If you have lots of time to read details, go to Bobistheoilguy.com. You will probably find more info there about oil and additives than you wanted to know.
Yeah, I've been too that site a time or two before. Almost too much there. One day I'll do a search there.
I've searched on there for Rotella oils, no real current info on what's actually in those oils these days.
There seems to be some confusion about that. Do a lot of diesels have cats now? That seems to be the factor for reducing zinc in oils. A lot of guys still running it, but maybe based on outdated info. I guess only shell can confirm that. Running Rotella would make life a bit easier. There seem to be a few types of Rotella, which one is the one to use on our cars? Man, I week ago I was ready to dump whatever I had in and call it a day, then I followed this rabbit hole. I should have taken the blue pill.
cats have been on diesel trucks for 20 years or more now. They were mostly for show as the substrate does get filled with soot reducing their effectiveness. Enter DPF which is designed to trap and burn away carbon before the exhaust stream is exposed to the catalyst. The API specs for diesel oil (and reg automotive oils) sets targets and limits for specific additives, including zddp. For example. CJ-4 allowable zinc limits were higher than CK-4. Every oil mfg reduced zinc for their CK-4 oils. Rotella reduced more than onther brands causing ford to issue a notice to diesel owners not to use the oil until they did independent testing To conform it’s additive package wouldn’t cause excessive wear. Eventually a few months later they approved it.
did a lot of the same research you've done.. ended up for 2 cars - same solution this: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/luc-10063-1 plus the Mobil 1 of your choice. One little caveat on some previous advice - Gibbs oil was sold a while ago and I'm told the formulation has changed.. I believe the only danger ZDDP presents in the automotive world is to catalytic converters - we also run the same mix in our race car...
I have heard that ZR1 is a race oil and has no detergents so it will gunk up over time but I use it in my 68 C-20 pickup
Kendal, Redline and Brad Penn oils have enough zddp. I’ve used them in my roller engine along with Valvoline VR1. But with a roller cam, I don’t have to seek out the top contender.
