Shell Rotella T vs T1

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Nov 12th, '10, 17:15

Need some advice or opinion from those familar with Shell Rotella.

I use Shell Rotella T 30W in my cat 3126's and have been happy with the performance. I just bought some to do an oil change for winter layup and find that I got T1 not T. When I looked at Shell's website, they show Rotella T is only a multiweight now and T1 is a single grade.

So should I use the T1 or not? also, I had 3 gal of T 30w from last year should I mix? what do you think?

br,
JohnD

In Memory of Vicroy · Post by **In Memory of Vicroy** » Nov 12th, '10, 17:36

I've always used the Rotella T 15W40 in my Cummins 6BTAs as Cummins did a study showing the multi grade cut oil consumption way down vs. a single weight. My engines use virtually zero oil between changes and they have near 3,000 hours. No clue if the same would apply to the Cat 3116 but don't see why not. Mixing seems like a bad idea to me, but why I don't know.....I use the Shell Rotella T 15W40 in everything I own from the Cummins to the cars. I'd use it in my lawnmower, but the two happiest days of my life were 40 years ago when I handled my last divorce case and 20 years ago when I sold my lawn mower.

UV

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Nov 12th, '10, 19:20

don`t go near those cats with single weight! take it back or leave old oil in.!!!!

In Memory Walter K · Post by **In Memory Walter K** » Nov 12th, '10, 19:28

But you HAVE been using a single weight up to now, no? I would not mix single weight with multi weight. Stay one way or the other. Bob Lico recommends using {switching to) the multi weight.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Nov 12th, '10, 19:38

bob lico wrote:don`t go near those cats with single weight! take it back or leave old oil in.!!!!

Bob,
What would you recommend?

I have heard that the stright 30W Rotella T was ok for the cats and I have about 120hrs on the rotella 30w I'm draining out. I only noticed the difference between T and T1 when I pulled the spare gal out to use them up.

I know cat calls for their special oil, it's another $10-15/gal. For the last 120hrs use rotella 30w and I haven't had an issue, but I don't want to continue if its not good for them.

To be specific have 1998 3126TA's (mechanical) 420hp

br,
JohnD

martinciarpella · Post by **martinciarpella** » Nov 12th, '10, 19:55

John..We are right across from Pasadena..North point creek..We have been trolling in the brewerton past couple weeks...Keep an eye out ,we are in a white 31.

Charlie J · Post by **Charlie J** » Nov 12th, '10, 20:08

john
i have been using the rotella 15w40 in my yanmars 230s do not burn any oil, change out every 100 hrs

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Nov 12th, '10, 20:16

martinciarpella wrote:John..We are right across from Pasadena..North point creek..We have been trolling in the brewerton past couple weeks...Keep an eye out ,we are in a white 31.

Thank, I'll keep an eye out for you, but may not fishing much more this year. I was out for vetern's day and saw a good lookin B31 out by ft howard, was that you? I was heading toward Balt, so I didn't catch the name on the stern. We didn't get out on the water until about 10am and didn't get anything at all. How've you been doing lately?

I've got a B35 "Lady D" we live on Nabbs Creek, off of Stoney Creek, down by the Nabbs Creek Inn.

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Nov 12th, '10, 23:35

if you are not going to go with the cat recommended (anti forming) for high performance diesel you have 420`s putting you at the top of the pecking order for performance . go with T not t1 if you choose to use rotella. there are better choices closer to cat spec.

John C · Post by **John C** » Nov 13th, '10, 07:58

If your 3126 is mechanical( not a 3126b) you must use 30 or 40 wt oil. There is a cat service letter on this. Cat wants you to use there oil is call SAEO but single weight rottella is ok.

martinciarpella · Post by **martinciarpella** » Nov 13th, '10, 08:33

JohnD wrote: Thank, I'll keep an eye out for you, but may not fishing much more this year. I was out for vetern's day and saw a good lookin B31 out by ft howard, was that you? I was heading toward Balt, so I didn't catch the name on the stern. We didn't get out on the water until about 10am and didn't get anything at all. How've you been doing lately?

I've got a B35 "Lady D" we live on Nabbs Creek, off of Stoney Creek, down by the Nabbs Creek Inn.

That was us.......I know its bad luck, but at the moment there is no name on the boat (ran out of $ for the lettering) .....Maybe thats why we only have a handful of fish to show for all the hours we have been trolling.

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Nov 13th, '10, 08:59

i have to use the correct words here . john you have a great pair of cats very sucessfull mechanacal 3126 at 420hp . yes i use rottella t- 15-40 in my cummins 330hp and yes that is find for yanmar 4cyl and 6cyl at 315hp but cat 385hp and 420hp are a big step up and the additives are essential for long life . the differance between cheap car oil and expensive cat oil is the type of additives plus they are mutigrade with non forming additives due to the shape of the oil pan in boat rather then truck the pan and the critical oil level can cause the oil to foam from crank throws. foaming will kill that engine as it losses it`s lubricating ability.i could write ten pages on the subject and oil in relationship to EGT. but use this guide line; 40 weight / mutigrade straight grade good in gears ONLY!!!!!!! the cat oil (saeo) is a api classification ce whereby the cheaper oils are cc/cd or cd/sf you most change at half recommended intervals because additives are destroyed by heat.

John C · Post by **John C** » Nov 13th, '10, 09:35

Bob, What in Gods name are you talking about?This is not a hard question to answer.. If you own a mechanical 3116 or 3126 you must use single grade 30 or 40 weight oil...I am not saying so caterpillar is. They want you to use their oil it is called SAEO( special applacation engine oil) it only comes is 30 or 40 weight. They DONT want multigrade oil in these engines. They say you can use any single weight oil that meets CF-4. The old shell rotella t in 30 or 40 used to meet that spec. This is the only oil to use in these engines. Cat found that multi grade oil was clogging the aftercoolers which resulted in poor proformance, sooting, and high temps

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Nov 13th, '10, 09:42

John,

You need to use the T1 / single grade in the 3126's and 3116's. As someone else mentioned this is a service bulletin that CAT put our years back. If I remember right, the use of 15w-40 in these engines will clog the aftercoolers overtime and you will also see alot of soot on your transom. I use Rotella 30 / T1 in my 3116's. Shell change the packaging recently and now calls the single grade oil T1 but it's the exact same stuff you have been using.

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Nov 13th, '10, 09:46

h.o. penn / catapillar out regional distribution center has a update for marine application only that they sent out indicating mutigrade. never really looked that far into it but we don`t use single weight anymore. they controll all of the region and warranty so i take there word.

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Nov 13th, '10, 13:29

we had 250 gallons of oil delivered this week in 5 gallon cans all rottela t . the funny thing is there are three differant labels on the same product but they all are rottela t . very differcult to answer a question with so many exceptions but one thing is for sure my own boat calls for valvoline premium blue (cummins) i think about that as i pour the shell rotella into it!
diesel power services whom are the east coast cat/man authority and rebuild all there own engines in house, most likely the most dislike diesel mechanic service i know of , but always right unfournately .phil is the guy at 150.00 from shop (even gets paid flying to florida )to correct a problem a machanic can`t fixed and speaks directly to manhein germany for man engine problems and to cat factory rep.he uses the catapillar oil in all his rebuilts.

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Nov 13th, '10, 14:40

The only marine engine I'd use a non mulit viscosity oil in would be a 2 cycle Detroit.

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Nov 13th, '10, 16:02

ah bruce a voice of authority .thank you and i cannot see in todays hp diesel why anybody would not use a multi-grade oil with the price directly in step with the amount of additives. the top of the ladder is man engines " actung, actung you will not use rottella you vill use man oil (at twice the price) or ve will not honor warran tee! down to cummins "if you use piss out of a boot or left over car oil it will shorten engine life---amen

Capt.Frank · Post by **Capt.Frank** » Nov 14th, '10, 22:20

Here in NC single weigth oil is realy hard to find. Everything is multi weight. I have used straight for over 10years. I got tired of ordering oil all the time. CAT told me to just use 15W-40 3208 NA. Don't know about 3126.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Nov 15th, '10, 21:21

Thanks all for the good advice!

I think I'll just go with the rotella T1 30w for the winter change and see how things go next spring. I'll not use the older "T" oil I'll just keep it for emergency or something. Then next oil change I'll just go with CAT SAEO oil, Alban CAT is only a few miles from work. Anyway, life's too busy now to put a whole lot of hours on the boat anyway so the cost savings really won't matter.

I haven't been back to the boat since Friday, momma was out of town and I was entertaining our 2 girls (9 &11). It may take me another week to recover from the parents vs. Kids field hockey game.

br,
JohnD

Rawleigh · Post by **Rawleigh** » Nov 16th, '10, 09:06

The older 30 weight probably has more ZDDP in it which is a good lubricant for flat tappet cams, etc. They have removed it from the CH-4 rated oils so that it does not damage the DPF's and cats on the 2008 up diesels. The older CF-4 rated oils have a higher level of ZDDP.

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Nov 23rd, '10, 15:54

i learn a lesson from bruce a while back and that is when posting technical watch out for exceptions . well there is one ; from the top gun at cat " there was a design error on the turbo intake for the 3116 and first year and a half of 3126 whereby the blowby from mutigrade oil additives would cause the turbo to clog. that is where the old bullitin was refering to the use of single grade oil the second year of 3126 the problem was rectify and can be observed by the bracket change on the front of turbo . so my answer is yes for 3116 and very early 3126 use single grade if the engine was never upgraded by cat (very unlikely as it was cover under wartanty) so for those few from way back that were never register use single grade all others use mutigrade cat oil -------trade secret-----cat oil is texico oil with new label.i hope i cleared this issue.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Nov 23rd, '10, 17:50

Bob,

Thanks for the clarity! I too had heard to use only single 30wt oil for the CAT 3116/3126 but not to the detail you explained. My motors are 1998 vintage, so I'm not sure if they have the updated turbo.. so as long as the single wt is working I'll go with that and may give the texaco oil a try if there's the least issue with using rotella.

At least they'll go to bed for their winter's night with fresh oil.

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Nov 23rd, '10, 18:23

brother thats from the top . the engine would be somewhere around 1992 to be concerned . lets face it all engine manufactorers make some kind of mistakes ,hopefully they make good . they issue a bullitin to notify the public then they issue another bullitin to say ok now use multigrade very carefully avoiding class action suits like the 3116 "soft blocks" they made out of country because of strike at plant.

John C · Post by **John C** » Dec 1st, '10, 10:12

Once Again incorrect information here is the link from caterpillar...... http://www.toromontcat.com/pdf/SpecialApplication.pdf

bob lico · Post by **bob lico** » Dec 1st, '10, 18:17

that is exactly what i said read it again---turbo---turbo ----turbo. tubo gets cloged from blowby use single grade in these engines OR change intake (blowby path) to turbo.

bertram31.com

Shell Rotella T vs T1

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