Shell Rotella T and T1 oil

I did not intend my comment to de rail the thread.

What I meant was that Ash is a "necessary evil". Too much of it will cause problems in the ring packs of both 2 and 4 strokes.

The engines that use DPF's downstream have problems with any Ash as it does not burn off and will involve a manual cleaning, in your basic 2 stroke install there is only a muffler after the engine outlet and I have not seen any of these blocked by Ash so far.

See here http://rotella.shell.com/products/t1.html for Rotella products.

T is multi-grade, T1 is straight grade, T5 is synthetic blend, T6 is full synthetic. Lots o' certification details, etc., there.

-Chris

Ah. Hadn't noticed it was the same link.

In any case, what I was focusing on is that it appears Rotella T (not T1) and any straight weight (e.g., 40) in the same sentence maybe isn't really an existing product. Did you actually see the bucket/read the label at the boat store? Or was it from an on-line listing that could conceivably have been corrupted?

-Chris

Well, I'm guessing the HD stands for heavy duty. It appears to be CF-2 rated, so you could use either one.

OK, I got nuthin'.

Interesting one part of the label says T Engine Oil SAE 40 (T suggesting multi-grade) and the other part says T1 SAE 40 (straight weight, as expected).

Phone call to Shell?

-Chris

Wrong, If you read the label on the 5 gallon bucket in the 3rd picture it says "High quality single grade Heavy Duty Diesel engine oil" right under the big Shell Rotella print and above the HD T1 SAE 40.

The first pail simply states "High Performance mixed fleet engine oil"

There are issues beyond that, to quote Detroit:

"The ash residue is related to the oil's additive composition and is significant in predicting lubricants which may cause valve distress, cylinder kit scuffing or exhaust catalyst plugging under certain operating conditions"

I'd look more carefully at expiration dates and also think twice about purchasing oil from a retailer selling outdated oil.

I didn't comment on the oil itself as we don't use any form of Rotella.

Yes, I have stopped shopping at a store that frequently had outdated items on the shelves. If it's an isolated circumstance, I would not change, but I would be more alert in the future. You say it's a quality retailer so I wouldn't change. My comment was I would think twice and I would be on the alert.

If you think it's the distributor and not the retailer then I'd just let the retailer know so they could follow up with their distributor. And, yes, if I was the retailer and that happened, I would be concerned. Actually more concerned than as a customer with the retailer. Distributors know when items are discontinued and inventory is old. Someone in the supply channel moved discontinued oil and sold it as current.

And, yes, that makes me grumpy, sold over four years after it was discontinued. As to a snickers bar, I'll go for a piece of chocolate cake instead but guess I'll wait until after dinner. I guess the Snicker's commercial does work though and I thought it was a lousy commercial.

That is what I meant when I wrote that Ash is a "necessary evil". Too much of it will cause problems in the ring packs of both 2 and 4 strokes.

Might be right about the T. I didn't necessarily mean it "stood for" (some kind of obscure acronym? whatever) multi-weight, but it just seemed to me that -- from all the labeling I've seen on pails and websites and so forth -- that T (by itself) and multi-grade dino always happened in the same sentence. Whereas T1 is always straight weight. And so forth...

Interesting answer from the Shell tech; good that you've tracked that down and followed up with the retailer!

-Chris