Does
anybody know if this problem applies in Europe or Australia?
This is a long
article but it is well worth reading.
The implications are
worrying.
OIL
IS KILLING OUR CARS!!!!!
By:
Keith Ansell, Foreign Parts Positively, Inc.
(Thanks to Keith for permission to reproduce this article.)
About a
year ago I read about the reduction of zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate
(ZDDP) in the oils supplied with
API approval that could affect
sliding and high pressure (EP) friction in our cars.
The reduction of
these
chemicals in supplied oils was based on the fact that
phosphates reduce the effectiveness and eventually damage
catalytic
converters and introduce minute amounts of pollutants into our
atmosphere.
A couple
of months ago I had a member of the Columbia Gorge MG Club bring a
totally failed camshaft and lifters
back to me that had only 900
miles on them!! I immediately contacted the camshaft re-grinder
(Delta Cam) and asked how this could happen. They were well aware of
this problem as they were starting to have many failures of this
type.
In the past, the lack of a molybdenum disulfide camshaft
assembly lubricant, at assembly, was about the only thing that could
create this type of problem.
My customer has assembled many engines
and had lubricated the camshaft properly. Then the bad news came out:
It’s today’s “modern” API (American Petroleum Industry)
approved oils that are killing our engines:
Meaning all flat tappet
(cam follower) equipped engines, as used in all BMC products, all
British Leyland products, most pushrod engines prior to 1980, early
Volvos, American high-performance engines and many others, including Motor Cycles.
Next
call: To a major camshaft supplier, both stock and performance
(Crane). They now have an additive for whatever
oil you are using
during break-in(running in ) so that the camshaft and lifters won’t fail in an
unreasonably short period of time. They also suggest using a diesel
rated oil on flat tappet engines.
Next
call: To a racing oil manufacturer that we use for the race cars (Red
Line Oil).
Their response: “We are well aware of the problem and we
still use the correct amounts of those
additives in our products”.
They continued to tell me they are not producing API approved oils so
they don’t have
to test and comply. Their oils were NOT the “new,
improved and approved” ones that destroy flat tappet engines!
“We
just build the best lubricants possible”. Sounds stupid, doesn’t
it, New-Approved but inferior products,
but it seems to be true for
our cars.
To top
this off: Our representative from a major supplier of performance and
street engine parts (EPWI) stopped by to “warn us” of the problem
of the NEW oils on flat tappet engines. This was a call that
the representative
was making only because of this problem to warn
their engine builders!
“The reduction of the zinc, manganese and
phosphates are causing very early destruction of cams and followers”.
They are recommending that, for now at least,
there must be a proper
oil additive put in the first oil used on new engines, beyond the
liberal use of molydisulfide assembly lube(Molybond).
They have been told that
the first oil needs the additive but remain skeptical that the
first
oil is all that is necessary. Their suggestion is: Use diesel rated oils
such as Delo or Rotella that are
usually available at auto stores and
gas stations.
This
problem is BIG! American Engine Rebuilder's Association (AERA)
Bulletin #TB2333 directly addresses this problem. I had a short
discussion with their engineer and he agreed with all that I had been
finding.
Next
phone call was to a retired engineer from Clevite, a major bearing
and component manufacturer. First surprise
was that he restored older
British Motor bikes. The second surprise was that he was “VERY”
aware of this problem
because many of the old bikes had rectangular
tappets that couldn’t rotate and are having a very large problem
with
the new oils. He has written an article for the British Bike
community that verify all the “bad news” we have been
finding.( I am looking for that article...Bob C.)
Comp
Cams put out “#225 Tech Bulletin: Flat Tappet Camshafts”. They
have both an assembly lube and an oil additive.
The telling
sentence in the bulletin was “While this additive was originally
developed specifically for break-in
protection, subsequent testing
has proven the durability benefits of its long term use. This special
blend of
additives promotes proper break-in and protects against
premature cam and lifter failure by replacing some of the
beneficial
ingredients that the oil companies have been required to remove from
the “off-the–shelf oil”.
Next
question: Now what do we do?
From the
camshaft re-grinders (DeltaCam) “Use oils rated for diesel use”,
Delo (Standard Oil product) was named.
About the same price as other
quality petroleum based oils. They have the ZDDP we need in weights
we are familiar
with.
From one
camshaft manufacturer (Crane): “use our additive” for the first
500 miles.
From
General Motors (Chevrolet): add EOS, their oil fortifier, to your
oil, it’s only an 8-ounce can
(This problem seems to be something
GM has known about for some time!). The additive says for
break-in only,
some dealers add it to every oil change.
From
Redline Oil: Use our street formulated synthetics. They have what we
need! Early in 2007 they will be supplying a “break-in oil”
specifically for our cars.
From
Castrol: We are beginning to see a pattern emerging on older cars. It
may be advantageous to use a non-approved
lubricant, such as oils
that are Diesel rated, 4 Cycle Motorcycle oils and other specified
diesel oils. They will be supplying “new oils” specifically for
our cars in early 2007.
For you
science buffs: ZDDP is a single polar molecule that is attracted to
Iron based metals. The one polar end
tends to “Stand” the
molecule up on the metal surface that it is bonded to by heat and
friction. This forms a
sacrificial layer to protect the base metals
of the cam and tappet from contacting each other. Only at very high
pressures on a flat tappet cam is this necessary because the oil is
squeezed/wiped from the surface. This
high pressure is also present
on the gudgeon pin (wrist pin) in diesel engines, therefore the need
for ZDDP in all
diesel engines.
Second
part of the equation is Molybdenum disulfide (Moly). The moly bonds
to the zinc adding an additional, very
slippery, sacrificial layer to
the metal. I found out that too much of the moly will create
problems; lack of this material reduces the effectiveness of the
ZDDP. The percentage, by weight is from .01 to .02%, not much, but
necessary according to the chemists. ( Moly also bonds to other surfaces like crankshafts and camshafts giving greatly reduced friction)
Now
there is no denying that there is a problem, lack of ZDDP (Zinc
Dialkyl DithioPhosphate) in modern oils kills at
least our cams and
tappets. There seems to be no known alternative.
Our cars
are a small percentage of the total market and BIG Corporate, the
American Petroleum Institute and possibly
governments have made
decisions that are detrimental to our cars. This problem isn’t
going away.
The trend today is to
lighter weight oils to decrease
drag, which increases mileage. Most of these seem to be the “Energy
Conservation” oils
that we cannot (should not) use.
Redline
oil and others are suggesting a 3,000-mile break-in for new engines!
Proper seating of rings with today’s
lubricants is taking that long
to properly seal. Shifting to synthetics before that time will
just burn a lot of
oil and not run as well as hoped.
The
“Energy Conservation“ trend was first led by automakers to
increase mileage numbers and secondly because the
ZDDP and other
chemicals degrade the catalytic converter after extended miles,
increasing pollution. Most of us don’t have catalytic converters
and the mileage gains are not that significant.
Many oil
companies may have products that will continue to function well in
our cars. Castrol, Redline, Valvoline,
Mobil, Shell, Amsoil and
others have now commented on my original article and are making
suggestions. Some companies are offering short lists of “acceptable”
oils, others just one. One company has responded without any
substantive
information in a two-page “bulletin”. By their
account all their oils are superior and applicable. This is typical
of many companies.
Some oil
manufacturers are pointing to metallurgy, blaming poorly built cams
and followers. This may have some
validity but the bottom line is
that there has been a big increase in failures with products that
have been on the
market for many years but are now having greatly
increased failures. To me the bottom line is, if the lubricants
are
working there is no contact between surfaces, it shouldn’t matter
what the materials used in the products are,
within reason.
On
“modern” production cars, stay with the manufacturers’
suggestions. For any car produced before about 1990 the
owner needs
to be aware that the factory suggested lubricant may have changed and
may not be applicable. Flat tappet, stock, performance or modified
may be affected. MGBs from 1975 to 1980 must choose to sacrifice the
cam or the
catalytic converter as an example of how difficult the
decisions are becoming!
Yes,
there is more! Castrol does understand our dilemma and is actively
looking into what it can do to support our
cars. We can soon expect
to see products from them with specific application to classic cars.
Red Line will be
offering a “break-in” oil soon after the first
of the year. Shell’s Rotella will be good until about June or July
of 2007 ?? with possibly nothing after that date. Delo (Chevron) will
also be questionable after the new “CJ-4” standards come in the
middle of 2007.
Now the
important information: Oils that may be correct for our cars today:
(As
reported by manufacturers by 31st December 2006, NOTE:
many have changed their recommendations over the last
three months!
Castrol:
Syntec 5W-40, Syntec 20W-50, Grand Prix 4-Stroke Motorcycle oil in
10W-40 and 20W-50,
TWS Motorsport 10W-60*, BMW Long Life
5W-30*
*= full synthetic, available only at BMW dealerships.
Red
Line: 10W-30, 10W-40 (Synthetic oils)
Valvoline:
VR-1 20W-50 (Conventional oil)
Amsoil:
20W-50(TRO), 10W-40(AMO), 15W-40(AME) & 20W-50(ARO)
Mobil:
Mobil 1 5W-30 and 20W-50 (Synthetic)
Chevron:
Delo 400
Shell:
Rotella
What we
are doing at Foreign Parts Positively has been difficult to determine
but with few options left,
the following is what we are forced to do.
Some of our choices have been based on the manufacturer’s
willingness
to help and specific reports. This list will change in
the next months with Castrol and Red Line adding products
just for
our cars.
Break in: Delo 400 30W (A break-in oil will be
available from Redline soon!)
Conventional oil: Valvoline VR-1 20W-50
Synthetic: Red Line 10W-30 in newer engines, 10W-40 on older engines.
Break-in is now 3,000 miles (using Delo 400 30W)
before changing to running oil.
Oil change interval: 1 year or 18,000 miles with
Red Line synthetic
1
year or 2,500 miles with conventional oil (Valvoline VR-1)
20W-50).
Thank
you to Castrol, Redline, Christiansen Oil, Valvoline, Mobil, Shell,
Standard Oil and Amsoil for input. We’re
sure this subject will
continue: Please forward any new information on this subject you may
encounter.
We have
received some very interesting material from “Mr Moly” that may
be putting molybdenum disulfide (MoS) into
this discussion. It seems
that ZDDP plus MoS is the best from the oil companies’ opinion but
MoS by itself may be
beneficial. Some racers swear by it. The
literature seems to support “Mr. Moly’s” position.
Update
20th February 2007: In North America Castrol will
have a "Classic" 20w-50 Syntec on the market in April for
us. Meantime Red Line Oil for synthetic and Valvoline VP-1 20w-50 for
conventional seems our only choices.
19th
February 2007: In North America Castrol will have a "Classic"
20w-50 Syntec on the market in April; meantime
Red Line Oil for
synthetic and Valvoline VP-1 20w-50 for conventional seem to be the
only choices.
Keith
M. Ansell, Foreign Parts Positively, Inc.
www.ForeignPartsPositively.com
Kma4285@msn.com
360-882-3596
Castrol
UK (Andy Griffin, Castrol Technical Support) said in an email dated
21st February 2007:
We
are currently looking at whether there is a need for a specific
formulation for the US market for their older engines - in the UK we
are
fairly well covered by the Classic grades ( and GTX High
Mileage as a basic 15W-40 mineral ), and I have had no reports of
problems
here with premature wear of older engines.
Your Comments please
Might help others. | 
