Pros and Cons to Amsoil in a 6.0

[Bob]

I have a 2006 F-350 6.0L. I am currently running Amsoil 15w40. What are your thoughts on intervals and quality. Is there something better? I am not bias but it has worked good so far to my knowledge.

[88Racing]

AMSOIL Premium API CJ-4 Synthetic 15W-40 Diesel Oil (DME)

[Bob]

Thanks, but I have that information. I was more interested if other people are getting different results, or performance out of other oil. How long between oil changes. What is the general opinions of AMSOIL. Just inquiring.

[SICKS-O]

oil for the 6.0 powerstroke is a big debate. i dont want to open that can of worms. all i can say is try it out and if you like it and find its worth the money then run it but i definitly dont recommend extending your drain intervals, especially with a synthetic oil in this engine.

i recommend to my customers 5000 mile oil change intervals and only motorcraft/racor oil filters. fords reccomendation is 7500 for normal use and 5000 for severe use. from my experience most of these trucks lean more towards what ford considers "severe" use. a big thing to keep in mind is programming, heat, soot and performance play a big roll in how quickly oil breaks down and contaminated.

[MJ365]

Since I only put between 5-7000 mi (150-200 hrs) a year on my 04 since I quit driving it to work every day I run the Amsoil AME 15w-40 and change it once a year right before winter using Racor filters. It doesn't thicken up when cold like most others and starts cold better on my truck than even another 5w-40 I tried a while back. Works good for me as I don't have to change to a thinner oil in winter because of this. With no inductive heating my truck will start just fine down to zero, let it idle about a minute and then idle off down the road.

The 6.0 is famous for shearing oil down in weight. It will shear a 40wt down to a 30wt before the oil is anywhere near bad in other ways. My 04 with the AME @ 200 hrs isn't sheared down below 40wt (based on analysis) yet so it does seem to hold up well in this respect in my engine at this interval.

Another thing to consider. Changing oil based on hours or fuel consumption is a better way to determine change intervals on diesels. If you idle a lot or burn lots of fuel towing heavy all the time you will change more often using these guidlines. Total miles don't mean a thing. The trucks where I work would have over 300 hrs at 6000 miles which is too much when idling around a lot. We change @ 200hrs on gas and diesels and oil analysis supports this as being a good interval for both in our situation.

DISCLAIMER: These are my experiences, however there may be different results on other vehicles.

[Bob]

Cool that is the information or experience I was looking for. So far I have had good luck with the AME 15w-40 also. I have been running close to or righ at 15000 mile intervals. It sound like it would be a good idea to shorten that up. Thanks for the info MJ365.

[MJ365]

Have an oil analysis done on your next change to see how things look. Depending on how you use the truck you may not have to shorten it up as much as you think. Also, I know there is an hour meter on that truck so you can calculate your truck's average speed by dividing miles by the hours. If you can, post what you come up with.

[Bob]

sorry this has taken forever for me to reply I have been working 6 days a week 10+ hours a day so have not had much time for anything. Any way... My calcs come to about 55 mph on average. Previous oil samples have come back good to 15k miles then get some higher levels of some metals, would have to dig up the papers to tell you exactly which ones. Nothing to major though. I have gone to a 10k mile interval and started adding the rev X. I guess we will see how it goes.

[88Racing]

Thank-you for the update....