[T3] ZDDP...again

[Jim Adney]

On 16 May 2011 at 8:40, Bryon Garvin wrote:

> Thanks to all for the product suggestions.  Turns out there a shop around
> the corner that sells Brad Penn.  I think I'll go that route.  But my other
> question is which oil?  I've been going with 10W30 in the winter and 10W40
> in the summer.  Should I just stick with that plan?  There are more to
> choose from in this list:
> 
> http://www.bradpennracing.com/Products/Racing-Oils.aspx

I've been using 10W-30 in the winter and 10W-40 in the summer in 
recent years, but that's really just because straight weights have 
not been commonly available. VW recommended straight 30 for 
everything above freezing, so if you can get that, that's what I'd 
do.

I checked with my FLAPS this morning and he suggested an additive 
that Lucas sells as well as another that they were out of so I didn't 
get to see what that was. His impression was that this was something 
that you didn't need to do with every oil change, that the ZDDP was 
somehow persistent in the system once it was broken in.

I'll go back there in a few days and see if I can find out what the 
second product is. I'll buy some of each if I can. This was something 
he recommended to add to the first oil fill in a rebuilt engine.

The Lucas product looked promising, since it mentioned zinc and said 
that it was NOT to be used in modern engines that required the later 
service ratings of oils: SL and later, IIRC.

He also said that the truck diesel oils still have the zinc in them, 
but that's likely to disappear in a few years.

Just looking at the oil labels, it looks like it's possible that oils 
with the API "seal" on the front are the ones that lack the ZDDP. 
Don't confuse that seal with the service circle on the back of the 
bottle. I know that my '96 Taurus came with instructions to only use 
oil that HAD that seal, which implies that something changed then, 
and that something might have to do with an additive that was left 
out because it poisoned catalysts. Does anyone have any better info 
on this?

We also discussed modern engines. He pointed out that not all modern 
engines have roller cams, but the ones that don't are OHC with the 
little "coin" shims, which he says are so hard that they never wear 
at all. So maybe there's a solution in a very hard lifter, but that 
may require some special metallurgy in the cam. He didn't have any 
idea about that.

-- 
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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