Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hello- I have a 1996 L400 and use 15 W 40 diesel engine oil.. I am traveling in Mexico and 15 W 40 does not seem to exist here.. any suggestions on what I could get down here that would work../ I have seen SEA 40 series III diesel witha picture of a big diesel truck every where down here.. would this work.. or any suggestions on what would?? Gracias!

10w30 should work fine; better than dirty oil.

What weights do you see around?

Edit: if the 40 weight is diesel oil that goes in the range from say, 10-40 or 20-40 it should be fine for Mexico at this time of year.

Here is a good explanation of what those numbers mean: http://www.upmpg.com/tech_articles/motoroil_viscosity/

The difference between Diesel specific oil vs. regular car oil is that Diesel oil has detergents in it that clean a bit better for the engine type. There is nothing wrong with using a non-diesel oil. I have used regular 10w30 when I had no other options. I prefer 15w40 Diesel oil, but it is not always available.

I don't know enough about the areas you are in, but I suspect that 10w30 will be ok for Mexico this time of year. In the summer? Probably not so much.

I'd go with the 40 weight...

konadog wrote:I'd go with the 40 weight...

But is that a fixed 40 weight? If he goes up into high altitudes where it is colder that won't be the best oil for that. However, 40 would be good in the hot desert for certain.

Good point re: the cold for sure, but 30 weight might be too light on the other end. Its only a few decades since multi viscosity oils came out and before that it was only the heavy number. I know John Muir recommended 30 weight for VW's back in the day. A slightly extended warmup might be a good idea if you go with the single viscosity 40 weight, esp. if it's cold out.

i guess you can use whatever the diesel land cruisers, hiluxes, terranos, monteros, and l200 stradas there are using..?