footsie Posted November 4, 2009 Share #1 Posted November 4, 2009 I know we have beat this horse to death, and I have always advocated Mobil 1 syn. Some background on where I am going with this, before I became a Nurse, i was the Public Works Director for Turner County, in Georgia. 10 years in that position and 15 years before that as the assitant director and the Shop forman. We used delo 400 15w40 in everything, the caterpilliar motorgraders have something incommon with our motorcycles, WET clutches that run in the engine oil. and at the time CAT recommended Delo 400 for the engine, transmission and every where else, on these machines. They still use it there now. We never had an oil related failure in any thing. We were running graders 20,000 hours before any internal engine work. Can not remember any clutch problems. Ok to the point, I walked into O'rielly's and bought oil for the cars, van, and was getting the oil for the venture, and noticed the Delo 400 was $12 for a gallon. the mobil one I use is $9 a quart. I decided to go home and compare the data on these two oils. Delo is rated for use in all engine applications Both are rated for wet clutch applications. The Delo has a higher bearing load than the mobil one. The best I could fine on the net, Mobil is a 300 hour oil. Delo is a 400 hour oil, The oil analysis we did at 250 hour oil changes on the cats always showed around 60 to 70% of the oil life used (that was at 250 hours) meaning the oil could have been run close to the 400 hour mark. (Caterpilliar recommends 250 hours oil changes) All that depends on how the engine is preforming, air filters, oil filters, temp and other factors. After looking at all of this, I found myself thinking, why am I paying $40 for an oil change when it could be $12 for the superior oil. I change every 5000 miles anyway, that is only about 100 hours on the oil. I many here run Rotella 15w40, which is simular to Delo 400, don't know what rotella hour rating is, but I put the Delo 400 in my RSV. Will post the results over time, I had very little chirp or whine with the mobil. Gregg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLOW HAND Posted November 4, 2009 Share #2 Posted November 4, 2009 Thanks for putting in the research. I & I'm sure many here will follow your results . I love the idea of saving money without cutting corners . I will also be watching for any coments on possible downsides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunter 1500 Posted November 4, 2009 Share #3 Posted November 4, 2009 Don't know that much about oil. Been using Shell Rotella in my last bike with good results. These bikes are much higher in RPM'S than a dozer I would think. Would this make a difference? Is Delo a synthetic oil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bongobobny Posted November 4, 2009 Share #4 Posted November 4, 2009 Yup!! Been using the Delo ever since I bought the 1st Gen and will continue to do so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footsie Posted November 4, 2009 Author Share #5 Posted November 4, 2009 Delo 400 comes in dino or syn. but Syn is high Gregg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddoggma Posted November 4, 2009 Share #6 Posted November 4, 2009 When I first got the bike. I put Rotella 15-40 in it and she liked it fine. My last change I put in the Delvac and the bike likes it but shifting was a little smoother with the Rotella. Plus if I really jump on it the clutch will slip a bit with the Delvac. I heard it has a small amount of Moly in it. So, that might be the reason for the slip. Next change I'm gonna try the Delo 400. After that I'll go back to the Rotella, unless the bike really likes the Delo and shifts better than the Rotella. They are all good lubes...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footsie Posted November 4, 2009 Author Share #7 Posted November 4, 2009 I have a friend, that is a trucker he uses Rotella in his trucks, and his dodge cummins, I have delo in my cummins, mine seems to run quieter than his. Gregg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash41 Posted November 4, 2009 Share #8 Posted November 4, 2009 What Bongobobny said, '83 with about 2grand on Delo, Runs great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Posted November 4, 2009 Share #9 Posted November 4, 2009 I've been following the forums on the different oils used here and from the beginning I ran Mobil 1 Synthetic 15w-50 until the last change when I tried Rotello 5w-40 Synthetic. I have found that the Mobile seems to hold up better. I can't be sure but the Rotello did seem to make the bike want to shift better when the oil was new. Last weekend I put about 700 miles on the bike and it started getting harder and harder to find neutral. The reason I change in the first place was to go to a lighter oil for the winter. I have noticed that I get more gear whine with the Rotello than I did with the Mobil 1. This is probably just because of it being a lighter oil. I have only 1500 miles on this oil. Further testing is in order I'm sure, but right now it looks like I'm going back to Mobil 1 after this run. I haven't tried the Delo yet. I do know that a lot of heavy equipment run on this oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footsie Posted November 7, 2009 Author Share #10 Posted November 7, 2009 My bike seems quieter, and does shift better with the delo 400. Ofcourse this is only 200 miles, will post again, with 3000 miles on the oil, will pull a sample just before I change at 5000 miles. Gregg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flb_78 Posted November 11, 2009 Share #11 Posted November 11, 2009 Shell, Chevron, and Texaco are all part of the Equilon corporation. I run Rotella because it can be found everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footsie Posted November 11, 2009 Author Share #12 Posted November 11, 2009 But if you will look at the fomulation, delo 400 and rotella are not the same oil, they are close. But as best I can tell, rotella is rated at 300 hours. But its not clear on the web what its hour rating is, I talked with Murry at Cat and he thought that was right. Gregg If you find something different please post it. O'riely's carries delo, as do most truck stops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flb_78 Posted November 11, 2009 Share #13 Posted November 11, 2009 I used to run Delo 400, but it didn't get dirty enough for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackjack Posted November 14, 2009 Share #14 Posted November 14, 2009 After reading this post a few times lately I have determined it would be wise to give DELO 400 a try. If it's good enough for Caterpillar, well, you know... So I went to my local O'Reilly's a little while ago to buy a gallon and surprise of surprises, they offered it to me BOGO (but one get one), so I am now the proud owner of 2 gallons of oil for which I paid a total of $13.77, tax included! Now that's righteous... Just thought I'd let you know in case you wanted to twist some arms at your local O'Reilly's sometime soon. TERRY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyR Posted November 14, 2009 Share #15 Posted November 14, 2009 thats $7 a gallon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackjack Posted November 14, 2009 Share #16 Posted November 14, 2009 thats $7 a gallon. Or, if you prefer considering its' "by the quart" price, that would be $1.72... TERRY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footsie Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share #17 Posted November 17, 2009 (edited) When we got home from the crab shack, that made 1500 miles since I changed the oil, bike does shift better with the delo, Still seems quieter, but I was using mobil 1 4t racing 10-40, the delo is 15-40. that could explain the difference. Gregg Just realized that was 1500 miles in 10 days, got to buy another bike to split the miles up on. I want this one to last 10 years. Edited November 17, 2009 by footsie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodbought1 Posted November 17, 2009 Share #18 Posted November 17, 2009 I put the Delo 15w40 in mine and went on a 1250 mile trip - took five days.The oil does a great job....but the Rotella 5w40 Synthetic I had in there before seemed to shift better. I will go back to the Rotella. YMMV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBoyinMS Posted November 17, 2009 Share #19 Posted November 17, 2009 I like Rotella but for those kinda prices I'll be getting 6 gals of Delo for the next two changes on our 3 bikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footsie Posted November 18, 2009 Author Share #20 Posted November 18, 2009 I like Rotella but for those kinda prices I'll be getting 6 gals of Delo for the next two changes on our 3 bikes. If your are running the dino oil, there's not a great difference between the rotella and the delo, you should not really tell any difference. Except a few dollars in the billfold, which is another tank of gas. Gregg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBoyinMS Posted November 18, 2009 Share #21 Posted November 18, 2009 Oh well, it must be a local sale. My store had no clue about it. Guess I'll stick with the Rotella. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footsie Posted November 18, 2009 Author Share #22 Posted November 18, 2009 I went by local store and Mark said that was a one week sale, but delo is still 2 bucks cheaper than rotella. Gregg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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