Axis Wakeboard Boat Forum

First year doing my own oil because dealer is >2h away. 2016 Axis A20 with the base engine. The manual says to use SAE 15W-40 GF-4/SM. However, when I went to the store all I could find in 15W-40 was "CK-4" and was labelled specifically for diesel engines. Amazon also doesn't show anything GF-4/SM in that weight. What oil should I be using? Thanks in advance.

Edit: and to make things more confusing, the crusader online site says, "When the average temperature is above 50 degrees F., use a good quality SAE 15W-40 “SJ”. Below 50, use SAE 5W-30 “SJ”." I could also not find any 15W-40 "SJ" on Amazon.

Diesel Oil is what you want. Rotella T4 is pretty commonly used. According to Amazon, it has the following specs:

SAE Grade: 15W40, Classification: API CJ-4, SM, SL, SJ

I wouldn't worry about the outside temperatures. If it's cold out, just make sure you let the engine get warm before you push it hard.

As an FYI, the first number in the oil SAE grade 5 or 15, refers to the oil's viscosity when cold. That's why they tell you to go lower viscosity when it's cold out, because the 15 weight oil will be thicker as it gets colder. Once the engine is warm, it no longer matters.

Thanks I appreciate it. Yeah I won't be using it in temps under 50 ever. Heck, if it's under 70 we don't go out.

I'm actually still confused, sorry. I don't see "SJ" (or any later "S" specification) on any of the amazon or shell rotella T4 pages. They list a whole bunch of stuff but nothing like "SJ":

CK-4, CJ-4, CI-4 Plus, CI-4, CH-4; ACEA E9; JASO DH-2, MA, MA2; Caterpillar ECF-2, ECF-3; Cummins CES 20086, 81; Detroit Fluids Specification (DFS) 93K222, 93K218; Deutz DQC III-10 LA; MACK EO-S 4.5, EO-O Premium Plus; MAN M3575; MB-Approval 228.31; MTU Category 2.1; Allison TES-439; Volvo VDS-4.5, VDS-4

Same with the (I think Chevron?) 15W-40 I found at Costco. Can you point me to a page that actually shows that?

OH, you just jogged my memory. Rotella pulled their SM rating from T4. BUT, you can go up to the T6 and get SN rated. Which is very good.

http://rotella.shell.com/products/shell ... -duty.html

Mobil Delvac also has an SN rated oil

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/mob ... 7CL3*16563

Valvoiline Premium Blue is SM

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/val ... 7CL3*16563

According to a Q&A, castol also has an SM or SN rating

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/cas ... 7CL3*16563

Thanks again for your help. The T6 looks like it's only available in 5W-30, which isn't want I need. It looks like I will pick up some Valvoline Premium Blue because that's what I can find here. It sort of feels like they are sending me on a scavenger hunt. Why specify a type of oil that is so difficult to find? Do you think the dealers actually use this stuff? (I'm going to email mine now and see what they say.)

Dealer says they use Rotella T4. :-\

To be fair, Rotella T4 has been SM in the past. It’s a recent change.

Here is a relevant topic

http://www.themalibucrew.com/index.php? ... ood-no-mo/

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Thank you for all your help. I ended up buying some Chevron Delo 400 SDE which carries the SN designation. The link you provided above does give some insight so I really appreciate it. I'm sure the dealer put the Rotella T4 in my boat before and everything was fine. It sucks getting conflicting information from the manual ("SM"), the crusader engine web site ("SJ"), and the dealer ("nah don't worry about it"). Since "SM" is what is called for in the manual I'll just use that. FWIW I found it at Wal-Mart for ~$12/gallon. I'm guessing I'll need around 6 quarts so I'll have half a bottle left over (they didn't sell it in quarts).

I use Rotella T 15-40 I’ve use it in all my boats and it works great.


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