 triax being that is what you have run in your truck for so long that way you can have a better comparison of how the engine runs on triax. On the other hand I understand why you want to try 15W40. Had I known that the 5w40 was supposed to be a little better I might have went that route in the beginning. Really either way you can't go wrong I'm sure that you will be happy with the results
Grow a pair, take a lifting break if ya need to. The 5 gallon bucket will pour in from under the hood
We used to have a saying, "work smarter, not harder." Just because you can do something one way, doesn't mean there isn't a more efficient, safe and effective way that is easier on your mind, body and sometimes wallet.
Leave the "grunt" work for the times there is no other choice than to push through, lean forward with muscle and force. Been there, done that... Now I take a better path to success if possible.
Besides, I am the jackass that will slip while pouring the 5 gallon bucket, drop the bucket, break the GPR, break the cast metal fuel bowl and soak the filter with oil. As I lay there on the floor swearing, the $125 worth of oil is finding it's way down to the floor over the down pipe and manifolds and valley drain where it will sit until I can get another $125 bucket delivered to the house along with the gallon of Simple Green in order to clean up the mess.
Grow a pair you say... Some of us grew a pair many years ago and use our mind in order to not make the same mistakes we have made in the past. This is not always possible, but damnit I try.
Since I have several empty gallon jugs of T6, I will probably relabel them Triax and fill them with a large funnel. I will probably ask my wife to keep an eye on the fill level because I am clumsy enough to overfill it.
We used to have a saying, "work smarter, not harder." Just because you can do something one way, doesn't mean there isn't a more efficient, safe and effective way that is easier on your mind, body and sometimes wallet.
Leave the "grunt" work for the times there is no other choice than to push through, lean forward with muscle and force. Been there, done that... Now I take a better path to success if possible.
Besides, I am the jackass that will slip while pouring the 5 gallon bucket, drop the bucket, break the GPR, break the cast metal fuel bowl and soak the filter with oil. As I lay there on the floor swearing, the $125 worth of oil is finding it's way down to the floor over the down pipe and manifolds and valley drain where it will sit until I can get another $125 bucket delivered to the house along with the gallon of Simple Green in order to clean up the mess.
Grow a pair you say... Some of us grew a pair many years ago and use our mind in order to not make the same mistakes we have made in the past. This is not always possible, but damnit I try.
Since I have several empty gallon jugs of T6, I will probably relabel them Triax and fill them with a large funnel. I will probably ask my wife to keep an eye on the fill level because I am clumsy enough to overfill it.
We used to have a saying, "work smarter, not harder."...
Come on bud, you've met me. I'm a little guy, scale said 142# last time, and I'm often asked how much I weigh by much bigger guys doing the same work as me. So the smarter not harder saying has been second nature mantra my whole life. I don't spill during pour in.
To properly clean a secondary container to ensure your clean fresh oil stays clean is just a step I'd rather not pre plan and invest my limited time on when i know I'm capable of using the 5gal bucket. That said if I ever get the 2.5 gallon jugs again, or even the 1 gallon I'd have no qualms reusing them to transfer from a 5 gallon, assuming the lids stay on except during the actual fill and pour steps for the exact same oil brand and weights
I know amazon raised their price on triax shortly after buying my first 4 gallons, was $89 and went up to $96, so I bought my next fout gallons from eBay for $92. I will keep my eye out for another sale and stock up some more. As far as the noise reduction after the oil change I could see where it would be possible the engine might get louder over time but as of right now I am still on my first tank of fuel so I can't really comment on this yet. I did notice somewhere else on the internet that it seemed like triax was saying that the 5w40 was Superior to the 15W40 but I don't remember the words exactly. I will be looking forward to trying the 5w40 on my f450 with tired injectors. Sous you might want to stick with the 5w40 triax being that is what you have run in your truck for so long that way you can have a better comparison of how the engine runs on triax. On the other hand I understand why you want to try 15W40. Had I known that the 5w40 was supposed to be a little better I might have went that route in the beginning. Really either way you can't go wrong I'm sure that you will be happy with the results
Prices can fluctuate drastically on Amazon. If you use Chrome browser, you can install an "extension" called Octoshop that will inform you of a price drop or a specific price reached. I use this at times due to my strict budget and it works well.
I think between writing my response to Eric, what Jeff posted and what Jake shared with the OBS forum I will probably go with the 5w40 Triax. I have more digging and reading to do, but based on what I have seen that is the way I am leaning.
Thank you for sharing your insight and experience, and again, no one thought you were crazy.
01-12-2021, 10:57 AM
