Rotella 15-w-40, school me!

Bonnan

Member
I know that a lot of you guys used Rotella and I do as well (late and old model diesel engines). Right now Rural King has 5 gal of T3 for 59.95 and T4 for 79.95. What is the difference?
 
Never heard of T3. Shell's website is very vague about it, only calling it "Fleet" oil, while T4 is "Triple Protection."

The T3 seems like a budget economy oil with less "whatever" in it than the T4.
 

So many people cheer on the 15W-40 Rotella . However they give you blank looks and start to stammer . When asked 15W-40 which ? T2, T3, T4, T5 or T6 .
 
Frankly I don't like Shell Rotella much and don't use it. I use other oil like Citgo or Kendall by the barrel. And which ever of those 2 is the cheapest.
 
no shell for me. i tryed in in my tractor it used oil. used it once in my duramax once last year it used oil. next oil change all was good without that garbage.so i dont know what all the hipe is about shell oil.
 
T3 is fleet/off road non synthetic, T4 was a non
synthetic, T5 was a blend, T6 is full synthetic.

T4 is now a synthetic blend along with T5, not sure of
the difference or if T5 is on the way out. T6 is still full
synthetic.
 
We used to faithfully use Rotella 15w-40 T4 oil in all of the diesel equipment until it became impossible to source last year during the shortage of things. In a bind, we switched to Valveline Blue 15w-40, and use it in everything including the gas engines, mowers, etc. Everything that used to burn oil with Rotella now does not use a drop. It's much cleaner pouring it out of the jug than Rotella. So glad now that we were forced to change to something else !
 

If you are using it in your older tractors you want the zinc additive which is in the diesel rated 15w-40.

Zinc is not in the oils rated for modern cars and trucks because it damages the catalytic convertor.
 
I've used it for years including in my 800+ cu.in. 400 HP Big Cam Cummins (took 11 gallons) and never had the problems you guys mention. I don't pay any attention to the T numbers. I buy 15W-40 for my old Fords and 5W-40 for my new tractors. Wally World always has it at the best price.
 
(quoted from post at 10:44:14 03/26/23) I've used it for years including in my 800+ cu.in. 400 HP Big Cam Cummins (took 11 gallons) and never had the problems you guys mention. I don't pay any attention to the T numbers. I buy 15W-40 for my old Fords and 5W-40 for my new tractors. Wally World always has it at the best price.

How do you know that the engine is being lubed with the proper additive package ?
 
You guys burning Rotella must have wore out engines. I used 15W-40 in my '96 F250 7.3L PSD since day #1. Every 3000 miles changed oil & filter, it would be maybe close to a quart low. Winter I'd switch to 10W-30 for better unassisted cold weather starting. 2 changes got me thru a winter. Truck has 325,000 miles on it, SON switched it to the Synthetic blend 10W-30 Rotella summer & winter, he has a dash full of Autometer guages to watch oil temp & psi. I'm not real sure how many more miles it will run. It's getting to need new injectors.
 
Thats what the api rating will do for you... then the only thing left is picking a viscosity range for extreme temps.... T4 15w-40 will work fine in most cases..t5 or t6 for extreme temp ranges, but the api spec is what got you into the correct oil. If your doing snow removal, and starting below 15 degrees, you might need to bump up. Lots of equipment is not used with snow on the ground, or has a engine block heater so t4 is fine. Down here we dont do a lot of plowing/planting below 15 degrees. In Siberia, all public service vehicles are kept in a heated garage, and Cannot be turned off if out in the field. They do fairly well at -60.
 

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