With the price of No. 2 Diesel these days what does the forum make of this from the maker of our engines http://www.everytime.cummins.com/eve...Whitepaper.pdf

What really got my attention was the graph on lubricants that shows a decrease in mpg as oil temps climb? Lets be civil amsoil devotees!

 

I read an exhaustive study a few years back done in Europe where fuel prices have been high for a long time. Even with increased mpgs from syn oil the break even point compared to dino oil was only reached when syn oil changes were extended to 20k due to the higher price of syn oil.
Not until then are you saving any money.
The study assumed the vehicle would be traded in at around 120k and that any benefit that syn oil might add to engine longevity meant nothing.

 

Totally. The cost of synthetics is difficult to justify when simply crunching numbers.

The other thing is that the quality of petro oils has increase DRAMATICALLY faster than the improvements in syn oils (more room for imporovement?). Thus, the performance gap between the two has been narrowed substantially. Meanwhile, the cost gap between the two hasn't changed a whole lot.

Higher petro prices may (if trends continue) make petro oils expensive enough to where synthetics are more cost effective.

I prefer synthetics because they deliver superior performance in general. But the COST justification used by so many is an increasingly difficult sell to make. ESPECIALLY in a CTD known to go over a million miles on older, less advanced dino lubes.

I've used Rotella, Redline, Delvac 1, T&SUV, Delvac 1300 super, Premium Blue Extreme, and Delo 400 at different points in my truck, depending on what was available and what I wanted to try out.

Obviously, each of these lubricants was more than adequate for my engine. The only lube that didn't keep the engine "happy" was Premium Blue Extreme-- consumption was up, mpg was down, and the engine was noticeably louder.

I really liked the Redline. But I just can't justify it's cost compared to T&SUV-- it's 50% more per gallon ($30/ gal for redline, $21/gal for M1 @ wally's). If syn is a tough justification, a $30/gal one is almost impossible

In the end, I chose a syn because of my terrible usage profile-- nothing but cold starts (some in WY winter which can be a little chilly), and predominantly short trips (<10mi). This is about the worst life a CTD can live (no towing, no hwy miles, uprated power). In this usage, an oil that is thinner at colder engine temps is much preferable, as the oil temp stays lower on the average.

In the end, I've decided it much more cost effective for me to run a cheaper syn or syn blend (or even dino) and add some Lube Control (www.lubecontrol.com) to help extend intervals a bit-- nothing crazy.

I go 10K ona change in most cases.

jh

 

Ther is SO much on this and comes dwn to M.O.also check www.bobistheoilguy.com