What is the latest on engine oil recommendations?

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Ride Fly

Ride Fly

Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Threads
30
Messages
159
Location
Lake Oswego, Oregon
First off, I checked the FAQ thread, but I can't see more than half the titles of the links due to the colors of the links. Can anyone see what the blue, greens or yellow pastel hues say? I sure can't! Can Mods make changes to that thread of links??

As for the topic, I'm running Costco's 15w40 conventional diesel oil. But I'm thinking of switching and did some research. Diesel oils are recommended due to the high zinc content needed for protection of the flat tapped cams. Are you running conventional or synthetic blends? Gemini AI recommends #1 Valvoline VR1 10w30 or 20w50 (conventional oil); #2 Shell Rotella T4 15w40 (conventional oil); #3 Mobil Delvac 1300 Super 15w40 (synthetic blend); #4 Chevron Delo 400 XLE SB 15w40 (synthetic blend). To be clear, Gemini said all 4 were razor-thin close in ranking, so can't go wrong with any of them.

The Valvoline is an oil for gas engines but has the highest zinc ppm, but lacks the detergents that diesel oils have. And yes I realize our 2Fs are gas engines, but they're old and dirty. It recommended going conventional if the engine has original seals and gaskets since synthetic has a reputation for sealing through old rubber gaskets. My truck has 64,500 original miles and likely original seals. But still, I'm considering the Delvac as my top choice with the Rotella T4 as second.
 
:worms:

IH8MUD: " What Oil do you guys use "...and there are many, many other threads on this as well.

For oil Educational purposes only, 2015 time stamp: " Click Here "

Me: Been running the VR1 20W50 flavor since 2015, when I had my 86' 2F rebuilt. :meh:
 
since these things have turned into collector vehicles this subject comes up more and more often.
the truth is, they are a low reving, lower tolerance old school truck engine...to them oil is oil and having some is better than having none.
pick whichever brand turns your fancy and go with it.
a popular choice here is rotella either 15-40 or 10-30.
 
brian said:
since these things have turned into collector vehicles this subject comes up more and more often.
the truth is, they are a low reving, lower tolerance old school truck engine...to them oil is oil and having some is better than having none.
pick whichever brand turns your fancy and go with it.
a popular choice here is rotella either 15-40 or 10-30.
Click to expand...
Get something with higher zinc content or add zinc additive. These trucks need it.
 
GA Architect said:
:worms:

IH8MUD: " What Oil do you guys use "...and there are many, many other threads on this as well.

For oil Educational purposes only, 2015 time stamp: " Click Here "

Me: Been running the VR1 20W50 flavor since 2015, when I had my 86' 2F rebuilt. :meh:
Click to expand...
Awesome! Thanks for the links. I swear I cannot see the lighter pastels and I give up looking through the FAQ in frustration.
 
I'll recommend this, it's what I run. High Zinc content.
www.drivenracingoil.com

GP-1 SAE 15W-40 | Quart

GP-1 SAE 15W-40 Synthetic Blend High Performance Oil Perfect for performance street vehicles, classic cars, vintage imports, competition/race engines and Drag Racing applications requiring a 15W-40 viscosity. GP-1 is compatible with Methanol, E85, and high octane race fuel. Blended with genuine...
www.drivenracingoil.com www.drivenracingoil.com
 
What's the latest? Well, there's that fairly-new Valvoline Restore & Protect...
I saw it on the youtube and thought I'd give it a try. Thickest I could find was the 5-30. I've never run an oil that thin before and was concerned, but winter was coming and I knew I had good oil pressure usually. It did drop my cold-start oil pressure by a good 6 or 8 PSI but hot idle pressure stayed in the 20s which was probably good enough. Changed it out after almost a full year, didn't look any darker than a normal oil, wasn't full of old sludge that it had cleaned out. Not too impressed, wouldn't buy again.
I've run just about every motor oil that there is in my Pig. I've had it 40 years, built an engine for it 22 years ago that's still running. I've run mostly the Rotellas, T4 usually, sometimes T5, I like blends. Sometimes the VR1. Never a straight synthetic, never a purple or a redline or anything fancy.
( Secretly, I don't always take my old engine oil to the recyclers. I will save it in jugs under the workbench and let it settle. Back when my engine leaked, I'd top it off with a 1/4 quart from the first jug, refill jug #1 with the top of jug #2 and so on.)
This year I made my own blend. Went through the Pig and collected all the old quart jugs that I had stashed for emergencies, found a few gallon jugs with 1 quart left and poured them all in. And some Lucas zinc.
I run the taller oil filter for more capacity, more oil is better.

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20260320_144100.webp
 
Stop the research at valvoline vr1 20w50.

Every so often a new data sheet comes out with all the zinc content across diffrent oils, so far the vr1 still has the actual high zinc and it's well priced overall. Also, sometimes valvoline will give you a $5 rebate for every 5-quart container thst you buy. Ive been able to claim that and get the cash sent to my PayPal.

Engine will run quieter, I noticed a difference from the rotella 15w40. I even use 20w50 during the winter time
 
VR-1 is what I run. Everything older at the shop runs it.

I had used Castrol and added zinc before I found VR-1.
 
Thanks for all the replies fellas! I decided on the Delvac 1300 15w40 diesel blend. I like the fact that diesel oils have the cleansing aspect to it, and its ZDDP level is almost as high as VR1's.
 
Looked up the price of the delvac 1300 that you mentioned, advance auto parts (also sometimes called car-quest) has a 5 gallon pail for $75 vs their normal price of $100. Might be worth it.

Also, for the future, autozone also does a deal of "buy $100, get 20% off" pretty much year around.
 
DesertFJ40 said:
Looked up the price of the delvac 1300 that you mentioned, advance auto parts (also sometimes called car-quest) has a 5 gallon pail for $75 vs their normal price of $100. Might be worth it.

Also, for the future, autozone also does a deal of "buy $100, get 20% off" pretty much year around.
Click to expand...
I got a 2.5 gal jug on sale for $36 with free next day shipping at Walmart.com. The Rotella T4 was similarly priced.
 
Around here we find Walmart is the go to when buying any oils. The big autopart stores are typically more expensive.
 
So, I’m of the opinion that Viscosity Index is almost as important as ZDDP. The good part, Viscosity Index is way higher for multi grades than single weights. Most multi weight oils, the lower number 15 (as in 15w40) is the viscosity at 212 F. And for these old girls, oil pressure drops to less than 20 pounds at idle…..on hot hot days with the 15w’s. Recently, I’ve switched from a diesel brew 15w40 (Shell T4) to Philips 20w50 (slightly better viscosity Index than VR-1). I would like to try 25w60 Philips Aviation….and see where the hot idle oil pressure falls. The 20w50 gives me a hair over 20 pound hot idle, would like to see closer to 30 on 100 degree days.
But then again, at 10,000 mile in 8 years since the rebuild, I don’t think it’s a hill worth dying on🤣🤣🤣🤣
 
Thats funny. I run several sbc's, they run hot oil idle around a proper 8psi. An idiot light, if you have one, comes on around 4. I have a 6.5td hot is less than 10 at idle. Most everything i have runs Rotella 15-40. All are flat lifter cams. I have one Frankenstein sbc, that wants 20-50 vr1 for some dumb reason.
 
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