Hot Rod Magazine article on diesel oil use in gasoline engines

a lot of MARKETING as usual! Hardly actually recommended DIESEL oil IF you could not get their "wonderful" citgo blended wonder oil $$$. one thing for sure extending oil changes especially in DIRTY DI engines is a NO-NO! when i change the girlfriends Kia Optima 2.4 oil at 5 thou or less + 6 months its the BLACKEST oil i EVER seen!!
 
I wonder if diesel oil will help those 1980's Chevy 305's, notorious for breaking camshafts? 😁
I replaced a few back in the day when I was hot rodding.
Yes those were notorious for wearing cam lobes. The Techs at our dealership had an ongoing bet about what oil each particular engine was using at the time of the failure/diagnosis. This sounds like an old fart ******** story but 95% of these vehicles had an Exxon Uniflo oil change sticker on the car. To further define: there were three huge Exxon Service Centers in town that probably did a majority of oil changes in town. FWIW
 
I wonder if diesel oil will help those 1980's Chevy 305's, notorious for breaking camshafts? 😁
I replaced a few back in the day when I was hot rodding.

That's interesting--when I was a kid, our family's 1980 Chevy Impala had a 305 where the camshaft busted at one point.
What was the typical cause of this? The mechanic we used at the time couldn't really point to a specific cause.
I had maintained that engine meticulously in shop class, and we never drove it hard.

If you can point me to any links that discuss it in detail, I'd love to read more about it.
 
I had a 1998 Honda CBR900RR that bought new, and used as a daily driver during the summer here in Alaska. I flogged that thing, and even raced it a couple of times, getting it up to 165 mph at one point.

I only ever used the same Chevron Delo 400 15w-40 oil that I used in my Dodge diesel truck, and I never had any problems whatsoever. When I sold it around 2010, the new owner used it strictly as a race bike, and continued to use the same Delo 400 oil. Last I talked to him it was still running strong.
 
That's interesting--when I was a kid, our family's 1980 Chevy Impala had a 305 where the camshaft busted at one point.
What was the typical cause of this? The mechanic we used at the time couldn't really point to a specific cause.
I had maintained that engine meticulously in shop class, and we never drove it hard.

If you can point me to any links that discuss it in detail, I'd love to read more about it.
Soft camshaft blanks coupled with poor service habits most likely. I bought a new 1979 Camaro with a 305 and drove it seven years daily without a problem. Used Phillips 66 Trop Artic 10W40 changed every 4K miles religiously. I recall replacing two camshafts in the same Impala (1980) before 14k miles. Chevrolet covered the first one but not the second. These engines were poorly machined. Replaced several crankshafts that the counterweights were striking the blocks. Knocking as they were backed off the transport truck at the new car delivery building. Don’t get me started on valve guides prematurely wearing…. Sad. Those weren’t the good old days.
 
I don't have a Jeep, zinc is good for cams, not for chains.
This could be true if ZDDP competes with vanadium carbide, but to say that ZDDP is not good for all timing chains isn't true.

In the article they talk about too much ZDDP. Too much ZDDP is also not good, but saying too much ZDDP is just bad for timing chains is like saying arsenic is just bad for your left foot.
 
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That's amazing! Just when I thought BITOG had discussed everything-I would assume the EXACT OPPOSITE!
 
Soft camshaft blanks coupled with poor service habits most likely. I bought a new 1979 Camaro with a 305 and drove it seven years daily without a problem. Used Phillips 66 Trop Artic 10W40 changed every 4K miles religiously. I recall replacing two camshafts in the same Impala (1980) before 14k miles. Chevrolet covered the first one but not the second. These engines were poorly machined. Replaced several crankshafts that the counterweights were striking the blocks. Knocking as they were backed off the transport truck at the new car delivery building. Don’t get me started on valve guides prematurely wearing…. Sad. Those weren’t the good old days.
Those bad old days extended into the mid '80s-I had an '85 Chevy G20 van eat the lobes off a cam!
 
The article doesn't distinguish between dual rated and single rated (spark or compression) HDEO oils. Does this missing context even matter?

I've been running dual rated Delo for over 170k miles (I'm at +450k miles) in the Legend. The only thing I've noticed is Delo has eliminated the chronic lifter ticking that plagues these engines. But it took a heck of a long time to do so.
 
I remember someone that posted something about the plastic guides being in issue with zinc...not so much with the chain itself..
 
Interesting read, but on the hundred sport bike forums I'm on about a million people are using diesel 15w40 running these engines above 10,000 rpm all day and no one is lossing engines because of foaming oil. I look at my oil through the sight glass and have never seen foam. But hey, what do I know?
I've used Rotella in my CBR's (600 F4i and 1000rr) and my FZ1 for 12 years and 20k miles without a single issue to speak of.
 
That's interesting--when I was a kid, our family's 1980 Chevy Impala had a 305 where the camshaft busted at one point.
What was the typical cause of this? The mechanic we used at the time couldn't really point to a specific cause.
I had maintained that engine meticulously in shop class, and we never drove it hard.

If you can point me to any links that discuss it in detail, I'd love to read more about it.
Did the cam actually break or just go round?
 
The article doesn't distinguish between dual rated and single rated (spark or compression) HDEO oils. Does this missing context even matter?

I've been running dual rated Delo for over 170k miles (I'm at +450k miles) in the Legend. The only thing I've noticed is Delo has eliminated the chronic lifter ticking that plagues these engines. But it took a heck of a long time to do so.


The article is very generically and generally worded. Because it’s the nature of the business.

If you look at my statements, I tend to be the same. And only product recommend by name, when I’ve used that product, in that exact specific application.

It’s not that you’re particularly going to get in trouble with anyone - STLE isn’t going to come after me because of a statement I make on here. But it’s just the way we’re taught.

There’s always exceptions to the rule, but people will take that exception and make their own conclusions on a much wider product range.
 
The article doesn't distinguish between dual rated and single rated (spark or compression) HDEO oils. Does this missing context even matter?

I've been running dual rated Delo for over 170k miles (I'm at +450k miles) in the Legend. The only thing I've noticed is Delo has eliminated the chronic lifter ticking that plagues these engines. But it took a heck of a long time to do so.
I have never seen HDEO NOT rated for gas and diesel. Seriously, is that a thing? I recall even the SAE30 CF-2 for the old Detroits was SJ-rated. (At the time.)
 
I use Chevron Delo XLE 10w30 in my 2012 Hyundai Accent with the Gamma GF4D GDI engine and to date there have been no ill effects. It actually quieted the engine down it seems.
I used to run that a lot years ago but can't really find it anymore, mostly it's either 5w40 or 15w40 is all you find. I could pick it up at Walmart for $12-$13 jug... it was a steal even for back then, I also noticed less consumption while using it. I'd still be using it today if I could find it but last time I noticed the price had substantially increased.
 
I have never seen HDEO NOT rated for gas and diesel. Seriously, is that a thing? I recall even the SAE30 CF-2 for the old Detroits was SJ-rated. (At the time.)
Rotella T 15w-40 (old and present) is not dual rated.
Two cycle Detroit's used SAE 40. SAE 30 was reserved for Artic conditions.
 
Yes those were notorious for wearing cam lobes. The Techs at our dealership had an ongoing bet about what oil each particular engine was using at the time of the failure/diagnosis. This sounds like an old fart ******** story but 95% of these vehicles had an Exxon Uniflo oil change sticker on the car. To further define: there were three huge Exxon Service Centers in town that probably did a majority of oil changes in town. FWIW
78-83 seemed to be the worst for this issue from what I read over the years....I owned an 83 for about 10-12 years up until 2 years ago...160k miles to 240k miles, not sure if it was original camshaft but appeared to be the original engine and I never had any issues. I ran m1 0w40 in it mostly. It was my winter beater. Barely used any oil even towards the end.
 
Did the cam actually break or just go round?
When I was a kid my dad had a 79 Impala wagon he bought for $800 and drove for 6 years. The last 3 years of that it had a round camshaft, ran on 7 cylinders and a steady little backfire through the carb on acceleration, cause an exhaust valve wasn't opening enough....he stopped bothering to change the oil as we were supposed to be swapping a donor 350 in....it just kept going and going until it got replaced because of rust and an intermittent carb issue. It didn't even burn oil.
I even remember one xmas if went down to minus 24 and our almost new 1990 Taurus wouldn't start, my grandfather's Mitsubishi truck wouldn't start and that old wagon spent most of the day driving people around and boosting the other cars to try and get them going (Taurus didn't start for days - iced up fuel line for some reason).
 
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