delvac 1300 in chevy 350's

[jstutz]

My buddy as a small fleet of chevys, mostly 350s and 4.3s, that he uses for work trucks and tree farm vehicles. He just finished up a 55 gal drum of delo 400 i believe. Anyway he was at walmart and noticed that delvac was on sale for 7 dollars a gal and picked some up. After talking to him, it got me curious as to the difference between some of the HDEOs. I know that Rotella and Delo 400 are very good oils and probably grp 2 basestocks. I dont know anything about the delvac 1300. I noticed that delo has a Delo 400 LE version that i believe is low emission. Is the LE version basically just the new CJ grade. Therefore making the choice between delvac 1300, delo 400LE and Rotella pretty much equal for the chevys? Please dont start telling me to ask him to run 5w20 or 30 or whatever, im simply curious out of the major 15w40 players, would one be better for a gas application than the others. Thanks

 

[Chris142]

I'd say that they are equal in the v8 gassers.

 

[jstutz]

Kinda what i thought, i believe they are all current CJ oils with very similar viscosities.

 

[bradepb]

Any of them that have SM rating should be fine.
you didnt want me to tell you but that fleet sounds perfect for Rotella T 10w30, it is very thick for a 30 weight and also SM and diesel rated

 

[jstutz]

Originally Posted By: bradepb
Any of them that have SM rating should be fine.
you didnt want me to tell you but that fleet sounds perfect for Rotella T 10w30, it is very thick for a 30 weight and also SM and diesel rated


I have tried to tell him he dont need that heavy of an oil, but he dont really care. His family has been doing that tree business for three generations. They have always used 15w40 in everything and will probably always will. They usually have a 55 gal drum with one of those old style pumps that you spin by hand. For some reason a lot of people where i grew up use only 15w40 in everything. Maybe there just used to it due to all the steel industry, power plants, trucking, logging, and mining that goes on or has gone on there for a long time. "That thin stuff is for tree huggers" is what i usually hear when i see rotella getting dumped into a modern vehicle and mention that it may not be necessary to run that heavy of an oil. People there are very brand loyal and wont hear anything else. Anyway its not my stuff and i dont care that much what they do. Rotella has been protecting there stuff for a long time even through the PA winters. I dont remember ever having anyone ruin an engine due to oil or burn out a cat on anything. Most trucks go the scrap yard with the engines still running, although many of them have some serious back yard mechanic syndrome.

 

[jstutz]

Talking about backyard mechanics, I once saw a suburban that somehow lost the air intake box and the older guy that owned it built a new one out of an old mailbox. He actually did a pretty nice job, but come on, a mailbox?