The subject of engine oil is always a mixed bag. In the past, engine (dino oils) contained a multitude of ingredients to prevent accelerated wear. A few years ago, most of the over the counter oils were stripped of some of their ability to reduced wear. Diesel oils, Shell Rotella, Chevron Dello, etc., retaind many of the additives until recently and were good alternatives for use with flat tappets.
Today Shell and Chevron for example, are now “emissions friendly” and thus do not provide their past benefits. There are some oils, Valvoline Not Street Legal, the new oil produced at the old Kendall plant, Joe Gibbs, and perhaps some others seem to be the only available oils, which still contain zinc, etc., for use with engines having flat tappets (buckets in the tc), which may have higher than normal valve spring pressure. Red Line has a different base and was not considered due to its rather expensive nature.
To confuse matters, I have been using Mobil One in my Dodge Dually V10, G35 Coupe and the wife’s Matrix. Switched from Kendall in the race car (Datsun) to Mobile One as well, but I am not happy with all the results. Horsepower is up, wear on the camshaft is as well. With the purchase of the Elan, the new engine was filled with a straight 30 weight for break in purposes. Now that I have a few miles on the engine, I am looking at changing to a multi grade, but thinking it may be happier with a non synthetic oil. I know I have read many posts going in both directions, however I am wondering if anyone has seen accelerated wear on the cam followers from synthetic oil.
As an aside, the first time I checked the oil level in the Elan, It was way over full per the dip stick. Thought maybe I should change the oil as it may be over full. After adding the required amount of oil, I pulled the dip stick to find the oil level was as exactly before. My first thought was the car came with the wrong dip stick. Then I read a previous post and immediately went and remove the dip stick to check the stamping. The dip stick shows 105E 6752, no “B”, and seems to be hitting the bottom of the pan. Wrong dip stick, too short of a dip stick tube? Any guesses?
All comments would be welcome.
Rob Walker