Date:         Fri, 21 Jun 96 22:00:35 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Diesel Engine Oil

On Fri, 21 Jun 1996 16:01:25 -0500 Christian Pittack said:
>I was at Costco the other day and saw a case of Chevron Delco Motor Oil.  The
>carton said specially formulated for Diesel Engines for use with all
>fuels...even low sulfer ones!  What the heck does these mean?  Is this oil
>different than others, if so how?  It had all the standard API ratings
>including CD (is that the Diesel one?).  With all the recent discussion on
>oils, maybe someone can clue us in!

from the 18-wheeler trucking magazines, that Chevron Delco oil is formulated
for the big diesel engines of the large engines. the low sulfur fuels have
caused a problem in that they do NOT cause the engine/pump seals to swell
enough (IF you change fuel/oils after running the ones WITH sulfur in it),
and you would get fuel pump leaks, and valve cover leaks, and so forth.

now ... the gotcha is: 18-wheeler engines have HUGE oil tanks. like gallons
and gallons! and they change oil only about every 20,000 miles (or something
ridiculous like that). and it costs them about $100 per oil change. well,
you say: that's the oil for me!!!

not so fast, Dino-breath! 20,000 miles for an 18-wheeler comes around about
every month or two!!! so it's NOT like YOU are gonna get that kinda of
mileage out of your puny little 4.5 quarts of oil in your very-hot-running
little engine. :(  best to stick with the know SF/SG/SH motor oils for
auto engines.

same thing goes for Texaco who has an anti-freeze guaranteed for 150,000
miles!!! wonderful!!!

not so fast, Glycol-breath!!! 150,000 miles is only about six months for
an 18-wheeler. big deal! hell, *I'll* guarantee the VW stuff for six months!
and again, the big boys use LOTS of the stuff to cool their engines. the
deal here is that THEY don't shut their engines off for very long during
that six months ... and YOU do. like every night.

using fuels, oil, coolants, and so forth which are designed for other
environment/machines/uses is somewhat risky ... and you'd best know what
you are doing. or be prepared to accept the consequences.

... or better yet: get someone else to try it first! ;)

joel
>'82 Diesel
>'89 Jetta Diesel