I a question reguarding the oil. I do mostly short trips 3-5 miles. Would Delo 400 or Mobil 1 keep my engine from sludging up? I want the BEST oil I can get.. I was told that the mobil 1 will get acidic and sludge up where with the high deturgents in Delo it will not.
Dustin
PS it is the 78

 

synthetic is the best oil. That new stuff that mobil one makes that's supposed to last for 15k miles should be more than adequate. If not them, then maybe some castrol full synthetic. Royal purple makes a mighty fine oil as well. Any name brand full synthetic should be the best oil that you can buy.

 

As others here know Im a Chevron Delo fan, so that is my bias here. Dustin's profile shows TX and a 1978 year model truck, so my recommendation is Delo 400, regardless of cost. I would agree with M1 if it was a new modular or a more northern climate. If you go the M1 route, get the new EP formula (the 15k one mentioned above).

I have UOA's that prove a name brand full synthetic is inferior to Delo 400 in my 1992 BMW 325i.

Jim

 

i would go delo. synthetic is not a good choice for everything. i have 2 UOA's which prove 1.50 chevron supreme is 2x as good at 3x less the price.

 

I agree with those posting above. Delo 400 is a great quality oil. One possible issue with synthetics is they can aggravate any external oil leakage an engine may have.

Since you make short trips you may want to consider changing the oil and filter according to time in use instead of by mileage.

 

Good advice from all so far, you might also look at one of the 4 diesel products from Amsoil, too.

 

Dustin, it isn't going to make any difference about the "best" oil out there. Your driving habits are going to cause problems no matter which oil you use. What I would suggest, buy any oil that is on sale, meets Ford spec 929, and change it often- real often. It's either that or you are going to have to drive more to heat the engine up long enough to cook off the sludge, moisture, etc. And make double sure that the PCV system is in top shape including the hose and point of entry into the manifold. Your driving habits are going to be hard to keep sludge at a minimum.

Glad to see ya back on the boards. Hope everything has been working out for you.

 

Flash,
I built the motor 6k miles ago zero leaks. A tight motor. I figured that the M1 would cause sludge quicker than the Delo.


Thanks man, the girl situations I could care less about, mom is getting worse by the minute. I'm still at MCC.
PS I was talking to a buddy and I told him that atleast my truck will never run out and cheat on me. His response: Ya never know blue just might find that pritty little 1/2 ton chevy. I promply went to my truck and said I'll put you in the crusher if I see that. I still think my truck will never stray.

 

Yeah, your short trips are the problem. You never get the oil warm enough to "burn off" the water and contaminants. So they just sit there in the engine sludging things up.

The only normal fix for this is to change oil more often. A less normal fix is to drive it at least 30 minutes at freeway speed every week or so. A radical fix and just here for fun is you could put in a radical oil filtration system that pulls the water etc out. A lot of the diesels use something called a refiner or bypass filter.

Change often and be happy. The oil in this case almost doesn't matter. I would not use syn even though I am a syn believer, because it would be a waste of syn to change it as often as you probably should.

Just my opinion,

Jim Henderson