Penrite oil in Australia ... very high zinc number

[drew2]

Hi all,
Does anyone know why the Australian company Penrite have such high Zinc number? The oils I'm considering using for my Toyota 2uz-fe are 100% PAO and ester blends in either 5w30, 10w40 or 0w40, but they are crazy high Zn levela...all have 1800 to +2200 ppm Zn!
I have seen some M1 have 1100 ppm Zn but havent seen higher.
Are there Zn levels like this in any of the oils in the US?
The oil spec sheets can be seen on the links below......not sure if these oils are anything special or not.
Thanks for any comments,
Drew
Penrite premium 0w40 (100% PAO and ester base)
and
Penrite racing 5w30 (100% PAO and ester base)

 

[Silk]

There is no one in Aust telling you how much ZDDP you can have...so you can have as much as you like.

 

[SR5]

Hi Drew,
You are looking at the Penrite 10-Tenths series of oil, both Premium and Racing. They are pretty special oils, 100% PAO & Ester for base oils, plus very high Zinc and Boron anti-wear agents. Many are high viscosity and high HTHS for their grade too, as well as very shear stable (especially the Racing). But their oil specification are a bit on the low side, they are APi SN and ACEA A3/B3/B4, but their OEM specs are a bit behind eg MB 229.3 instead of the more up to date MB 229.5 on the Premium and even less on the Racing.

The reason for this, is that to my thinking Penrite design them as a high performance / race oil first, and a road going / OEM oil second. Many OEMs restrict the ZDDP (Zinc and Phos) in the oil to help protect the fancy exhaust system, eg Phos can poison your exhaust cats. But in performance cars and racing you don't care or have already thrown them in the bin and fitted a high flow exhaust. But, when pushing an engine hard, ZDDP is a great antioxidant and anti-wear agent, so it protects both the oil and the engine.


The Penrite HPR synthetic series carry more certs and a bit less zinc (but still high), while the Penrite Enviro+ series have normal levels of zinc and carry more exhaust compatible specs like ILSAC GF-5 and Dexos.

There are not many oils like the Penrite 10-Tenths series, as most oil companies focus on meeting as many OEM specs as possible. I would say the closest would be stuff like Red Line, Amsoil and Motul.

BTW expect this thread to be moved to the European and Imported oil section.

 

[SR5]

Here, this RedLine 10W40 motorcycle oil looks a bit like Penrite 10-Tenths 10W40 Racing.
https://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=109&pcid=21

The RL has 2125 ppm Zinc, the Penrite has 1680 ppm Zinc + 630 ppm Boron which Penrite add together for 2310 ppm "total zinc" in Penrite speak.

Motorcycle oils have high anti-wear agents due to the the shared sump (same oil in engine and gear box). Many companies make separate car and bike oils, but not Penrite. Their Racing oils are for both cars and bikes.

 

[SR5]

So to your car, Toyota 2uz-fe, that can take:
0W-30
5W-30
5W-40
10W-30
10W-40

For Penrite I would run their HPR 5, a full synthetic 5W40 with 1240ppm Zinc. I like Penrite HPR5 it's an excellent oil, lots of good OEM specs.
http://www.penriteoil.com.au/products.php?&id_products=1

However there are lots of other good oils I would happily use:
Shell Helix Ultra 5W40
Shell Helix HX8 5W30
Castrol Edge 5W30 A3/B4
Castrol Magnatec 5W30 "Stop-Start" (full synthetic)
Valvoline SynPower 5W40 (regular, not MST)

All the above are full synthetic oils with Euro A3/B4 rating. They are easily found and reasonably priced.

I try not to pay full price, but watch the catalogue sales at Repco / SuperCheap Auto / AutoBarn and buy when on sale at 20% to 40 % off. There is a sale at one of these stores every 3 or 4 weeks.

Some recent sales:
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4336314/
Have fun.

 

[drew2]

Thank you for your responses, very helpful for me as I have been wondering why Penrite have this high Zn sales pitch and didnt realise it was a Zn and boron total. Ive just spent the last day reading as much as i could fit in about current ratings and what the ratings/specs mean....there is so much useful info (and confusing info) on BITOG and other sites. I now see that just because it is a 100% pao/ ester blend doesnt necessarily mean it is top notch and meeting all the latest specs, and indeed going to be good for the 2uz-fe.
The only reason i look at Penrite and Nulon is because I was hoping to support a local company etc, but Im not absolutely stuck on this. That said the HPR5 5w40 does look good. I have just found the Nulon 0w40 that seems to meet all the specs like MB229.5 / API SN etc requirements, but now have read that Nulon's Moly is a bit of a worry for some. Hah the more i read the more i realise how much there is to learn....go round in circles a bit. In the mean time I'll see how the 2uz-fe likes the HPR 5, as long as i do fairly regular oil changes it should be all good. It is certainly a smooth engine.
The motor has 180K Km on it now, and i havent done a UOA for a while now ( i think they should still be on my previous posts from years back).
Thanks, drew

 

[drew2]

I ended up getting the Shell Ultra 5w40 for the 2uz-fe, the Supercheap auto place I went to had run out of the penrite HPR 5. From what I'm reading the Shell Ultra 5w40 with GTL is pretty good. Thanks for all your help.
Drew