What You Should Know About Your Lubricant

[SWBS]

The past couple of years have seen some quiet but important changes in oil additives which can have detrimental consequences to our engines. Here's a link to one of several similar articles I have recently read. This is a very comprehensive article and addresses a wide variety of air cooled lubrication topics. Navarro's company produces P/C sets for 356 engines and he was a vendor at the recent event in SoCal.

http://www.lnengineering.com/oil.html

Jim

[HarryD]

Jim,

Kind of scary what is happening out there.

This has been the topic of some very long threads at both Rennlist and Pelican. A search using terms like ZDDP, zinc, phosphrous, and "flat tappet" will turn up a wealth on information on either board.

What is very distrubing is some of the information posted by folks like Steve Weiner who is reporting seeing cam pitting with the newer (low ZDDP) oil formulations in our cars.

For me, I am going to start using Delo 400 or Rotella plus a pint of GM EOS Assembly lubricant.

[kenikh]

Yeah; I have used my last quart of Castrol 20w50, that's for sure.

[hdavis]

Yeah; I have used my last quart of Castrol 20w50, that's for sure.

Am I reding this correctly?, from the table at the end of the article, it seems that Castrol GTX 20w50 (even if it's an SM standard) does have a relatively high amount of phosphorus and zinc when compared to other oils, but still lower than the SG standard oils. Or is the high number of ppm an inverted figure when compared to % content?

[72targa]

For some truly exciting reading about the basics of the engine oil class alphabet soup (SM, CJ-4, etc.), start here:

http://www.api.org/certifications/en...lGuide2006.pdf

For high level comments about lubricating oil design, go here:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/basic_...ion_design.htm

For far too much discussion about engine oils, go here:

http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

To see the wide variety of actual engine tests run on new oils and who actually runs them for the industry in general, go here:

http://www.swri.org/4org/d08/GasTests/home.htm#GF2

[SWBS]

Or is the high number of ppm an inverted figure when compared to % content?

As PPM increase, so does the percentage. One thing I came away with, is that for those of us who might prefer to remain with Mobil 1 and are currently using 15w50, his recommendation is to switch to Mobil 1 V-Twin 20w50. The GTX 20w50 (high mileage formulation) would seem to be a suitable alternative for those who use non-synthetic.

These boutique oils make stocking the garage shelves a bit complicated. Not at all like 1963 when my '49 Plymouth just required "OIL"; the thicker the better.

Jim

[Steve@Rennsport]

Other VERY good products are:

Swepco 15w-40 or 20w-50. Its a dino oil but excellent stuff.

Brad-Penn 20w-50 racing oil. Its the old Kendall GT-1 (which set THE standard for dino oils).

[J-P]

Any issues with running synthetics/blends in these old engines?

Mine was just rebuilt, but not yet installed. I mentioned wanting to go synthetic since the engine is "new" and resealed, but was told it will create leak issues and to stick with fossil oils.

Any truth to this, or am I safe with a sythetic?

[kenikh]

On a fresh engine there should be no issues, but with synthetic oils, if leaks are going to form, will be more noticable. I say run synth as the benefits outweigh the risks...and you can always switch to dino.

[SWBS]

Any issues with running synthetics/blends in these old engines?

Mine was just rebuilt, but not yet installed. I mentioned wanting to go synthetic since the engine is "new" and resealed, but was told it will create leak issues and to stick with fossil oils.

Any truth to this, or am I safe with a sythetic?

If you haven't done so already, go to the link in the first thread post and read Charles' article. He does address break-in oils as well as blends. The term "synthetic" is a broad category and would include some which might be suitable for break-in, while others would not. Same for fossil products. I'm not selling Navarro's writings, but he does his homework; lots of folks have an opinion.

Jim