What oil should I use?

well, hell....times change. I guess as silly as it may seem on the surface, with the new auto tech evolving & thus the market or "what's on the shelf" thus evolving this is worth revisiting. I set up habits of castrol gtx 20w50 in the 90s for my Fiats & I don't think I paid close attention (including a number of years when I was mostly doing other stuff..so, hey, not changing a whole lot of oil anyway). So, I've got some Rotella t4 in the workshop, I have some zinc additive bottles I could add to some recent oil changes (one w/ castrol....because I've always bought the stuff rather in mass, so I have probably 5 oil changes worth of oil & filter "in stock"). Looks like for off-the-shelf purchase of oil with lotsa zinc (which, frankly, I did not think about until rather recently) VR1 is simple enough & a quick look locally demonstrated that a gallon jug is about $30 (with tax) around here, so oil changes would not be changing my lifestyle.
 
I have a 1984 VF700F. Great bike but known for having chocolate cams. The cams wear a bit and expose pits, then they tear chunks of chrome from the followers... and then they go bye bye quick.

The cams on my bike show zero wear and I've been running Rotella T6 synthetic. That's what all the gurus on the vf board say. Because of the high zddp content. So now if its true shell removed it.... that sucks. But as long as it's for the good of many....we should all go buy new cars every 3 years like responsible citizens.
 
I’m in the process of changing the oil in my 1500cc FI 1981 X. I bought mobil 1 5w30 full synthetic and a quart of Lucas synthetic oil stabilizer. I’ve used Lucas in the past with oil engines (sunk a 4 wheeler in a pond and the engine filled with water; oil was milky white and after a drain and clean it ran great).

A local mechanic warned me that synthetic can damage an older engine.

What is your advice on synthetic vs regular oil? I’m about to drive this car to the blue ridge mtns and do a lot of mtn road driving and don’t want to screw up the motor!

Thanks for your advice!
Brandon
i purchased my car new and according to owners manual it said to use 10w 40 in the summer time i asked Matt from midwest told me i can use Shell Rotella T 15w40 ive been using it for the past 3 years with no problem my regular mechanic told me to try Royal purple synthetic 15w40 might try it in my next oil change
 
I posted this some years ago on the Alfa forum. Simply measuring the total concentration of zinc and phosphorous in an oil is only a small part of the picture because ZDDP is actually a class of compounds. The oil companies work hard to reduce the total ZDDP levels using new chemistries while trying to maintain the same level of engine wear protection. This is done both to protect catalytic converters as well as to reduce cost.

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/eng...building/177754-zddp-question.html#post989174
 
As Chris G said, technology changes constantly. But often our beliefs do not. Sometimes a different answer from what we've always known to be "true" may strike us as incorrect, but maybe things have progressed (technological advances, governmental regulations, marketing considerations, whatever) and therefore the different answer is indeed true. So I try to keep an open mind and follow the latest advances as much as is practical (or as much as my interest permits :)).

The whole topic of ZDDP is always interesting, and certainly more complex that my 'pay grade' allows me to fully understand. However the impression I have (read: "my opinion") is the use of a oil containing high levels of ZDDP is important during the break-in period of a new cam/head rebuild, for flat tappet designs. After that modern oils with high anti-wear properties are sufficient, without the need for the added ZDDP levels. I believe this is what "RacerRon" referred to in his earlier post, "The real difference is the HTHS (High Temperature High Shear)".

Regarding the significant reduction of ZDDP from Shell's Rotella Diesel oil, that information came directly from a Shell product development engineer during a discussion a few years ago. It was mainly due to regulation requiring such changes.
 
Every car forum I've visited has these discussions, and every time the recommendation for the car I needed was Mobil1 0/40. that stuff must be pure fairy dust magic!!
 
No oil expert by any measure, do respect the engineers at Garrett Air Research and their testing. Some years ago, there was a conversation with two of them who runs a LeMons car with turbo. When asked about oil they recommended Mobile-One Turbo Diesel Truck 5W40. This was based on their in-house testing for turbo wear - turbo abuse and what happens to a turbocharged engine under their test conditions. They both noted there is a LOT more to oil additives than just ZDDP as all the additives must work together as a system. Since then we have been using this Mobile One for the entire fleet including the LeMons racer (pre-Mazda rotary) with good results. Most telling is when an endurance race engine is taken apart and parts inspected for wear and such.

Link to the Mobil One info .pdf:
https://mobiloil.com/~/media/amer/us/pvl/files/pdfs/mobil-1-oil-product-specs-guide.pdf

Simply believe using the state of the art best lubricants is the best way given the added cost is not that significant and the difficulties and cost of dealing with with worn oily bits is not worth the hassle if any of this can be avoided.



Bernice
 
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