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?

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fisher.thomas20m ago

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.