Where to find oil for a diesel - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

JDmills · #1 12-03-2004, 12:06 PM

I just stopped by the local auto parts store to get some Diesel rated oil for the winter. My only choices were synthetic, at 5 dollers a quart, or 15W-40 which seems too thick for below zero weather.

The counter person said they basically stopped making year around multi grade oil for diesels.... If I have to go synthetic, would a bypass filter be a reasonable option? or is there some other way to run the car with out spending a fortune on oil?

Thanks,
Jason

tomm9298 · #2 12-03-2004, 12:08 PM

Check your local Wal Mart. I buy Delvac, dino oil, there. I think I pay around $5.00 per gallon container.

tangofox007 · #3 12-03-2004, 12:54 PM

What viscosity do you want?

83-240D · #4 12-03-2004, 01:19 PM

i bought a gallon of shell rotella t for 10 bucks.

Wasuchi · #5 12-03-2004, 01:33 PM

15W-40, or straight 30 or 40 weights are about the only Diesel rated non-synthetic oils you'll find. Where you live I would run the cheapest "synthetic" you can find (at least in the winter), that's probably the Rotella synthetic that you can find at Wal Mart and about 500,000 other stores.

dieseldiehard · #6 12-03-2004, 01:34 PM

I paid something like $15.75 a gallon for AMSOIL full synthetic 15W40. They offer this in 2.5 gallon jugs (very handy) at a better discount even. They make a 5W30 heavy duty diesel all synthetic oil for cold weather, although I think the 15W40 SYNTHETIC is fine in all but the very coldest temps (synthetic has very different cold pour specs than Dino oil!)
see: http://www.lubespecialist.com/product.php?code=s3000_5w30hddis&section=amsoil

aklim · #7 12-03-2004, 01:41 PM

Mobil1 has the C rating that we need. Is that doable or what?

JDmills · #8 12-03-2004, 05:35 PM

Tangofox007,
I am looking for 10W-40 if I could find it, heard that texaco brand has some.

Problem with wal-mart is that they are not around here, and putting 100 miles on my car for oil isnt worth it.

Does any one use a bypass filter? That may be the way to go next as the price of oil is not gonna go down. time to do a search for that.

Thanks for your responses,
Jason

aklim · #9 12-03-2004, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDmills

Problem with wal-mart is that they are not around here, and putting 100 miles on my car for oil isnt worth it.

I don't follow your arguement. Lets say I put 30000 miles on my car and I know I change oil every 3000 miles, that means I need 10 oil changes done a year. Each oik change is 5 quarts so when I am in that area, I buy 50 quarts of oil and keep it. Lets say that 8 months downt he road, I am running down that area, I buy another load of oil, won't that work? Also, prices go up so if a quart of oil is $2 today and I buy 50 for $100, and it goes up in 3 months to $2.20, I will be saving some money although I would have some product tying up my money. IMO, it would be a push.

Oil and oil filters won't go bad anytime soon so you could get away with stocking say 6 months worth of oil changes in your garage so you have it when you need it.

rickjordan · #10 12-03-2004, 05:51 PM

Jason, Your engine already has a bypass system. You may of noticed that the oil filter is actually 2 filters in one. There is a thermostat in the filter housing that the filter goes into, that controls the flow of oil based on oil temp. With that said, where do you live and what temp. do you expect it to go down to this winter? The owner's manual for my '83 TD says 15W-40 is good for temps down to 23f. Now, the manual for my '87 Td says 15W-40 is good to 5f. I think the quality of oil got better over the years. So I wouldn't imagine it being a problem running modern regular 15W-40 oil in your engine. Any synthetic oil has a "C" (diesel) rating. My father lives in Richmond, VA owns a 1985 300D, 348,000 miles and has used 10W-40 exclusively.

phidauex · #11 12-03-2004, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDmills

Tangofox007,

Problem with wal-mart is that they are not around here, and putting 100 miles on my car for oil isnt worth it.

Actually, problem with walmart is that they keep low prices by manipulating supply chains, undercutting local businesses and treating their employees terribly. You are lucky you don't have one nearby, trust me.

Pay a few extra cents at a local shopt, and as I think I've heard PEH say, "The job you save may be your own."

Peace,
sam

JDmills · #12 12-03-2004, 06:47 PM

The Bypass filter I was speaking of, filters a small amount of oil, in addition to the oil filter that came with the car. It manages to collect the soot as well as the dirt and such that the regular oil fiter does not catch. Thus people will run the same oil for 40,000 or so (I dont know, as I have no experience) and just replace the filter, along with the factory filter, and top off the little bit that was lost.

As for winter time tempatures around here, last winter was a PIG, with some time spent at 25 below or worse, I did not care to know exactly. Guess 5W-something will be required for that. But I did not want to spend $40 on oil, and another 7 something on the filter, to have to do it twice this winter...
Thus the topic of where to find the cheap (non synthetic) oil for a diesel.

JDmills · #13 12-03-2004, 06:50 PM

RICKJORDAN,
What brand of oil does your dad use? I would love to find a couple cases of 10W40 to store for winter usage.

michakaveli · #14 12-03-2004, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

Mobil1 has the C rating that we need. Is that doable or what?

Delvac 1 also known as Mobil Truck and SUV, in the yellow cap now available at your loca WalMArt. Same product different packaging. And it's in single quart bottle too!

Worth the money. I safely can do 8-9K per oil change

dieseldiehard · #15 12-03-2004, 07:03 PM

Cheap non synthetic - Costco Delo400? Actually any truck stop may be a source but not cheap

As for the partial flow (also called Bypass) filter, anything used with a diesel will have to have large effective filters that will be necessary to change often, and you lose about a quart maybe two with a big bypass filter system, so in the long run you will be throwing away $$. Simply draining and refilling might not cost much more and will guarantee that your oil quality is good without chemical built up over time that filters will not remove. Remember that filters do not take out much of the acid that collects in the oil.
I have been looking at installing such a filter system in one of my 300TD's but I came to realize that I don't have enough room for an effective system.
One source for this type of thing is Gulf Coaast: http://www.gulfcoastfilter.com/