Back in Nov. there was alot of good info on oil additives,zddp seems to be the stuff. I layed all this info on my farmer cousin who's running a bunch of old equip.,like John Deer,Case,flathead ford haywagon etc.Oh he runs nothing but Delo 15-40 in eveything he owns. Today he tells me he contacted the local Chevron dealer and they gave him a ph# to contact the oil "know it alls" at Chevron. Guess what? they claim that the newest low sulpher formulated oil is good for "all engines,no matter what year or what fuel they run,encluding flat tappet cams".Ok, what do we do with corp.idiots that spout crap like that? They also told him that there is plenty of zddp in their oil and that if he uses anykind of additive they will not garanty their oil, jez louise my knees.What to do

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83 B-150 slant 6,4 speed. 79 B-300 360 pathfinder 4x4. 74 W-300 318 4x4 git-r-done 80 B-100 sl6,4speed

What to do? Well, do you have any engines under warranty? If not, then accumulate all the knowledge you can, decide what you believe, and go do what you want to do.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Yeah Dan you are so right.I've made up my mind but trying to convince my cous when the "oil gurus" are feeding him a different line is tuff. You've researched this a bunch Dan,do you feel the oil companies really think their oils are good for eveything that runs? Sort of goes against alot of the info don't you think. Thank you again

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83 B-150 slant 6,4 speed. 79 B-300 360 pathfinder 4x4. 74 W-300 318 4x4 git-r-done 80 B-100 sl6,4speed

I honestly don't know. I've heard similar rumblings that there are new extreme-pressure additives that have supplanted ZDDP in newer engine oils and the flat-tappet worry is overblown. But I just don't know. What incentive is there to include this kind of EP anti-wear chemistry in new oils? Virtually all new and recent engines have roller lifters.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

The other thing to consider is the profile of the cam being run and the valve spring pressures. I honestly wouldn't worry much about things like flathead engines and tractor engines that are low-lift cams meant for low RPM, because the pressure at the cam/lifter interface is so much lower. Besides, things like Ford flathead v8s and Mopar flathead sixes and eights pre-date "advanced" oil technology anyway- they would run with straight mineral non-dispersant oil just fine so lower ZDDP in current oils is probably not a big issue.

Its a different story when you're talking about protecting a muscle-car v8 cam with higher spring pressures and aggressive lift rates.

But even there, I'm more likely to believe that the Diesel oils really do have replacement additives that might protect older engines. The trucking industry still has a LOT of very valuable older hardware out there in daily use that demands protection. Fleet operators would jump down Chevron, Mobil, and Shell's throats if the latest Delo, Delvac, and Rotella oils caused all their engines older than 1990 to eat themselves, and they're not big on carrying mixed inventories of oils for older vs. newer engines in the same fleet either.

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Thanks guys,I guess it goes back to the old "The more I know the less I'm certain". I'm all for a touch of EP additive and I guess the rest of the world is on their own.

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83 B-150 slant 6,4 speed. 79 B-300 360 pathfinder 4x4. 74 W-300 318 4x4 git-r-done 80 B-100 sl6,4speed

Lots of good info here. http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/