Where would one purchase this ZDDP you speak of? Does an AutoZone or Advance type of store carry it? Am I understanding correctly it is recommended/safe to add to my oil? I am all for eliminating friction at start-up.

 

I'd have to research it a bit more before I use it in a newer engine because it can shorten the life of the catalytic converters.
But to answer your question, I don't know of any local chain stores that carry it.This link below is one of the Turbo Buick vendors I deal with.Although it's not cheap at Kirbans ($10) I checked on SummitRacing and Summits price was $5 more for a 4oz bottle ($15).

ZDDPlus OIL ADDITIVE

 

Thanks for the reply Nassty. I had a 6.0 diesel that cost me $100 per OCI with Rotella Syn plus I tried a few bottles of that HotShot Secret oil additive at I forget what per bottle. That said, $25 per OCI on this truck plus something like that ZDDP, even if you'd add half the bottle ( 2 oz?) thats still only 5-7.50 per OCI? What I'm saying is I wouldn't mind spending a few dollars per OCI on something that will prolong my engines life. It is relatively cheap compared to that diesel I had! If, in fact it doesn't harm the cats like you said. Thanks again, I will have to look into this.

 

I have to say that as evidenced by my 1988 F-150, the engines properly maintained will outlive the bodies. My old '88 was rusting in such a way that I couldn't chase it down fast enough while the engines purred like new.

I will be 50 next month. My kids are nearly grown and gone and I'll definitely never own another vehicle for 20 years or 250K miles. I will be spoiling myself from here on out.

 

Any cam mfg will have it (Isky, crane, Crower all sell it for $10), I would also check with the local GM dealer....they use to carry it at every dealership befor the bankrupcy.

 

You are absolutely right on the concern. Bceause of the conflicting reports/reasons, etc on what is the appropriate level and what level degrades the cats......I finally gave up and spoke to Ron Iskenderian himself. He said, 1/3 of a bottle (about 2.5 oz) in the new modulars, and a full bottle in my 1960's engines. If I may suggest, call any of the cam mfg's Howard, Isky, Crower, etc and speak to them directly for their recommendations.

 

Can anybody verify how many cam chain failures there have been on the 5.0 L engine? This engine is so new, is anyone keeping count? or is this an urban legand? ZDDP is an additive for flat tappet cams. What does that have to do with cam chains? Harley Davidson came out with a twin cam, chain driven valve train that had some issues with cam bearings and cam tensioners that may or may not have been def from the factory. After ten years of dealing with a small % of failures, some harley mechanics have the opinion that bikes that used a true synthetic oil, not the semi-synthetic that Harley Davidson sells, had almost no failures and minimal wear on their chain tensioners. Don't worry about the additives wearing out in the first 1000 miles either. I have been doing 13000 miles OCI's for 11 years on 2 cars with no problems at all.

 

Ok, ZDDP is not specifically for flat tappet engine. You are right, it has nothing to do with the timing chains themselves.....

1. The timing chain tensioners are hydraulically operated, cleanliness of the oil is imperative to keep the actuators functioning.

2. When an engine is fired up, that is when the most damage occurs as you know......ZDDP is the additive that all oils have used for decades to (paraphrasing here) coat the cam/crank bearings since they operate on oil pressure, which is essence lifts and separates the cam/crank journals away from the bearings. ZDDP in essence, acts as a minature roller bearing to prevent/minimize this wear.

3. The reduction of ZDDP in all of the oils (including diesel) is such that flat tappet cam lobes by appearance, are the first to suffer excessive wear as a result of the lower ZDDP levels. Some high volume cam grinders are claiming new cam failures on initial startup are a result of this, IMHO, I suspect the chinese low carbon steel cam billets play more of a significant role in this than anything else.

3. Primary oil filters cannot filter (for design reasons) below 10 ppm, like indsutrial power plant filter do (about 5ppm), because it would restrict the flow to the engine causing possible oil starvation. Most of the oil filter mfgs conceed, that after about 90 days of use, the bypass valve in the filter opens to some degree. While the stored/caught particulates do not escape, the oil is allowed to flow straight through to prevent starvation.

4. To reduce cat converter contamination, the ZDDP in the oils was reduced from aroun 2000 ppm to about 700 ppm (within the last 18 months if you include diesels), which the engineers advise this is plenty for any engine......but this reduction has paralleled with the increase of flat tappt cam failures, valve tick, etc.

5. The one thing that the aftermarket cam mfgs & machinists agree upon is engines need about 1400 ppm of ZDDP, the newer engines (modulars) with cats, about 1000 ppm. While the oil companies disagree, they recently added another additive to the oils as a "wear reducer" (the name escapes me now).

6. With the extended oil changes 5,000 up to 10,000 miles, with the reduced ZDDP and the longer exposure to periodic oil filter bypass activation, this is another parallel to the hydraulic timing chain actuators failing at around 100k miles as compared to their design specs which say they should be good for 150K+ miles. Thos who have experienced these specific failures, the majority report they are on extended oil drain frequencies- most of the Ford Master Techs i have spoken diretly too regarding this, agree their gut instint says there is a relationship between the two.

7. With regards to syn vs non-syn oils, today, all oils are syn based, the dinos just don't exist anymore. Mfgs such as castrol, are actually using a oil base that is not by previous industry standards to be even considered a "synthetic", was sued (By Exxon/Mobile IIRR) and they won in court because they were able to demonstrate with additives they were essentially delivering a syn product.

8. I too do extended coolant & oil changes on my vehicles. I use cathodic protection installed in each of the vehicle coolant reserve containers, the ph and ehtylene glycol levels of the water is checked annually and the fluid is removed, filtered (3 ppm), the system is flushed and then refilled with the same fluid every 5 years. The oil on my 65 300 hp mustang (which has been inthe family since new), has only seen 3 oil changes since its ground up rebuild (and of course after the engine break-in period) since the mid 1980's......but I do change the oem filter annually and i run a bypass filter (filters down to 5 ppm) and on the last oil change (which was recent) I did add one bottle of ZDDP per after discussing this indetail with Ron Eskenderian (yes, Isky Racing Cams), and I add 1/3 of a bottle to my mod motors as well (1997 Cougar Sport 4.6 & 2006 Lincoln Mark LT 5.4)- IIRR it is a 9 oz bottle.