Alternative oil for Perkins Engines and gearbox

[anglooff]

One of the difficulties in living in Venezuela is obtaining the high end products. The PO's used Rotella 30 and Dextron II respectively; none which is available. Even called Shell Venezuela direct... Some Directors are clients of mine... They just don't have it! Nor likely in the near future.

Therefore mindful that my 2346 is original 1979. Overhauled in 1993 with some 1400 hrs since, and wishing to ensure that what I use is as good as... What would be your suggestions? It would be useful to have the standard/type stated ( I trolled the web and its a complicated subject) I am conscious also that other thread within CF note that new/alternatives can actually be detrimental to older engines.

Your impute as always will be greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance.

Regards

Alan

[Pblais]

What would be your suggestions? It would be useful to have the standard/type stated

I think you can use about anything if you change it regularly. If you are using a straight 30 now you could stick with it to see how it goes. If you had a concern you could just change it a little bit sooner. I've always liked Rotella but I've used Dello as well. If you give me a day or two i can ask my friends that spent 7 years in Venezuela what they were able to buy.

[DeepFrz]

Here is a link to the diesel oil ratings and what they stand for. Any good quality oil of the correct viscosity and a high enough rating will be fine in your engine.

Lubricating (Oil) System Components

[Chief Engineer]

Hugo doesn't have oil?

[anglooff]

He has plenty of oil.... but the major oil companies with the exception of PDVSA import finished product from outside. With the existing exchange control regulations non essential products, do not have a fast track for receiving usd therefore prices rise to the parallel rate and some products do not get imported.

Subsequently in these momements one finds the cheaper (only realitively petrol is cheaper than buying water, but all oil even PDVSA basic oil is circa 10usd per litre and something like Rotella if available is $20usd per litre... in a boat supplier $30usd plus).

Paul...Kind as always, but up till quite recently all types were available here (albeit expensive) and it looks as if it will be quite a time before they come back.

PDVSA will have something,in the CA Cb range, but the engine runs sweet as a nut and I would so like to to keep it that way.

Alan

[TexSail]

Maybe call the Mercedes dealer and ask what oil they recommend for their diesels.

[TexSail]

OTOH, is there a Perkins dealer there?

[never monday]

Chevron is Venezuelan. Get Delo 400

[TexSail]

Originally Posted by never monday

Chevron is Venezuelan. Get Delo 400

Do you mean CITGO or Chevron?

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by never monday

Chevron is Venezuelan. Get Delo 400

I second the Delo 400...also what gearbox are you talking about?..a Hurth?

[anglooff]

I have my staff looking at whats available here and ofcourse there are many alternatives, which are rated against SAE and other international ratings. The problem with oil companies here is that the majors tend only to drill and export crude and then import the finished product back into Venezuela. Really only PDVSA refines here. Actually they have high ratings, but I remember reading a sticky posted here "How to read an oil can" which cautioned using best available as the new detergents etc., could actually be harmful to older engines and sought to negate the difficulty will continuing the oils the PO's used. I shall update when a list is provided of what alternatives exist.

My gearbox is a Borg Warner and it would see that there is some dextron II at a price.

Regards

Alan

[never monday]

Originally Posted by TexSail

Do you mean CITGO or Chevron?

my bad. It's Citgo that's Venezuelan.

Here are the three main oils I use

Shell Rotella T
Chevron Delo 400
Mobil Delvac

I'm sure Motul and other Euro brands have an oil that is compatible.

Look for an SAE CD or CF rating

[Pblais]

Here is a reply I got back from my friend Larry. They were in Venezuela for about 7 years and got back to the US about 1.5 years ago. The info might be a little out of date but here is his reply:

Hi Paul,

I found Shell Oil and of course, lots of the locally produced stuff. Probably now, its just the local stuff available but many people used that and thought it was fine. Shell oil was made locally and I used that (Rotella was what I used most when I could find it). I used a single weight oil (40 SAE) since its always warm. Most people did also except where the engine manual specifically said to use multi-weight.

Larry

[anglooff]

It took a month, but finally was able to obtain Rotella 30 and dextron II. Thanks for all your suggestions. In truth I found that there were a sufficiency of other very acceptable oils here, but this purchase means that atleast the next two oil changes will be continuing previous regimes.

As always thanks for you input

Regards


Alan

[s/v Jedi]

We use PDV SEA-50 in our Yanmar 4LH-HTE without any problems. It's everywhere in Venezuela and it's cheap. I think it's subsidized. Check the engine manual for the types of oil. If it allows it, single grade is just as good as multi-grade there.

cheers,
Nick.