There has been a rash of camshafts going flat in the V8 aftermarket. Part of the blame has been put on modern motor oils. In an attempt to minimize catalytic converter contamination, engine oil manufacturers have been removing metallic oil additives from the oil. Unfortunately, these additives have good antiwear properties. So what should one use without resorting to expensive synthetic motor oils?

 

Both Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines have started using Shell Rotella T 15w-40 diesel motor oil in quite a few of their engine buildups, especially when using flat tappet cams. It has a high level of metallic oil additives, many times higher than what's common in a modern SM oil. It's pretty cheap, too. A gallon is about $8 at Advance auto parts. I use it at work in many different types of vehicles, and nothing has had any sort of lubrication failure.

although I'm no expert by any means. I switched to Rotella T 5w-40 in my ea82t with so far good results. my oil pressure has remained more consistant at higher rpm's in this Las Vegas heat. I did have one oil leak from the O-ring on the head which convienantly drops right on to the exhaust manifold, but nothing new and no excessive oil loss. Im pleased...

 

Rotella T is available at wal-mart also for $15 a gallon

 

BTW purolator oil filter... fram's is no good... cheap paper filter

 

 

 

rllywgn

 

BTW purolator oil filter... fram's is no good... cheap paper filter

 

 

 

rllywgn

 

I just finally figured that out. even spent extra on "tough guard". live and learn. Given this is photo of oil filter after the 3 months worst in maine (dec-feb) where my oil pressure can hit 80+p.s.i. and stay there for 20 minutes at 15 below zero- this should not have happened.Here is a pic of an internally caved in fram "tough guard" filter from my 93 loyale (gently dismantled for photo- this is exactly how center of filter sat in its casing):

the tough gaurd should be a greyish color, the ph filters are orange, either way, ill never use fram, never have and never will. purolator or k&n is where its at.

 

I just finally figured that out. even spent extra on "tough guard". live and learn. Given this is photo of oil filter after the 3 months worst in maine (dec-feb) where my oil pressure can hit 80+p.s.i. and stay there for 20 minutes at 15 below zero- this should not have happened.Here is a pic of an internally caved in fram "tough guard" filter from my 93 loyale (gently dismantled for photo- this is exactly how center of filter sat in its casing):

the frams are all orange at advance auto - even the "start up" filter. if to read thru the blur below "FRA" in photo, it is indeed "tough guard" written with the black grip on end obviously cut away. I did notice the purolator is thinner skinned, like crushable as a tin can, but it does help oil cooling this way, just don't put on too tight. A front air dam has me no worries about a pebble breaking it open going down the road (yes. I am a lucky one who went thru that event).

I didn't mention the oil side of things - the castrol gtx high mileage 10-30 all year round. Very good to me. The synthetic gives my car a noisy engine - no time to wait for viscosity to get liked and synch in, like I would a transmission.

the frams are all orange at advance auto - even the "start up" filter. if to read thru the blur below "FRA" in photo, it is indeed "tough guard" written with the black grip on end obviously cut away. I did notice the purolator is thinner skinned, like crushable as a tin can, but it does help oil cooling this way, just don't put on too tight. A front air dam has me no worries about a pebble breaking it open going down the road (yes. I am a lucky one who went thru that event).

I didn't mention the oil side of things - the castrol gtx high mileage 10-30 all year round. Very good to me. The synthetic gives my car a noisy engine - no time to wait for viscosity to get liked and synch in, like I would a transmission.

 

The cut filter in photo is extra guard (NOT tough guard - I just took off a tough guard, no probs, as well as the "start-up" fram before that one)From who knows when and where as it was in my junked sube march 2005 when I inherited it - I also found in trunk an antifreeze not good for aluminum and oil container with a brand name I had never heard of. My car was stopped in time by poverty for awhile I presume....I literally passed this car up after finding this stuff and last minute changed my mind to have the wrecker driver bring it back to the driveway. Good oils and a year and a half with 30k of my own miles proved it to recover well with many repairs (except for engine internals - they just simply calmed down). Point: Good oil/filter isn't just something to talk about.It can make or break even an old sube.

so using rotella 5w-40 year around is ok, + mobile1 oil filters in OHIO

switching to synthetic on a high mileage car requires a little bit of luck. the detergents in synthetic oils has a tendency to aggrivate leaks, be prepared for new spots on the ground and be willing to monitor your oil level on a regular basis.

i work for advance auto so i know what filters are what, i dont mean to sound errogant or anything like that, but i sell these day in and day out. i only use the purolator pure one filters on my rx, sofar they work fine.

Purolator is ok apparently, but according to everything I've heard, WIX stands out as having a full, quality line of fitlers. And they are Napa's OEM as well, so are almost universally availible.

 

Fram is universally considered to be junk.

 

GD

i work for advance auto so i know what filters are what, i dont mean to sound errogant or anything like that, but i sell these day in and day out. i only use the purolator pure one filters on my rx, sofar they work fine.

 

hey good person to ask- does Advance give under dog companies a chance for cheaper stuff (for consumers risk)?

 

My bro-n-law was manager for several years there. Even he knew there is crap in every pile of stuff. That oil called "mag1" for example... don't put it in the old sube as a engine flush like bottle states- bad news. The first fram I had that caved in may have been several years old, not from advance. As of last year, my frams were indeed orange (3 diff models) - doesn't matter much anymore, advance had the purolator too. I avoided popular opinion yet again, to learn the hard way.. this forum helps me with that all the time

or mahle, mann, mobile-one or wix filters, even better...

the tough gaurd should be a greyish color, the ph filters are orange, either way, ill never use fram, never have and never will. purolator or k&n is where its at.

a friend of mine who has a machine shop with plenty of experience in V8's told me a while ago that he does not think the rash of lifter problems are related to the quality of oil, the problem is more related to poor quality control at the manufactureing level, since I think all V8 lifters are made by one company(everyone has been bought out, but still useing there old name))..also over the years the specs for installing and tightening them down has changed from the 70's and very few people are aware of this change ..also there a host of other problems that are developed by the unknowing public which I will not get into at this time..I wonder what those subaru lifters EA82 are like ..the ones made in Spain.

There has been a rash of camshafts going flat in the V8 aftermarket. Part of the blame has been put on modern motor oils. In an attempt to minimize catalytic converter contamination, engine oil manufacturers have been removing metallic oil additives from the oil. Unfortunately, these additives have good antiwear properties. So what should one use without resorting to expensive synthetic motor oils?

 

Both Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines have started using Shell Rotella T 15w-40 diesel motor oil in quite a few of their engine buildups, especially when using flat tappet cams. It has a high level of metallic oil additives, many times higher than what's common in a modern SM oil. It's pretty cheap, too. A gallon is about $8 at Advance auto parts. I use it at work in many different types of vehicles, and nothing has had any sort of lubrication failure.

http://www.inengineering.com/oil.html

a friend of mine who has a machine shop with plenty of experience in V8's told me a while ago that he does not think the rash of lifter problems are related to the quality of oil, the problem is more related to poor quality control at the manufactureing level, since I think all V8 lifters are made by one company(everyone has been bought out, but still useing there old name))..also over the years the specs for installing and tightening them down has changed from the 70's and very few people are aware of this change ..also there a host of other problems that are developed by the unknowing public which I will not get into at this time..I wonder what those subaru lifters EA82 are like ..the ones made in Spain.

 

I have also heard the same thing about the lifters. However, the removal of metallic engine additives is still an issue. Here is a chart from Hotrod.com that shows some numbers.

 

I'm not sure I understand the point here- oil is better than ever. Noisy lifters could be as simple as different oil than engine normally gets, not to be considered bad- just going through changes. my 10th year with an ea82 and like clockwork every year through the seasons- they change by making noise, then back to thousands and thousands of miles of normal. I am certain the heads and block of aluminum change density regardless of thermostat and operating temperature for the intense seasons I have. It is quite strangely clever . If machinery to stay the same perfectly- it would die young. The tighter the tolerances like subaru has approaching this ambivelance is as close as a majority of engines could get.Make noise, shake it off- you can count on it going quiet unless there is obvious failure.