Truck maintenance

Mobil Delvac™: maintenance for life

When your truck’s going strong, it can take your business from strength to strength.

And that’s where using Mobil Delvac™ can help with truck maintenance – extending engine life, improving vehicle performance and fueling your success.

But to go further, we’ve a list of efficient driving and cost-effective heavy duty maintenance tips we’d like to share with you. Take a look, and if you’d like to find out more, go to our Product, OEM or Mobil Delvac™ and Mobil Delvac™ 1 Advantages pages.

1. Check and change your oil regularly

Regular oil changes are essential to keeping your truck running smoothly and efficiently. Making sure the levels are topped up and you stick to the recommended oil drain intervals will help keep the internal moving parts of your engine clean and lubricated, give you optimum fuel efficiency and extend engine life. All of which are better for your truck, and better for your business.

2. Select the right high-performance lubricants for your truck

Using high performance lubricants, coolants and fluids can help optimize the performance and improve fuel economy in commercial vehicles. In independent fuel economy tests conducted at Millbrook, a leading international vehicle test and development facility in the UK, Mobil Delvac™ 1 LE 5W-30 was shown to achieve an average fuel economy gain of 1.8 percent.

3. Go easy on the brakes

Braking wastes energy, converting it into unnecessary heat energy. It’s a fact that harsh braking uses more fuel, so anticipating potential hazards and taking preventive measures early will reduce the number of times you apply the brakes and the level of pressure needed when you do.

4. Check tires regularly

In Formula 1, tire wear and tire management play a crucial role in winning races; the same is true in the trucking world. Tires at the optimal pressure and with good grip are critical to operate safely and improve fuel economy.

5. Don’t forget to test the battery

If your truck won’t start because of a flat battery, everything comes to a stop – business included. So as the chances of failure increase with age, make sure you test the battery regularly. And never ignore the warning light.

6. Love the clutch; it’s a fuel-saver!

Research has shown that every upwards gear change improves fuel economy. So keeping in as high a gear as possible and skipping gears when practical makes economic sense. Smart clutch use also means no needless revving, which only increases fuel use and causes additional engine wear. Also, for most trucks, especially modern ones, double- clutching is not necessary and actually wastes fuel.

7. Find the engine’s ‘sweet spot’

We always urge drivers to find the speed at which the truck’s fuel economy is at its optimum and use that whenever possible. The engine’s so-called ‘sweet spot’ is the rotational speed at which the engine is at its most efficient, normally no higher than 1,500 RPM. Your truck manufacturer will be able to let you know the specifics for your vehicle.

8. Secure your fuel cap every time

When something as simple as a loose cap can trigger the service or engine lights on your dash, always make sure you tighten it up after every refuel.