Delo 400 is killing me!

[moribundman]

Quite frankly I don't get. I've been using 5W-50, 0W-40, and 5W-40 in my engine. I never notced any difference in fuel economy or perveived a power gain or loss between those oils. Enter Delo 400, which I am using for the ARX "rinse." My fuel economy has dropped from the mid-20s to barely 20, and I always keep checking if there are a few sumo wrestlers on my backeaset. It feels like my brakes are dragging! Does anybody have the viscosity values for Delo 400 15W-40? I'd like to compare its numbers to those of the other oils that I've used: Syntec 5W-50 cSt @ 100ºC 17.4 M1 0W-40 cSt @ 40º C 80 cSt @ 100º C 14.3 M1 5W-40: cSt @ 40ºC 102 cSt @ 100ºC 14.8

 

[moribundman]

Oops, this topic should have gone into the Auto & Lubrication General Topics forum.

 

[TR3-2001SE]

Sounds like what you are experiencing is that delo does not thin out with time like at least two of the others you mentioned. Not sure about the third but most oils do tend to thin out and delo does not from the UOA's we have seen. Sounds like you car is very sensitive to the weight of the oil. Maybe a candidate for 0w-20

 

[nel]

According to the Chevron product sheet: Delo 15W40 cSt @ 40C = 125 cSt @ 100C = 15.1 I've been running Delo 400 in my '95 BMW 525iT in a 50/50 blend along with Chevron Supreme 5W30 during winter/spring. It seems to work pretty well--no noticeable increase in oil consumption and slightly better gas mileage (I think) over straight Delo.

 

[moribundman]

Thanks! Well, I'm using Delo straight. The viscosity difference at operating temperature can't be the reason, considering I never had such poor mileage with 5W-50. Maybe Delo 400 is less slippery? If so, my oil consumption should go down now. We'll see, I guess.

 

[buster]

I had similar experience with Delvac 1 in my Corolla, which is a small 4cyl. Yet Amsoil 5w-40 felt fine. Less friction modifiers maybe? Are all your driving conditions the same? Gas/Sumos etc. ?

 

[moribundman]

Thanks go to the moderator who moved the topic! buster, I'm using the same fuel (Chevron Supreme and Shell V-Power) and my driving conditions are the same. I'm going to complain a lot over the next 2k miles!

 

[T-Keith]

Delo does have Moly know, so it is friction modified. I wonder why the big difference? -T

 

[moribundman]

Well, about 1/3 of the distance I commonly drive is warm-up time to operating temperature. I suppose it's the 15W that's partially responsible for the loss of gas mileage. But the motor really does feel sluggish, even when the oil has reached its normal operating themperature of about 200 F. I also notice that Delo gets warm more slowly and that it remains a little cooler compared to the other oils when I drive the car lame, but if I drive it harder, oil temperature increases rapidly and more than with the other oils. This is the first mineral oil (unless you count Group III as such) I've ever used in any of my cars.

 

[JohnBrowning]

T-Keith, It depends Delo 400 CI-4 hasno molly and the CI-4+ has moly.

 

[moribundman]

I'm using the CI-4+ version.

 

[MarkC]

I was thinking about Delo 15W40 for my Cherokee, until I got my UOA done using Chevron High mileage 10W30. I looked up another 4.0 UOA using Delo and it doesn't compare well to mine, as far as iron wear. Mine was 4.67ppm/1K miles. Delo was 5.97ppm/1K miles. Now I realize that drawing conclusions from comparing UOA's from someone else's engine with my own is is pretty lame...I don't care! And iron wear is only one thing to look at. I did note that Delo's Vis@210 after 3350 miles was 73. My Chevron after 3000 miles was 58.7. All this is probably useless rambling, but again... I don't care! Forgive me. Or not...I don't care!

 

[Gary Allan]

I think all your fuel economy losses are from warm up viscosity between the synths and the dino Delo. This happened to my son in his Cherokee. D1 gave him about 17-18 ...D 1300 gave him about 12. His commute was about 11 miles. Never (probably) got below a 60 weight. A water/oil hex solved most of it ..then he went back to synth 5w-40 (RTS this time). I just did three near 400 mile trips back to back (near enough) with, 15w-40, 20w-50 and 5w-20 and got no difference in fuel economy (15w-40 was the 20w-50 the best just edging out 5w-20 . It actually favored the 20w-50. Since all three were LONG trips at highway speeds (and in a minivan), there was only one warm up event per trip and assume that the wind resistance of my minivan @ 70 mph outstripped any parasitic losses due to heavier oil. Now if I did 120 ten mile commutes , the results would probably be radically different. Your results may vary.

 

[Steve S]

quote:

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Originally posted by moribundman: Quite frankly I don't get. I've been using 5W-50, 0W-40, and 5W-40 in my engine. I never notced any difference in fuel economy or perveived a power gain or loss between those oils. Enter Delo 400, which I am using for the ARX "rinse." My fuel economy has dropped from the mid-20s to barely 20, and I always keep checking if there are a few sumo wrestlers on my backeaset. It feels like my brakes are dragging! Does anybody have the viscosity values for Delo 400 15W-40? I'd like to compare its numbers to those of the other oils that I've used: Syntec 5W-50 cSt @ 100ºC 17.4 M1 0W-40 cSt @ 40º C 80 cSt @ 100º C 14.3 M1 5W-40: cSt @ 40ºC 102 cSt @ 100ºC 14.8

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Have you tried 10w/30 Delo 400?

 

[Audi Junkie]

Delvac 1300S is the only 15w-40 that does not bog down my engines. I also sometimes mix Delo and Havoline Synth, it works well. Perhaps dump 2 quarts of the Delo and top off with some plain Havoline 30 weight to normalize the drivability. Rotella T Synth makes a nice rinse oil but is kinda pricey for a 2000mi interval. I now do a pre-rinse where the engine is flushed for like 500mi with dog-dirt-dino (ST 10w-40) and the old filter so when I do the real rinse with better oil I can take it out full-length oci and even reset the seals a bit.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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Have you tried 10w/30 Delo 400?

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Only over my dead body will I put any XW-30 dino oil in my engine. But seriously, the only Delo I can find locally is the 15W-40. My only other option was Rotella T 15W-40, but a product that rhymes with Nutella was not an option. A few days after I put the Delo in, I did see Delvac 1300S, which I've never before seen at AutoZone or Kragen.

 

[huffmuds9320]

Try Mobil 1300 15W-40, its supposed to crank like a 10W? They don't have it at Kragen but Autozone has it. The one in Millbrae or San Mateo has it last time I went there. I read in some post that when they used Mobil 15W-40, it doesn't slow the motor down like Delo. http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=007748#000004

 

[Shannow]

Nissan 3.0 litre turbodiesel.

code:

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10W-30    9.9cst  10.95km/l   
Delo CXJ 15.8cst  10.25km/l
M1 0W-40 14.3cst  10.70km/l
FR 0W-40 12.9cst  10.27km/l  (Castrol Formula R)

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[moribundman]

quote:

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Try Mobil 1300 15W-40, its supposed to crank like a 10W? They don't have it at Kragen but Autozone has it. The one in Millbrae or San Mateo has it last time I went there. I read in some post that when they used Mobil 15W-40, it doesn't slow the motor down like Delo.

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Well, it's just for the ARX rinse. I'm not going to dump that oil before the rinse phase is up. If only I'd seen the Delvac 1300. I know the AutoZone store on El Camino in San Mateo has it now. Shannow, everything is upside down!

 

[Shannow]

moribundman, it's got me intrigued...the Castrol 12.9cst oil doesn't have GF-3 (supposed to give 6% better mileage than a "standard" 15W-40). M1 14.3cst oil DOES have GF3, and gets 4% better mileage than either a 15W-40 dino, or a 0W-40 synth non GF-3. wierd.