Is Rotella really bad on a 7.3?

JD3020

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I'll start off by saying every diesel we have ever had, except the 6.oh, has had regular Rotella in it. Thats 3 7.3s, a 5.9, 6.4, and farm and industrial equipment. Hell i'm even running it in our 07 Honda Foreman 500. Anyways my question pertains to the 7.3's because of the injectors. There is a shop i know of that some friends have had do a bunch of work on their 7.3 recently, and they are a reputable place, but they are claiming that Rotella is the worst stuff you can run in a 7.3 and it will destroy the injectors and HPOP system. And of course they "recommend" another oil that they just happen to sell along with the Lucas Oil additive for the fuel and oil. In our case we have never had an oil related issue on any motor, ever. Our old OBS had some injector issues due to high mileage(200k), and it never had anything but Rotella 15w-40 in it.

Obviously my experience with these motors is limited, so to those that are around more 7.3s or work on em(namely injector guys), is Rotella really ****ty oil? Personally i wouldn't trust to shop to mess with my 7.3, so i'm just trying to see if there is any truth to what they say.
 
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guillozet08

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this is a good question. thats what i use too. everyone i talk to thats all they use. lol so be neat to see what some people say.
 

JD3020

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Yeah, its all we have ever run along with our friends, and nobody has ever had an oil related issue like i said. Now this shop is coming along and convinced my friends to run their oil in their 7.3's because Rotella is "hard" on the HPO system. Personally i don't believe it, but they do work on 7.3 injectors so maybe their is some credit to their claim? I just see it as a scam because i walked into my buddies shop and there was a big jug of Lucas Oil oil stabilizer and a big jug of Lucas Oil fuel additive sitting there, and he said they bought em from this shop along with this oil and a bunch of work they are doing trying to chase an issue that makes no sense.

Overall i started thinking about it cause the way they are diagnosing my buddies truck just has me leery of em. Just trying to get some other opinions on it.
 
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GTOKILLER

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I run it in all of my 7.3's over a million miles added together never replaced even 1 injector or a HPOP. There are always better oils out there but Rotella works for 7.3's
 

MINK

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What shop? Rotella is by no means the best but again rotella is all my father and I have ever used in our diesels.
 

JD3020

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Don't really wanna say their name on here, in case somebody were to find out and get pissy. But its mainly a Cummins shop.

A guy from the same shop also told me Bean's stopped running BTS, and that they only say they do to sell em. Thats one of the things that didn't really impress me. :lookaround:
 

Hotrodtractor

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I won't tell you that Rotella will screw you truck up - but I don't recommend it. A long time ago when I first got a 7.3 of my very own I ran Rotella, as I started modifying and learning about the 7.3 - I started to discover that Rotella was just flat out wearing out quickly in my truck - mostly due to oil shearing which is not seen in other applications as bad as a HEUI engined truck because in those other applications the oil is not constantly being pressurized to several thousand PSI and squeezed through tiny holes and passages. As my level of mods increased I discovered that just changing the oil made a big difference on how the truck ran and felt - so I started trying different oils based off of what I knew other guys around me were running - some oils are definitely better than others in a HEUI app. A good example is a set of dual HPOPs - that will dramatically increase the oil shearing going on in an engine - in fact in my experience I was lucky to get 2-2.5K miles out of a batch of Rotella. To further complicate matters the EPA mandates have forced oil companies to reformulate a lot of their oil since that time and reduce the amounts of ZDDP additives which are in there for anti wear characteristics so now you have an oil with less anti wear additives as well as high shearing potential.

I would not run Lucas anything in anything.

On Edit: The reduction of ZDDP is across all brands of oil - and its a good thing to be looking at ZDDP additives for oil changes. Not saying its the best, but I've been using STP as its easily available and is better than nothing.
 

mattman347

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:whs:

We can tell who used Rotella oil in their 7.3L, and those who use a good synthetic. The Rotella oil will work, it just needs to be changed more often! An injector can be wore out without causing a miss...
 

mattman347

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I don't have a lot of customers using that oil believe it or not, so I can't judge it to well. I will tell you this, we had some injectors come in that the customer had used royal purple their whole life and they were in near perfect shape! I never would have guessed it myself! Any synthetic oil (15W40) is going to protect better than conventional agenst the shear that the HPO system puts on it.
 

Hotrodtractor

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Jason, what did you find to be the best? Just curious.

Personally - my favorite oil to run was 15W40 CenPeCo - which is a 100% paraffin based dino oil. I switched it up to a straight 50W CenPeCo racing oil in the truck for the 2008 season and it made a noticeable difference in how it ran - but I also made sure the truck was warm and up to temp before doing any pulling.

Edit: I've never really asked Cass how the injectors looked and felt running that oil.... it tended to be a bit more "sticky" cold and you had to do more than just wipe it off your hands if you got it on your skin as then your skin would be noticeably slick. Matt - not sure if Cass or Darren recalls anything unique about the oil in my sticks - but there are 4 of em down there on the shelf that may or may not be in pieces. LOL
 
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mattman347

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Personally - my favorite oil to run was 15W40 CenPeCo - which is a 100% paraffin based dino oil. I switched it up to a straight 50W CenPeCo racing oil in the truck for the 2008 season and it made a noticeable difference in how it ran - but I also made sure the truck was warm and up to temp before doing any pulling.

Ahhhh I remember some of the pulls that year and hearing the red truck for the first time. :thumbsup:
 

Hotrodtractor

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Ahhhh I remember some of the pulls that year and hearing the red truck for the first time. :thumbsup:

The first time that engine fired up in the shop it took a week to get that grin off my face.... :D That straight 50W seemed to give a pretty damn good ride down the road in 4x4 just to attempt to keep it between the lines if you recall. LOL
 

psdguy95

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My obs has had rotella in it all its life untill I bought it. Seems to have ran fine with it in there but I think its been running differently since I switch. Honestly can't tell if its bad or good. But for some reason I think the rotella did wear out my injectors and hpop. Im at 226k
 

mattman347

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The first time that engine fired up in the shop it took a week to get that grin off my face.... :D That straight 50W seemed to give a pretty damn good ride down the road in 4x4 just to attempt to keep it between the lines if you recall. LOL

If I recall, it was more than a handful on the street!! That was a fun ride, the sound of that big charger was awesome! Oh the good 'ol days...
 
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