Was dead set against synthetic oil in my 7.3 Powerstroke until I pulled the heads at 280k

Old timers always told me these motors need conventional or they'll leak, but after I pulled my valve covers the sludge was way less than my buddy's truck that ran Rotella 15w40 its whole life. Anyone else get converted by seeing the inside of a high mile motor?

3 comments

3 Comments

kai_chen219d ago

Joke around with the old school guys all the time that I practically ran a sludge factory in my 7.3 for the first 200k miles using conventional. Pulled the valve covers last year and the difference was night and day compared to my buddy's truck that switched over at 150k. Now I'm that annoying guy telling everyone to make the switch, like I'm some kinda synthetic oil preacher or something.

fisher.thomas20d agoMost Upvoted

And yeah man, I was the exact same way. I swore by the old dino oil in my 7.3, figured the conventional was what kept the high pressure oil system happy and the leaks at bay. Then I got talked into trying synthetic around 200k miles after I saw a buddy's disassembly photos (totally changed my mind on the spot). His truck had way less carbon and varnish build up under the valve covers than mine did, and he ran it a lot harder than I did. Once I made the switch myself, I noticed cold starts got way easier in the winter and my oil temps dropped a bit on long hauls. I still get a tiny seep from the rear main, but nothing like the horror stories old timers warned me about.

jessem5919d ago

Preaching the synthetic gospel now too, huh? We need our own tent revival for the 7.3 crowd.