Which is better? Anybody have any experience with an oil pan heater or dipstick heater?

Should I follow the owner's manual and switch to 10w30 or keep the 15w40? The guy at Ford says to plug it in and stick with the 15w40. I can plug it in the morning but after work it gets started with no plug, nasty (sits for at least 8 hrs).

 

If you're having trouble getting it going during those times when you *can't* plug it in, seems like the thinner oil is your only good answer. If it starts OK without being plugged in, but you just hate the fact that it takes longer to warm up and run perfectly, then it's your call I guess which is more of a pain - changing oil an extra time, or having the truck be ornery in the cold.

Duncan

 

i switched my oil (just for the winter) from 15-40 to delo 400 0-30 and everything seems to work great, the truck sure turns over fast and fires right up. come spring time though i will switch back to delo 400 15-40 and run that until winter again.

 

Get the 10w-30. The oil will get to parts much faster in cold weather. 15w-40 is to thick for wintertime use. Keep it plugged in at night too. Your engine will thank you for it all the time and will last longer

 

I am personally considering synthetic for my next change. I hear of a lot of guys being happy with that, especially in the winter time.

 

Synthetic is the way to go. I can let my truck sit for days on end in freezing weather and it will start right up and idle smoothly. Mobil 1 Delvac 5-40.

 

That's what I'll go with then, How often are you changing your Mobil 1 Delvac 5-40 KWIK? I change my Rotella T 15W-40 every 5000.

 

which 10-30 do you use? is it specifically for diesels?

 

I'm a recent convert myself and only have 1000 miles on the current change. Before that it was Pennzoil Long Life Heavy duty 15-40. It's a good oil but petroleum based and I changed it way too often. (I'm **** about clean oil.) I'll most likely change it out every 5000 miles which will be almost annually. It's a vacation rig so it get's very little driving except in the summer.

 

Having an oil pan heater as opposed to using a block heater is not as good of a choice. It's pretty easy to figure out that the warmer oil will flow better, but if you don't use a block heater, your engine will still grunt pretty good at start up. There isn't any substitute for a good block heater except for two block heaters, and better than that is a heated garage. On that note, has anyone here mounted one of those big rig, small diesel fired coolant heaters on their PSD?

 

I still change the Synth every 5K unless the miles are non-towing highway miles, then I go 6-8K

 

Hi, I am in Canada and run 15W-40 Amsoil AME with Amsoil filter.

Ran over 12,000 miles run oil analysis and it's still good to go.
If you have questions send to Mark@oilkan.ca

 

I usually plug in my truck when it gets around zero outside , and are fairly happy with the results. The truck turns right over , and overall warms up faster.

I was thinking of installing an oil pan heater , to go along with my block heater for next winter, hopin that it would double my results. Was just gonna wire them togther , so the stock/factory plug would activate both.

Anyone have any opinions on this ?????