need more zinc in your oil? read this

FROM CONOCO PHILLIPS
As part of our ongoing commintment to identify and provide you, our valued marketers, with products programs and tools to help you grow your business, we are pleased to announce that 76 High Performance Motor Oil SAE20W50,KendaLL GT-1 HIGH Performance Motor Oil SAE 20W50 AND Phillips TopArtic Racing Motor Oil 20W50 will be reformulated. The reformulated oils will contain a boosted level of zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) in order to offer enhanced wear protection and oxidation resistance for use in the most demanding applications . the new formulations will be in production in all plants by March 1.

We are confident that the enhanced formulation will address concerns within the industry about current ILSAC GF-4 and API SM eng oils and weather they contain sufficient levels of ZDDP to protect older engines, especially high performance engines with flat tappet camshafts.The newly reformulated SAE 20W50 oils 76,KENDALL,PHILLIPS. will contain approximately 1200 ppm zinc. Higher levels of ZDDP, which provide antiware/antiscuff protection as well as oxidation inhibition can help protect these new camshfts during the critical break-in period.

I'm a sales rep for Perkins oil co Madison wis and we are a distibutor for shell, pennzoil, quaker state,76,kendall,phillips,service pro, citgo, royal purple.
hope this helps some of you

 

I wish they would offer thinner viscosities. That stuff is just too thick for every day use in my opinion. Would knock real bad on start-up

 

It looks like there will be another option. My question is how much ZDDP is enough? The ZDDPlus guy says you need 1800 ppm and others are saying 1200 ppm is good. A straight answer from an informed source would be nice.

I have no problem with 20/50 down here in the south especially since my car is garage kept.

 

Ditto, Im skeered of 20W50W.

But I ran KendallGT1 Racing oil for many years "back in the day"

Come to think of it, I ran straight 30W and sometimes 40W in the BBB.

I think Buick recommended straight 30W.
Now I am confusing myself...
Bert

 

Buick recommended 10w30 to 10w40 for most apps. Nowhere does owner manual say to use 20w50 but they did 20w40 for higher temps.

 

Give me 5w30 or give me death.

 

Offering a suitable oil additive package, but only in useless viscosities is pointless posturing for the sake of marketing and face-saving.

They've as much as admitted that the "regular" oil formulation has problems when used in older engines; it's NOT backward-compatible. But we all knew that, it's old news and well-covered in magazines and internet forums such as this one.

But the solution they propose is just as bad: Offer oil with increased high-pressure additives but with unsuitable viscosity.

First Guess: Their lawyers made 'em do it.

 

This subject has been bashed to bits ....
I read an article found on a link here I believe about using Rotella in our gas engines . Mainly it said not to use it. Something about diesels don't require as much of the additives for the"shear factor" of oils required for gasoline engines .
Do roller engines still need ZDDP ?
Steve

 

Perhaps they need some; but it's the flat-tappets (especially when used with heavy valve springs) that are the real reason for older engines needing more ZDDP.

 

Thats interesting how you guys say 20w50 is to thick i run straight 50w valvoline in my street car and have no problem with it. I started it up yesterday and it was around 20 degrees here and had no problems.

 

Some interesting reading:

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/faq.php?faq=haas_articles#faq_motor_oil_basics

 

why not mix the oil with a less viscosity--or some marvel mystery oil---better yet mix in 2 quarts of castrol synthetic 10 30

 

That stuff is just too thick for every day use in my opinion. Would knock real bad on start-up

o No:

i run Rotella 15w-40 or a 20w-50 all the time in everything from a 2.5L v6 street car to a Buick 455 in a circle track race car and i have no idea what you're talking about.

no problems here.

 

Well, none that you know about yet, anyway.

Aside from proven fuel economy and horsepower gains with thinner oil; there's the whole issue of wear at start-up. The thicker oil takes longer to squeeze through the oil galleys before it does anything useful like lube the bearings or rocker arms. If you need to float the bearings on heavy oil to have any oil pressure--you probably should have chosen tighter clearances.

 

Lot of wasted horsepower pumping that goo around an engine.

 

I'm planning on running Brad-Penn 30W break in oil in my motor. The stuff has sufficient ZDDP, is local to me and it's what my machinest recommends.

 

there's the whole issue of wear at start-up.

anyone who is serious about preventing "start-up wear" puts the starter and ignition on discrete switches so you can spin the crank till the oil pressure comes up before you fire it off.

seeing as how street cars regularly exceed 150,000 miles with no rebuilds i think you might just be overplaying the "start-up wear" card just a touch anyways.

i personally ran my Probe from 90,000mi to 160,000 street miles and then took it circle track racing for a couple of thousand miles before the motor expired. and it blew up due to a pinhole leak in the radiator/overheating, there was never any wear issue.

 

Wonder how that zink business plays out with the synthetics?

Jim

 

If you are really serios about start up wear you use an accumulator. Throw a switch and when the pressure hits 20 psi start the motor.

 

20W-50 is really just 20W with viscosity improvers added to prevent breakdown at high temps. Still it is approx. twice as thick as 10W-30. If 20-50 is too thick you can add a quart of 5W-20 to thin it some and still have plenty of zinc based on these new zinc fortified oils.

I look for oils that say "off road use only" they have the higher zinc levels.