Delvac, Delo, Rotella, or Kirkland 15w-40
- Thread starter JHZR2
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JHZR2
Staff member
My engines are all obsolete, though huge numbers still exist.
I know all these oils will do fine, all are very similarly priced other than maybe Kirkland which is pretty cheap. im not sure if I should care about the 800ppm Zn/P, since they seem to use other adds instead.
Since they’re all decent, thus my query.
If you're OK with 5 gallon buckets you can get 1300 Super for $50/pail at TSC and there's a $20 rebate, there's also a separate Delvac Rebate specifically for AAP, AZ, Pep Boys, and O'Really's, that the rebate on the 5 gallon pail is $25 for a limit of 2, so maybe you could get the Autoparts stores to price match TSC and get the $25 rebate also, then on top of that if you get 2 buckets you should be able to get enough Delvac rewards points to get $10 back, so for like ~$47 after tax you could have 10 gallons of 1300 Super.
It is more like a design problem with the Ford 6.7L Power Stroke engine since that was their first in-house design, not from International Navistar. Then FMC had to come up with their own motor oil spec requiring the old 1,000ppm level of ZDDP. That is Ford putting a shine on the sneaker to cover their engne durability issues. If you must align with the Ford spec then you cannot be a mixed fleet oil like Delvac 1300 Super is. The Delvac is SN rated for use in gas engines. That rules out the Rotella T3 for mixed fleet use. There is no reason to align with the Ford spec if not using a Ford diesel engine.
JHZR2
Staff member
Still a good deal, but not as good as when it was $26.99, or $22.99 on sale. Especially with Delvac rebates…
while all this pour point data is great, I've owned a durmax for probably 10 years now living in New England and you can hear the difference between 15W40 and 5w40 on a cold ( like 10 or below -13 C) morning. Not exactly scientific method but cold starts get a lot quieter a lot quicker with the 5w40 than they did with the 15w40 . It's been a few years since I ran 15w40 in the winter and maybe it's changed so YMMV
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Yes, pour point was obsoleted for CCS and MRV because it didn't properly represent cold temp performance.
JHZR2
Staff member
For sure. Like I said in my OP, Ive been running 5w-40 in old diesels for a long time. Early 2000s, I’d import Delvac 1 from Canada, since it was easier to get when I made trips up there… 5w-40 does make for good starts in the cold. Thing is, my use isn’t in the real cold. None of my diesels are must operate in all conditions DD vehicles. I run them when I want, and especially the Mercedes cars have no need to operate there.
Further, no vendor recommends using 15w-40 in conditions as cold as you mention. Daimler and Cummins both only allow a 15w- oil to be used down to around 3-5F.
The Kirkland 15W-40 seems to do fine at most Lower-48 "below zero" temperatures. The referenced cP of 6010 is really good at a temperature of -20 degs F.
Pour Point, °C (°F) ASTM D5950 -36°C (-33°F)
Cold Cranking Simulator at (°C), cP ASTM D5293, 6010, @ -28.9°C (-20°F)
Pour Point, °C (°F) ASTM D5950 -36°C (-33°F)
Cold Cranking Simulator at (°C), cP ASTM D5293, 6010, @ -28.9°C (-20°F)
dnewton3
Staff member
We all know that for any "normal" OCI, there's no practical wear control differences in these lubes. So, we turn to alternative means of selecting a lube for John:
1) whatever is cheapest AT THE TIME OF PURCHASE, including any rebates available and/or associated costs
If condition 1 is at or nearly equal, then ...
2) whatever is easier to attain (which one is closest to your home or common route of travel)
If condition 2 is at or nearly equal, then ...
3) put a color photograph of the three choices outside, all equally distant from the sun. Which ever photo fades the least over a period of 7.675 weeks of duration will clearly indicate the "best" oil for the application .... But ONLY if there has been a minimum of .9477483 inces of rain accumulation, otherwise the fade test is invalidated.
If the fade test fails to find a "winner", then you must induce the "spouse chooses the most attractive label" mantra; all sense of common logic is gone anyway, and so absurd delineation of the lubes is now warranted. Cuz it's Bitog, after all.
1) whatever is cheapest AT THE TIME OF PURCHASE, including any rebates available and/or associated costs
If condition 1 is at or nearly equal, then ...
2) whatever is easier to attain (which one is closest to your home or common route of travel)
If condition 2 is at or nearly equal, then ...
3) put a color photograph of the three choices outside, all equally distant from the sun. Which ever photo fades the least over a period of 7.675 weeks of duration will clearly indicate the "best" oil for the application .... But ONLY if there has been a minimum of .9477483 inces of rain accumulation, otherwise the fade test is invalidated.
If the fade test fails to find a "winner", then you must induce the "spouse chooses the most attractive label" mantra; all sense of common logic is gone anyway, and so absurd delineation of the lubes is now warranted. Cuz it's Bitog, after all.
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JHZR2
Staff member
Close… I had bought a bunch of Delvac 1300 because of the rebates… but had some Kirkland 15w-40 and Delo 400. I had my oldest pick the bottle, and it was the nice blue color of the Delo bottle…
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Never seen either of those.
That motor has been in service for over a decade and has been through two redesigns since their spec was introduced. It seems Ford has had plenty of opportunities to address any “design problems“ related to using a CK-4. I think the question to ask is what does Ford see that the other two in the segment don’t?
Uoa's from my old Peterbilt showed ST to be a great oil and a great value. How's that?
Formulated for the city of Edmonton which outside of Harbin, China, is probably the coldest city of a million people or more, on the planet.
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