I was at a BBQ with some friends and we started a discussion about our diesels. Well, somehow oil came up and my buddy's dad who is a diesel mechanic and car dealership owner said that the oil I use in my Excursion 6.0 is bad for the injectors and that I should be using the Motorcraft half and half for my 6.0. He says because the Rotella oil is thicker and the Motorcraft is thinner the Rotella will kill the injectors during cold starts and he ask me about how it does in the winter. And how it idles now. I told him and he says sounds like I'm loosin an injector already. My question, is Rotellla T Full Syn bad for my 6.0?

 

This comes up every year. Rotella Synthetic 5W40 is fine.

If you want data on it, go to BITOG and read about everyone's used oil analysis.

 

jay, I have been using Rotella Syn T 5w40 since I started changing the oil myself after reading about it right here on FTE. The truck has 185k miles on it. I ordered/received the truck through Sunrise Ford in SoCal in '03 and have yet to replace an injector. The first oil change with Rotella Syn T was when the truck had about 20k miles. Since I full time pulling a 12k# 5th wheel, I change the oil and filter every 3k miles. The truck is a '03 Lariat FX4. I also use Wally World diesel additive every fill up. Hope this helps.

 

When an oil is certified 5W40, that is what it is. Doesn't matter if it's Rotella, Motorcraft or oil from Venus. A 50/50 blend will actually, usually, have a heavier W rating.

 

Been using it in my 06 for the 3 years I've had it, and the PO, who I know personally used it for the 1 year he had it.

The key is to keep the oil changes at 5k intervals, unless you do a UOA, and they tell you different. I am more **** than most with my OCI and I have only had to replace 1 injector in 61k, and that happend at about 54k.

So I guess to tell you how I feel, and this is only my opinion, its ok to use Rotella in the 6.0 a lot of folks out there do with no issues.

Sarge

 

Sadly that guy has no idea what he is talking about. Rotella synthetic is a very good oil.

 

And sadly he claims to be a diesel mechanic.

 

I quit using the Rotella Syn because I had back to back UOA's that said it was shearing pretty bad at 5k oil change intervals. I went back to Motorcraft 15w40 for the summer and will be going to the Valvoline Extreme Blue Synthetic 5w40 when the weather starts turning cooler.

 

I do believe that the Valvoline will shear less, but viscosity shearing would not be an issue w/ the injectors - especially as the OP described the advice he was given (starting issues and winter issues).

 

i usually read these threads and move on, and i know i am going to be labeled the rotella basher. i ran the 5w-40 (prior to the t6) and my uoa's on three runs were horrible, sheared to below 30wt. and wear metals went up, not what i had expected. i went back to 15w-40 plus 50 deere, which is what i had run since the truck had been new, uoa's came back excellent.
last fall i switched to 10w-30 plus 50 and the first uoa came back excellent with a oc due this week i'll post the results.
i have always run 7,500mi. with a uoa at every change and was somewhat shocked at the rotella results, more money per gallon and poor results. my last run of the stuff i pulled a sample at 3,500mi. and after seeing the uoa i promptly dumped it.

i'm not one to bash any product, but the uoa's don't lie, for whatever reason it did not hold up in my truck/driving style.
my 6.0 seems to run very well on the 10w-30, i have all of last winter and half of this summer. cold starts were very comparable to 5w-40 of previous winters, and pending next uoa summertime seems to be ok also. i tow sporadically, but haul upto 3,500lbs. in the bed daily 300mi. round trips

 

Beachbumcook (and many others) have run the Rotella 5W40 since almost day 1. I know Jeff does his UOA and they are great.

I really don't think the oil can be blamed, unless there is something unique about your truck (FAR more people w/ good UOA's than bad w/ this oil). I will admit though, I usually only look at the results on BITOG at 5k mile OCI intervals and less.

Again though - the issue the OP described was the thickness at start-up (which is not a valid concern).

 

i've used it for years in my 03 6.0 no problems in 178.000 miles.runs like a top . make my 6.9 and 7.3/s look sick.7500 mile intervals.

 

Have you ever done an oil analysis?

 

i agree with you, and as i stated i didn't want to be the rotella basher, but for whatever reason i just didn't hold up very well for me.
in my situation i had an oil that was working very well for me(deere plus 50) at 7,500 oci. but as the story always goes the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence, i was looking for easier starts during the winter months. to say the least i was shocked at my first uoa.
i looked at it as i was paying a premium for sub-premium preformance, and maybe the new t6 doesn't shear as bad as the previous version.
the plus 50 i had been paying a little over 11 bucks a gallon with excellent uoa's at 7,500mi.
both the 10w-30 and the 15w-40 has stayed in grade on every uoa(104,425mi. currently) with never an injector issue on either 6.0(04 & 07) or the '89 & '90 idi i have. like i posted above the only sub-par uoa came from rts 5w-40

 

I have run it in mine for only two 5K mile intervals (im on my third cycle now) and both UOA's have come back excellent. Sadly, I never did a UOA when i was running the MC 15W40 but I know my truck runs alot better, especially when cold with the rotella 5-40. I run it year round here in the south.