Did me using Delo 400 XLE kill my CAT and o2's ??

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Scratching my head on this one guys


I scored some Clearance Delo 400 XLE 10W30 last spring and asked on BITGO if it was safe to run in my '01 Suburban 5.3. I was told yes since it was SN rated that it would be safe for gas engines ??



Fast forward to around December and the "Check engine" light turns on and it turns out that my pass side CAT and BOTH o2's are DONE !!!


So not sure if it was the oil or just bad luck/mileage age ??? Reason i'm suspicious is that it was a NEW magnaflow CAT converter I had installed 3 years ago !!!


Wanted to make sure before I run this stuff again in my Burban's or Silverado.

Dave
 
I ran it for 7.5k in my Odyssey with no problems, and plan to use it in one of my Subies.

Did you try clearing the code and see how long it takes to come back? If your O2s went bad, either too rich or too lean can damage the cat; so I'd say it likely had more to do with that than anything with the oil. What brand O2s were they?

Post-op Add: I had a VOA done on this not too long ago, and there are many, many oils that have WAY more AW materials in it and are still API SN; PUP 5W20 has more zinc and phosphorous in it than Delo!

Delo XLE 10W30 VOA
PUP 5W20 VOA
 
If you had 2 Cats on one side go and not the other, there's something else going on that needs to be fixed.

How many miles on each Cat?
 
Originally Posted by SubieRubyRoo
I ran it for 7.5k in my Odyssey with no problems, and plan to use it in one of my Subies.

Did you try clearing the code and see how long it takes to come back? If your O2s went bad, either too rich or too lean can damage the cat; so I'd say it likely had more to do with that than anything with the oil. What brand O2s were they?



Ya I did clear codes twice and no luck back then, Took it to my exhaust guy and the pass side(The one throwing the code) it was rattling making a vibration trumpet sound. he said it was "no bueno".
Was replaced with another Magnaflow under warranty, But the replacement CAT was a better fit more OEM style my exhaust guy said


The left driver side CAT is OEM and I haven't had a problem with it so far. The bad CAT was a Magnaflow that was 3 years old maybe 15K-20K miles on it ??


Both o2's that went bad were BOSH and were replaced with DENSO

Dave
 
Originally Posted by HangFire
If you had 2 Cats on one side go and not the other, there's something else going on that needs to be fixed.

How many miles on each Cat?



My apologies I guess I typed my story wrong


Vehicle is a 2001 Suburban it only has 2 CATS one left and one right


Dave
 
I'll try again... How many miles on the OEM Cat?

Might have gotten a bad Magnaflow. Or maybe there's something wrong on that side of the engine. Sticky injector, poor ignition, more oil burning, or something.
 
no oil will kill the cat UNLESS your USING oil, hence any oil that is highly consumed can kitt the cat-s. lotta talk about cat safe oils but in reality if it stays in the engine all is good, i think
 
Originally Posted by SubieRubyRoo
Which o2 was OEM? Bosch, Denso, or a different brand? Maybe Trav can weigh in, but I'm still saying it wasn't the oil, otherwise all 4 o2s and both cats would be ruined.



Neither lower o2's were OEM, Both down stream o2's were BOSH I had installed years ago. Now both replaced with DENSO



Both upstream o2's I have no clue, Never messed with them during my ownership


Dave
 
Originally Posted by HangFire
I'll try again... How many miles on the OEM Cat?

Might have gotten a bad Magnaflow. Or maybe there's something wrong on that side of the engine. Sticky injector, poor ignition, more oil burning, or something.



The driver side original OEM GM Cat I will assume has what the truck has 263K miles.

Hoping it was a defective CAT lol. AFAIK, I have no injector or ignition issues

Dave
 
Do not expect a Magnaflow to last as long as a OEM cat. If its rattling, the honeycomb is broken and no amount of ZDDP will break the honeycomb. It will(ZDDP) cause the cat to stop working and set off the rear o2 sensor.

Rod
 
Sounds like you just got a bad aftermarket cat. Not surprising.

How has just one side been replaced? On that truck the cat's are part of a single Y-pipe off the headers, so unless you had a shop weld in a replacement they should have been replaced as a pair.

As far as the O2's, I wouldn't use Bosch in anything but a euro car. Denso or NTK is a better choice in a domestic vehicle.
 
Originally Posted by rrounds
Do not expect a Magnaflow to last as long as a OEM cat. If its rattling, the honeycomb is broken and no amount of ZDDP will break the honeycomb. It will(ZDDP) cause the cat to stop working and set off the rear o2 sensor.

Rod

Right. Phosphorus deactivates the coating and raises emissions (potentially). Its not going to make a cat break up and start rattling.
 
Awesome. THANKS GUYS for the info !!! Ill be using the rest of my Delo 400 10W30 stash here soon when weather warms up



Luckily I purchased that Magnaflow on Amazon, Received a refund and they told me to keep it/throw it out. Luckily my exhaust guy warrantied it out with a new one and all i'm out is $75 labor and $45 for the 2 o2's lol hehe !!
banana2.gif



Dave
 
Well I have 227K on an 88 Bronco 302 and it has the original CAT and I run Delo almost exclusively in the vehicle. Still passes SMOG testing just fine. And it uses a few qt's between annual changes.

I got 284K out of my 84 Volvo 242T and it was a 1 qt/1,000 oil burner since day one. Toasted one cat at 154 or so on Delo 400 (ash capped). The second one was still in it at 284K
smile.gif
 
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