How many people add zinc to there oil?

[donnelly317]

ok I just found out about this and im sure its been cover but im going to add it to my oils. I cant believe I never heard about this. A guy at work was telling me.

http://www.valvoline.com/faqs/motor-oil/racing-oil/

http://www.utterpower.com/epa-pushing-to-remove-all-the-zinc-out-of-lube-oil/

http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Car_Care/AskMobil/Zinc_Motor_Oils.aspx

 

[MaxMidnight]

Why?

Provided that you use a good quality oil and maintain the bike as recommended then I have never seen any sound evidence that additives make any difference....other than the purchaser being slightly the poorer!

Product liability laws and consumer groups would have a field day if vehicles started experiencing breakdowns due to lubrication failure.

 

[donnelly317]

The problem is read the Mobil website article and even valvoline. EPA removed zinc from oil a couple years ago because of emissions. Zinc phosphates were the main ingredient to antiwear on metal to metal surfaces. When even oil websites talk about its lubrication capabilities and how it was removed. But only way you can get it in oil is racing oil or additives. Its not different than ethanol all for emissions and it messing shit up lol.


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[sdt354]

Use Rotella 15w-40 Matt. It's got zinc as do most diesel type oils.
Steve-o

 

[donnelly317]

I was just about to post this. As im researching rotella t Triple has 1200ppm ZDDP which is enough. I switched to Amsoil full synthetic this year with my clutch change. Also the more I searched Valvoline Premium blue which I use in my cummins has a low ZDDP and I should be adding Zinc if I run it. The turbos and lifters in the common rail 5.9L don't like low zinc. So I will be switching to Rotella

 

[sdt354]

I was just about to post this. As im researching rotella t Triple has 1200ppm ZDDP which is enough. I switched to Amsoil full synthetic this year with my clutch change. Also the more I searched Valvoline Premium blue which I use in my cummins has a low ZDDP and I should be adding Zinc if I run it. The turbos and lifters in the common rail 5.9L don't like low zinc. So I will be switching to Rotella

I was in Advanced Auto the other day and saw the gallons on sale, and right next to them 5 gals for $39.99. I grabbed one and at check out, I thought, grab 2 or 3 more for the Vmax Bro's. The girl at the counter said it was a mistake and I could only have 1, 5 gal pail. Sorry guys, I was thinking of ya.

 

[donnelly317]

I was in Advanced Auto the other day and saw the gallons on sale, and right next to them 5 gals for $39.99. I grabbed one and at check out, I thought, grab 2 or 3 more for the Vmax Bro's. The girl at the counter said it was a mistake and I could only have 1, 5 gal pail. Sorry guys, I was thinking of ya.

Ill get mine from tractor supply... fiance dad owns a farm gets tax exempt

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[Miles Long]

I was in Advanced Auto the other day and saw the gallons on sale, and right next to them 5 gals for $39.99. I grabbed one and at check out, I thought, grab 2 or 3 more for the Vmax Bro's. The girl at the counter said it was a mistake and I could only have 1, 5 gal pail. Sorry guys, I was thinking of ya.

I could have charmed that countergirl into selling me as much as I wanted....
but in any event, in my opinion probably the best and least expensive "additive" you can add to your engine oil is a magnetic drain plug.
I can't understand why the bike manufacturers no longer have this as standard equipment.
Cheers!

 

[MaxMidnight]

The problem is read the Mobil website article and even valvoline. EPA removed zinc from oil a couple years ago because of emissions. Zinc phosphates were the main ingredient to antiwear on metal to metal surfaces. When even oil websites talk about its lubrication capabilities and how it was removed. But only way you can get it in oil is racing oil or additives. Its not different than ethanol all for emissions and it messing shit up lol.


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I could understand your concern if we were reading of Maxii blowing up or wearing out due to lubrication issues.
Unless I've missed a lot of posts I don't believe that's the case.

Certainly isn't an issue in the UK.

I seem to recall similar scare stories predicting the end of motors as we know it when they took lead out of fuel...

 

[88vmx12]

If I am not mistaken zinc is generally added for new engines for break in purposes only.

G

 

[vernmax]

He is right. This is no scare. When they first removed the zddp I ruined a brand new race car motor in less than 15 minutes. It wiped the lobes off the cam and ran metal through all the bearings. Shortly after I built a 383 dodge that only wiped out the cam but didn't damage the bottom end. About that time hotrod magazine did a 4 or 5 page article investigating why all the crate engines were failing. It wasn't common knowledge of the additive being removed. That is when the additive hit the shelves. Diesel oil was a good alternative but they have been removing it slowly. Bobistheoilguy.com is a good source of information. As far as using it in bikes, I'm just as curious. It only affected flat tappet lifters in cars

 

[donnelly317]

He is right. This is no scare. When they first removed the zddp I ruined a brand new race car motor in less than 15 minutes. It wiped the lobes off the cam and ran metal through all the bearings. Shortly after I built a 383 dodge that only wiped out the cam but didn't damage the bottom end. About that time hotrod magazine did a 4 or 5 page article investigating why all the crate engines were failing. It wasn't common knowledge of the additive being removed. That is when the additive hit the shelves. Diesel oil was a good alternative but they have been removing it slowly. Bobistheoilguy.com is a good source of information. As far as using it in bikes, I'm just as curious. It only affected flat tappet lifters in cars

Yes that was the main engine failure culprit. But zinc is a excellent metal to metal lubricant. Ball bearings it doesnt matter regular oil will do the trick. But piston rings cam journals anything metal to metal zinc is a excellent lubricant its crests like a film between metals

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[mvmccreary]

Very interesting discussion. About when did they take the zinc out of the oil?

 

[marsmax85]

I'm a rotella type fella myself 15w40 unk:

 

[thor_eyerdhal]

I use MoS2 in all my engines.
Thanks to the lock-up, i can use it in the Vmax

 

[Stites]

Hey fellas, haven't been on here in years, but I thought I'd chime in on this'un:

I had an 85 Jeep CJ7 that I built up a little bit(dual-outlet header, dual exhaust, Offy dual-port 4bbl intake, etc), and part of that build was a more aggressive camshaft. Put it in, broke it in per the instructions to the letter. maybe 1000 miles later I lost a cylinder and the carb started backfiring. Looked into it, and found my new cam had worn itself into all of my new lifters, wearing a hole into #3's intake. Summit honored their warranty and sent me a refund, and the Comp set I bought sometime later warned of the very thing you all are talking about. And it only affects flat-tappet engines, apparently. Guess I should've went roller, eh?

A thought that crossed my mind just now about the topic - What would replacing the zinc with graphite do? I recall procuring a can of graphite powder in Iraq to lube my M203 with(dry powder won't attract dust and sand like oil will), and it worked wonderfully well. I made a paste mix of rifle oil and graphite to put in the trigger assembly, and that stuff made my 203 the smoothest operating black gun I've ever fired.

Seems like they could do that without much concern for emissions, seeing how we put the same graphite in the pencils our kids use in school.