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Preferred Oil for our "older" engines???


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Alright well I was scanning through the latest JP Mag. the other day when I read a small paragraph about running newer oils in the 4.0l and how it was killing them since the 4.0 is a flat tappet engine and most of todays oils don't have the reccommended amount of Zinc to supply proper protection. It also mentioned that Diesel Oil would solve this issue but even now most deisel oils are going to a "clean" setup and removing alot of zinc from the mixtures to help save modern day DPFs. So anyway my question is what brand/type of oil should i be running in my 4.0 or am i just worrying about this more than I should? I currently run Vavoline Diesel 15w40 in both my Jeeps.

 

Thanks for any info and/or clarification :thumbsup:

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This has been a hotly debated topic since they killed the amount of zinc in oil.

 

Lots and lots of newly installed cams have gone flat (burned up) since then, and many people are blaming the oil.

 

Crappy Chinese lifters may equally be to blame.

 

Most people seem to think if you already have a properly broken in flat tappet cam, the decrease in zinc won't hurt you,

 

but there are ways you can add zinc to what you're using for oil now.

 

 

Tho I find it funny that zinc is one of the cheapest metals known to man (they make pennies out of it for crying out loud :D ), but 4oz of a zinc additive is 10 bucks. :nuts:

 

http://www.zddppluscentral.com/

 

 

If I were breaking in a new cam, I'd use the smear on stuff as always, and add zinc to my next few oil changes.

I'd also use the highest quality lifters I could get my hands on.

 

But for old, broken in cams, I'm not especially worried about it. :dunno:

 

FWIW, I use the Valvoline Max Life high mileage oil in everything (even the 32k mile MJ :yes: ) because it's the cheapest semi-synthentic I can find.

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Tho I find it funny that zinc is one of the cheapest metals known to man (they make pennies out of it for crying out loud :D ), but 4oz of a zinc additive is 10 bucks. :nuts:

 

haha,

 

as of Friday 4/9/10, Zinc was trading at $1.0728 per pound.

http://www.kitcometals.com/

 

So if that $10 4oz bottle was entirely made of zinc (I'm sure it's not),

the total cost of precious metals in it would be just under 27 cents (a whooping $0.2682).

 

 

How's that for markup. :rotf:

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This has been a hotly debated topic since they killed the amount of zinc in oil.

 

Lots and lots of newly installed cams have gone flat (burned up) since then, and many people are blaming the oil.

 

Crappy Chinese lifters may equally be to blame.

 

Most people seem to think if you already have a properly broken in flat tappet cam, the decrease in zinc won't hurt you, but there are ways you can add zinc to what you're using for oil now.

 

Tho I find it funny that zinc is one of the cheapest metals known to man (they make pennies out of it for crying out loud :D ), but 4oz of a zinc additive is 10 bucks. :nuts:

 

http://www.zddppluscentral.com/

 

If I were breaking in a new cam, I'd use the smear on stuff as always, and add zinc to my next few oil changes.

I'd also use the highest quality lifters I could get my hands on.

 

But for old, broken in cams, I'm not especially worried about it. :dunno:

 

Even with a old motor, it was designed with period oils in mind. So the newer, so called better or improved oils may not be so great for our "old tech" engines.

 

I have recently switched over to the ROTELLA T from SHELL. Its a long standing HD TRUCK/ diesel oil that's now available in passenger vehicle friendly flavors!!

 

Like all of the 4.0L owners, I have been plagued with tappet/rocker noise. more so than I like and the last two changes have been with this oil and I think it's quite!

Its a bit more $$. but spending $$ on the heart or life's blood of the Jeep is moneys worth spending.

 

CW

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Even with a old motor, it was designed with period oils in mind. So the newer, so called better or improved oils may not be so great for our "old tech" engines.

 

That's a fact.

 

Most of the 'improvements' have been to either clean up engine oil based emissions in new vehicles.

 

Trying to clean up that last .00000557% 'bad' emissions out of new vehicles costs us 'stuff' in the oil that our old engines were designed to work with.

 

 

 

 

But in the end, 4.0L's are borderline tractor engines, and they survive pretty well under all kinds of adverse conditions.

 

It's like when they took lead out of gasoline, everyone with cars older than 1973 (before hardened valve seats) was freaking out.

In the end, under normal conditions, the old engines dealt with it well enough.

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Rotella is good, but I prefer Chevron Delo 400 LE 15w40. It meets

API classification SM for older engines, and still has a 1300 ppm zinc count, one of the few. Been using it for years. They even sell it in Walmart now. :D

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Alright so running a "Diesel" formulated oil seem like a good choice.....I currently run Vavoline Premium Blue, I work @ Advance and have time to check things out during the day so is there anywhere on the bottles that say the amount of Zinc or anything on them, We also carry the Chevron Delo oil and I don't think weve sold 1 gallon of that in the 3 months ive been there, so its easly available as well. I know most of these are all opinions but I trust most of you guys for technical answers like this :thumbsup:

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Alright so running a "Diesel" formulated oil seem like a good choice.....I currently run Vavoline Premium Blue, I work @ Advance and have time to check things out during the day so is there anywhere on the bottles that say the amount of Zinc or anything on them, We also carry the Chevron Delo oil and I don't think weve sold 1 gallon of that in the 3 months ive been there, so its easly available as well. I know most of these are all opinions but I trust most of you guys for technical answers like this :thumbsup:

 

 

You won't find anything specifically saying how much zinc is the oils on your store shelf, because the API-rating does that for you.. If it says API-SM... its too low for the flat tappet camsharfts.

 

That linked article isn't bad.. Its almost 4 years old so it does contain some things that were changed. Shell stated that they would be reformulating their Rotella oil lines to "match market requirements". In simpler terms reduce the Zinc and Phosphorous in it to keep it from clogging the DPF or any possible catalytic devices that may be installed on diesels in the future. Delo oil had some sort of change.. but I can't remember what it is....

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Delo oil had some sort of change.. but I can't remember what it is....

 

I email various manufacturers regarding their zinc content regularly. Unless they are lying, Chenron Delo still maintains a 1300 ppm zinc count (as of six months ago); 1200 ppm is recommended for flat tappet cam engines. I don't know how long it will last, but I'm sticking with it as long as they maintain it. Too many $$ invested in the stroker to mess around with junk oils........

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The ZDDP that is in diesel engine oil damages catalytic converters. That is why they quit putting it in engine oil for gas engines.

 

May or may not - there's equal pro and con depending on what you read. I don't care. ZDDP doesn't hurt mine at all for sure. :D

 

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Take it with a grain of salt... or whatever :brows:

 

But my dad bought his/later my Jeep Cherokee in 1993, 2Dr, H.O, 4x4, Manual. Awesome truck, ran Penzoil in it from birth and just because, I continued the tradiation. Ran great it's entire life... (until I flipped it at 280,000 miles :( ... even then it still ran great...excluding all the other issues)

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The ZDDP that is in diesel engine oil damages catalytic converters. That is why they quit putting it in engine oil for gas engines.

 

 

 

I heard the same thing,

 

but I think it's an exaggeration at best.

 

Cat's have been on cars since 1975,

but only in the last 8-10 years have they vastly decreased the amount of ZDDP in oil.

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:hijack: what about full sythentics like royal purple? I'm doing a 4.6l stroker in my 89 and ive always been told to never switch over an engine that has been run on regular oil for years to full synthetic, but I'm having it bored and machined so its basically going to be a new motor and I'm worried about the oil. regular MJ recommended oil is designed for 4.0l and with the 4.6l its going to be producing alot more power and with more power comes more heat so i figured full synthetic? could i be wrong? ive been having this "debate" (full synthetic vs. regular oil) with my dad for a long time now and he insists that regular is better. Also by the way i run 10w30 whatever-is-the-$12.99-oil-change-special-at-advance-autoparts-or-autozone with a can of restore. i believe it has zinc added in it and it seriously worked miracles on engines of mine. every oil change i will EVER do i will always put a can of restore in there because it works and ive seen it work first hand.

 

Josh

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:hijack: what about full sythentics like royal purple? I'm doing a 4.6l stroker in my 89 and ive always been told to never switch over an engine that has been run on regular oil for years to full synthetic, but I'm having it bored and machined so its basically going to be a new motor and I'm worried about the oil. regular MJ recommended oil is designed for 4.0l and with the 4.6l its going to be producing alot more power and with more power comes more heat so i figured full synthetic? could i be wrong? ive been having this "debate" (full synthetic vs. regular oil) with my dad for a long time now and he insists that regular is better. Also by the way i run 10w30 whatever-is-the-$12.99-oil-change-special-at-advance-autoparts-or-autozone with a can of restore. i believe it has zinc added in it and it seriously worked miracles on engines of mine. every oil change i will EVER do i will always put a can of restore in there because it works and ive seen it work first hand.

 

Josh

 

The whole thing about not running Synthetic oil in an older engine is nothing but a myth. I have switched many vehicles over to synthetic oil and have never had a problem. If it was me I would run Mobil 1 Fully Synthetic oil and a Mobil 1 oil filter. Royal purple is not 100% synthetic. Mobil 1 is 100% fully synthetic.

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