In all my testing - I never showed the presence of fuel or coolant, which can be common in diesels (wet stacking), especially when idled a lot.
I do not idle my diesels a lot, and if I have to idle them, I increase the idle RPM to prevent wet stacking.....and I always let them cool before shutting them down (to prevent turbocharger bearing coking).
The presence of EGR recirculating and EGR coolers typically shows up assoot in the oil.

It might be helpful to know in this particular pickup truck - the oil capacity was almost 4 gallons.
It's likely that the high pressures oil system (which fire the HEUI injectors) contributes to the sheering....but the sheering occurred regardless of the lubricant brand or type (Dino, Semi-synthetic, or FULL-synthetic)!

Sheering reduces viscosity....but it was only one factor revealed by testing.
Sheering aside - Testing also revealed lubricity concerns and was a factor in revealing that the oil could NOT be run 7500 miles like the vehicle manufacture recommended.

Without even occasional testing folks are just guessing at change intervals.
When you send an old sample to Blackstone Labs, you receive a report that compares each of your oil samples to the previous....perhaps even more importantly, they ALSO compare your sample(s) to others (same engine etc) - which provide insight to abnormal wear.

 

The TGM oil prices are going higher and higher. In my country in Europe I just bought 5 lit of TGMO 0W16 for €150, 30% more expensive than last year. The filter is €25. Luckily, I bought two OEM filters in Walmart for 11 bucks.

 

There is just something about gettng my OEM filter at Walmart that bugs me, too many prying fingers. I prefer it coming from "behind the counter" at the dealer. Too bad there is no anti tamper seal.

 

The last filters I bought online at Walmart came shipped in a plastic bag instead of a box; WTF? The filter boxes were all trashed as the bag offered no protection. One filter was so dented and beat-up, I'm afraid to install it. I would have returned it, but it was a 3-pack, and there was no avenue to send back just one of the three. Walmart is saving pennies on shipping, but losing customers (me anyway) as a result!