Rotella T6

Dean E

Active member
Mar 30, 2022
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Blair, NE
I know for some time the Shell Rotella T6 was damn hard to come by. When you could find it some were asking about $100 for a gallon jug. Stopped by Wally World on the way home from work to pick up a couple of new batteries for my LMM and happened to walk by the oil section. There to my amazement was a fully stocked shelf of T6 in both 15w40 and 5w40! Price was $25 per gallon jug! Already got enough for my next oil change but considering how difficult it has been find I got another 3 gallons. Has anyone still having problems finding the T6? I know the T4 and T5 was fairly easy to come by but T6 was a different animal. Dean
 

2004LB7

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Dec 15, 2010
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T6 is still a little scarce near me. when it comes in it doesn't sit on the shelf long. normally listed for $29 or so at Walmart. had to use mobile a few times. when it was hard to get mid pandemic if anyone had it it was about $40 a gallon
 

Bdsankey

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You would have to pay me to run T6. Better oils out here IMO.
I agree, there are far better oils out there.


T6 5w-40 has been in mine since I bought it in 2010.

What don't ya like about it?
Well for one T6 is formulated for today's emissions equipment. This isn't a bad thing but looking at your signature that isn't a concern for you. There have been some extremely useful additives removed from oils/replaced with others to help prolong the life of the DPFs/CATs as some of the additives in older oils would contaminate them when burned.

Now, is T6 going to give you any problems? Hell no, as long as it's changed at a reasonable/proper interval.
 

08lmm72mm

Active member
May 13, 2019
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I agree, there are far better oils out there.



Well for one T6 is formulated for today's emissions equipment. This isn't a bad thing but looking at your signature that isn't a concern for you. There have been some extremely useful additives removed from oils/replaced with others to help prolong the life of the DPFs/CATs as some of the additives in older oils would contaminate them when burned.

Now, is T6 going to give you any problems? Hell no, as long as it's changed at a reasonable/proper interval.
I've read the T5 15-40 conventionalcan give injector issues with some not sure about the truth with that. I know I've always been concerned about cracked piston broken crank problems and so far the T6 has proven to work for me, even my oil pressure when hot is just as good as when I bought the truck 12 years ago. Works for me anyway, I usually change it every 10,000kms or 6200ish miles.
 
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Bdsankey

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I've read the T5 15-40 conventionalcan give injector issues with some not sure about the truth with that. I know I've always been concerned about cracked piston broken crank problems and so far the T6 has proven to work for me, even my oil pressure when hot is just as good as when I bought the truck 12 years ago. Works for me anyway, I usually change it every 10,000kms or 6200ish miles.
I don't see how engine oil will cause injector issues on a duramax, if it did I'd think you'd have some other major issues letting that much oil getting above the ring pack.


With oils I adopt a simple mentality, if it works for you/that person then stick with it. I personally prefer to run oils like Hot Shots or CenPeCo due to their far superior additive packages but that doesn't mean T5, T6, or other brand oils are garbage and will cause problems. The other benefit we have is that the Duramax is extremely easy on oil meaning they don't really cause much breakdown of the oil like say a HEUI engine (IE 7.3L/6.0L Powerstrokes or Cat etc).
 

OleBlackyLBZ

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May 22, 2020
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I don't see how engine oil will cause injector issues on a duramax, if it did I'd think you'd have some other major issues letting that much oil getting above the ring pack.


With oils I adopt a simple mentality, if it works for you/that person then stick with it. I personally prefer to run oils like Hot Shots or CenPeCo due to their far superior additive packages but that doesn't mean T5, T6, or other brand oils are garbage and will cause problems. The other benefit we have is that the Duramax is extremely easy on oil meaning they don't really cause much breakdown of the oil like say a HEUI engine (IE 7.3L/6.0L Powerstrokes or Cat etc).
How does the amsoil heavy duty diesel and marine compare to these?
 

Bdsankey

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How does the amsoil heavy duty diesel and marine compare to these?
To which series? HD Diesel Marine would probably be close to to Hot Shot's Black Diamond. The Hot Shot's black diamond, if I recall, has a better anti wear package than the HD Diesel Marine.

That being said, I think HD Diesel Marine is AmsOil's best diesel oil they have on the market for non-DPF equipped applications. The CenPeCo S3 conventional oil IMO falls into that same category as AmsOil, it's a KILLER oil and is 1/2 the price of AmsOil.

I think the AmsOil dominator diesel oils are a joke, their ZDDP levels don't come close to Hot Shot's Outlaw/CenPeCo Super Race/Schaeffers/Brad Penn etc. Their flash point and viscosity are good.
 

OleBlackyLBZ

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May 22, 2020
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To which series? HD Diesel Marine would probably be close to to Hot Shot's Black Diamond. The Hot Shot's black diamond, if I recall, has a better anti wear package than the HD Diesel Marine.

That being said, I think HD Diesel Marine is AmsOil's best diesel oil they have on the market for non-DPF equipped applications. The CenPeCo S3 conventional oil IMO falls into that same category as AmsOil, it's a KILLER oil and is 1/2 the price of AmsOil.

I think the AmsOil dominator diesel oils are a joke, their ZDDP levels don't come close to Hot Shot's Outlaw/CenPeCo Super Race/Schaeffers/Brad Penn etc. Their flash point and viscosity are good.
I have always ran the HD marine from amsoil unless breaking in a motor then I just use mobile delvac or Rotella T4. That cenpeco S3 IS almost half of amsoil, I may give that stuff a try one day. I use amsoils filters too.
 

Bdsankey

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I have always ran the HD marine from amsoil unless breaking in a motor then I just use mobile delvac or Rotella T4. That cenpeco S3 IS almost half of amsoil, I may give that stuff a try one day. I use amsoils filters too.
Their synthetic media filters are hard to beat, they are EXTREMELY high quality with a very nice pliable silicone anti-drainback valve etc. They're my go to filters for every application.
 
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OleBlackyLBZ

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Their synthetic media filters are hard to beat, they are EXTREMELY high quality with a very nice pliable silicone anti-drainback valve etc. They're my go to filters for every application.
I know people have tested their oil at 25,000 miles and it's been good still. And I know with my setup missing "certain parts" it's probably not real hard on oil but I always end up changing it around 15,000 miles. You had any experience with the extended drain intervals?
 

08lmm72mm

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I know people have tested their oil at 25,000 miles and it's been good still. And I know with my setup missing "certain parts" it's probably not real hard on oil but I always end up changing it around 15,000 miles. You had any experience with the extended drain intervals?
Maybe your extended drain interval is why you have such bad typewriter tick 🤣 haha
 

OleBlackyLBZ

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If we are being realistic, any issues most of us will have from our trucks is probably not going to be from whether we change our oil every 15,000 miles with synthetic or every 3,000 with conventional. There is a guy over on duramaxforum that last I knew had 440,000 miles on his lbz and had ran rotella t6 and a mobile1 filter it's whole life while experimenting with extened drain intervals and testing. He was at 40,000 mile intervals last I knew but changing the filter every 20,000. Our semi truck here where I work are recommended by the factory for warranty purposes to be changed every 50,000 miles. I would never run my truck 40K miles on a change, I'm just sayin, I think a lot of us go way overboard with it. I'm confident my amsoil is better than t6 but there is noway my truck is going to last 450,000+ miles with the way I have it set-up and drive it.
 

Chevy1925

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i go way overboard on my changes. Every 5k it gets a change. I keep mobile delvac in it though as that is what the factory sent it to dealers with.