My Son who just joined us a few days was reading in the Ranger & B thread about filters and in the tread someone posted that he used Rotella T oil in his engine.My son asked me about it and I told him that the oil we used in trucks with diesels.He also asked me if it could be used in gas engines and I don't know if there is a benefit in using it in gas engines or not I do know that it has a few additives for better lubrication and made me think. So can it be used in gas engines? Giving it could reduce friction?

 

Yes, lots of folks do to good effect. It is a very good oil.

Most diesel oil has a great additive pack, just make sure you run the correct weight.

Delvac is also very good diesel oil that folks use in gas engines.

 

What weight would I need to run for a 2.9 V-6 and a 460?

 

I would stick to the weight recommended by Ford...not sure what it is for your engines, though.

 

For any Ranger, I wouldn't go out of my way to look for a dual rated oil like Rotella. It has both a diesel rating and a gas engine rating, hence the dual rating. There are diesel only oils and will destroy your gas engine, buyer beware. The Rotella will have a larger add pack but it is mostly detergents and anti-foaming agents. The plus side is that it will have stronger basestock so it should hold up better if things go into extremes but there are no guarantees. It will not provide less friction. Your Ranger should use at a maximum a 10w-30 and preferably a 5w-30 as the oil will flow quicker at cold startup. Most of the Rotella will be 15w-40 which is on the thick side for your engine. Depending on the year model and engine, you may want to check to see if your engine is backward compatible with the 5w-20 930a speced oils. They are for real and are producing low wear metals. Remember that a thinner fluid flows easier and will absorb and release heat quicker so the 5-20 oil are better for high heat environments. I know, that goes against everything we were taught many moons ago but that was many moons ago. Todays 930 oils are real winners and oil analysis is backing that up.

Edit:
Okay, I missed the 2.9 V6 and the 460. The 2.9 is not backward compatible to a 5w-20. I would suggest a 5w-30 oil high in moly and boron. Check out Havoline, Chevron Supreme, and Pennzoil. If one of those is a favorite- there's yer oil. Unless the 460 is using oil or just needs a clean up inside, I wouldn't recommend the Rotella. I would stick with one of the oils mentioned above. Rotella can be beneficial to an old engine like the FE engine or Y models where their design included the large amounts of ZDDP that we had in the oils years ago. You can also buy at the Dollar stores CD2 Street Legal Oil Boost. It has a slug of moly in it and is about the only additive out there worth considering. It is in an obnoxious PINK bottle- you can't miss it.

 

Thanks everyone

 

Hi Flash, hope things are well.

IIRC, you have noted on previous occasions that ZDDP is a disappearing breed of additive and that flat tappet cam engines (OHCammers in particular) might be at risk because of that.

Inasmuch as Rotella-T comes in a 5W-40 which is seemingly becoming more and more available, with it's cleaning properties and "semi-synthetic" properties, why wouldn't that be a good choice for Old Tired Rebel's 2.L? Why is moly more important in this case?

Also, you used to have a good opinion of Valvoline's Synpower additive, but now it appears you like the Legal Oil Boost stuff better (which I have not yet seen on shelves). Why the shift in opinion on that subject?

 

One of the reasons you see this oil used in gas engines is it's zinc and ( I forget the other element) content. These aren't found in regular oils anymore thanks to the Feds. It's needed for flat tappet cams, especially for break in and is good for the engine overall.

 

I use Chevron Delo 400 in older engines and they stay spotless inside. I understand the "use only exactly what the owners manual states" argument and it is generally valid, but you are talking about older engines here with the 2.9 and 460. Unless they are freshly rebuilt, go for it with the Rotella T, at least in summer. 15W-40 is rated for cold starting down to -15C (+4F). These oils are dual-rated for mixed diesel and gasoline fleets.

Jim

 

I dont doubt you here, but, how would this happen?

 

Rusty, the diesel only rated oils will have a much higher TBN (total base number) than a dual rated oil. TBN of 20+ is not out of line. TBN is a measure of the reserve alkalinity additive which is designed to handle sulfur and its combustion by-products. Diesel fuel has a lot of sulfur in it. Diesels also have a much great blowby which are highly corrosive. The blowby is a characteristic of the design. So a high TBN sounds like that is the ideal thing for a gas engine- right? Well, this is one of those things that "if a little is good- a whole lot is better" is not a good thing. In the presence of water/high humidity, the excess carbonates (this is the additive that makes up the TBN) recrystalizes to form larger particules that are carried to the cylinder walls via the oil.There, they are exposed to the combustion cycle and that process produces calcium sulfonates. These deposits are very abrasive, will promote bore polishing (wear), and will eventually make the piston sieze. If the oil is API rated for diesel and gas engines- it has a reasonable TBN. If it is diesel only rated, the TBN is too high for use in a gas engine and damage will occur. When the new low sulfur fuels are the standard, which is suppose to be by January 2007, the new diesel rated oils will be meeting a new API standard and the additives and TBN will be reduced dramatically. Anyone with a one year or older diesel engine will have to change oil much more often as the TBN and the add package won't be in the oil. I would suggest stocking up now. The new PSD folks are going to really have their eyes wide open for all of the up coming changes. Failure to do so will result in failure under the hood.

Rockledge, my friend, you don't call, you don't write and you don't come visit anymore. And to think, I even used Scope. The Valvoline Synpower has basically been taken off of the market. It is now being made available to "professionals" only under a different name. I haven't seen any in quite awhile. There are other adds that can take the place of the ZDDP. There is a study going on now about the synergistic relationship between moly and zinc. It seems that they work much better together than either one alone. My take on the preliminary reports is that the Phos will be eliminated completely and a balance of zinc and moly will become the favorite child of the formulators. A little boron doesn't hurt either. The CD2 has a bunch of moly in it and in harmony with the limited zinc should provide all the protection an average driver would need for an older engine. Okay, so why not the Rotella in 5w-40? The 2.9 is an able engine but putting a heavy oil like any diesel rated xw-40 is strapping some of the available HP. The 2.9 is not a thorobred by any means and there are really no benefits by going to it so why be strapped with higher fuel bills and less HP? And then take into consideration that the oils mentioned are turning in the lowest wear metals including over the Rotella, why not recommend the best?

 

Show me a name brand OTS diesel oil with a TBN over 20. Most have a TBN in the range of 10 to 14. There are some that start as low as 9, the same as where some high end PCMO's start at.
Phos and Zinc levels have been reduced in SM rated oils to less than 1000 ppm, and replaced with other, more expensive additives like liquid oil soluble Moly, Boron, Antimony and higher grade basestocks. This has been done to protect the car manufacturers warrenty so they do not have to replace catalytic converters before 100,000 miles. Not that many fail with Sl levels of P and Zinc. Other than maybe a slight decrease in fuel milage, the ranger will do fine on a CH or CI rated diesel oil. It will not "destroy your engine". If you burn excessive amounts of oil you would be better off with an SM oil though to keep your cat lasting longer.
They are still working out what to call the new diesel spec, but there will still be CI rated oil produced for the older diesels for quite some time, unlike previous spec updates the new LPF diesel oils will not supersede existing diesel specs.

 

WOW I learned alot from this thread. I know my son will too once he reads all this.

 

dsldrvr, I generally won't argue a point with anybody. Here is a link that is not dial up friendly. It is the specs for Caterpillar engines. I refer you to page 8 where it addresses TBN. FWIW, 1.5% sulfur is about what you would normally find at the pumps today. It is not what you find for industrial or in some areas for agricultural useage where it can easily exceed 2%. The TBN requirement by CAT is 10 times sulfur- MINIMUM. Have a great day.

http://www.dieselforum.org/fileadmin...tions_2004.pdf

 

The CD-2 Street Legal High Performance Oil Boost is at Big Lots ($1.99 a pint, but some Big Lots are selling for 99 cents). I emailed the company in Feb and got this:

Calcium 7800 ppm
phosphorus 4300 ppm
zinc 4700 ppm
moly 0
viscosity 28 cSt

Last month I sent in a sample to ANA Laboratories, Inc. Here are the results:

Magnesium 13 ppm
calcium 4279 ppm
phosphorus 4921 ppm
zinc 4898 ppm
Iron 3 ppm
sodium 5 ppm
silicon 11 ppm
viscosity 29.48 cSt

All other parameters were less than 1 ppm.

GOOD STUFF! Stock up now because I believe this stuff may be discontinued and the price is great even at $1.99 as suggested retail was something like 9 to 12 $ each (google on it and see).