Anyone use Shell Rotella T6 5w30?

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Old Jan 11, 2010 | 01:24 AM
  #16  
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Originally Posted by joltdudeuc
the oil you use won't blow up your motor...

Mods, maybe... tune, maybe... Driving, maybe... lack of maintinence, maybe... Or just straight up early failure, probably...

But not the type of oil.

When they teared the block down, what did they say broke?
well that's just my assumption then. for about 3K miles prior to it dying (died during a u-turn) i was burning 1qt per 1000miles or so. i don't remember the full details of what was wrong but something about rings and piston. when it died on me, i couldn't turn it on for about 15 minutes of trying. once it finally turned on, i just heard a super loud tap.

i put everything back to stock, but the nice fellas at santa cruz noticed anyways and thanked me for my effort and said it wasn't due to any of my bolt-ons. but they have no idea what caused it. at the time, i was just running an up/down/catback.

they ended up giving me a new bottom end and rebuilding the top.

this happened at 40-49K miles i believe.
prior to that, dino oil at 1000, 3000, 7500, and I think I made the switch to synthetic at either 10,000 miles or 12000 or 13000 miles. i keep a small notebook for every oil change/fluid change/maintenance/ and gas fillup. but this being about 6.5yrs ago, it's somewhere in some box right now lol.

Last edited by yayitzian; Jan 11, 2010 at 01:28 AM.
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 01:39 AM
  #17  
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i use rotella in all 3 of my vehicle(02 tacoma w/140k,04 jeep GC w/90k and 06 sti w/80k)
all of these cars have spent 1-2 weeks in 10-15 degree weather with no starting issues,not buring a drop of oil and turning great reports from recent oil analysis.
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 07:44 AM
  #18  
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Originally Posted by STi-owns-evo
I've mostly seen that for California weather, 10 or 15 would be fine. However, after switching over to 5w just to see the difference, it was pretty noticeable this summer. Guess I'll be sticking with that.


The 15W is because non-synthetic Rotella T comes in a 15W40 oil. A lot of people say to stay away from synthetic (I'm guessing because of the Mobil 1 debate), but a lot of people say use Rotella T, which leads to the non-synthetic 15W40. I've been using the 15W40, until it started hitting high 20s in Livermore.
That 15w is for diesels. It used to be the only weight oil for diesels. Of course, oils now can handle the abuse at thinner cold weights, hence the 5w syn rotella.

Technically diesel oil will protect better, but gets dirty really fast. I would not wait longer than 5k for the change interval. I will definite read more about this oil, since it's diesel oil, it should be better for the moving parts and I change oil every 4-5k.
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 07:48 AM
  #19  
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Originally Posted by yayitzian
well that's just my assumption then. for about 3K miles prior to it dying (died during a u-turn) i was burning 1qt per 1000miles or so. i don't remember the full details of what was wrong but something about rings and piston. when it died on me, i couldn't turn it on for about 15 minutes of trying. once it finally turned on, i just heard a super loud tap.

i put everything back to stock, but the nice fellas at santa cruz noticed anyways and thanked me for my effort and said it wasn't due to any of my bolt-ons. but they have no idea what caused it. at the time, i was just running an up/down/catback.

they ended up giving me a new bottom end and rebuilding the top.

this happened at 40-49K miles i believe.
prior to that, dino oil at 1000, 3000, 7500, and I think I made the switch to synthetic at either 10,000 miles or 12000 or 13000 miles. i keep a small notebook for every oil change/fluid change/maintenance/ and gas fillup. but this being about 6.5yrs ago, it's somewhere in some box right now lol.
Sounds like a bearing failed or similar to what happened to me at 153k, the rod bolt just snapped, and the rod loosened from the bearing. Is long as there was oil in there it shouldn't have happened. I can only say that looking other cars who have survived much longer, your motor was just defective.
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 09:54 AM
  #20  
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I know Rotella has a lot of fans, but I talked to an engineer at Shell that works in the oil department. He told me NOT to use rotella on engines that are not diesel. He told me there are special additives that are made specifically for diesel engine and they will cause your cat-back to wear rapidly. Probably most of you don't really care but that's what he told me.
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 10:39 AM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by baco
I know Rotella has a lot of fans, but I talked to an engineer at Shell that works in the oil department. He told me NOT to use rotella on engines that are not diesel. He told me there are special additives that are made specifically for diesel engine and they will cause your cat-back to wear rapidly. Probably most of you don't really care but that's what he told me.
Really...

Cause I'm trying to figure out how the hell engine oil has anything to do with the combustion chamber, and thus, the exhaust...

On Diesels, they are known to burn some oil as some oil makes it past the rings i'm guessing, and this is normal I'm guessing...

but that's not supposed to happen on gas motors

I can see oil burning in turbo motors where the turbo bearing is stupid hot and burns a little bit, but it's not supposed to get combusted if memory serves me right. That's a bad motor.
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 11:41 AM
  #22  
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Originally Posted by joltdudeuc
Sounds like a bearing failed or similar to what happened to me at 153k, the rod bolt just snapped, and the rod loosened from the bearing. Is long as there was oil in there it shouldn't have happened. I can only say that looking other cars who have survived much longer, your motor was just defective.
that could be why they didn't even question me about warrantying it despite the bolt-ons.

it's just coincidence but every oil change since then, I haven't burned any noticeable amount of oil.
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 12:30 PM
  #23  
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I was contemplating this oil (saw it on the other site) because it was cheaper but I've been having good results with GC 0W40 on my 04 STi. I rarely have to top it off whenever I check it. I run 4k - 5k between oil changes and it burns a little more than a quart if I beat the hell out of it. I just check it every two weeks and top it off if it needs it.
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 12:33 PM
  #24  
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The reason why people say Mobil 1 causes motors to blow is because the oil is so thin that so much is burnt off and then, the owner might not know that he is very low on oil and can spin a rod bearing.

I changed my friend's oil the other day (he had used mobil 1) and 4 quarts of it came out of his oil pan in about 20 seconds.

It was thinner than water, it shot out of the oil pan so fast and it was so thin that it splattered about 5 feet around the oil drain pan I was using to catch it.

There are several Subaru shops around the country that refuse to tune your car if you are using Mobil 1 oil at the time you want to get tuned.

Also, the additive stuff that is in Rotella 15w40 is actually not in there anymore. It used to have magnesium or zinc I believe (forget which one) which was perfect for our Subaru motors but they recently took it out in the last year or two which doesn't make the oil as special anymore. Now it is just mediocre oil for very cheap.

But several engine builders I know swear on using it with their motors and once I dropped forged pistons in my car I have used nothing but Rotella.
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 12:59 PM
  #25  
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You generally want to run an oil with high zinc content at least for break-in to protect the bearings. Most oils used to have a fairly high zinc content but it was found that it would cause premature wear to catalytic converters. So most current oils have very little zinc and don't offer the same protective properties. This is why we recommend specific oils to use for the break-in process.

-- Ed
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 01:07 PM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by NorCalDC5
The reason why people say Mobil 1 causes motors to blow is because the oil is so thin that so much is burnt off and then, the owner might not know that he is very low on oil and can spin a rod bearing.

I changed my friend's oil the other day (he had used mobil 1) and 4 quarts of it came out of his oil pan in about 20 seconds.

It was thinner than water, it shot out of the oil pan so fast and it was so thin that it splattered about 5 feet around the oil drain pan I was using to catch it.

There are several Subaru shops around the country that refuse to tune your car if you are using Mobil 1 oil at the time you want to get tuned.

Also, the additive stuff that is in Rotella 15w40 is actually not in there anymore. It used to have magnesium or zinc I believe (forget which one) which was perfect for our Subaru motors but they recently took it out in the last year or two which doesn't make the oil as special anymore. Now it is just mediocre oil for very cheap.

But several engine builders I know swear on using it with their motors and once I dropped forged pistons in my car I have used nothing but Rotella.
Man, I just don't get why the turbo cars have these issues...

My car NEVER loses oil, at all. I once waited 10k to change the oil, and the dip stick was full before the change.

I can't think that it's the motor, but the turbo that burns off some of the oil.
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 01:20 PM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by joltdudeuc
Man, I just don't get why the turbo cars have these issues...

My car NEVER loses oil, at all. I once waited 10k to change the oil, and the dip stick was full before the change.

I can't think that it's the motor, but the turbo that burns off some of the oil.
It is probably due to blow by, when I upgraded turbos and was pushing a lot more air my blow by significantly increased. Plus turbo subarus are known for blow by.
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 01:27 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by NorCalDC5
It is probably due to blow by, when I upgraded turbos and was pushing a lot more air my blow by significantly increased. Plus turbo subarus are known for blow by.
That's the pressurized oil going through the PCV into the intake tract?

So, just buying a air/oil separator would take care of this issue I'd guess.
Old Jan 11, 2010 | 02:03 PM
  #29  
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Try Lucky Star Engine Oil

Its peach scented

Old Jan 11, 2010 | 02:39 PM
  #30  
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oh wow... hahah



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