Opening Statement: I have made a personal decision to use dino oils. While I'm sure synthetic oils are great and may have some benefits over and above dino oils, I'm satisfied that changing my oil every 5K or so with dino oil is sufficient for me.
Since I won't be towing too much this winter, I decided to go with 10w-30 oil on the oil change I did yesterday. I figured the 10w-30 might be a little easier on the truck given that winter finally decided to visit us in Cincinnati. So I went to my local Wal-Mart and bought CJ4 rated Rotella 10w-30. (FWIW, I have been using Delo 15w-40 with good results and will probably return to it in the Spring.)
I've only driven about 20 miles today, so this is VERY preliminary...
I purposefully did not plug the truck in last night. Our temperature this morning was about 28* and it warmed up to about 27* this afternoon. So the truck sat all night and all day up until about 3:00 or so. I went out and turned the key on until the glow plug light went off. It cranked right up with ease and seemed to idle a little smoother than before. I let it run about a minute then eased out of my driveway and drove toward town. The truck was pumping heat within about 3 miles or so. The truck was pretty much warmed up after 5 miles or so. In town, it felt like I had a little more pep than usual but that could simply be due to the fresh oil (the old oil had just over 3500 miles on it).
My wife drives the truck everyday to work and she only averages about 12.5 mpg typically (all in town driving). I can do better, but she likes to use her right foot to show off sometimes :smokin:. At any rate, I topped the truck off today and will see if I notice any difference in the MPGs with this first tank on the fresh 10w-30 CJ4 oil.