Rotella Oil Question

Every motor (engine) around my house uses Rotella. Lawn mower, tractor, cars, trucks. Never a problem.
 
I just bought some oil at fleet farm, it's Mobil super. $16 for 5qts of 10w-30. $12 dollar rebate on returning it full with your used oil. Did I mess up? I will change it again. Maybe more important in a new vehicle. My 06 f150 says on the gas cap only use BP gas, can't win.

Maybe a mn thing but... as I bought a gallon of stain and they charged me a $1 painting fee here, but the state recycles for free. Win some loose some I guess.




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I use Rotella in all my diesels. I use Valvoleen 20-50 racing oil (Gray bottle) in all my
gas jobs said to have zink way better oil pressure and none burn or use oil. And then
I bought a new F250 in 1975 (360) If you do not use Ford 300 oil your warranty will
be void? Far as I know Ford is not in the refinery business probably Shell with a Ford
stamp on it. So, I was already wrenching when all make flatheads were new. They
didn't have much of a warranty back then. Just about all were serviced from the local
gas station. Stations looked for oil deals, then oil was put in those pump tanks then
pumped in glass bottles. Old guys will remember that. Bottom line back then is you
never knew what came out of that bottle. And they ran and ran for 20 cents a quart.
Up on the lift watching my father with a coat hanger dragging crap out of the drain hole.
In high school I say about 65% cars teachers and seniors cars were flatheads and we
were well into the 352 390 days but not for the 55 to 65 dollar pay check. And they ran
and got you there like the great 1978 blizzard all I had was a 51 V8 with tire chains got
me there. People don't flinch using premium oil in their 2018 rice burner but use
Walmart stuff in a high buck rebuild. I don't get it. Just go to Model T forum on this site
and all say buy cheap oil at K Mart, ya gotta be kiddin.. No cheap stuff for my 100 yr
old baby...................
 
Any oil is better than no oil. We used 20W/20 Texaco Havoline for the cooler months when I was a kid. We used the SAE 30 in the summer. It didn't matter if it was a flathead, a diesel tractor, or an OHV engine. Pop bought the stuff by the case for all the farm equipment.

I went to the Wally Word the other day and looked for 10-minutes for SAE 10W/40 mineral based motor oil and it was likely a re-refined brand. I have to go to the parts store to get a decent brand now days. I use Aeroshell brand in the helicopters. Some with the Lycoming additive (TCP) and some without. The stuff is getting expensive though. I use the W100 with no TCP in my R10 overdrive transmissions and all my old Harley transmissions.
 
Amazon and ebay are great places to buy oil. I buy the 5 quart bottles of Valvoline 10/40 for less than 25.00, delivered.
 
I run it in my flathead, evo bobber and Shovelhead.

No issues in either and as for the old days when we were poor, if I couldn’t collect enough oil draining the quart cans out then it was the “best” looking oil coming out of the crankcase on an oil change because full of old oil is better the low on no oil, I’m just saying. It made sense to a 16 year old with shallow pockets.

Cliff Ramsdell
 
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I run any detergent 10W/30 or 10W/40 that Dollar General has on sale at the time (anywhere from $1.85 to $3.00 a quart). The last batch I bought was Peak brand 10W/30. I don't remember the service rating, but it did say "Not to be used in vehicles newer than 1985", which I found comforting.
 
With all the money we have invested in our cars why would you want to gamble on putting a $10 bottle of zinc in at an oil change.
All the cam grinders that I know say cam failure is way up since they pulled the zinc out of the oil.
Roll the dice
But for my money I’ll drop a 10 and be safe


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You have that right DD931. There is plenty of ZDDP in any modern oil for a relatively stock flathead. If it's a fire breathin heathin then maybe more might be better. 1200 PPM of the stuff is the max that does any good. More is not better. 800 PPM is plenty for a flathead. Now, if you have a 500+ HP 427 Ford then knock yourself out on the ZDDP since that is what the additive was for.
 
Pete F said:
With all the money we have invested in our cars why would you want to gamble on putting a $10 bottle of zinc in at an oil change.
All the cam grinders that I know say cam failure is way up since they pulled the zinc out of the oil.
Roll the dice
But for my money I’ll drop a 10 and be safe


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Click to expand...

This relates to OHV flat tappet cams with high valve spring pressure and not to flatheads.
 
JSeery said:
This relates to OHV flat tappet cams with high valve spring pressure and not to flatheads.
Click to expand...



I spoke to Jerry at Schneider cams about cam wear and he assured me they have as much trouble with flatheads as overhead valve engines.
And I don’t feel like being a hero and experimenting for a $10 bottle so for me the zinc is in .
And it goes in every Engine I build or no warranty .
Everyone is entitled to there on opinion.


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philipswanson said:
I'd worry more about the lack of lead in our gasoline on valve seats. Bigger problem than zinc in oil.
Click to expand...


if you rebuild put harden seats in. but i wouldn't worry to much. run some mmo in the gas for upper engine lube. you could theoretically run a 50/1 oil at a higher mix rate also (300/1).
 
Nobody talked about Rotella T5 15-40. Is thee zink in that stuff. Use it in farm tractors and dodge diesel. I am guessing that a flathead will be happy with it.
 
Most automotive motor oil has the API rating donut on the package somewhere if it's within specs. This is to certify that it meets the specs of that rating. If the rating is SJ or later, the ZDDP is reduced. SG was the last rating to have + or -1200 ppm of ZDDP but was done away with in 1993. The ILSAC classifications came out after the SG rating was obsoleted so they didn't exist before that. Obsoleted motor oils aren't required to have a rating so you can't tell if it has any or not. These types of oils are likely an unknown as to whether they have any beneficial additives or not. If you have an API rating of "SN" or ISLAC rating "GF-5" on the bottle or jug then you know there is only + or - 800 ppm of zink/phosphorus additive in there.

A flathead with high spring pressure and a real lumpy cam may need 1200-ppm of ZDDP but a stocker would be fine on 800-ppm.
 
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