Sorry. Here is the entire thread:
My Original Post: Rotella looks like a very good oil, but I do have one issue with it...why does it not have as low of a pour point as Delo 400 or Delvac 1300?
Looking at the spec charts, the cold pour point on Rotella is about -15F. Delo and Delvac though both have cold pour points in excess of -30F.
I've also been told that Rotella (well, Shell) is just resting on it's name...that it's additive/anti-wear package is not up to par with Delo and Delvac, and that it's base stock was just upgraded to a group two, whereas it was previously a group one.
Can Rotella really hang with Delo 400 and Delvac 1300?
Reply From Shell's TechExpert: I'll turn the last question around; can Delo and Delvac hang with ROTELLA T?
As America's best selling heavy-duty multigrade oil, ROTELLA T draws a lot of attention from competitor oils. As you would expect, in promoting their brands, competitors like to suggest their oils have superior performance. They may even suggest performance of ROTELLA T is "not keeping up". But in fact, ROTELLA T exceeds the performance requirements of all major oil specifications, be it API CI-4 or Caterpillar's new ECF-1. And we're usually the first oil to meet new specs when they're introduced. That's because performance improvement is a continuing process with ROTELLA T, not driven only by new standards.
Meeting specs is one thing. How oil performs in a variety of engines in real world conditions is another. We do a lot of field testing with ROTELLA T. And these are real field tests, where at test end engines are stripped to a bare block so that oil performance can be examined in detail. Our recent Australian Road Train field test is a good example of this. Sometimes we field test with competitor products in the test oil matrix, and we've yet to see a competitor product perform better than ROTELLA T.
Regarding pour point, or any of the physical properties listed on specification sheets. You're likely to find any number of properties where one oil may have a "better" number than another, and argue over the details. More important (to me) is balanced performance from oil. Balance meaning excellent wear control (especially protection from corrosive and extreme pressure wear) and deposit control (especially piston cleanliness), as well as excellent performance meeting normal lubrication needs. Choosing oil should be based on performance, and not on kind of base oils, kind of additives, or physical properties.
[ August 19, 2003, 11:27 AM: Message edited by: Jelly ]