Since the ingredents for preventing tappet wear were taken out of our oils with the OBII and newer vehicles, what is everyone doing to prevent this wear?

Thanks.

sctrt

 

For your peace of mind, that is a myth.

There is still zinc in oils. Zinc and Phosphorous (I'll call them Z and P for now on) are anti-wear additives.

With the latest SM rating for oils, Z and P were limited to 800ppm and 600ppm, respectively.

Now, a new CJ-4 rated oil still has a good amount of zinc (think HDEO oils, like Rotella). They are limited to 1200ppm/1000ppm of Z and P. UOA's often show they have a little more than that on average.

That said, I run Rotella-T Synthetic 5W-40 in my 86 302.

 

What about synthetic oils? Aren't they more slippery than even the old oils with zinc?

 

I haven't done as much research as warranted by the " myth" as its been called, but have heard much worry as you bring up here. Freak Show makes a valid point that the ingredients are probably still there in some quantity though? My worry would be that the particular Oil or Synthetic, that I might be using because of availability doesn't have the required amounts of Z. & P.. Say, Castrol syntec for instance, Some may view it as junk but its readily available and if changed when needed probably does an ok job. But now comes the myth. A side from looking up tech specs to be sure that the triple springed, 510 lift, 320 duration cam in my 1970 hot rod is covered, some if not all manufacturers(ford,chev,crane cams, comp cams) have been showing up with additives to supplement oil changes. As I mentioned, I personally have not done enough research to say that for a stock profile cam with limited spring pressure, you would need any more protection than the current limits will provide. Limits being what they are though, seems so forgiving, in the since that the lubrication industry now has a limit to the amount of maximum allowable, but no limit to the min? For the sake of argument, what is the lowest acceptable, and who provides it to the maximum? Supplements for me, till I know for sure.
I have replaced many cams and lifters, in many makes. Its just not the kind of thing I would suggest for a good time, UNLESS its to go faster or harder.

 

You are exactly right, XLnAK. Stock cam vehicles like our truck will run on an SM rated oil all their life with no problems. Well, most situations, maybe not the hard working trucks. That's debatable if zinc is better (IMO I prefer it). But, everyone always tends to agree on high lift/high duration flat tappet cams, you actually DO NEED more zinc. Stick with what you are doing, you seem to know it well, also.

BTW, about the brands, like which brands use how much, you can go to bobistheoilguy.com, go to the used oil analysis and virgin oil analysis forums, and it will have some reports.

Castrol Syntec 0W-30 (aka German Castrol) is still SL rated, and it has 1000 ppm of zinc, versus, for instance, SM rated Mobil 1 0W-30, which would only have 800ppm. And, again, where HDEO engine oils that are CJ-4 have 1200ppm (usually showing 1250 in UOA's).

The quality of oils today have taken out the need for so many additives, at least from an engine life view. But, the reason they are doing it is because of catalytic converters. But, the oils are still good, but I feel that, even though my 5.0 has a tiny stock cam, I still want an HDEO in there. I usually am working my engine, and if I'm not working it, I'm playing with it (high revs, if you call 5k high, don't laugh, it's stock). And the reason I chose synthetic is because Castrol GTX is $14.99 at Autozone a gallon, and Rotella-T Synthetic 5W-40 is $19.99. So, I was like WHY NOT pay $5 more for a synthetic oil, plus I had researched some UOA's on it, and it was AMAZING.

 

Freakshow, Thanks for the chat back , and thank you for the link. I'll go check it out. Very nice to meet you.
sctrt, I hope this helps clear up your dilemma to some extent? I'm sure there will be lots of threads on this subject as time goes on, and others become aware of the changes.
best wishes.