Delvac 15W40, 8016 miles, Honda ST1100

[Rick_A]

1999 Honda ST1100
Water-cooled V4
Shared engine/trans. oil, wet clutch

Comments:
Mobil Delvac 15W40 oil
PL14012 is a Purolator automotive oil filter
No oil additives used. FP3000 and Redline Lead Substitute in the gas.

I'm not too worried about the Sodium, it is not coolant. I am using Redline Lead Substitute
in the fuel to help protect the valves and it is Sodium-based. I have used it before and it
shows up in the oil tests.

Interesting results from the Delvac. Low wear numbers and pretty good viscosity. Seems to be good oil for
this bike, especially at $6.00 a gallon after the Mobil rebate.



Blackstone Labs Test results:

Oil...............Honda 10W40 Rotella 15W40 CJ4 ....Max Life 10W40....Delvac 15W40
Filter............1536 Napa Gold....1536 Napa Gold....1536 Napa Gold....PL14012
Total Miles....81,081...........89,028.................97,045................110,996
Miles on oil....8,073.............7,947..................8,017.................8,016
Time on Oil.....4 Mo...........3 Mo.....................5 Mo...................2 1/2 Mo
Make up oil......0....................0.....................0.......................0
.
Aluminum.........12..................13...................9...................8
Chromium.........1...................1.....................0....................1
Iron................25..............24........................23...................14
Copper............3................3.........................3....................3
Lead...............3................4........................3....................3
Tin.................1................0.......................0....................1
Moly..............50..............8..........................249..................82
Nickel.............1................0........................0....................0
Manganese......0.................0.......................0.....................0
Silver..............0...............0.........................0....................0
Titanium..........0................0.......................0....................0
Potassium........2................7.......................2....................2
Boron.............124.............32......................13...................37
Silicon.............12.............12.......................12...................12
Sodium.............58...........19........................10....................332
Calcium............1988.........2347......................2588....................1719
Magnesium........465...........17..........................9.......................827
Phosphorus.......815..........956........................742........................963
Zinc.................1053.........1264....................863........................1300
Barium.............0..............0.......................0..........................0
Flashpoint F......390...........400.....................385........................410
Fuel................ Antifreeze........?..........0............................0......................... .66
Water.............0..............0........................0..........................0
Insoluables......0.2...........0.2.......................0.2........................0.3
SUS Visc@210f..60.8.........71.5......................61.5........................68.4
cST Visc@100c..10.45........13.35...................10.64.......................12.54
TBN.................3.6...........4.2...................3.1.........................3.1

 

[Turk]

Looks good!

 

[sunruh]

you have it all wrong rick.

you NEED to be spending 6.00 or more per quart for oil. really you do!!!

 

[RWEST]

Holy mackerel!! How do you ride 8,000+ miles in 2.5 months?

Wait - I see you're in sunny SoCal.

Very impressive numbers. Your oil choices seem to be working quite well!!

Have you had the bike since Day 1?

 

[whitesands]

Very nice results from the 15W40's...

 

[dnewton3]

Perhaps what this bike is trying to tell you is that it really doesn't care what you put in the crankcase?

I'm not supprised the HDEO did this well. I am very please to see this, actually. It confirms my thoughts that today's bikes are made well enough, and the oils are good enough, that the need for $9/qt oil is just silly. Your most recent run shows that $1.50/qt after rebate works as well as, if not better, than other more costly choices.

I see that regardless of the oil, the TBN drops off fairly evenly, regardless of brand or grade. Was the most recent run with the Delvac a CJ-4? I see that the Rotella CJ-4 held up well regarding TBN.

Perhaps the very nice numbers in this most recent report are due to riding routine? For 8k miles in 2.5 months, are you actually ridding more miles per "start" cycle? In other words, are you riding more long trips and less short ones? That certainly helps in that the oil comes up to temp more often per heat cycle, so there are less "cold" starts per mile driven. Less cold starts, less wear.

 

[Rick_A]

Re Sunruh, Glad to see you are still hanging out here and having fun with the Oil Tests.
Well, I spent about $600.00 in gas and $32.00 for the Blackstone test for this OCI, so no matter what I pay for oil it is the cheap part of using the bike.
But, I love finding ‘deals’, and these HDEOs work great!


Re Rwest: No, I bought the bike used (another good deal) but it had less than 5,000 miles on it so I have put about 109,000 on it myself. Oh, it’s never been to the shop either.


Re denewton3. Yes, the Delvac is the “CJ” version. Yeah, the riding style could have influenced the oil test. We did a 2,500 mile tour through Oregon on this OCI but then again we rode double with enough “stuff” for our 9 day trip so the bike was loaded pretty heavy for that. Most of the other miles are from my 100 mile daily commute to and from work. I have Delvac in it again so we’ll see how it does this time.


Rick

 

[dnewton3]

The Delvac CJ-4 certainly has proven itself in this regard.

There was a UOA recently where Delvac 1300 did extremely well in a Duramax truck @ 9k miles, and Blackstone suggested trying 11k miles the next time.

Seems you can't do much better than Delvac, especially for the price! I've always been a Rotella fan, but I cannot ignore this type of stellar performance, especially when considering results in both a diesel truck and a gas engine-tranny unit.

 

[sunruh]

Originally Posted By: Rick_A
Re Sunruh, Glad to see you are still hanging out here and having fun with the Oil Tests.
Well, I spent about $600.00 in gas and $32.00 for the Blackstone test for this OCI, so no matter what I pay for oil it is the cheap part of using the bike.


so what you are saying is that you need to be spending an additional $568.00 on oil!!!
time to switch oils!!!

for you the delvac looks good. for me it was not in the top 3 of the hdeo.

 

[TucsonDon]

Oh, now you're just killing me.

Darn your black heart, man!

I was all set to settle on Rotella 15W-40 CJ-4 and you went and posted this.

My oil obsession was darn near cured ... and this.

 

[Rick_A]

This oil test surprised me too. I had not given much thought to running Delvac but I could not pass up the price after the rebate.
I also like Rotella, especially the smell (how weird is that?).

Sorry to re-kindle your oil addiction

I haven’t kicked mine yet. I have about 14 Gallons of HDEO and several cases of ‘other’ oils in the shop. Now that I am running extended OCIs in all my vehicles I am buying oil faster than I can use it. Man it’s painful to pass up sales because I have too much in stock!

Rick

 

[sunruh]

my only worry (as i have 2 cases of good stuff sitting on the shelf) is that the mix will fall out of suspension after a period of time and not be so good once i get around to actually using it!

i flip the case on a side every couple of months.

 

[TucsonDon]

Originally Posted By: Rick_A
I have about 14 Gallons of HDEO and several cases of ‘other’ oils in the shop.

Rick, you're just killing me ... 14 gallons of HDEO would last me ... oh, about 4 or 5 years.

But then again I'm not doing 8K UOAs every three days like you are.

There's a chance I'm going to do a run over into California in mid to late December. Maybe we could meet up and run the bikes for a spell.

 

[Rick_A]

Don, even though I use the HDEO in a couple of ATVs, a scooter, and power equipment I still have about a two year supply. Plus the Maxlife and other oils I picked up on sale.

Give me a heads-up when you are headed this way and maybe we can get together for coffee or a ride.

Rick