TRIAX Impressions
 

Anyone who knows me here probably knows that I don't believe oil changes equal oil miracles. Just for some context.... I had been using Supertech for some time with great results, and when Warren changed over to CK/SN formulations, I switched to Travellers until they essentially did the same thing. After that, it was a run of Motorcraft dino on this last run. Anyways, this is NOT an oil discussion. We already have a thread for this which has been beat to death a few times over.

So, TRIAX, the Almighty. I did a decibel test with an app on my phone. I had been running Motorcraft dino for about 2k miles and seemed to be doing alright. I'll save all the conjecture and opinions. The decibel test was the first factual data.

Motorcraft Cold start--64.7d
Motorcraft up to temp--61.9d
Triax Cold start--61.7d
Triax up to temp--59.2d (my app refers to this as "quiet conversation" level LOL)

My subjective impressions....it was definitely quieter to the ear upon start up. It is a 5w-40 as opposed to a 15w, so there is that. I will say, and take it with a grain of salt, but the truck seems to have woken up a little. I was really surprised. It has been running good and I thought it wouldn't get better, but she absolutely has a little "pep in her step" kind of feeling. I know our trucks can be pretty sensitive to oil due to the nature of the HEUI systems. Maybe the friction modifiers? I took a trip to the auto parts store to get some battery cable stuff for a temporary refurbishment on a FUBARRED positive cable end. I kept thinking I had it on the "all out" tune because every time I would start from a stop, she was just ready. It was weird. She was just much more responsive is what I am trying to convey. She also sounds much more like the 7.3s of yore LOL....just meaning that she sounds different in a good way. It reminded of the days of horse shows and brandings when trucks were just idling and they had that 7.3 sound....It is hard to explain. When you have been around them for 20 years, you just know.

Also, I am no pusher of synthetics in any way. In fact, I have been the opposite for some time. If this oil were stupid expensive like Amsoil or other boutique oils, I would have never done this test. Since the price is so reasonable and the plant is 30 minutes from me, I'll stick with them for now. The add packs and rigorous testing alone has me sold at this point. I'll do a UOA at 3k miles just for S&Gs.

Anyways, take from this what you will. This is not a paid ad for Triax or me telling anyone to use this oil LOL....it's just my experience.

Nice to see some factual data to back up what my ears told me from the moment I switched...On my 3rd change and I *think* its gotten even quieter since the first switch...

Ear test for me was pulling up to drive thru's...they can hear me, I can hear them, no issues. I'd be interested in seeing your UOA too...I pulled a sample at my last 5K change but it got set aside in the garage somewhere and is now lost for all eternity so it will have to wait till the next change this spring.

As my drive through use has shot up considerably here lately that comment hit home, I am always having to shut off the engine to hear people.

@MD_7.three Is anyone local selling it or you buying it online?

Well I'm glad you have come around on this oil bbslider. I know a lot of people thought I was crazy on my other thread " rough cold starts with glow plugs working" , but I truly do believe that this oil brings good results. I have tried a lot of snake oils in the past but this stuff actually works. I am using triax 15 w40 in 2 of my trucks now and plan on switching all my trucks and equipment over to this oil. Going to try the triax 5w40 on my f450 with tired injectors to see if that helps next. Glad you got good results , now if I could convince you to try the optilube xpd to lube up the injectors, hahaha, I know I'm pushing my luck with that one :-X03

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.

I have not seen it anywhere locally, I have had good luck buying it on Amazon. The stock on amazon changes frequently and sometimes the best price/gal isn't always the biggest option, the first change I had 2 2.5 gallon containers, this was by far the best as somehow they were each available at only $26/ea...my second change I was only able to get in in a case of quarts, so I ended up with 6 gallons, but in individual quarts...the cost came out to about $22/gal .... the most recent change I only needed 2 gallons since I had some remaining from the prior change and it was $25/gal...as of now its $26.50 / 1 gallon container at the best price...but as with anything on amazon the options available for purchase and pricing changes, sometimes frequently. I keep the item on my "wishlist" and check in on it from time to time.

I will say by far the biggest change that quieted down my truck was when I replaced my TC...but that was when I was still running Dino 15w-40 and though I could get to the point where I didn't have to shut the truck off I was still having to repeat myself or ask them to repeat frequently...The pandemic hit right after my 2nd change with Triax and I can say with 3 kid's and a lot of camping/traveling we go through more than our fair share of drive thru's these days and at this point I don't see any difference than I do if we run through one in my wife's minivan, aside from having to reach down to grab the food!

Not all J, except it'll be the Archoil Fuel kit. I still do not think that a fuel additive is necessary, but I'm going to run this kit through just to make sure everything is as clean and running as optimal as possible.

On another side note out of this oil, my cold start up this morning in 29° was that it started up like it had been plugged in. It usually takes a couple of minutes of idling to be pretty nice and smooth. It definitely sounded more like it was already warmed up when I fired it up this morning.

Just so people know, the API SN rating is NOT applicable to all oils, but can be to some. Look closely at the oil you are using and if it has the CK-4/SN or CJ-4/SN in the API donut, consider using a different oil for long term uses.

Because we all like pictures and not everyone is familiar with the API donut, I have provided a visual aid below.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...9cbdcf3304.png

Quote source: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post19580869

I am planning to try Triax Fleet Supreme 15w40 either before or after Travelers (TSC) 15w40 for my next oil change. I was dead set on going to the Travelers 15w40 since my current stock of Rotella T6 5w40 has now run out, but due to the impressions and experiences of FTE'rs like jstihl in his "rough cold starts thread" I am leaning toward giving the Triax a shot first.

The cost difference per gallon is not very far off from what I have been paying to run Rotella T6 5w40 for the past 8 years, so will probably go to the Triax first. I hope my results are as good as jstihl has seen and if they are not, then I will try the Travelers 15w40 blend for half the cost.

Triax 15w40 - $23 per gallon jug
Rotella T6 5w40 - $20 per gallon jug
Traveler 15w40 - $12 per gallon jug

The reason why I will be using the 15w40 instead of the 5w40 in the Triax line is due to the climate I live in (GA) and travel through (the entire country) and the truck is a tow pig, not a daily driver. 90% of the time when it is on the road, the 5th wheel is attached to the back. I am hopeful the 255,000 mile OEM injectors are happy with the 15w40 viscosity, but if not, then I will go to the Triax 5w40 or back to Rotella T6. SkySkiJason told me a few months ago that my truck is one of the very best running OEM injector trucks he has ever driven. I hope and pray I can keep it there for quite some time to come.

I hope my butt-dyno and ear dyno results are as good as what jstihl and others have seen and heard from their engines. Not only the 7.3L, but their other vehicles and equipment.

As for the contents and elements contained within Triax vs Travelers or any other oil, that is often difficult to ascertain at times because some companies keep their formulas close to their chest and rightfully so. The PQIA (Petroleum Quality Institute of America) has done some third party testing, but not all brands are available as they are not required to submit samples for testing and analysis. For that reason, I have linked the Triax Data Sheet below for anyone that is interested in reading about the nuts and bolts of the product.

Triax Fleet Supreme ESP CK

This data sheet does not get into the elements of the Fleet Supreme formulas, but gives you an idea of what Triax was shooting for when designing the blend. ZDDP or ZDTP no doubt have a major role in the oil based on the results relayed to us from FTE'rs and others around the internet.

***I am not a paid sponsor for Triax, Rotella or Travelers***

No one thinks your crazy sir!

We think your trucks are a bit crazy with their temperaments as of late though. Your thoughts and impressions as of late are the main reason why I have decided to try Triax 15w40. Your climate is similar to mine and I hope I have similar results as you are seeing.

@Sous is there a reason you no longer plan to run rotella t6 5w40

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.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...8eaac7d8dd.png

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.

Not really... Other than to just try something different out and see how things go... I have been wanting to try a 15w40 blend for a while, but have had a stockpile of Rotella T6 5w40 in the basement. I have been pulling from that stock for years now as I purchased it before the CK-4 rating came out and got it on sale cheap. That supply is now gone and I have one gallon of T6 5w40 left over. My HPO leak caused me to have an unbalanced supply left over, so that gallon will probably be listed in the "free parts" section soon.

My truck is a tow pig and 90% of the time it is running it has the 5th wheel on it or has a face cord of firewood in the back. I don't daily drive the truck, I don't take it to the store, I don't take it on long romantic drives through the mountains up to the SkySkiJason ranch. So, I "suspect" my truck may benefit from a 15w40 oil and living in GA I "suspect" the T6 5w40 is not required. Like Y2KW57 mentioned, I do see some "burn off" of the Rotella T6 when travelling the country and am curious if the 15w40 will eliminate that, as he has described.

That said, my injectors are 20 years old and with 255,000 miles on them. They perform great, as I quoted SSJ as saying above. But, the 15w40 may not agree with them, so this is a bit of a gamble for me. But, the 15w40 may help or it may not. Help what, I am not sure...

Since my stockpile of T6 has ran out, this is an opportunity for me to try something different. Maybe it will be a good change, maybe not. Based on my climate and use of the truck, I think it may benefit from a 15w40. If not and things go horribly wrong, I may pull the injectors and give them to a friend that has very, very tired injectors since mine run fine on 5w40 and he could use them. I have a set of core injectors I bought a few months ago that would go off and new Alliant 160/0 or BDP 160/30 will go in.

I hope that answers your question Eric. I will be following your journey with BDP and your Alliant injectors very closely going forward. A lot of uncertainty in my injector and oil future, but I am GFML and don't mind having 1st world problems.

I have a 5gal pail of Triax 5W-40 on the way for $114.26. I don't see this size available on Amazon now though, darn it. I guess we keep an eye on where to find the best buy.

In one of the answered questions on the Amazon page for this oil, I read the following:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...1eddb43a04.png

Based on this, it might be good to consider the 5W-40 over the 15W-40, since more than viscosity is in play. That higher shear stability is what caught my eye, given our HEUI injectors are hard on oil in that regard.

Was playing with sound meter apps last night. Looking at Decibel X and SPL Meter for Android so far. Nice to have an objective "ear" to listen to our rigs with these changes.

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.

Well, I had not seen that difference between the Triax 5w40 and 15w40 before. Thank you for sharing this information, it seems I have some more reading/research to do. I am so grateful for this community and information that is exchanged. You fellas may have just saved me a lot of time and cash.

Eric, I may redact some of my previous statement after performing some more research based on the information that Jeff just provided. Thank you for your understanding! :-drink

:-drink I am probably overly simplistic with the idea of oils. I typically run rotella t6 5w40. I may be game to try the triax. I usually stick with 5w40 simply because I regularly start my trucks in single digit temps without being plugged in. I also run them in a manner that makes Fords sever duty operations description look like a day at the beach :-)
No matter what oil I run I do 3k intervals.
I prefer synthetic as it does seem to wear better, especially in high oil temp in extreme duty use.

I personally do not see any reason to go to 15w40, as once up to temp it is the same viscosity.
Again I have never studied oil, and I do not feel educated enough to give oil advice. I have never had an oil analasis done either.

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.