Rotella T4 15w 40

[mjk1040]

I found out about TSC brand oil, Travellall, being Rotella oil from a Marina owner/transporter, who has been in the business all his life. He assures me that he has talked to the people @ Shell. I also heard that the zinc levels are not as high in Rotella as they use to be. Personally I am not a fan of synthetic oils. I do not feel the viscosity factor in synthetic oils is there. I'm also not a big fan of multi weight oils. 10W30, 15W40, I understand the concept, just not a fan. My 7.4L Crusaders call for 40W and that's what they get. Grant you they are 1998's. Case in point, brand new HD Ultra glide, after first oil changed, switched to all synthetic oils. I could hear every rattle in the engine and tranny. second oil change went back to non synthetic oils, all the rattles disappeared. Go open the hood of your new vehicle that takes 0W20 synthetic oil and have some one start the cold engine while you listen. I think you'll be amazed at what you here on the initial start up.

[Midnightsun]

RE shelf life.

Not sure where 1 year comes from since literature from manufacturers say 5 years and this is conservative coming from them. IMHO if oil went bad after a year there would be mandatory expiry dates on the containers.

[Viper]

Depends on the manufacturer. Some say no more than 2 years. One of their concerns is with the way consumers store the product as this is one of the variables that affect longevity. Unstable/varying storage temps through each season for example will cause separation, this is pretty common. The degree to which this happens and how quickly it takes place varies but it does happen. While the oil component itself may retain most of its natural properties, it's the entire mixture as a whole with all the formulated additives separating out that's the concern. Considering most folks are likely to store the product in their garage, this particular variable/condition is common though likely rarely noticed. I've seen this happen with one year old oils. Now some will say to simply shake the bottle first or that the heat of a running engine and circulation will act to undo the separation but I think I'll stick with the sure thing and err on the side of caution. Oil is cheap, an engine replacement, not so much.

Engine OEMs don't like you using old oils in their product. One OEM instructor went as far as saying that in a major failure dispute they can and will test for the age of the oil if they suspect poor maintenance or oil change practices are the cause. If found that the oil had recently been changed but the product was determined to be more than a year old, they would have a way out. It used to be major claims were settled with no questions asked, that's not the case anymore with the systems and price tags on today's engines for a couple of reasons. They will investigate.

I guess this is just another one of those things where we all do what we feel is comfortable for us individually. In the end, time is always the deciding factor on whether we made the right decision or not.

[bud37]

Lots of interesting stories that go around about oil, the apparent fact is oil manufacturers themselves stop short of saying their new unopened/sealed oil has an expiry date that I know of....Ah marketing, ain't it somethin.... There was thread on bitog about testing old containers of oil from the 80's which all tested out just fine. Now all those guys talk about is oil, I have no reason to disbelieve the results, someone would have surely torn it apart....

Just a personal observation,...I have found no residue on the bottom of oil that has been stored and residue on just bought stuff and the opposite, as a result of this I just turn the bottles around/over a while before before use......don't shake before install, don't want aerated oil in the pan on startup.

In all these years of cars/trucks and racing, I have never had an oil related engine failure, lots of others... but no oil...

At the end of the day, just use what your manual says to use and all will be just fine......hopefully...

[bud37]

Source of the post Darren, I have always run Mobil 1 15/50 full synthetic in my merc gassers. Cheaper than the merc semi, and better oil.

Why did you decide on the 15w50 ?....just curious about the grade difference, not the cost.

The one thing I like about the merc oil is the cold number......boat engines run cold and it takes quite a while to get the engine oil temp up to the point where it acts like the higher number. That said I use rotella 15w40 in everything, but it is still interesting to consider.

[pepmyster]

After 30 years in the auto tech business, never ever have I heard of shelf life. Sorry, never did. Never had a engine fail due to synth or dino oil. I agree with the noise and rattles from synth oil. Had a Valkyrie motorcycle and when I put synth, the sound did change. Way too fluid. Once I went back to Rotella non synth, all okay. Use what works for your motors.

[RGrew176]

If oil does have a shelf live then there should be a use by date on each container.

[Viper]

I've been in the business a long time too and I've never heard about a shelf life either up until about 8 years ago, then we started hearing about it from different OEMs and I suspect it's because of today's engines and systems. I'm no expert on oil chemistry but I do know that as soon as oil comes out of the ground, it starts to oxidize and degrade right away once exposed to oxygen, so much so that oxidization inhibitors are added to the formulation during the refinement process to help slow this down but doesn't stop it completely, so it continues to oxidize over time and loses some of it's natural properties. It'll last longer in a closed container as exposure is cut off but other factors play a roll as well and not just to the oil as the main component but to the additives which are just as important as the oil itself. Once the container is opened, this process accelerates, that's why in that case, an expiry date of typically 90 days is issued which you'll find on the next oil change sticker indicating the mileage or date, which ever comes first for your next oil change. The date applies whether you use the vehicle or not, that's because the formulation and all it's properties don't last forever. There isn't an expiry date on the containers because they're not mandated to do it, there's marketing, political, and environment reasons for that which I happen to agree with.

So here's another can of worms; how many of you have considered replacing your oil twice; both in the Fall before winter layup and then first thing in the Spring because that puts your Fall oil over 90 days? Probably not many because most think oil's protective properties last forever but it's done a lot in high performance applications, why? Because it has a shelf life and in that particular application, it's critical. The guys will change their oil in the Fall with the cheapest stuff they can find, store the boat for the winter, then dump the unused oil in the Spring. They want fresh oil and all the additives performing to spec. Oh and by the way, in their sport, engine failures do happen because of oil breakdown. Ask one of them if they'll knowingly use a container of oil that's been sitting on the shelf for a few years.

Look, I'm not saying that two year oil is useless, or that you'll have an engine failure if you use it, I'm just putting the caveat out there and am perplexed as to why for the sake of a few bucks are we putting something that's been sitting for a few years into our engines. It's such a critical component and we should be taking advantage of every little bit of protection we can. I mean we have lengthy discussions about the best brands and grades to use, the quantity of zinc, etc, etc., and we all know we won't have a failure short term if we don't go with "the best" but we all seek them out anyway for long term reasons, this is no different. I just have a hard time wondering why we spend loads of cash on comparatively insignificant things for our boats but skimp for the sake of a few bucks on critical systems.... and that's my rant for the day

[Midnightsun]

So here's another can of worms; how many of you have considered replacing your oil twice; both in the Fall before winter layup and then first thing in the Spring because that puts your Fall oil over 90 days?

When I first got into boating mechanics I wondered why in the world would one want to change oil in fall as car manufacturers would recommend X miles or 3 months which ever comes first. (times have changed) This implies oil is only good for 3 months when in an engine. Now they want me to change oil in the fall, leave it all winter and run it until next fall! Did not make sense to me until I was explained how all that bad stuff such as condensation, humidity, combustion residue and whatever else is in the contaminated oil would be working away at my engine all winter long. Now that made sense so I went the change in fall route as it most likely does the least damage in the long run.

[bud37]

Source of the post So here's another can of worms; how many of you have considered replacing your oil twice; both in the Fall before winter layup and then first thing in the Spring because that puts your Fall oil over 90 days? Probably not many because most think oil's protective properties last forever but it's done a lot in high performance applications, why? Because it has a shelf life and in that particular application, it's critical. The guys will change their oil in the Fall with the cheapest stuff they can find, store the boat for the winter, then dump the unused oil in the Spring. They want fresh oil and all the additives performing to spec. Oh and by the way, in their sport, engine failures do happen because of oil breakdown. Ask one of them if they'll knowingly use a container of oil that's been sitting on the shelf for a few years.

I have done exactly that and did it for many years, mainly because I am anal about engine cleanliness, but and there is always a but......It really is wasteful in these times we have. Waste oil is very expensive to recycle and for the most part there is no valid science that supports all these oil changes based on time alone. I believe sending samples to a lab for verification is probably an eye opener and the best course, especially with diesels and those giant sumps
Here's a question.....Aren't all the additives in the oil supposed to help us with all these things ?