Thoughts on Rotella oil

[Cajun Jamie]

I picked up my '06 with about 170k on the engine in January and I only use it on weekends. About ready for my first oil change. Records indicate previous owner was using conventional oil. I have a 2002 Land Rover Discovery II with 180k that LOVES Rotella 15w 40 (T5).

Thoughts on Rotella for our 5.3's, Summer Texas heat coming, and we plan to drive from Dallas to Panama City Beach in a few weeks. Also, which Rotella? T5 or T6 or other?

 

[iamdub]

T5 is fine, T6 is better. Since it's a weekend toy that will rack up miles between OCIs slowly, you have no reason to not use T6. The main controversy is that oils formulated for Diesel engines can damage catalytic converters. If the engine doesn't burn oil, then it'll likely be a LONG time before it ever has any negative affects, if any at all. Therein lies the problem, especially with the GenIV GM engines. They pretty much all consume and burn oil so they're much more susceptible to killing the cats if running Diesel oil. I'll likely switch to T6 when I get headers and lose my cats. Mine doesn't burn much oil at all, so I really should be fine running it now. But, I'm a creature of habit.

 

[mountie]

I thought I saw a TV commercial showing a Rotella for gas engines?

 

[iamdub]

I thought I saw a TV commercial showing a Rotella for gas engines?

This was news to me so I Googled it. There is now a Rotella for gasoline engines- cool! If I watched TV or visited auto parts stores I might would've known this already. I use and really like Pennzoil Platinum High Mileage (also a SOPUS product) so I'd definitely be inclined to use and shamelessly promote their Rotella for gas engines.

 

[mountie]

Is Rotella that good? I am getting ready to do my first oil change, and still shopping for the best choices.

 

[swathdiver]

The new Shell Rotella for gas motor is thicker viscosity wise than Mobil One, by almost a full point. Should cut down on piston slap.

I've ordered a few gallons of AC Delco's new oil for the aluminum motors. It has an even higher viscosity index and other numbers but less so than the comparison between Mobil One and Rotella.

 

[iamdub]

Is Rotella that good? I am getting ready to do my first oil change, and still shopping for the best choices.

It has been proven time and time again to be an excellent oil in a gasoline engine. It makes sense- it's engineered to perform well under the harsh conditions of a Diesel engine so surely it would be superior in a gasoline engine. It's just that it's additives are harmful to the catalytic converters found on gasoline engines. Cats are expensive so people use gasoline engine oil.

I was always one of those that figured oil is oil and as long as you used a quality oil and changed it regularly, one was no better or worse than the other. To an extent, this is true, but not entirely. After reading of and personally hearing and feeling the effects of various oils in various engines, I took choosing oil a lot more seriously.

I believe you can't go wrong with any of the top brand oils on the shelves. Mobil1, Quaker State synthetic, Pennzoil synthetic, Castrol synthetic, etc. I confidently ran Super Tech synthetic back when I knew what was in it. I'll now add Rotella for gasoline engines to my mental list.

 

[mountie]

Uh, ( still on a learning curve)..... Is my 2005 / 5.3 an aluminum engine?

I haven't had to work on it yet...

 

[iamdub]

Uh, ( still on a learning curve)..... Is my 2005 / 5.3 an aluminum engine?

I haven't had to work on it yet...

I doubt it, but what's the 8th character of your VIN? Or you can look at the block. If it's the same color as the heads, it's aluminum. Otherwise it'll be black.

 

[mountie]

OK.... I'll look tomorrow.