Who use synthetic oil in trucks and does it really make a difference?

[Pilgrims' Pride]

I guess the name of the post says it all.
I did a search and I'm well versed on how to change the oil in a mower now.
But what do you all use in your trucks and why?
I'm told that synthetic oils are worth the money.
Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Bob

[Randy J]

I used to have a '98 Dodge diesel, and my Father a '99 diesel. We both ran Amsoil 15W40 oil in them. After switching over to the synthetic, I noticed about 1.5 more mpg than before. My father noticed an increase also, though not sure how much. The trucks were considerably less noisy on cold mornings, and then transmissions seemed a little less sluggish with the synthetics in it. In addition, as I did a lot of highway driving, I was able to bump my oil change services to 10,000 miles. Any way I look at it, it was a winner for me.

Randy

[MudslinginFX4]

I use synthethic. My dad has always been in the auto business and tells me that (while regular oil won't hurt) synthetic is the best. Instead of changing my oil every 3000 miles I only change it every 5000 (which is about every month and a half for me). I've never had any problems with my engines and I put a lot of wear and tear on them!

[P&C Lawn Care]

Synthetic is the best, it has a much higher heat range than conventional oil. I don't change my oil until 7 or 10k miles. I know that sounds harsh, I can't believe it myself (I used to change every 3000 miles regardless) but even at 7000 mile the oil looks clean and hasn't darkened up. Does it cost more? Yes it does, some trucks I use Mobil 1 on, which costs anywhere from $4 to $5 a quart, but some other trucks I use Walmart Super Tech full Synthetic oil, at about $2.50 a quart. I even use the Super Tech oil filters, they are rated better than Wix or Fram, look at the box and compare. I have an Engineer friend who swears by this oil (and filters) and he even said that when syn oil came out it boasted about oil changes every 20,000 miles. Can't make much money when you can go a long time between changes, guess that is why the decreased the mileage. Does it make a difference? I have an old metal top hydrostat Honda mower that is over ten years old running on synthetic. Try it and see, but the test has to be long term not short term.

[65hoss]

My F150 has had Mobil 1 since I bought it new. Does it make a difference? I hope so. Its an aweful expensive oil change. Can I say for sure? Nope.

[Craftybigdog]

If it takes oil I run amsoil in it!

[burnandreturn]

I been doing some experiments with different oil, in both the engine and in the hydraulic systems in my trucks and mowvers.

I put oil temperature gauges on one of my mowers and started using different oils in the engine and hydraulic system.

Synergyn Oil was by far the best in both the engine and hydraulic system/

Using synergyn oil in my hydraulic system reduced the temperature by a 37 percent over Mobil 1 . Mobil 1 ran at 165 degrees and Synergyn ran at 105. According to all the engineers I've talked to the temperature is a good benchmark. If the unit is running cooler it means less friction. Less friction means more of the power where I need it.

The head chemist at Synergyn used to be the chemist at Amsoil.

I talked to the tech people at Amsoil and they told me there lab tests were biased!!!!!! They said that to me!!!!!!!!!

One of the reasons I built a pre-lube system for my mowers was the convienience of changing the oil, besides the pre-lube factor. It made doing all this testing a lot easier. If I couldn't have just pumped out the oil I not sure I would have done all this oil changing.

[riches139]

All the new Ford 5.4 V8s come with syn. oil. 5w20.

[twins_lawn_care]

I actually just bought a truck from a guy in Wisconsin to use for the business. Get to talking with him, and he is actually one of the owners of Amsoil, and used it in the truck religiously (no surprise). Glad to hear all the good talk about Amsoil, as I was wondering how much, if anything of an improvement it would bring, or more so, what damage will it prevent.
I must say, for the miles it has, the truck is running real nice!

[dougaustreim]

The biggest problem with synthetic oil is that some people extend the change interval too long. While the oil itself doesn;t break down, eventually you get an awful lot of build up of dirt and other crud in the system. You do need to change at regular intervals, granted longer intervals, but still you do have to change to get the crud out of the engine.

Doug
Austreim landscaping

[Randy J]

Absolutely correct Doug. I used to go 10,000 miles on my Amsoil because my driving was about 90% highway. I certainly wouldn't go any more than this with out oil analysis testing.

Randy

[GTLC]

We have used Mobil 1 for at least 5 years now. we are able to do 7500 mile oil change intervals due to the low oil consumption rate for synthetics.

[PSUturf]

I switched my 8.1L Chevy to Mobil-1 5W-30 and got about 1mpg better fuel economy.

[BOTURF]

i have used mobil 1 in my mowers for 4 years now and i did get 2300 hrs out of the w/b17 horse before trading it in on a turf tiger also i have mobil 1 in my dodge v 10 , i did have to replace rod bearings and main bearings this past year but it was the fault of prev owner of the truck who never took care of it , the dealer who fixed truck said if he would have used the mobil 1 from begining i wouldnt have had this problem , to be quite honest the power seems better and it or both truck and mower runs alot cooler , i recomend mobile 1 to all

[Tyner Lawn Service]

The 5w20 took me a little while to get used to when they said that's what they wanted in the 4.6. I like it real well.