Valvoline’s Premium Blue Engine Oil question

hey yall

about due for another oil change, i've always used Rotella 15-40 in anything diesel. Anyways from what ive been reading it's not the "best" and has NO molyem whats'er that i know is good for the lubricant property. Does the premium blue 15-40 contain it and would be a upstep from the rotella?

i cant afford the 5-40 synthetic Valvoline until i graduate and doing the math out...30$ gallon x 4 gallons... plus 10 for a filter.. i cant swing that much.

Or, Rotella 5-40 Synthetic is about 19 a gallon.. probably still be better then the dino oil??

the truck has just 140-150K miles, and my driving would be considered "severe" so i change oil every 3-4K miles. (warm up for a few, drive 2 miles, shut off... warm up.. drive 2 miles.. shut off, Trip home 10-13 hours continuous driving and around 700 miles)

still trying to learn more about oil, but i dont trust the mfg's websites and there malarky and the greatest trick ever... FULL & FULLY synthetic.

thanks
2002 7.3 auto

-Rob
:ford:

I use Valvoline Premium Blue 15w-40 on my 6.0 i like it, better than Rotella, im like you though lol i cant afford the 5w-40 either. Hope this helps.

Theres a thread where I switched from 15w40 rotella to the valvoline blue sythetic. I flat love the stuff.

Will never go back. Before at 2500 miles or so I could tell it wasnt far till oil change time with the rotella. Now Im at 3700 miles or so on the valvoline and its running great still. Going to run it for awhile longer to see how much farther I can go on it compared to the rotella. If I can get 6000 miles out of it then its the same price to run it vs the rotella. If I can go 10,000 miles then Im actually saving money.

Theres a thread where I switched from 15w40 rotella to the valvoline blue sythetic. I flat love the stuff.

Will never go back. Before at 2500 miles or so I could tell it wasnt far till oil change time with the rotella. Now Im at 3700 miles or so on the valvoline and its running great still. Going to run it for awhile longer to see how much farther I can go on it compared to the rotella. If I can get 6000 miles out of it then its the same price to run it vs the rotella. If I can go 10,000 miles then Im actually saving money.

Wow, thats impressive, shooting for 10K miles. due to my driving i dont go normally past 4K at the most. even with my old car, 06 focus zx3 5 speed running mobil 1 5-20 fully synthetic i would only go 4K miles.
anyways, untill i graduate and get a good job.. i cant convince my financial aid souse.. (farther) for.. 140ish for an oil change. but i can get probably 100 because he did fleet mant. years and years ago on big rigs.

is the Non Synthetic still beat out the rotella with the additive package?

and is the oil blue??? i've never actually seen the oil other then jug at autozone.

i cant wait to get out of college! LoL

thanks for the info.

-Rob.

no the oil is not blue, but if you get a deal on it great!!!!!!!!

But if you don't have alot of money then go with Schaeffer's or CenPeCo

i don't know the price on CenPeCo but its good stuff i heard.

Schaeffers is about 18 19 bucks a gallon for Syn i beleave.

And no one really can talk down about there oil that ive seen.

just a thought.

i dont know how much of a great deal... the 15-40 is the non synthetic, and about 14$ a gallon or so? where as the galon jugs of rotella are about 10.50$ agallon. and a 5 gallon is 53$

but, is the additive package in the valvoline better then the rotella's??

thanks

This is what I'm wondering too. Out of conventional Valvoline or the Synthetic Rotella, which is better??

I don't understand the complaints about Rotella. I use it in all of my trucks. So far my oil reports are far superior at 8k, than some of these high $ oil report I have seen posted on here.

I don't understand the complaints about Rotella. I use it in all of my trucks. So far my oil reports are far superior at 8k, than some of these high $ oil report I have seen posted on here.
You have to remember that most are talking about what they think. What the engine thinks is something totally different.

If you have a Cummins service station near you, the 5W40 synthetic is like 21 bucks a gallon. Not exactly a bargain but good oil.

Valvoline premium blue is all i use to use,but now i use amsoil in everything and am very happy with it,except the BTS that came with shaffers,which will be replaced by amsoil.just my $.02

You have to remember that most are talking about what they think. What the engine thinks is something totally different.

ha ha ha yeah man!

in my little mind i think an oil with the Moylbdenum lubricant and other additives could possibly be .001% better then an oil with out it. in the aspect of i have 6 years to pay off the truck... 10 years for college... so with that amount.. under 50K total over 10 years i would like the truck to be more on the problem free side to out last the payments.

from what i have learned so far in life... pay a little more to get the little bit better products... so when something goes wrong maybe you wont have to pay as much. like do i go to the store and buy the oil for 1.20 a quart that's brand blah... or do i pay 6.40 a quart for something like mobil 1... and put 4-5K miles on that oil with "severe" driving conditions.

yes, when i do oil changes for family and friends vehicles.. (gas) it's mobil 1 fully synthetic because some people are not so good about doing it.

side note, most engines wouldn't care what's in them. i just THINK that the HPOP system with HEUI system might like something a little sweater oil in it.

-Rob

i run 5-40 rotella syn. and it works good for 3miles it seems like, after that pressures and starting blah blah blah get worse and worse. and yes ive hooked a gauge up and made sure. I also heard with a graphite compond like
Schaeffer's,Royal waste of money,(Royal purple) are bad for our engines. rumors though i suspose. but o well

i run 5-40 rotella syn. and it works good for 3miles it seems like, after that pressures and starting blah blah blah get worse and worse. and yes ive hooked a gauge up and made sure. I also heard with a graphite compond like
Schaeffer's,Royal waste of money,(Royal purple) are bad for our engines. rumors though i suspose. but o well


Royal purple... gear lube is good... because it has the graphite in it. Bad for long time use in engines with an oil pump... some filters, (probably not) could filter it out?? but i have heard a lot of bad things about extended use of RP in engines. Yes, Nascar & drag cars probably use it but they rebuild there engines after each race.

is there a chance that anyone would have a lab report on the premium blue non synthetic, that could be compared to 15-40 rotella.. or know where i could find one?

thanks
-Rob

ha ha ha yeah man!

in my little mind i think an oil with the Moylbdenum lubricant and other additives could possibly be .001% better then an oil with out it. in the aspect of i have 6 years to pay off the truck... 10 years for college... so with that amount.. under 50K total over 10 years i would like the truck to be more on the problem free side to out last the payments.

from what i have learned so far in life... pay a little more to get the little bit better products... so when something goes wrong maybe you wont have to pay as much. like do i go to the store and buy the oil for 1.20 a quart that's brand blah... or do i pay 6.40 a quart for something like mobil 1... and put 4-5K miles on that oil with "severe" driving conditions.

yes, when i do oil changes for family and friends vehicles.. (gas) it's mobil 1 fully synthetic because some people are not so good about doing it.

side note, most engines wouldn't care what's in them. i just THINK that the HPOP system with HEUI system might like something a little sweater oil in it.

-Rob
Well there you go proving my point. What is sweater oil? Is that some high temp stuff?

is there a chance that anyone would have a lab report on the premium blue non synthetic, that could be compared to 15-40 rotella.. or know where i could find one?

thanks
-Rob
If you find one you aren't going to like it.

For $10.50 a gallon at walmart for Rotella vs. $20+ a gallon for synthetic, I will stick with Rotella Conventional. I did think it was odd that at walmart it's 10.50/gal but 29 for a 2.5 gallon jug.

Amsiol around $75.00 per 2.5 gal. jug.

If your going to dump the oil every 3K, just get the Ford 15W-40 at walmart in the 5 quart jugs they are $11.00 each so 3 of them and one Ford filter and you have a inexpensive change. If you want to add moly look for the Schaffer's Moly EP additive. Good stuff.

I dont mind paying for amsiol in this truck(piece of mind i guess)because this truck doesnt evan get close to 3k miles a year.

I just switched to valvoline blue when I did my injectors about 900 miles ago.I can't say a differance because I did the injectors at the same time.I changed for the same reason you are thinking.Better to be safe then sorry.I don't know about where you are at ,but here in Michigan at all the local autozones,you buy 2 gallons of valvoline premium blue 15w40,get the 3rd free.Sale is good for this month only.I am gonna go get some more today.Advanced auto parts is the only other place locally that I found it.

i have ran rotella and mobil 15w40 in all my trucks. my current truck had 26,000 mi when i bought it in feb 04 and now has 194,000. i change oil every 5,000 mi and the oil is half way down on the add mark and almost as clean as when dumped in. just find an oil your truck likes and stick with it.

Royal purple... gear lube is good... because it has the graphite in it. Bad for long time use in engines with an oil pump... some filters, (probably not) could filter it out?? but i have heard a lot of bad things about extended use of RP in engines. Yes, Nascar & drag cars probably use it but they rebuild there engines after each race.

is there a chance that anyone would have a lab report on the premium blue non synthetic, that could be compared to 15-40 rotella.. or know where i could find one?
thanks
-Rob

Here's an OA I had done on my 2001 7.3L back in 2/06. I was running 15w40 RotellaT for a 4500mi duration. I later switched to the Rotella 5w40 and ran that all the way up til I swapped the truck off. I never had a problem in the 7.3L running either version but I didn't try any other oil in it to compare it to. After buying my current 2006 6.0L I switched over to Schaeffer's Supreme 9000 5w40 Synthetic from the Motorcraft 15W-40 Super Duty Motor Oil (I guess that's what the dealer was using). I will tell you what- I'll never use any other oil in my truck again ;) As soon as the Schaeffer's was put in my engine was quieter and it was running smoother. And I'm only paying $18.68 per gallon, $4.96 per qt for it. Now I'm not downing the Mobil 1 oil, it may be good oil to BUT I don't see it being $12 a gallon better, that's for sure ;) I run Schaeffer's in both my truck and my ol' lady's Ford Escape now.

7.3L RotellaT 15w40 4500mi OA:
http://inlinethumb12.webshots.com/41611/2309550840100476506S600x600Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2309550840100476506rFYKLt)

i'm at just about 4k on 5-40 rotella and it seems like the engine wants it changed out. Seems maybe a little noisier with the mileage. The oil is awfully black too.

I'm going to give delo a try and just change it at 3k. I used to use rotella 15-40 every 3k and it looked like tar coming out.

Here's an OA I had done on my 2001 7.3L back in 2/06. I was running 15w40 RotellaT for a 4500mi duration. I later switched to the Rotella 5w40 and ran that all the way up til I swapped the truck off. I never had a problem in the 7.3L running either version but I didn't try any other oil in it to compare it to. After buying my current 2006 6.0L I switched over to Schaeffer's Supreme 9000 5w40 Synthetic from the Motorcraft 15W-40 Super Duty Motor Oil (I guess that's what the dealer was using). I will tell you what- I'll never use any other oil in my truck again ;) As soon as the Schaeffer's was put in my engine was quieter and it was running smoother. And I'm only paying $18.68 per gallon, $4.96 per qt for it. Now I'm not downing the Mobil 1 oil, it may be good oil to BUT I don't see it being $12 a gallon better, that's for sure ;) I run Schaeffer's in both my truck and my ol' lady's Ford Escape now.

7.3L RotellaT 15w40 4500mi OA:
http://inlinethumb12.webshots.com/41611/2309550840100476506S600x600Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2309550840100476506rFYKLt)

Nice Oil Analysis Report - great wear numbers at 100K.

FWIW - you can save a couple of bucks a gallon by going with the Schaeffer's series 7000 15W-40 if you want. As you know the 6.0L's tend to shear viscosity quicker. The series 7000 tends to outpreform the 9000 in holding viscosity (under higher ICP applications) since it uses less VI's. Don't get me wrong, the 9000 is a great product, but since you live in the south you don't necessarily need to run the 5W-40 for the cold starting performance. Give it a try sometime.......

Rich

just changed the rear diff with Schaffers, and have 2 -6 gallon cases of the 5-40 /9000 going in next oil change.

I have ran Rottella 15-40 since 54k when I bought the truck.
have had a few OA all very good

any worrys with a high mileage(295k) motor?

No worries. If you do a used oil analysis after the first run on Schaeffer's you might see some slightly elevated numbers, it has a pretty stout additive package and the first run tends to clean it out a bit and can show on the UOA report. No worries, just some observations.

Thanks,I do have a anyalisis kit. thought I would send 1to Schaffer and 1 to Blackstone just see how close they might be, will probablly wait till after the after 1st change then, I have enough for 2 changes and 1 filter change.

where are you guys getting valvolines premium blue? I cant seam to find it

Napa has it, I had to get them to order it but they carry it or can get it.

where are you guys getting valvolines premium blue? I cant seam to find it

Premium blue is not that hard to find, Autozone, pep boys they all have it. Premium blue extreme synthetic is a bit more of a PIA. Napa can order it or any Cummins dealer should have it or be able to get it.

I got a price of $19.95 a gallon for the Valvoline Premium Blue Extreme full synthetic quoted to me at the local O'Reilly's here in N.C. I'm currently running Schaeffers 9000 and getting ready to change it for the first time this weekend. Starts have been quick and problem free no matter what the temp was in the morning and I don't have a plug for my block heater so it's never been used. Had a couple of mornings down to about 12 degrees and cranked quickly and easily. Got it shipped to the door for $18 and some change back in Nov. last year. Has run well but will send off for UOA after change. Have been thinking about using the 7000 in warmer months and may order some of that at next change. If you can get the Valvoline for $20.00 a gallon you'll be getting a good price. While the Valvoline, Mobil 1 TD, and the Rotella synthetics are not full group V basestocks they are all still good oils and when changed regularly will really improve your cold weather starting performance. As far as milage, I have never seen any improvements in milage from switching to a synthetic in my 06 powerstroke.

Here is a UOA (posted on another forum) from a 6.0L running Valvoline Premium Blue. The Molybdenum levels are similar to Delo 400, @ 100 ppm (Schaeffer's runs @ 325 ppm in their diesel oils). Wear #'s look good but the oil sheared down to a 30 weight (12.17CST) by 3,600 miles. But the 6.0's are good at that....

I'm with Fandini, if you can find it for $20 a gallon go for it, but at $30 a gallon there are better options for your wallet & oil performance.

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn169/White_Buffalo/oil%20analysis/ValvolinePremBlue60L2-1.jpg