DEF and Engine Oil?

[Old-RV'er]

All - Today, I went to Walmart and since I was just getting a tad bit of exercise, I walked through the oil section. Hmmm, I have not seen this much open and empty shelf space in well forever. I have had extremely hard time getting Delo 15w-40 in quarts, so last spring got a gallon to be safe. Today, there was NONE, nada, no one gallon or quart of diesel oil to be had. I did not check DEF. but according to this article it also may be heading into short supply. Please read.

Falling on DEF ears: Exhaust fluid shortage coming to RVers?

By Scott Linden “Limp mode” is looming. And while there’s still concern among diesel pusher and pickup owners over the diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) senso

www.rvtravel.com

 

[redbaron]

I bought 50 gal of oil today at parts store. This was Rotella T-50. No supply issues. This was 5 gallon buckets size, but they also had the 1 gallon and 1 qt in all flavors.

There may be trucking and delivery issues in part of the USA, but more likely poor management and inexperienced inventory clerks causing shortages.

 

[Old-RV'er]

I did not go to parts stores, and was just walking through the department at WM. But like I said, unable to find Delo 15W-40 in Quarts in over two years. It's hard to pour gallon jug into generator, even with long funnel. They show it on website, and amazon show over 50 dollars for a case. I have NOT tried to order some, guess that is the next step. I have several diesel-powered pieces of equipment, which I use that oil in aside from the motorhome. Quarts make it just easier to do any normal maintenance. I worked for the second largest federal power marketing agency in USA, our maintenance personal only used Delo, and our equipment never quit or failed in service. I know it's the best. We racked hundreds of thousands of miles on our equipment.

 

[GypsyR]

I recall reading in Consumer Reports years ago at the end of a motor oil review where they basically said if you adhere to regular and decent maintenance intervals about any oil will do. Though I buy some because it meets certain esoteric specifications for the rest I try to keep that in mind.

I was just in Wal Mart last weekend with wife looking for something. I wanted to pick up some LED shop lights while I was in there, otherwise I didn't want to be there. We have three Wal Marts within easy driving distance. First two the online inventory said they had these lights in stock. They didn't. The third store was not supposed to have any but in actuality they had so many they were literally overflowing the allotted shelf space and falling into the floor. I've noticed the same sort of thing with motor oils at the same stores. Wife never did find whatever it was she was after.
Last week I was talking to a guy looking all over for Rotella for his diesel where he needed about four gallons. He said going by the local chain parts stores it looked he was going to have to buy a single gallon (if they had it) at each one. I asked him if he had tried NAPA and he said no. He went to the local (small) NAPA and said they asked him how many cases he wanted, they had more than plenty.

Our supply chain issues are some head scratchers here lately.

 

[redbaron]

I buy the 5 gallon buckets and then attach a pump to it for filling. Works for the smaller engines and the larger ones. The nice thing about the transfer pump is it meters exactly what goes in, so you can set for qty, and let it pump away.

I had been ordering drums, but the delivery fee and discount on the drums didn't make sense once we compared the NAPA commercial discounts on the buckets.

We are a Rotella-T shop---all diesels get it. Nothing wrong with Delo, or valvoline, or any of the other high end. I just have always purchased and used Rotella, so it keeps it simple to stock one oil.

The gas engines all get Mobile 1 Full Synthetic.

 

[Old-RV'er]

Yes, supply issues are head scratchers, have a weakness for Nabisco Peanut Butter Creme wafer cookies, have not seen them at WM or our local Ingles in 4-6 weeks, periodically Dollar General has them, go figure. The frozen food "fruit and vegetable" section at WM was empty, sometimes half and half is a crap shoot. I have not check local Autoparts stores for it, will call around. I like the idea of the pump, please post a reference here. it would work on the gallon jugs I assume. That would solve problem, if it can be made to work on them. 5-gallon bucket, no place to store a partial and don't want it to get dirty between uses. Tha would be over killed for me. Works though. Thank you for that information. I can say that the computer ordering system in place for lots of places is overwhelmed with bogus information because of the supply side issues. Used to be at A&P, our asst manager went around and manually filled out order sheet, which was mailed to warehouse and next week truck came. If it can get fouled up a computer someplace is the reason, because a human programed it wrong.

 

[Rod]

I buy the 5 gallon buckets and then attach a pump to it for filling. Works for the smaller engines and the larger ones. The nice thing about the transfer pump is it meters exactly what goes in, so you can set for qty, and let it pump away.

I had been ordering drums, but the delivery fee and discount on the drums didn't make sense once we compared the NAPA commercial discounts on the buckets.

We are a Rotella-T shop---all diesels get it. Nothing wrong with Delo, or valvoline, or any of the other high end. I just have always purchased and used Rotella, so it keeps it simple to stock one oil.

The gas engines all get Mobile 1 Full Synthetic.

What transfer pump are you using? This sounds like a good approach. Where did you purchase?

 

[redbaron]

What transfer pump are you using? This sounds like a good approach. Where did you purchase?

Roughneck Air-Operated 6.5:1 Oil Pump Kit With Cart and Hose Reel, 4.7 GPM | Northern Tool

The Roughneck Air-Operated 6.5:1 Oil Pump Kit With Cart and Hose Reel is a mobile oil pump unit with digital oil control valve and meter fo...

www.northerntool.com

This is similar to what we have. Mine is 15 years old, but looks just like this.

 

[GypsyR]

Wow" Industrial strength. I use a "power steering pump" salvaged from a 1991 Acura Integra transmission. Fits handily into any 3/8" drill. I don't know the GPH but it will be on the slow side. Pumps whatever you want, I mostly use it for transmission fluid. I used it to remove @60 gallons of gas from my RV tank one time. I liked it enough that I scrounged up a second one. The first one's been in service for like ten years now and was obviously not new to start with.
If you can find one on a Honda/Acura transmission the salvage yard will usually seel it for just a few dollars. With the added hoses for drain/fill use one looks like this. The end with the gear is where the drill chuck goes.