Oil recommendations for Chevy 454

[Mike C.]

Hi guys,

I've recently been reading about the camshaft failures since the EPA mandated drastic reductions in the ZDDP levels in oil for gasoline engines.

I have three vehicles that I'm concerned about, and I'd like to get some recommendations.

Vehicle 1, 93 Suburban 3/4 ton 454 4x4, nearly stock but with Edelbrock emission headers, flowmaster exhaust, and K &N air filter. It is high mileage, with 225K miles. The original owner ran Mobil 1 10-30 in it up to 150K miles when I bought it, and I've been running Mobil 1 ever since. Since it has a flat tappet cam, I'm thinking about switching to Mobil Delvac synthetic, 15W-40. The alternative is to continue to run Mobil 1, but add the GM Engine Oil Supplement ($10/bottle). Has anybody got any suggestions?

The next car is a 96 Suburban 454 3/4 ton 4x4, bone stock with 110K miles. The previous owner has run various 10W-30 oils in it (never a synthetic). I'm currently running 10W-30 Castrol. I'm thinking about running Shell Rotella 10W-30 conventional oil.

The last car is a 74 Trans Am with a fresh 455. I'm currently running Castrol 10W-30 GTX, and I'm thinking about going with Valvoline Racing Oil or Shell Rotella 10W-30 diesel oil. My oil pump is a 65 psi unit and oil pressure at 2000 RPM is about 65 psi, and at idle it's about 25 psi (measured hot). I will say the 455 in the T/A is new because it ate a camshaft lobe about a year ago, so I'm very concerned with the info I'm reading on reduced ZDDP levels.

I saw the charts posted by Stinky (sorry to hear about his misfortune). The levels of zinc and phosphates look high on most of the engines. Has anyone published numbers detailing how much ZDDP is contained in the various motor oils.

Last question: Should I add an additive containing moly to my oil?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

Mike

 

[c502cid]

I can't speak for the Poncho 455 but I can for the Rat motors. 454's are some of the least sensitive motors for oil type, brand, weight, etc. They will however generally use a qt every 1000 miles no matter what even though I have one now that does a qt every 3000 but that is the exception. If you are using it for pulling anything go thicker, 10-40w. The Delvac is agreat oil for this motor but a bit pricey, I run the old 15-40 T&SUV in my 8.1 but it's a different motor than the 454. My 502's run 30w in the summer and 10-30 in the winter. To try to answer your question, run what you want, it really wont matter or make a difference. You cant kill a 454 unless you run it out of oil and I even doubt you could kill it then.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

Run RTS in all of them.

 

[Mr. Boston]

RTS?

 

[vronline]

Rotella T Synthetic

 

[Mud]

I have run the 454 in my 57 on a steady diet of Delo or Rotella 15w-40 for the past 5 years. Used Pennzoil 10w-40 before that. The car sits for long periods but has never had an oil-related issue. Engine has been together since 1987. I had the intake off around 2003 I think it was and the lifter galley was virtually spotless. Very impressed with all of these oils and I do not think that they need any sort of additives.

Caveat - I change oil based on time, not miles due to the fact that I don't get to drive it as much as I would like. Therefore oil is changed at relatively low miles.

 

[427Z06]

Rotella T Synthetic 5w40 would be great for all engines year round. If you want to pinch some pennies, you could run any of the 15w40 HDEOs in warmer half of the year, HDEO 10w30 in the cooler half of the year, such as Delo 400, Delvac 1300S, Pennzoil LL HD, Castrol Tection, etc. You might have to peruse truck stops to find the 10w30 HDEOs.

Mobil 1 Extended Performance was another option, but with the move to SM/GF-4 specification, much is unknown as to whether the new additive technology is a direct replacement for ZDDP. In any event, you'd still need to keep the OCIs short. And even with the HDEOs, I wouldn't go more than 3K miles.

As a final note, even the HDEOs are scheduled to be reformulated over the next few years and you may have to look to boutique oils, or special additives down the road.