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Originally Posted By: Ruffrider
I've been running Rotella T 15-40 in all my bikes because of the great reviews it gets but also because of the ZDDP additive in it that the EPA has mandated to be removed from most oils. Does Mobil 1 10w30 wt have ZDDP in it? I got some on sale and was thinking of putting it in my low mileage '79 Yamaha XS1100. I know it also gets rave reviews but I've never ran it in a bike before. What say you?
I suspect someone fed you some serious misinformation. The EPA didn't mandate removing ZDDP from oils.
First, it was the API (American Petroleum Institute). The API represents industry, not the government.
Second, they simply wrote new standards (namely API SM and SN), which are not "mandates;" oil formulators only have to follow them if they want to claim that their oil meets the latest API specs, which not all of them do. There are PLENTY of oils that are labeled with older API specs (e.g. SL, SJ) or none at all.
Third, the API didn't call for removing ZDDP. They simply put a cap on the amount of ZDDP you can have -- again, IF AND ONLY IF you want your oil to meet API SM or SN. This was done because ZDDP in engine oil can actually make catalytic converters wear out faster, and newer additive technology was coming out that allowed a smaller amount of ZDDP to do a better job than before; car manufacturers therefore asked the API (again, this has nothing to do with the EPA) for lower ZDDP limits in order to help make catalytic converters last longer.
Hope that clears some stuff out.
For your bike, what does your owner's manual say about what kind of oil you should use? That might be a good starting point.