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Oil Additive Info

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Old Dec 8, 2010 | 09:13 PM
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Default Oil Additive Info

While I have 7 years of experience as a mechanic this was long before the LS1/LS6. Everything I know about the LS1/6 is by breaking the appart putting the back together and praying they run . There have been a few posts of different oil additives here lately that do not have any place in our engines.

While I would like to say I know about them all I don't.

http://www.epinions.com/content_2969477252

The link above is an old review that I read years ago and maybe it can help some of the younger guys who purchase vehicle with higher miles and think a bottle of snake oil can help you gain back some of the performance that time and wear has taken out of your engines.

If any of the really experienced guys with LS based engines like to chime in please do so. Nothing like Experience to help the young ones.

These are some of the settlements the FTC has won against different manufacturers of this crap.

1978 STP Oil Treatment Sued by FTC, Settled, Fined $500,000
1995 STP Engine Treatment Sued by FTC, Settled, Fined $888,000
1997 Slick 50 Engine Treatment Sued by FTC, Settled, Fined $10,000,000
1999 Motor Up Engine Treatment Sued by FTC, Settled, Fined $100,000
2000 DuraLube Sued by FTC, Settled, Fined $2,000,000
2003 zMax Power System Sued by FTC, Settled, Fined $1,000,000
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Old Dec 9, 2010 | 10:28 PM
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Good stuff.
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Old Dec 10, 2010 | 01:20 AM
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I'm guessing the Lucas brand additive I've been throwing in my car is useless as well......
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Old Dec 10, 2010 | 06:16 AM
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Not all additives are bad. Today's modern oil has no zinc or phorsphorus because of it's impact on catalytic converters, but it comes at a price to the longevity and wear on bearings.
If you look at some high end oils like Rotella, Amsoil, and CAM2, they all have zinc and phosphorus to help aid in bearing wear.

Here's a decent read on zinc in oil. They mention specifically flat tappet rollers, but the zinc help with rings, bearings, and any other friction surface to reduce wear and tear.
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Arti..._got_zinc.aspx

And here's another article.
http://www.hotrod.com/pitstop/hrdp_0...ive/index.html

Me personally, I'm running CAM2 in my motor from now on.
http://www.cam2racing.com/cms/files/...10_ID98346.pdf
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Old Dec 10, 2010 | 08:55 AM
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I agree...buy good oil and don't pour hopes and myths into the filler tube
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Old Dec 10, 2010 | 12:07 PM
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Originally Posted by The Alchemist
Not all additives are bad. Today's modern oil has no zinc or phorsphorus because of it's impact on catalytic converters, but it comes at a price to the longevity and wear on bearings.
If you look at some high end oils like Rotella, Amsoil, and CAM2, they all have zinc and phosphorus to help aid in bearing wear.

Here's a decent read on zinc in oil. They mention specifically flat tappet rollers, but the zinc help with rings, bearings, and any other friction surface to reduce wear and tear.
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Arti..._got_zinc.aspx

And here's another article.
http://www.hotrod.com/pitstop/hrdp_0...ive/index.html

Me personally, I'm running CAM2 in my motor from now on.
http://www.cam2racing.com/cms/files/...10_ID98346.pdf
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Great info also if your gonna use an off the shelf oil Castrol Edge is a pretty good. Like you said the biggest thing is what happens to the cats so if your not running cats and you wanna save your engine use a good oil.

Now if you wanna use a racing oil, because you are not running cats you can. I would say this every 9K miles/3 oil changes do a flush. 4 quarts of off brand oil and 2 quarts of tranny fluid. The racing oil will over time create build up specially if you leave it in for an extended amount of time like 5K miles. Racing oils have hardly to no detergent to dilute the sludge/build up that occurs.
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Old Dec 10, 2010 | 03:30 PM
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Originally Posted by The Alchemist
Not all additives are bad. Today's modern oil has no zinc or phorsphorus because of it's impact on catalytic converters,
That is not true. Modern oils certainly do have zinc and phosphorous in them, but they are not at ridiculous levels because of changes to engine construction and catalytic converters. GF-4 spec does limit them to 800ppm Zinc... which was deemed to be sufficient for all motors except at break-in of flat cam lifters or followers with high spring pressures.

Here is the link to Mobil 1 product info pdf:
http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/...duct_Guide.pdf
All of the grades on this chart have some zinc / phosphorous in them. Note, I just picked M1 out of a hat... I am not necessarily endorsing it

I agree that zddp helps with metal on metal, but how much do you think there is in a modern engine like an LS1 and then the question is how much do you need? And don't forget that the modern oils have other additives... like boron which is synergistic with zinc / phosphorous.

This is pretty decent:
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/tech/oil/
Otherwise there is a lot of stuff about oil at http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

edit: You can also tell that there is zinc / phosphorous in oil as well by looking at the UOA's of various oils that have been posted up, as zinc and phosphorus are measured.
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