FYI, some diesels have cats. My 2005 VW does, and by 2008 all new diesels
will have them and some will have a particulate filter as well. Mine also
has an O2 sensor used to regulate EGR duty cycle.
My particular engine has unit injectors and VERY narrow lobes for the
lifters on the cam. Special oils are necessary to resist the extreme
pressures involved. I use Motul, Elf 505.01 or 506.01 exclusively in this
engine. I would be willing to bet that the 505.01 oils or the old Mobil
Delvac 1 synthetic would be some of, if not the absolute best for our Healey
engines. Viscosity is 5W40 for the Delvac but is on the thick side, and is
now found under the name of Mobil 1 Truck and Suv. I would not use any
non-synthetic oil in any car these days. The synthetics are just too good.
I will pass Gary's question over to the guys at TdiClub and see what
happens. Those folks are fanatics about oil. API standards are YEARS
behind oil tech for the rest of the world, so much so that they almost have
no meaning anymore.
Cheers,
Chris
BJ8
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Seigrist Blue 100" <healey.nut@gmail.com>
To: <Editorgary@aol.com>
Cc: <healeys@autox.team.net>; <bsgil99@direcway.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 7:42 PM
Subject: Re: Oil for Vintage British Cars
> Hi Gary -
>
> Penrite oils carry this additive.
>
> It's a shame but Jon Macelroy used to be the dealer for Penrite in the USA
> but he stopped importing the oil as he wasn't making any money at it. We
> weren't buying enough of his stock I guess.
>
> Either Castrol GTX or Penrite is the way to go. Also Delo 15W/40
> (available
> at some Chevron stations) is very very good stuff.... it has the additive
> because diesel engines don't have catalytic converters.
>
> Alan
>
> '52 A90
> '53 BN1
> '64 BJ8
>
>
> On 12/21/06, Editorgary@aol.com <Editorgary@aol.com> wrote:
>>
>> I'm doing an article on basic British Car maintenance for Sports Car
>> Market
>> magazine and also, incidentally, rebuilding the engine on my MGA, so the
>> topic
>> of oil is very important to me.
>>
>> Here's what I understand is the conventional wisdom:
>>
>> Nearly all oils for gas engines have reduced or removed the additive zinc
>> dithiophosphate (ZDDP) from their oil because of negative effects on
>> catalytic
>> converters in order to meet new American Petroleum Institute (API)
>> standards.
>> However, this additive was essential to long-term survival of tappets and
>> cams,
>> i.e. in all vintage British engines.
>>
>> Having researched most oils on the market, the conclusion is that only
>> two
>> oils still on the market still have this additive, Castrol 20W50 GTX and
>> Redline
>> 10W30 or 10W40. Castrol HD30 still has the additive, so would be
>> appropriate
>> for the first 3000 miles on rebuilt engines, though because of the
>> high-detergent nature, would NOT be appropriate for gearboxes.
>>
>> I know this topic has been bandied about on this list, so for you
>> technical
>> folks out there, is this the latest word? Are there any other oils that
>> might
>> still have ZDDP (e.g. I've heard that Valvoline Racing oil might), Are
>> there
>> other oils, such as Amsoil, that don't have to meet API standards and so
>> might
>> still be usable in our engines?
>>
>> Thanks for your input.
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