Sorry, another oil thread

[jbinbi]

Have a yanmar 3ym30, 3 years old. Have always purchased yanmar oil, but a PITA to get it.

Was following other recommendations to get Rotella 15-40 (fits my temp profile), but then found there is T4 heavy duty diesel, T5 Synthetic blend, T6 Full Synthetic heavy duty.

So now I am confused, do I go for the T4, T5, or T6?

Thanks,
Scott

[NYSail]

Shell rotell 15-40 heavy duty is all I will use. Been using for 15 years in my westerbeke 30, Yanmar 3HM35f and now my Yanmar 4JH4E. No synthetic. Winter oil change comes out still a hint of gold....

Some say it doesn’t matter they are all good..... my preference. I guess sort of like anchors....


Greg

[Wotname]

Have a look at the specifications (SAE & API) on last container of Yanmar oil that you purchased i.e. SAE 15W-40 or SAE 30 or whatever and API CF-2 or CD or whatever.

Now buy a well known brand with the same specifications.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

Have a yanmar 3ym30, 3 years old. Have always purchased yanmar oil, but a PITA to get it.

Was following other recommendations to get Rotella 15-40 (fits my temp profile), but then found there is T4 heavy duty diesel, T5 Synthetic blend, T6 Full Synthetic heavy duty.

So now I am confused, do I go for the T4, T5, or T6?

Thanks,
Scott

I feel T5 is a waste of time. Either go full synthetic or stay with standard oil.

I'm using T6 for my 17 year old Yanmar 3JH3E and 2 year old generator.

[Compass790]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

Have a yanmar 3ym30, 3 years old. Have always purchased yanmar oil, but a PITA to get it.

Was following other recommendations to get Rotella 15-40 (fits my temp profile), but then found there is T4 heavy duty diesel, T5 Synthetic blend, T6 Full Synthetic heavy duty.

So now I am confused, do I go for the T4, T5, or T6?

Thanks,
Scott

All those oils you mentioned will work. I'm not a lubrication engineer but i guarantee Yanmar doesn't make their oil. As Wotname says any that meet the API spec will do although i will add that API says you can use later specs that exceed old ones like CD as long as you dont use ones meant for DPF equipped engines. You can look up the API specs easily if so inclined
This test may ( or may not) ease your mind:Consumer Reports:Truth Motor Oils- July 1996
Although conducted on cars i'd wager a fair bit you would get similar results on marine diesels using their oils.
Oil opinions like firearms or anchors as NYsail said lol
Dont sweat it

[a64pilot]

Just don’t go to a synthetic with the idea of extending oil change intervals.
If you want extended oil change intervals you need to look into a bypass filter system AND synthetic oil.
My advice is don’t, but to change the oil every 100 hours if you want to keep the motor until your too old to use it.
Synthetics are fine, but not necessary in our motors, run the way most of us do.

However it may not be necessary, there is no harm whatsoever in running a good high quality oil like Rotella T6. Don’t buy into all the myths about your rings not seating, seals leaking etc., they are myths.
Most high quality cars and I think now all Toyota’s come from the factory with synthetic oil, at least the Toyota’s that spec 0W-20 oil anyway, cause last I looked, that only exists as a synthetic.

We change our oil cause it gets soot laden, a good quality oil as far as break down can likely go at least twice as long as our scheduled drain intervals, but we soot up our oil pretty quick, and soot is carbon, and carbon is abrasive.
You don’t want your oil full of abrasive particles, so you either filter the oil with a super fine filter, or you change it often.

[RobD527]

I have 3ym30, an old case tractor, 4 diesel trucks, 2 diesel generators and everything gets Rotella 15-40

my one diesel generator has 10,000hrs on it with no overhaul

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Just don’t go to a synthetic with the idea of extending oil change intervals.
If you want extended oil change intervals you need to look into a bypass filter system AND synthetic oil.
My advice is don’t, but to change the oil every 100 hours if you want to keep the motor until your too old to use it.
Synthetics are fine, but not necessary in our motors, run the way most of us do.

However it may not be necessary, there is no harm whatsoever in running a good high quality oil like Rotella T6. Don’t buy into all the myths about your rings not seating, seals leaking etc., they are myths.
Most high quality cars and I think now all Toyota’s come from the factory with synthetic oil, at least the Toyota’s that spec 0W-20 oil anyway, cause last I looked, that only exists as a synthetic.

We change our oil cause it gets soot laden, a good quality oil as far as break down can likely go at least twice as long as our scheduled drain intervals, but we soot up our oil pretty quick, and soot is carbon, and carbon is abrasive.
You don’t want your oil full of abrasive particles, so you either filter the oil with a super fine filter, or you change it often.

One option is a bypass filter. I installed a Puradyn unit on my CAT 3306 that supplements the OEM filter and filters further down to 1 micron. The OEM filters usually are 30 micron because they have to be full flow, but if you filter to 1 micron you essentially eliminate wear. I would note that even though my oil is uber clean it is still black almost immediately after changing, which I do annually. The reason is that soot particles of 1 micron are still plentiful enough to blacken the oil, even if they are too small to produce any wear. Whether an oil blackens or not has nothing to do with the oil, but the mechanical design of the engine. My genset doesn't blacken much, the CAT does. I use T6 full synthetic mostly because it is slipperier than dino oil with better adhesion after shut down. The difference in cost is immaterial compared to engine repair.

[EmeraldCoastSailor]

My 2008 3YM30 has been getting Chevron 15x40W DELO for forever. They recently changed their product name to include 400; not sure what if anything has changed but it is easily available.

Can't see ever putting synthetic in a recreation marine diesel.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

Have a yanmar 3ym30, 3 years old. Have always purchased yanmar oil, but a PITA to get it.

Was following other recommendations to get Rotella 15-40 (fits my temp profile), but then found there is T4 heavy duty diesel, T5 Synthetic blend, T6 Full Synthetic heavy duty.

So now I am confused, do I go for the T4, T5, or T6?

Thanks,
Scott

I would stick with the regular Rotella T non synthetic 15 W-40. And charge regularly. JMHO

[Ken Z]

Delo 15-40 has a higher rating of soot absorbtion than others. I have used it for thousands of hours, and change oil every 100 hrs. , no problems.

[saillr]

My understanding is that the engine needs to be designed for synthetic oils. The molecular makeup of the synthetics is different. Journals are smaller etc. I am not an expert but I looked into using synthetics in my 4JH2E and was advised not to. Do we have any oil/engine experts out there?

[leftbrainstuff]

Avoid putting synthetics in older engines. The synthetic oils were primarily designed to minimize emissions first and foremost. They don't provide better lubrication or corrosion protection. There are some very good 'for life' synthetics available now but again I wouldn't use them in older engines.

Thin viscosities and synthetic blends help manufacturers improve emissions. But older engines tend to get very 'leaky' when running on synthetics.

Any older engine will also have a thin layer of sludge in the sump. This sludge helps trap soot and particulates and stops it moving around the engine where it will act as an abrasive. Changing to synthetics will often break up the sludge. In some cases it will cause damage.

If you currently have excessive consumption switching to a heavier weight viscosity can often help. Heavy weight synthetics are non existent.

Most wear occurs on startup. We have a preoiler on our 34 year old Perkins with 4000 hours. It consumes little oil, little smoke and has good oil pressure from idle up. Just completed 140 hours straight on non synthetic Rotella.

I change oil and filters between 50 and 100 hours so I'll be swapping out oil again asap.

I won't bore you with 30 years of motorsport, automotive development and oil company research experience on this topic.

[dfelsent]

My one experience with synthetics was in a 1986 Toyota high rev 16 valve engine. It made starting at -30 F in Northern Quebec much easier.

I have no plans to repeat that with my 4JH4 TE. Regular oil and filter changes with Yanmar or Rotella oil for me. Only 3000 hours so far. The oil stays clear for a surprisingly long time. Knock on wood.

By regular I mean every 100-150 hours.

My background has convinced me that preventative maintenance takes far less time and cash than repairs. I’m a New England yankee at heart.

Even though as a Yankee I cringe when I spend money when nothing is broken. Yet.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by saillr

My understanding is that the engine needs to be designed for synthetic oils. The molecular makeup of the synthetics is different. Journals are smaller etc. I am not an expert but I looked into using synthetics in my 4JH2E and was advised not to. Do we have any oil/engine experts out there?

You may want to go over to bobistheoilguy.com or other oil specific forums.
There is no difference in engine design, there is no such thing as a synthetic specific engine. Yes more modern engines have tighter clearances that allow / require thinner oil, but that has nothing to do with Syn or Dino, unless like newer Toyota’s that spec an 0W-20 oil that is only available in a synthetic. Of course Toyota just came off of a HUGE oil sludge lawsuit, think just maybe they decided to require pure Syn oil to prevent a repeat of the sludge lawsuit?
Me, I’ve just been a Motörhead all of my life, 30 yrs as an A&P mechanic and test pilot and a racer from way back, the sailing thing is new to me, motors are not.
I have to wonder though where all these “experts” come from with all their knowledge about oils, they all seem to be based on one story of an actual experience that they had, so therefore it must be true.

I mean come on, if Shell Rotella T6 was bad for older engines, don’t you think Shell would tell you to use another of their products? They have nothing to lose by doing that, and if it were bad, everything to gain, but I guess Shell doesn’t know as much about oil as some self proclaimed internet expert?
https://rotella.shell.com/en_us/prod...3/t6-5w-40.pdf