Chevron Delo 400, Acea A3?

[huffmuds9320]

The other day I was at Kragen looking at the Chevron Delo 400 15w-40 gallon jugs and noticed that some say its ACEA A3/B3/E3 something like that. But the other bottles just say ACEA B3/E3 so doesn't say A3 on some of them. So are the Chevron Delo 400 15w-40 not rated ACEA A3 anymore? I might use this oil in my 02 VW Jetta GLS 2.0L next oil change. I hear that using heavy duty motor oil for cars may reduce fuel economy and affect catalyst activing. So is it a good idea to use this oil for my car and do 5000 mile oil changes?

 

[FowVay]

A quick perusal of the Delo 400 product data sheet dated December 2003 states that this oil meets the ACEA E3 and E5 which are heavy-duty diesel ratings. It makes no mention of the "A" ratings for gasoline engines or the "B" ratings for light duty passenger car diesel engines.

Since you're thinking of using it in your gasser VW then note that it does wear the API SL rating which makes it perfectly acceptable.

I use a similar product in my B4 Passat and it seems to work great. If you're not going to be driving autobahn speeds in your 2.0 liter VW then I'd choose a 10W-30 oil. The 2.0 liter is a tried and true design that isn't too demanding. They had issues with oil burning caused by incorrectly assembled piston rings but that should have been cured before your 2002 model year. Hopefully you don't suffer this plight.

[ April 29, 2004, 09:17 AM: Message edited by: FowVay ]