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[hitecdan]

Originally Posted by mt454casull

I have been told not to run dello 400, and that it isn't approved for International engines anyhow. Any how, what are your thoughts?

Who told you that? That's funny because someone posted a while back that they were told the Shell Rotella was not approved for the 6.0L PSD. Is Dello 400 CI-4, CI-4+ or CJ-4 rated? Many have and are using Dello 400 with excellent results. Any oil that is CI-4+ rated is OK to use in the 6.0L PSD. But the CI-4+ rating has now been replaced with the newer CJ-4 rating, except for a lot of the synthetics out there, but that should change with time. Shell, Dello and Motorcraft are all excellent oils to use unless you sale Amsoil. Also, most of these oils can be had at places like Walmart for less $$$ then what the dealer is selling Motorcraft oil for. Don't get me wrong, Motorcraft is a good oil too, but a Ford dealers have been know to push their stuff by telling you the other stuff is not approved or could void your warranty. If it meets the CI-4+ rating, it's OK to use. I had may oil changed once by my dealer as part of a recall and he filled it up with Quaker State oil. Made my truck stay over night waiting for the Quaker State oil while tons of Motorcraft band oil sat on the shelves in their parts department.


The problem with the 6.0L PSD is that it shears oil quickly. A 15W-40 weight oil will have the viscosity of a 10W-30 in about 3,000 miles. And the engine doesn't seem to care if the oil is a synthetic based oil or a dino based oil, it shears them all the same, except for Schaeffer's brand oil. But Schaeffer's is pretty hard to find and cost about the same as Redline. So unless you have money to burn, I would stick with a good dino oil and change it every 3,000 to 5,000 miles.

The plus side of synthetics is you will see a slight increase in mpg. From my experience it's less the 1 mpg using Shell Rotella T in the winter time. Hardly enough to off set the added cost of the synthetic oil. Slowing down and driving between 1,800 and 2,000 rpm will net you better mileage then dumping a synthetic in the crankcase.


If you drive short trips, stop and go traffic or idle a lot, change every 3,000 miles. Fuel dilution is an issue when the engine does not have time to warm up and run warmed up for longer periods of time, especially in winter time. If your driving consist of lots of freeway/highway driving, you can push the oil changes out to 5,000 miles.


Also consider have your oil analyzed by a lab like Blackstone labs the fist few oil changes. This will give you an idea of just how the engine/oil combo is performing. After you get a better feel for how the oil is doing, have the oil analyzed every once in awhile to keep tabs on the engine.