what kind of oil in your tow rig?

Going to change the oil for the first time in my new motor (454) in my 1998 CK3500. What is everyone running in their tow vehicles? I broke the crank in my last motor hauling my camper and boat up Vantage 10 mile hill. Really want to put in the best protection I can get. Thanks in advance!

Funny you should ask... I just changed oil last night!

I always run Amsoil (5W 30). I also use an Amsoil filter. This stuff is great and is advertised to last up to 25K miles. In my case I change oil & filter once a year (about 15k miles for us).

Total cost for 6 quarts + filter = $65.

agree, synthetic, but do be careful if you go with an extended mileage oil since 454's burn oil, just keep an eye on the oil level between changes.

Mobile 1

And I only change one time a year also

people who know use Amsoil

12 quarts of Amsoil

i used 5w-20 Mobil 1 full syn in my hemi dodge and change it every 5k miles. Run Amsoil 15w-40 in the boat and change it every 100 hrs

I run Valvoline 15w40 in my 08 duramax.

I use Mobil 1 as a first choice in everything. Any good quality brand pure synthetic is better with high oil temperatures than conventional oil. If you don't have high temperatures you can just use regular oil and change it more often. If your engine starts to leak oil then switch away from synthetic as it leaks faster.
Mobil 1 had less internal friction than Amsoil when I ran dyno tests on various products. I was sponsored for product by Amsoil at the time.

My weekend truck is 2001 Chevy Tahoe with 211k miles on it. I have run conventional penzoil in it from day one. Dropped the oil pan 3 months ago b/c the oil pump went out and needed to replaced and did a new timing chain as well.

No sludge at all...engine runs smooth as hell.

Penzoil conventional is a cheaper oil - and I have gotten 211k miles out of my truck with 5k mile interval oil changes. Never had to do any internal engine work either other than oil pump...wearable part

Maybe if you used synthetic it wouldn't have worn out the pump???? GMC recommends Mobil 1 .

. . . And Cummins recommends/endorses Valvoline

I run Valvoline 5W30 in the winter, 10W30 in the summer, covential on my 02 Avalanche with the 5.3L. 141k miles now, doesn't burn or leak a drop - actually, only thing I've ever done to the motor was plugs and wires @ 100k and changed the oil/filter around every 5k (whenever the change oil message comes up on the display).

Mobil One 0-40 is what my truck came with and I continue to use the same thing today. 8.5 quarts per oil change.

Originally Posted by roomservice

agree, synthetic, but do be careful if you go with an extended mileage oil since 454's burn oil, just keep an eye on the oil level between changes.

Now the 454 is a far inferior design than the Ford 460, but I see no reason why they would be any more likely to burn oil than any other modern and similar design V8. How is the oil more prone to reach the chamber than any other engine? I'm no Chevy expert, but you're looking at an extremely similar design to other big blocks.

I had a ford, and replaced the exhaust minifolds 5 times in 5 years (kept cracking) in my 351 (F-250). So I bought a chev. and blew up the 454, Guess I should have bought a F-350. Oh well, I'm stuck with what I got ... ( no more money lol)