Ok, after reading about the reduction of anti-wear additives in the newer oils, I am concerned about camshaft wear on my new GM crate engine. I have just over 1,000 miles on it and no problems, but I don't want any either. I've read that Hot Rod and Comp Cams have both noticed the trend of flat tappet cams to go south if used with the regular oil we buy at the auto parts stores or WalMart.

I called Valvoline and they recommended their VR1 racing oil that still retains the higher levels of additives (called ZDDP additives) that used to be in the older oils. The levels of these were reduced due to anti-pollution concerns and the fact that roller cammed engines don't seem to need the additional protection.

What are you guys using out there? Anyone know where we can get 10W-30 Valvoline VR1? I've called all over and no one seems to carry it.

I know that Shell Rotella-T has the additives and I may just switch over to that. Anyway, this is a real pain trying to find something that will fill the bill on lubrication.

One article suggested adding GM part number 12345501, their cam prelube, but I think that is the heavy oil/grease type of stuff that they use for assembly lube. Not sure how well that mixes with the oil. Anyone with insights on this?
Brad

 

GM EOS i put a bottle of that in every oil change to make up for the lost zinc heres the part number GM EOS #1052367

 

just go with royal purple synthetic.

 

I've always been under the impression that you want LESS additives in your oil, since that is the part of the oil that breaks down from wear and dirt and causes your oil to go bad. I believe that is why many manufacturer's suggest against 10W-40, because the oil companies have to add more additives to the oil to maintain a broader temperature range. More additives = less oil.

My suggestion would be to just break in the motor, and then switch over to a respectable synthetic oil. Mobil 1, Royal Purple, AMSOIL, and Redline all come to mind.

 

ya dont they recommend regular 5W-20 or 10W-30 for camshaft break in?

 

That's what I use.

 

Thanks for all the responses. Since the engine is barely broken in, I don't want to go to a full synthetic just yet, but likely will after a bit.

Thanks 3.492rs for the heads up on the EOS. Since I just changed the oil with the regular stuff, I will likely go that route for now since the oil in there is brand new. That should up the protection factor.

Now, I hear that sythethics like Mobil 1 (which is what I run in my Vette and what I had planned on switching to) doesn't have these critical additives in it! The ZDDP additives that flat tappet cams need are at very low levels in Mobil 1 from what I could discover. That's ok for those roller cam engines such as the Vette and my daily commuter vehicle (Grand Am), but not a good thing for the flat tappet in my '84 Bird. Perhaps Royal Purple and other synthetics have retained these critical additives whereas Mobil 1 has evidently opted to reduce them just when I need them. Thanks for the replies. I am contacting Mobil 1 to check on this straight from the. Thanks again!
Brad

 

My essentially stock LG4 is a flat tappet and works fine with Mobil 1.

 

Those additives are only critical during break in, you can use any quality oil beyond that.

 

As long as you change the oil on a regular basis, It doesn't matter the brand. Remember, you want to change the oil while it's still good. After it's gone bad, the damage starts.

 

Rotella T all the way. I run it to this day and have made several converts. It should keep your flat tappet cam happy and it runs clean in my engine, change it often and you should be good to go.

 

Is that Rotella T 15W-40 regular or their synthetic Rotella T? I keep hearing about this oil lately, so it seems like others are using it with increasing frequency. How many miles on your cam so far? Thanks for the insights.

Also, isn't your engine a roller cam type?
Brad

 

Use Shell Rottella T... its a 15w40 diesel oil. Its ALOT better for a flat-tappet cam than any modern 'gasoline engine' oil out there (synthetics aside).

What makes Rottella T so much better, is that its loaded with the good aditives that were taken out of all the newer 'gasoline engine' oils, namely Zinc, which is very important for a flat tappet cam.

Its the only oil I use in my 350 since I rebuilt the top end and installed a new cam. I've heard of alot of problems with Comp cams wiping out lately, especially the more aggressive XE profiles, but I broke in my XE274 with this stuff and it went off without a hitch.

 

Like Adam said, Zinc is what you're after. They stoped putting it into newer engines for emissions reasons plus the fact there is very little metal on metal rubbing with full roller valvtrains of today's engines.

Luckily diesels still have a good bit of metal on metal components, (FI stuff) so that oil still has the zinc additive you need. I use Rottella T just because it's cheap and it works. They also make it in synthetic if that's your cup of tea.

 

Rottella T 15w-40 is what i use on my sbc. I like it because of the additives and for the fact that the car will not leak oil and if it does and and burns it has a very specific smell to it. As said before it has detergents in it that will clean the engine as its being used.

 

i use penzoil 10-30 high millage. supposed to have additive for high millage engines. car doesnt leak a drop and seems to have cut down on oil burn do to valve seals

 

Well, let's try to unscrew this a little.

Since the ILSAC GF-4 standard came out, there have been problems with flat tappet cam and lifter wear. It doesn't matter what brand or type of oil you use, a GF-4 rated oil will not protect flat tappet cams as well as older types of oils did. And, this isn't all that new of a problem, it came up back in the early 80's with German-made Ford 4-cylinder overhead cam engines, the reduction of these anti-wear additives in oils back then was the problem with those engines, too.

What I've decided to do is limit GF-4 oil usage to engines with roller lifters. For flat-tappet engines, the anti-wear additives aren't an issue for the emissions equipment, so I use a diesel oil that also has an SL rating for spark-ignition engines. Specifically, I run AMSOIL 10W-30 synthetic with the ILSAC GF-4/API SM rating in roller lifter engines, and AMSOIL Heavy Duty Diesel Series 3000 5W-30 API SL (no GF rating) in the flat tappet engines (which happen to also be in the harder working vehicles).

This is not only a break-in problem. It helps to change the oil frequently if using a GF-4 oil, but it will not solve the long-term problem. I also don't like using oil additives, because there is no way to know what the total effect will be when mixed in an oil - lubricant manufacturers formulate a package product, and not a one of them will recommend using an additive with their product (unless oil additives are their primary product line and lubricants are a side business for them, like Lucas Oil). Comp and Crane Cams recommend a break-in additive for their cams, but after its job is done, it gets dumped out with the break-in oil.

 

I use AMSOIL Syn 10W30 with an EaO AMSOIL filter. $60+ oil changes aren't a whole lot of fun but I have complete confidence in the product I am using.