oil choices, budget.. etc..

[Soundguy]

Want opinions on some oils I've listed, and their application and suitability.

here's the deal: doin my 4th quarter maintenance budget...

At work we have several diesel pickup trucks in the 250/2500 ( 3/4 ton ) range. A mix of ford 6.0 PSD's and some duramax's all around 04-06 so thus out of manufacturer warranty.

Current administration where I work has always just ran the trucks into the service bay along with the heavy equipment and had the mechanics do the servicing, using either the bulk 15w40 diesel oil we get by the drum or tank ( might be a fina product.. not sure, have to check our supplier this quarter, we just changed distribuitors ), or napa house brand oil 15w40, etc.

All this cost is kept roughly per truck for budget tracking.. ie tracking expenditures..e tc.

A while back I switched the truck I drive, a 6.0psd over to motorcraft 15w40 hd diesel oil.. the 5qt jugs.. they are about 16.20$ at walmart. takes a full 3 jugs, thus 15qts. that puts cost at 48.60. Using the napa oil, it is 14.10 per gallon, 4$ per quart. thus a 15qt change = 54.30 ( 56.40 with 1qt leftover.. etc.. )( I havn't figured the exact bulk oil change cost as our oil prices change per month.. but sure it is cheaper by a % margin)


Contrast to that.. I've located mobil delvac 1300 synthetic blend at 17$ per gallon/ 4.50 per qt, IE.. 68$ w/1qt leftover or 64.50/15qts

I'm getting our budget together for the pickups , and I'm trying to get my boss to quit buying that napa oil. for some reason,way back when, napa got their hooks into our upper management. for parts and whatnot.. OK.. napa and car quest are sure convienient. but for fluids.. they just are not economical as my research has shown. in any case.. I'm getting the data together.. so far.. simply switching to the motorcraft 15w40 oil vs the napa oil, is a tangible cost savings of $5.30 per pickup ,and IMHO, a better quality oil. ( PS.. delo 15w40 from walmart fell right in line with the motorcraft oil $ wise, and the guy in the back office is doing the same as i am.. he changes his 00 chevy work pickup with delo 15w40 )

In any case.. just looking at that quick hash... napa dino oil, motorcraft/delo dino oil or the mobil delvac 1300 syn blend..

the motorcraft / delo oil is IMHO a better quality oil than the napa house brand, and is actually cheaper... the delvac is 10$ more than the napa and moves you into a synthetic blended oil... which.. should be the best of the 3 options. that's what I'm going to present/propose with the following recomendations. either we start saving 5$ per oil change per pickup and go to motorcraft/delo, or spend 10$ more per pickup per oil change and move to the delvac syn blend. using the napa as the baseline middle ground... which IMHO.. should not be an option at all.. thus using either the 5$ savings or the 10$ increased expense. both being what I percieve as a better oil.. thus save 5$ and have better oil, or spend 10$ more and have an even better oil ( syn blend ).

thoughts an opinions.

I know it sounds like counting pennies.. but.. in bad economic times we are looking our budgets over for everything.. all consumables are on a buy as needed /approval needed basis.. tightening belts so much we have a wasp waist i think...


( oh yeah.. forgot to ask.. having not used a synthetic 'blend' before.. am I in the correct line of thinking here of the extra protection the syn bledn offers over the dino oil? .. for my personal vehicle, a 7.3psd, I went further and use valvoline premium blue full syn 5w40 at a chilly price of 29$ per gallon.. didn't even put that on the table as a choice for work.. )

soundguy

 

[dodge man]

I'll throw out another idea, go with a high end synthetic, and test the oil, and see if you can extend the oil changes longer.

 

[Diamondpilot]

This is a personal decision but I can agree on Napa. Needed to do 4 oil changes yesterday and put brakes on a GMC C60 Dump truck. Napa first of could not find any info on the C60. Rotella Syn 5W40 was $37 a gallon. I walked out and went down to O'Rileys.

The guy there found all the the brake parts in 20 minutes, drums, wheel, cylinders, shoes, ect. The same Rotella oil was $22 a gallon vs the $37 Napa wanted. I am done with Napa. I bough $600 worth of stuff of which oil was over $200 yesterday. It would have cost $1000 at Napa.:confused2:

Chris

 

[Soundguy]

I'll throw out another idea, go with a high end synthetic, and test the oil, and see if you can extend the oil changes longer.
__________________

not one of the options I mentioned.. thus not a possibility. last time a premium synthetic oil was mentioned the boss took off his hat, threw it on the table and loud shouting started... not going there again... pricepoint are the deal here.. thus i have to show options within a reasonable close range.. ie.. not too much more expensive. and the concept of going 2x as long thus the price dropping by half isn't flying.. not sure if it's the wait for the oil anylysis, vs the need it changed now and we have 15 minutes down time.. or if the boss doesn't want the oil to stay in 15K miles as the trucks can idle 2-3 hours a day, and he likes to stay on the 'severe duty' side of the changes.. ie. 3500-5k depending on the specific trucks we are talking about.. not the 5k to 7.5k regular intervals.. etc.

that's what I'm up against.

soundguy

 

[bp fick]

Shopping is always wise, in my universe. When I see Delo dino on an end cap for $14 a gallon? Or Rotella T6 for $20/T5 for $16 or MotorCraft semi-syn for $17? You bet I notice.

When I see Motocraft filters for $4 or Baldwin/Hastings for $5? I buy them. When you've got even a small "fleet" to maintain, this stuff adds up fast. We're talking some real money here. Lot's of things I can do with an extra 100 bucks. I try to stay ahead on oil/filters stock, and only buy when as I find "best price" sales.

When I am responsible, in the corporate world, for the budgets on things I shop just as hard as I do with my own money.

As for semi-syn Motorcraft, it is the recommended 5w-20 for my truck, it was required during warranty period so that's about all it has ever had in it. (not Motorcraft, but 5w-20, although, Motorcraft is what I used)

Added protection? Some, but semi is not full synthetic, but neither is it priced that high either, and THAT is the balancing act. Some folks pooh pooh semis as a waste of money, as being "neither fish nor fowl". It's your call on that one.

 

[Soundguy]

anyone here use that delvac 1300 15w40 syn blend diesel oil?

opinions on it? is it worth the $ increase over dino oil? ie.. 17$/gallon vs motorcraft or delo at 13$ per gallon?

soundguy

 

[dodge man]

not one of the options I mentioned.. thus not a possibility. last time a premium synthetic oil was mentioned the boss took off his hat, threw it on the table and loud shouting started... not going there again... pricepoint are the deal here.. thus i have to show options within a reasonable close range.. ie.. not too much more expensive. and the concept of going 2x as long thus the price dropping by half isn't flying.. not sure if it's the wait for the oil anylysis, vs the need it changed now and we have 15 minutes down time.. or if the boss doesn't want the oil to stay in 15K miles as the trucks can idle 2-3 hours a day, and he likes to stay on the 'severe duty' side of the changes.. ie. 3500-5k depending on the specific trucks we are talking about.. not the 5k to 7.5k regular intervals.. etc.

that's what I'm up against.

soundguy

I understand, maybe there is certain times its convenient to change the oil, so thats when it gets done. If thats the case, and it gets changed on a regular basis, I'd probably go with the cheaper dino oil.

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. budget is budget.. if I can shave a lil off in one spot.. I can add it to others.. or lower operating cost as a whole.

If the semi-syn is worth it price wise and service /protection for the truck over the dino oil, then I have a plan. Some of our management is in the class of what I call old school thinkers. these are , ahem, older gentleman, more or less set in their ways.. and well.. the idea of a synthetic oil just isn't something they want to try, or even read about / think about. thus, I am thinking of approaching the situation as follows.

right now we are using the napa oil in all but 2 vehicles, as me and the guy in the back office already switched to the delo for his and motorcraft for mine. (a 5$ savings per oil change).. which is the ONLY reason we got approval to do this, VS paying for expenses with our own money.. etc.

Ok.. with that baseline, and with the older management that will not consider the syn blend oil, not because of the 10$ price increase so much, but because it is syn (blend).. then I should be able to swing the following. convert their machines over to either the delo or motorcraft oil. that will be a 5$ savings per vehicle.. and they should be ok with a plain dino oil. now.. for every 2 vehicles that I can save that on, I can then upgrade 1 to the syn blend. thus if 2/3 of the truck 'fleet' changes to the cheaper/?better? delo/motorcraft dino oil vs the napa dino oil, then 1/3 of the fleet can convert to the ?better? mobile delvac sun blend oil, with a net cost change of -0-$. or, if there is less than 1/3 that want to do the change, then there will actually be some modest amount of cost savings, to the tune of 5$ per vehicle per change that does not convert to syn, past that 2/3's group.

I think I can 'sell' that to management.

better oil and cheaper, and dino, .. get that into place vs the napa oil, then with that cost savings in 'hand' anyone who wants to further upgrade to syn blend can, at a rate of 1 syn changeover per 2 napa -2- motorcraft/delo changeovers... with any unused syn blend 'slots' equalling an overall cost savings.

whew.. lotsa work to -0- out or save 5$ per on a budget.. gtta love paper pushing in 2001 economics..

soundguy

Shopping is always wise, in my universe. When I see Delo dino on an end cap for $14 a gallon? Or Rotella T6 for $20/T5 for $16 or MotorCraft semi-syn for $17? You bet I notice.

When I see Motocraft filters for $4 or Baldwin/Hastings for $5? I buy them. When you've got even a small "fleet" to maintain, this stuff adds up fast. We're talking some real money here. Lot's of things I can do with an extra 100 bucks. I try to stay ahead on oil/filters stock, and only buy when as I find "best price" sales.

When I am responsible, in the corporate world, for the budgets on things I shop just as hard as I do with my own money.

As for semi-syn Motorcraft, it is the recommended 5w-20 for my truck, it was required during warranty period so that's about all it has ever had in it. (not Motorcraft, but 5w-20, although, Motorcraft is what I used)

Added protection? Some, but semi is not full synthetic, but neither is it priced that high either, and THAT is the balancing act. Some folks pooh pooh semis as a waste of money, as being "neither fish nor fowl". It's your call on that one.

 

[Soundguy]

so I guess to reiterate the question I posted a few posts up... is the delvac 1300 15w40 syn blend oil better than motorcraft or delo 15w40 dino oil.

it will be a straight miles per miles trade.. no extended milage drains, and will be based on the vehicles 'severe' interval listed in the owners manual, so it will be straight apples to apples. IE.. 5k on motorcraft 15w40 vs 5k onthe delvac syn blend.

am I thinking inthe correct direction here? or has someone used the delvac and found it to be an inferior oil?

thanks

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

I understand, maybe there is certain times its convenient to change the oil, so thats when it gets done. If thats the case, and it gets changed on a regular basis, I'd probably go with the cheaper dino oil.

yep, unfortunately due to the nature of our work with road contracting, these trucks rarely hit the office except inthe am and pm, and if they hit in between it's a drive thru to grab tools, switch people, grab some blueprints..e tc..e tc...

thus when the clock goes off and one of the guys says his milage interval is up for change, it's literally, stick it in line and run it thru the shop right then and there and change and go.. no time to draw an oil sameple, wait 2-4 days and then decided if it needs change, as that truck may be on a job down south for the next week, and then, thus not available for the change.

not ideal.. but it's what I'm stuck with being the 'controller' for this sort of thing. i'd much prefer scheduled maintenance plans.. but timing is a pickle here.

that's why I'm researching price vs product to see if i can move us into a slightly better product for essentially the same price. .. or a price savings, and if doing so, if I can actually get a even slightly better product liek that syn blend for some of the vehicles.

right now, I know I'm wanting to ditch napa as our pickup truck oil supplier. straight out I can save 5$ on paper per oil change per truck going to a name brand delo or motorcraft oil.. and I can't imagine the motorcraft or delor oil is any worse than napa house brand, and in fact.. i have half an idea it's a hair better.. thus a no brainer. change that oit and save. with that savings, if it's worth it, I can upgrade a few of the vehicles to syn blend... again.. if it's worth it. and thus do it at a null cost.

what I'm really trying to find out is what peoples opinion is of that delvac 1300 syn blend diesel oil. is it work the price increase over dino at 10$ per change, per vehicle. if it is.. I can swing it, based on the saving from switching the rest of the fleet to delo or motorcraft vs napa, and have some 'upgrade slots' available for the syn blend oil.. etc.

soundguy