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8/13/2019 Oil is Killing Our Cars

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OIL IS KILLING OUR CARS!!!!!Note that this article was published in November 2006 and is offered here to provide

background to the problem of changing oil formulations. More recent information can befound in the follow-up article located at the Continued... link which is also located at thebottom of this article.

B! "eith #nsell$ %oreign &arts &ositivel$ 'nc.

#bout a ear ago ' read about the reduction of (inc dialkl dithiophosphate )*++&,in the oils supplied with #&' approval that could affect sliding and high pressure )&, friction

in our cars. he reduction of these chemicals in sup-plied oils was based on the fact thatphosphates reduce the effectiveness and eventuall damage cataltic converters andintroduce minute amounts of pollutants into our atmosphere.

# couple of months ago ' had a member of the Columbia /orge M/ Club bring atotall failed camshaft and lifters back to me that had onl 00 miles on them11 ' immediatelcontacted the camshaft re-grinder )+elta Cam, and asked how this could happen. he werewell aware of this problem as the were starting to have man failures of this tpe. 'n thepast$ the lack of a molbdenum disulfide camshaft assembl lubricant$ at assembl$ wasabout the onl thing that could create this tpe of problem. M customer has assembledman engines and had lubricated the camshaft properl. hen the bad news came out! 'tstodas 3modern3 #&' )#merican &etroleum 'ndustr, approved oils that are killing our

engines! Meaning all flat tappet )cam follower, e4uipped engines$ as used in all BMCproducts$ all British 5eland products$ most pushrod engines prior to 70$ earl 8olvos$

#merican high-performance engines and man others.Ne9t call! o a ma:or camshaft supplier$ both stock and performance )Crane,. he

now have an additive for whatever oil ou are using during break-in so that the camshaft andlifters wont fail in an unreasonabl short period of time. he also suggest using a dieselrated oil on flat tappet engines.

Ne9t call! o a racing oil manufacturer that we use for the race cars );ed 5ine


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Comp Cams put out 3?22 ech Bulletin! Flat Tappet Camshafts3. he have bothan assembl lube and an oil additive. he telling sen-tence in the bulletin was 3=hile thisadditive was originall developed specificall for break-in protection$ subse4uent testing hasproven the durabilit benefits of its long term use. his special blend of additives promotesproper break-in and protects against premature cam and lifter failure b replacing some ofthe beneficial ingredients that the oil companies have been re4uired to remove from the 3offthe shelf oil3.

Ne9t 4uestion! Now what do we doD%rom the camshaft re-grinders )+eltaCam, 3Ese oils rated for diesel use3$ +elo

)>tandard tand3 the molecule up on the metal surface thatit is bonded to b heat and friction. his forms a sacrificial laer to protect the base metals ofthe cam and tappet from contacting each other. econd part of the e4uation is Molbdenum disulfide )Mol,. he mol bonds tothe (inc adding an additional$ ver slipper$ sacrificial laer to the metal. ' found out that toomuch of the mol will create problemsH lack of this ma-terial reduces the effectiveness of the

*++&. he percentage$ b weight is from .0 to .02I$ not much$ but necessar according tothe chemists.Now there is no dening that there is a problem$ lack of *++& )*inc-+ialkl-+ithio-

&hosphate, in modern oils kills at least our cams and tappets. here seems to be no knownalter-native.

hifting tosnthetics be-fore that time will :ust burn a lot of oil and not run as well as hoped.he 3nerg Conservation3 trend was first led b automakers to increase mileage

numbers and secondl because the *++& and other chemicals degrade the catalticconverter after e9tended miles$ increasing pollution. Most of us dont have catalticconverters and the mileage gains are not that significant.

Man oil companies ma have products that will continue to function well in our cars.Castrol$ ;edline$ 8alvoline$ Mobil$ >hell$ #ms-oil and others have now commented on moriginal article and are making suggestions. >ome companies are offering short lists of3acceptable3 oils$ others :ust one.


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>ome oil manufacturers are pointing to metallurg$ blaming poorl built cams andfollowers. his ma have some validit but the bottom line is that there has been a bigincrease in failures with products that have been on the market for man ears but are nowhaving greatl in-creased failures. o me the bottom line is$ if the lubricants are workingthere is no contact between surfaces$ it shouldnt matter what the materials used in theproducts are$ within rea-son.

hells ;otella will be good until about June or Jul of 200F with possiblnothing after that date. +elo )Chevron, will also be 4uestionable after the new 3CJ-G3standards come in the middle of 200F.

Now the important information$ here are Motorsport! 0=-60K K full snthetic$ available onl at BM= dealershipsBM=! 5ong 5ife =-@0K K full snthetic$ available onl at BM= dealerships;ed 5ine! 0=-@0$ 0=-G0 ) >nthetic oils ,8alvoline! 8;- 20=-0 ) Conventional oil ,

#msoil! 20=-0 ) ;< ,$ 0=-G0 ) #M< ,$ =-G0 )#M, L 20=-0 ) #;< ,Mobil! Mobil =-@0 20=-0 )>nthetic,Chevron! +elo G00>hell! ;otella

=hat we are doing at %oreign &arts &ositivel has been difficult to determine but

with few options left$ the following is what we are forced to do. >ome of our choices havebeen based on the manufacturers willingness to help and specific reports. his list willchange in the ne9t months with Castrol and ;ed 5ine adding products :ust for our cars. Break-in uses +elo G00 @0= )a break-in oil will be available from ;edline soon1, or Cast+-@0 if it was pro-duced before Jul 2006. =e have some old stock of Castrol +-@0. Conventional oil is 8alvoline 8;- 20=-0 or Castrol /-20w-0 if it was produc

before Jul 2006. =e have some old stock. >nthetic oil is ;ed 5ine 0=-@0 in newer engines or 0=-G0 in older engines.

Break-in is now @$000 miles before changeover to running oil.

-ear or 7$000 mile oil change interval with ;ed 5ine snthetic

-ear or 2$00 mile oil change interval with conventional oil )8alvoline 8;- 20=-0,.

hank ou to Castrol$ ;edline$ Christiansen hell$ >tandard , into this discussion. 't seems that *++& plus Mo> isthe best from the oil companies opinion but Mo> b itself ma be beneficial. >ome racersswear b it. he literature seems to support 3Mr. Mols3 position.


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"If you're currently putting mileage on your classic vehicle and using the latestAPI grade SM oil, you are almost certainly doing irreversible damage to your engine."

- William C. Anderson - New Oils and Old Cars'Old Cars Weekl

'n November 2006$ ' published the first of the 3Oil is Killing Our Cars3 articles andvirtuall all ma:or engine builders and camshaft manufacturers are now admitting that wewere right in condemning the new oils. hese oils were causing at least FI of cam failures) #merican ngine ;ebuilders #ssociation$ pg. 7$ Jan-Mar 2007 ,11 Now with everoneadmitting the problem$ solutions are surfacing.

=hat is this all aboutD 'n the middle F0s cataltic converters )cats, becamemandator on most cars. B the middle of the 70s it was noted that cats had a limitedlifetime. =ith the addition of computer controlled fuel deliver$ o9gen sensors wereintroduced into the e9haust sstem. >oon after this it was noted that one of the 9treme&ressure )&, components of oil$ *++& )*ink-+ialkl-+ithio-&hosphate,$ causeddeterioration of the o9gen sensors and cats. he auto manufacturers started to re-designengines so that the didnt need much of this additive and b 200 all ma:or oil manu-facturers started to reduce *++& in their oils with the goal of meeting at least 3>M3$ /%-Gclassification. Most engines designed before 70 were with flat tappet construction andwere designed around and had to have *++&. #s these 3old3 engines toda use onl asmall percentage of the total lubrication oil consumed$ the removal of *++& did not affect

the ma:orit of the oil market. . onl 0 millionare older than 77 )2I,. Most well known companies therefore choose not to help peoplewho own older cars$ especiall those with flat tappets. hose that are acknowledging ourneeds are limiting what is available and even what the offer ma not be sufficient. hebottom line here is that if ou are not using a lubricating oil with at least the necessaramount of *++& our car was designed to use )flat tappet design or high performance hotrod, ou are damaging our engine.

eres the number we need! #round $600 ppm. with 2$000 ppm being about thehighest concentration of *++& )*ink-+ialkl-+ithio-&hosphate,$ a minimum of around $@00ppm. Most of todas oils have reduced this chemical to near 60 )G00 to 700, ppm and inmost cases it seems their goal is to reduce it further1 #nother point! *inc andor &hosphate

do not e4uate to protecting our engines. *++& is the compound that protects our engines.+ont accept oils or additives that claim to have what we need if the give :ust (inc andorphosphate numbers.

+iffering *++& compounds have different temperature tolerance$ read themanufacturers literature1

here seem to be onl two ma:or North #merican oil companies currentl producingproducts for us and the are Castrol )>ntec 20=-0 in the black bottle with 3;ecom-mended for Classic Cars3 on the back, and 8alvoline )8;- 20=-0,$ both are about 200ppm or :ust at the minimum *++&. Joe /ibbs ;acing


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careful not to suggest an brand of oil and claim their product should be compatible with ancompans products. here is no new information on this website but it answers man4uestions. he market directl on-line or through dealers. 't comes in a G ounce bottle thatis recommended to be added to G or 4uarts of oil.

he second product is 3Cam->hield3. # person that has been in the lubricationbusiness for man ears has developed this product and is a ver e9perienced lubricationformulator for some of the largest racing programs from road racing to off-road. his productis ver concen-trated so it does not dilute our base oil. 't comes in a bottle that has a built-inmeasuring device so that ou can accuratel dispense the product based on how much oil

and what ou need to add. his compan markets through lo-cal dealers and on-linewww.Cam->hield.com. his compan also does not suggest an single brand of oil. 't comesin either G or 7 ounce bottles with a measuring device.

hield3 is the most concentrated$ has two tpes of*++& for complete coverage$ comes in a bottle that makes it eas to administer the correctdosage and is lower in cost per treatment.

&.hese are not specificall formulated for our cars and have limited use. >ome arespecificall to be used onl during break-in. here ma be others.

>o we have a final answer1 =e can now know$ b adding the *++& that wasmandated out of most oil$ that we are not internall wearing awa our engines at an

accelerated rate b restoring the *++& that our engines were designed around.' want to acknowledge and thank the comp-anies$ large and small$ and the individualpeople who have written and called me with input on this sub:ect from all over the world.Man were aware of this problem even before m first article was published. #ll these inputsare used and are appreciated.

"eith M. #nsell - %oreign &arts &ositivel$ 'nc. www.%oreign&arts&ositivel.com00 N 7th>treet$ Brush &rairie$ =ashington 7606
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