Shell "Rotella T" Synthetic Oil

[Heed]

Has anyone used the Shell "Rotella T" synthetic oil? It is getting rave reviews but the Shell website is confusing as they have Synthetic and Synthetic-Blends (SB).

Even the local "Thermoshell" rep was confused as whether or not the various products were blended or not!

eg. The 5W40 is fully synthetic, whereas the 10W40 is blended!?!?

If you have used it...what weight was it and were you happy with it.

[lindenengineering]

Shell Rotella is a diesel engine oil that can be used for gasoline/petrol engines.
Being formulated for diesels its highly detergent in diesel truck applications.
This detergency for a Pinz is abit of an overkill, and you should be aware that you may experience stripping off of gum deposits adhering to the crankcase as a shellac like particle substance that can clog the fine holes in the oil pick up strainer.
To illustrate:-
We used some the other day as a crankcase cleaner on a take out crankcase/lower block assy after a top end rebuild. Running the truck for a short period demonstrated a high strip rate that could cause premature engine failure should that removed junk clog the strainer, so beware if your engine is on the "old" side.
Dennis

[Picasso]

I would think all our motors are on the "old" side. When I did my oil pan gasket I found allot of sludge =(

[Heed]

Thanks for the info Dennis! The detergent levels didn't occur to me!

I realized that it was originally developed as a diesel oil, but that it was okay for use in gas engines also. It certainly makes sense though given the accumulation of "gunk" over 27 years.

My intention was to use a synthetic oil purely for "pampering" my toy. Any suggestions for synthetic? Amsoil? Redline? Mobil 1? Cost is not an issue as it's not a daily driver.

[lindenengineering]

I like Amsoil simply because it was I believe the first "True" syn oil for the US market only to have the formulation lowered so that the big boys like Exxon Mobil could snap up a slice of the market.

I suppose I shouldn't knock those guys (Exxon Mobil) too hard they after all they do sponser things like Mobil Masterpiece Theatre, and some excellent ballet productions etc from the New York Met on NPR.

All of those brands are good for your Pinz if its "cleanish" inside, just keep an eye on oil leaks from seals.
Best of luck
Dennis

[ms1223]

I put Mobil high mileage synthetic in my 72 with 76k on the odometer. It started leaking from a cylinder base gasket (I assume) Changed back to Castrol and my seeping leaking went away.

[75pinz]

I run 15w50 Mobil one. I don't think it makes a bit of difference over the 15w40 that I was running from Chevron. All oil these days is pretty damn good I think. My pinz's oil pan was leaking and I took it down. It was clean inside with no sludge. Incidentally, my M37 with the original flathead had nearly no sludge in it either. I run 15w40 chevron in it as well with no issues. The synthetic will clean it faster than the diesel oil in my experience.

[lindenengineering]

Like I mentioned previously be careful about muck being cleaned out by highly detergent oils.
The Pinzgauer oil strainer is a sturdy metal cup cover that is placed over the pick up tube. It has very small holes preforated through it. Unlike "other" engines this strainer is not a gauze so it will prevent the ingestion of small fragments and flakes of deposits getting into the pump gears which by the way is an impressive unit.
Any junk in quantities that adhere to the strainer can and will reduce oil flow to the filter and the gallery and then of course to the "vitals" Expensive vitals they are!!!
Dennis

[wd8cdh]

Since the Pinz is such a cool running engine, at least in my climate, condensation is more of a problem than oil break down. So I use a conventional 10W40 or 10W30 oil and change it often. The Pinz is the only vehicle that I have ever had that has had the condensation problem so it is the only vehicle that I don't use synthetic (usually Mobile 1) engine oil in.