3406E..which oil?
 

Hello all, good day. I recently bought a truck that has a CAT 3406E 18sp. Love the truck.

My last engine was a cummins ISX and I used Exxon 3D-Elite and got great results changing my oil every 15,000 to maybe 18,000 if I ran flat w/little hills most of the month.

Would any of you 3406E owners like to share what oil you are using and what interval you are doing your oil changes, I'd be greatfull.

IF anyone can also recommend a place I can get an oil analysis while on the road also, that would be great!

Thanks in advance everyone.

Be safe.

Robert
Rocketdog Express LLC
Denver, CO

I own 2 3406E's and use Delvac. I try to change my oil at 15,000 miles. I have over 900,000 on one truck and have never had any major engine work done on it. I think that is primarily due to the oil change intervals.

Any Speedco can pull an oil analysis. You can also buy a kit and do it yourself. If you do it yourself you will need to send it off.

I wouldn't recommend the Speedco oil analysis. We did a little experiment with them- had Speedco #1 pull a gallon of oil from our draining oil for us to keep (yeah, I know, gross) and had them do an oil analysis. Went to 2 more Speedcos with the oil from that draw and had them do an oil analysis, too. They all said different things.

I don't think it's worth a dang.

Mobil Delvac

Rotella T

My oldman has a C-15 now but when he had a 3406 he always run rotella. He will only run rotella in his class 8 truck and his diesel pickup.



You can ask them ?'s
http://www.shell.com/home/PlainPageS...xpert_faq.html

Shell Rotella 15W40 - The one true Diesel engine oil.:cool:

I've tried 'em all. Come to conclusion, that Delo Shevron, suits Cats the best....

Mobil Delvac

Asking which oil to use from a bunch of drivers is like asking what they think are the best features in a truck. For every 3 drivers you will get 4 different opinions.

All of the major oils are good quality. Mobil makes good oil. Shell makes good oil. Castrol makes good oil. etc. I put over 1.4 million on a '96 Cummins N-14 using Kendall oil, Baldwin filters, and 30K mile oil changes. Only problems I had were a couple of injectors, a head gasket, and a seal in the accesory drive. In my ISX now, I am using Amsoil synthetic, Fleetquard filters, and an FS2500 bypass setup. Not saying this is the best for everyone, but I like it. I do not have a problem with any of the major oil brands. The technical differences between any of the off the shelf oils is so minute. But then, some seem to make oil a religion and are honor bound to defend their choice in brand.

Regarding oil analysis.... you will always get the best analysis by taking a sample and sending it to a lab such as Oil Analyzers, Inc or Blackstone. The sample machines that are at most of the truck lube places are ok, but they will not do the detailed analysis a lab will do.

The best advise I can give is to choose a oil brand that you are comfortable with and install a oil bypass system to help keep it and your engine clean. Most of the bypass systems have handy valves that allow you to take an oil sample to send in to your favorite lab.

If you really want good advise on oil related topics, this is not the place. Check out www.bobistheoilguy.com There you will find a number of forum members that can easily put us all to shame regarding knowledge of oils, filters, etc. There are a number of the forum members that are chemists and engineers that work in the lube field but a novice question is welcome at any time. But, even there, some bias will show up regarding oil brands.

And... just to stir the pot a bit..... www.bobistheoilguy.com did a test on Lucas Oil Stabalizer and found it to be just another snake oil and to avoid it. Read the report there. I just had to throw that in to cause a few people here to get riled up.