What type/brand of oil in new engine ?????

[380tom]

Looking for opinions on what type/brand/weight of oil to use in my Buick 350 It has 200 miles on it and I am currently running Pennzoil 20w-50w conventional oil. I have heard it is not good to use a synthetic until 10k miles but not sure if that is true? Also price is not an issue. Not because I'm loaded but because it is only driven on the weekends and oil changes will not be as often.

[dizuster]

We always use Rotella T diesel oil in all new motors (race motors, daily drivers, etc...)

The reason is that diesel motors are about all that's left without roller tappets. They still have special formulated oil for high pressure contact situations like flat tappet cams. A lot of the regular oil doesn't have the zinc in it that flat tappets require. Motors built in the late 90's saw a rash of cam lobe falures. It wasn't because of the cams, it was because of the oil...

Hope that helps!

[380tom]

Originally Posted by dizuster

We always use Rotella T diesel oil in all new motors (race motors, daily drivers, etc...)

The reason is that diesel motors are about all that's left without roller tappets. They still have special formulated oil for high pressure contact situations like flat tappet cams. A lot of the regular oil doesn't have the zinc in it that flat tappets require. Motors built in the late 90's saw a rash of cam lobe falures. It wasn't because of the cams, it was because of the oil...

Hope that helps!

\

Thanks! Any info on when/if to use synthetics? My dad was a big time Amsoil guy and I thought I might do the same but I have been told not to use synthetics on a new motor?

[dizuster]

To be honest, I'm not sure if I'd use regular synthetic's in a flat tappet cam motor at all. There are certainly synthetic's out there with zinc in them (diesel or racing oil), but not the regular stuff.

My '97 Ram 1500 has had synthetic oil in it since the day it was new, and it has 296,000 miles on it! So it's not like I have anything against synthetics! It's just modern oil in general doesn't have the zinc needed for older flat tappet cam motors.

Do a quick google search on "zinc in oil" or "ZDDP in oil"

There are literally 1,000's of discussions about it.

[mattmopar440]

I Was told that also

besides you change the oil after 500 miles, after your first run so it would be a waste I ran Mobil 7500 Driveclean when I broke my 401 in

[dusty]

Rotella and Dello now meet the CJ-4 rating which means they have a fraction of the zinc they used to contain. your best bet for a high zinc motor oil is valvoline racing oil it is formulated for "off road use" and contains high zinc levels for the flat tappet crowd. best bet in my book higher zinc levels than the current rotella and dello 15/40 diesel stuff. if you can fina bottle of the CI-4 which si what John deere and Case still use in thier engines and provide you'll have a high zinc oil but the new crap is crap they pulled the zinc out iont he cj-4 diesel oils due to the particulate filters on the new motors clogging from high zinc oils

[PlasticBoob]

I would use any standard oil for the first oil change interval (3,000 miles or so, unless you have moly rings, in which case I'd a few thousand higher just to be safe), and then switch to Mobil-1.

Use this additive with BOTH oils: http://www.zddplus.com/

Use whatever viscosity was originally specified.

[danthegeek]

Once the rings are seated there is nothing left to "break-in." The camshafts life is determined by its first 5 minutes of operation. If everything goes smoothly, you should have no problems as long as no debris gets in the engine. When I build a new motor, I usually wait until i get to the end of the driveway to beat on it a little . The motor needs some abuse to seat the rings correctly.

The "dont use synthetic in new engines" is a myth. A lot of cars came from the factory with sythetic. The only reason I wouldnt use it is because it is expensive and you will want to change the oil after a few hundred miles to check everything out. https://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English...ics/Myths.aspx

I would suggest Valvoline VR1 racing oil. Its cheap and works great. I run it in both my Nova and the Jeep. Once you get the initial break-in done, you might want to try their new synthetic version. Im trying to get my hands on some but I haven't had much luck finding any yet. 500 miles should be more then plenty to break in a new motor. If it isnt by then, it never will be.

[Bill Moore]

There is one better that gets overlooked and is reasonably priced. John Deere still puts the right amount of Zinc in for their engines, go by a dealer and buy it by the 5 gallon cans, its 12 dollars a gallon. or 325 a quart for the 15w 40

[crispyboy]

Is there any one place where you can find out how much zinc each oil contains?

[djongeward]

Originally Posted by PlasticBoob

I would use any standard oil for the first oil change interval (3,000 miles or so, unless you have moly rings, in which case I'd a few thousand higher just to be safe), and then switch to Mobil-1.

Use this additive with BOTH oils: http://www.zddplus.com/

Use whatever viscosity was originally specified.

x2 on this. The diff would be to seat moly rings. We go longer on those, perhaps 5 or 6 thousand, then switch to synthetic of your choice. We like Mobil but I've been eying Lucas because the bottle is so purty. We always use Lucas additive on the first change. We have experienced moly rings not seating at all starting synthetic at first oil change, so we wait.

[jaber]

Originally Posted by djongeward

x2 on this. The diff would be to seat moly rings. We go longer on those, perhaps 5 or 6 thousand, then switch to synthetic of your choice. We like Mobil but I've been eying Lucas because the bottle is so purty. We always use Lucas additive on the first change. We have experienced moly rings not seating at all starting synthetic at first oil change, so we wait.

This is also what I was told when asking about mine.

[BavarianFSJ]

Hi,

I found this:

http://www.castrol.com/castrol/subsection.do?categoryId=9014105&contentId=7027417

...and here is the corresponding data sheet showing the zinc content (amongst others):

http://datasheets.bp.com/bpglis/lubt...4?OpenDocument

To me it sounds exactly like what our engines need...

[InfiniteWisdumb]

From the ZDDP website, it looks like engines older than 1988 may have had flat tappet cams. How do we determine what cam we have? I have a 1987 GW with the 360. I have never heard of ZDDP before now, not having ever had a car this old before.

Thanks!

Jesse

[Jeepguy77]

Originally Posted by InfiniteWisdumb

From the ZDDP website, it looks like engines older than 1988 may have had flat tappet cams. How do we determine what cam we have? I have a 1987 GW with the 360. I have never heard of ZDDP before now, not having ever had a car this old before.

Thanks!

Jesse

That after 1988 thing only applies to some engines, all of the engines that ome in FSJs except for the OHC tornado are flat tappet engines regardless of year, when chryco bought jeep in 88 they were too cheap to update the 360 and probably figured the grand waggys would just die out early. not live untill the grand chero came out.

[bigblack'74]

Use Castrol GTX Diesel 15w40, I believe it has a very high, if not the highest zinc content available. Flat tappet cam motors need zinc. They always have and always will. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't done their research. There is so much info on the web about this now.

[380tom]

Can anyone shed some light on what exactly a FLAT TAPPET CAM is?
I have an aftermarket Isky cam in my motor. Does that make a difference?
Sorry if this is a stupid question but I have never heard of a Flat Tappet Cam and what the diferences are.

Originally Posted by 380tom

Can anyone shed some light on what exactly a FLAT TAPPET CAM is?
I have an aftermarket Isky cam in my motor. Does that make a difference?
Sorry if this is a stupid question but I have never heard of a Flat Tappet Cam and what the diferences are.

A Tappet is an old-school terminology for what is today called a lifter...

Flat Tappet, refers to the shape of the tappet (aka lifter) surface that comes in contact with the camshaft lobes.

Many of the "modern" engines, have tappets/lifters that use a bearing or "roller", on the camshaft contact surface, resulting in less friction between the two...