83 300D Oil Questions
 

Just got her running after sitting for 6 years. i am ready to change the oil now after getting the fuel system squared away. I live in Nashville and the car will be garage kept and has a plug in for cooler weather. What brand of oil do you guys suggest? Weight? Synthetic or regular? I have no book on the car yet. It is on the way, but I want to change it now. How much does the crank case hold? Thanks Scott

8 quarts.
a change usually gets 7.5 of em.
whoo boy. oil thread.
best is amsoil synthetic
next is Mobil1 synthetic
next is rotella synthetic
then rotella dino
then delo400
etc
etc
etc...
change it often. and you'll have a car for life.
put in it any diesel rated oil and you'll be fine!
any xW40 should do er.

It holds a little under 8 quarts. I prefer 5W40 synthetic for all-season use (Mobile 1). If you want to use conventional, look for a diesel rated 15W40 for use in reasonably warm weather (probably OK for all year in nashville).

Does it matter if you change oil types from regular to synthetic?
Scott

Sure it matters. Synthetic oil cost a lot more for equal measure. In Nashville 15-40 conventional diesel rated oil should meet your needs well enough. They take almost two gallons of oil remember.

Buy your oil filters cheap in bulk somewhere and stock up on oil when on sale. The amount of soot these engines make means the change frequency is pretty often with todays driving habits. You do not really want to pass the recomended change intervals on this engine.

I use Mobil Delvac 1300 15W40 in mine. 4 quarts at Walmart is $10.50.

Perfect. Thanks so much. I am changing the oil today. 3000 Miles is the norm? I am going to run this oil for 500 miles, then change it again to try to clean it up a bit. Scott

if you wanna clean it up. nothing beats synthetic for cleaning, and protection while it's cleaning.

I normally go 5000 with synthetic (highway driving), 3000 sounds reasonable for conventional oil.

I switched to Mobil One
 

I did it a couple of years ago, run it 5000 miles and change it twice a year. Mine has leaks, but it doesn't leak any more synthetic then dino. We had a very cold February, it sat outside all month, and started at 5:30 AM with temps of just above zero without the block heater being used, though I did double the glow plug time to about a minute. Fantastic!

Everyone has their list or hierarchy of which oils are the best, and they are all wrong.

The best oil continually jumps around as formulations change, additive chemistries update, etc. One can judge to some extent based upon cranking/pumping viscosities, pour point, viscosity index, additization, but all that is always subject to change. You cannot really go wrong sticking with any one of the majors.

15w-40 is acceptable for use any time temperatures will not go below 0-2F. Depending upon how easily your car starts in ambient conditions will drive the decision to go to a 5w-40 from there.

IMO, you can never go wrong with syn long-term, though in some situations/applications it can be overkill. The syn will pump better at all startup temperatures, and you can never go wrong with increased oil flow faster...

That said, Id do a number of quick oil changes, likely 50 miles, then after another 100 miles, then after another 250 miles, then after another 500, then after another 1000. The key is to do some cleaning and get the remnants of moisture and broken-down oil and acids out of there as quickly and effectively as possible. For those id likely go with rotella 15w-40, not because it is better than any other 15w-40 HDEO out there, but because you can buy a 2.5 gallon jug of it at wal-mart for $25.

I just don't see the benefit in mobil1 in a car with this much soot.
to me, mobil1 is GREAT in a car that you can swap a filter every 5K and be good, but the soot is not filtered out in these motors, (well, I guess a tiny amount through the bypass) and at the 5K mark, ya really have to change the oil.
synthetic is just so much more expensive than dino. if I gotta change the oil, this often, I'm gonna go with dino, or rotella syn(which is really just kinda syn)
it's an economic decision, not a better oil decision.

I would 15w40 the sucker. It's much cheaper and works just as well as 5w40.

I use rotella 5w40 in the winter since I live in a town where there are a few nights out of the year where the weather drops below 0.

However since this is an oil thread the only thing you should be putting in your engine is distilled water!

/sarcasm

Depends on your change interval, if you compare changing 15W40 at 3000 miles with changing 5W40 at 5000 miles the synthetic is probably about the same cost.

Rotella syn is not just kinda syn. It is synthetic oil. GroupIII actually has superior cleaning and stability properties, and does not have some of the drawbacks that PAO and POE do have. The best oil will not be all of something just because it is an expensive basestock. it will be a balanced product which maximize the advantages while minimizing the disadvantages of the overall chemistry. And remember, the add package is at least as important as the basestock, and a hefty portion of the cost too.

Let's also put a caveat on the drivers of syn versus conventional. It is absolutely engine/driver/use profile dependent. Syn is a better oil overall in all healthy engines for a number of reasons, most of which are well known. It is also an economic issue. If money was no object, syn would be the choice all the way. If extended drain intervals are an economic consideration (both materials and time), then syn is a driver. If cold flow or multiple starts is a driver, then syn is the choice.

Conventional makes sense to some because when applied in very large sumps, with relatively low RPM engines, running with good cooling, good crankcase ventilation and relatively low power density, it works fine. In an application like a 617, the tradeoff is really cold flow vs soot loading. The sump is large, power level is low, conventional works, unless you need the pumping benefit that syn offers. Doesnt mean that syn isnt always better for pumping up quickly, it just means that in as reliable and long-lived an engine as the 617, other issues prevail. A conventional will do 3000-5000 mile OCIs just fine, and not hit the 2% soot limit or the loss in TBN (always verify for your engine and use profile via UOA). A syn may have life, viscosity and TBN left, but be soot loaded too early. What is good for a 617 may not be the smartest choice for a 606.

Lots of aspects here... for an 83 300D, syn is purely a fast starting benefit. I concur. That said, for twice the price, syn does offer peace of mind and better flow and viscosity retention, and is IMPO a good decision.