Which oil is the best? How many times has this been argued? Some say Amsoil. Others say Rotella. Without any comparative data, how do you really know? Bro-science? He said, she said? Well, the guys over at Blackstone Labs analysed the data to come to the conclusion that most of us(besides the brand biased guys) already knew. That there really is no difference and what matters most is the viscosity(grade) of oil and how long between oil change intervals. Note: Please read the whole thing and not just look at the graphs. It explains on page 5 why the Amzoil had lower iron wear metals in the first two engines and not in the third. I don't want you Amzoil brand loyal guys only looking at the charts and coming to the wrong conclusions. Digging Into the Timeless Question, “Which Oil is Better?”

I did not look at link but proof is in the puddin! Been using AMZ/OIL since the early 70's.Oil Change at 30K (still breaking in) with 15K on the oil using FleetGuard Stratapore filter and AMZ/OIL FULL Synthetic 15-40. Note Viscosity, flashpoint and TBN. Around 1/2 of the miles were towing a combined 33K.You can also see the results for the previous oil change. That was the first change and same AMZ/OIL was used.

I just read it and looked at the Cummins 6.7 info and it looked like AMZ/OIL does a good job.

Cummins12V98 wrote:I did not look at link but proof is in the puddin! Been using AMZ/OIL since the early 70's.Oil Change at 30K (still breaking in) with 15K on the oil using FleetGuard Stratapore filter and AMZ/OIL FULL Synthetic 15-40. Note Viscosity, flashpoint and TBN. Around 1/2 of the miles were towing a combined 33K.The point of the article is to compare the different brands and not just one brand. How does one truly know that Amzoil(or any other brand) will perform the same or better than the others? Truth is that they don't, and it is mainly just bro-science. This article gives you the numbers of each brand from real world data and one can clearly see that the brand really doesn't matter when it comes to the top main brands. There is really no significant difference in engine wear between them.

Cummins12V98 wrote:I just read it and looked at the Cummins 6.7 info and it looked like AMZ/OIL does a good job.Amzoil does no different than the others. Read the whole article and it will explain on page 5 why the Amzoil had the lowest average iron wear with the first two engines and not the third. It basically is due to the longer average intervals the owners change their oil at and how it was calculated. The shorter the interval, the higher the average wear, and the longer the interval, then lower the average wear. The other oils would be the same if changed at those intervals as well."Why? Does this mean the engines are wearing less as they go moremiles? Not exactly. It’s important to remember that the iron level doesn’tstart at zero, since there’s always going to be some residual oil left overfrom the previous fill. That drives up the wear rate at the beginning, butit becomes less of a factor as the oil runs longer, which is probably whythe longer oil runs tend to have lower wear rates. We think the wear rateswould even out a lot on similar oil change intervals, which is why weprefer the overall averages for the engine, instead of specific oil types."

ShinerBock wrote:...Without any comparative data, how do you really know? Bro-science? He said, she said? ...Bro-science!Luv it!And thanks for the link.

Digging Into the Timeless Question, “Which Oil is Better?”

EstorilM
Explorer
Aug 09, 2017
BurbMan wrote:
Saw this today and made me think of this thread

How many quarts do you think a locomotive takes? If anything the RR's are ahead of everyone else....

Quarts?! They take anywhere from 200-400 GALLONS of oil!

Yes, I typed that correctly.

But again (going back to the topic) they use very good oil centrifuge separators and filters, and can go INSANE (tens of thousands, sometimes 100k miles) on an oil change.

LOTS of oil analysis, the records stay with the engine and they can make very well-informed decisions on the additives required, filter-changes required, and other things. If contamination gets out of limits, they need to change the oil (for whatever reason) but obviously that also involves some major work to the engine or other components.
RAS43
Explorer III
Aug 09, 2017
Quarts? How about barrels of oil.
BurbMan
Explorer II
Aug 09, 2017
Saw this today and made me think of this thread

How many quarts do you think a locomotive takes? If anything the RR's are ahead of everyone else....
EstorilM
Explorer
Aug 07, 2017
fj12ryder wrote:
Other than noting that the railroad is slow to join the 21st century, what's your point? We should take our oil, spin out the crud, and then add additives? Sounds very similar to just changing the oil?

The amount of oil they are dealing with may have more weight in the equation than whether their process works well.

Eh I wouldn't say that - he's talking about an oil separator, and many truckers and even commercial HD truck guys use them on their rigs to extend the OCI.

And no, I wouldn't say railroads are slow to the 21st century.

The new Tier IV-emissions-compliant GE locomotives exceed next-gen emissions standards with zero urea after-treatment systems and are a marvel of modern engineering, 4400hp and still beating all prior efficiency records (something many thought would be impossible and almost sent rival EMD into bankruptcy).
Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Aug 07, 2017
"Well ,you definitely got the no idea part right."

Please block me
Jarlaxle
Explorer II
Aug 07, 2017
Turtle n Peeps wrote:
Ok, I'll make it easier. How many of you have had an engine fail.....PERIOD. (And no, I'm not talking about the people that own a 6.0 diesel and say ya, my engine failed when it kicked a rod and windowed my block. Or if you owned a 5.7 Olds and the crank fell out of it. And no I'm not talking about your 1965 Chevy that your cam went flat on or your 6.4 Ford diesel where you rockers ground up) These are ALL KNOWN engine problems that have nothing to do with oil.

I'm talking about a 1995 on up gasoline engine.

Go on, lets hear it. What was it, what happened and what kind of oil were you running?

2001 F550, V10, 5W30 Shell oil. Timing jumped, bent valves. Got a rebuilt engine, has wound up about 150K since then.
Jarlaxle
Explorer II
Aug 07, 2017
Oil is oil. Synthetics are better..but it just doesn't matter.
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Aug 06, 2017
Other than noting that the railroad is slow to join the 21st century, what's your point? We should take our oil, spin out the crud, and then add additives? Sounds very similar to just changing the oil?

The amount of oil they are dealing with may have more weight in the equation than whether their process works well.
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Aug 06, 2017
I would imagine that most people on here aren't aware that the railroad never changes the lube oil in a locomotive (unless it suffers a major engine failure)... and locomotive engines don't have oil filters either (FYI)

The railroads have special trucks with centrifuges on them that spin the lube oil to remove the suspended crud and then they add the depleted additives back in and put the oil back in the crankcase. Been that way for decades.
cummins2014
Explorer
Aug 06, 2017
Cummins12V98 wrote:
FishOnOne wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
FishOnOne wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
FishOnOne wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
Kinda funny all you guys bragging about Dino oil but the fact is they would not be doing their jobs with out additives!

Lmao.... Synthetics have additives too

My POINT is Dino oils would not even be used these days without synthetic additives. So LMAO all you want!

Can you be more specific which synthetic additives are added to conventional oil but not in your synthetic oil?

I just made a comment, tell me what is not true about it.

If you can answer my question then you'll have the answer to your question

I have no idea but I am sure you do.

Well ,you definitely got the no idea part right.