What oil does everyone run?, Not just break in oil! Options

[tscrihfield]

Okay I did a search on oils that people run and my search was less than helpful. I always get the same thing. Brad penn oil... I know that this is good oil and many run this but I would like to know what everyone runs.

So please state the engine your running and what oil you're running.

Thanks,
Thomas

[earossi]

There are a lot of good oils out there. Speaking in very general terms, the promise of synthetics when they were introduced was that their additive packages were superior to those in dino oil, so you could run more miles on an oil change. So, oil changes could be postponed for 10k miles or more, without seeing major loss of protection from the additives.

That being said, most of us who own these older cars don't put a lot of miles on a car in a year, and we usually change our oil once a year or at a predetermined mileage of about 3000 miles (plus or minus). So, for those of us that adhere to that type of schedule, a synthetic is not necessarily superior to a dino oil.

What DOES matter, for cars that use higher lift cams and rocker cam followers, is the amount of ZDDP in the formulation, whether it be dino or a syn oil. The ZDDP forces oil to remain on the cam lobes longer and provides an acceptable degree of lubricity. So, ZDDP is important. And, unfortunately, approximately 10 years ago, the US EPA and IDOT imposed new regs requiring that platinum catalytic converters must have a life double what had been the case previously. I don't remember the exact mileage, but cats were regulated to have a life of approximately 80K miles. When the Feds essentially doubled that requirement, the oil formulators found that zinc in the ZDDP would kill the platinum catalyst sooner than the regs permitted. So, to meet the new regs, oil formulators cut the ZDDP levels essentially in half on their oils.

Over the last 5-6 years, there has been an step change in the amount of valve train failures in high performance engines due to lubrication related issues, including Porsches.

Valvetrain design and metallurgies have been altered by the engine designers to compensate for the lack of ZDDP in oils. So, new engines should be OK. But, how about all the millions of engines out there that were designed to use high levels of ZDDP? We are essentially screwed.

But, there is a "work around". The reduced ZDDP level oils are those for road usage ONLY. So, if you find an oil that is for "off road usage", more than likely it has the old elevated levels of ZDDP. So the oils will be branded as "for off road use only" or as "racing oils", which means they are intended to be used on a track, where catalytic convertors are currently not required.

If you use 20W50, you can get a high ZDDP level synthetic in Mobil 1 formulated for motor cycles. Since current laws do not require cat convertors on motor cycles, oils formulated for them still have the proper level of ZDDP.

In addition to Brad Penn, racing and off road usage oils made by Motul, Joe Gibbs, and Mobil 1 are all good oils.

And, that is the short story!