We had a fantastic wine tour thanks to Andy and Brandy. Read about it elsewhere in this issue. It just goes to show that weekday events do work. I hope that some of you will plan some for next year.

I'd like to welcome new members Neal and Barbara Gapoff, who are looking for a 65-67 E-Type coupe, and David and Judy Nichols of Texas who have 3 sedans and an XJS convertible. The Nichols are JCNA concours champs and extend our membership boundaries even farther. They will be joining us for some of our events.

As Yogi Berra is often quoted, "It's deja-vu all over again." First they took the lead out of gas, which caused all kinds of problems with older engines, now they've taken the zinc and phosphorous out of oil.

We all remember what happened when the lead was removed from gasoline. Valve seats failed, performance went to hell and everyone was spending lots of money on additives to make their car run like it used to. Well, a quiet change has been taking place with the oil you put in the crankcase. It turns out that modern oils have a zinc-phosphorous compound (zinc dialkyldithiophosphate or zinc-d for short) that helps prevent excessive wear when components experience metal to metal contact. The zinc-d plates the parts and as long as oil gets there pretty soon there should be no damage to the underlying steel, aluminum, etc. Zinc-d is also a pretty good antioxidant. With many different metals inside an engine it is very important that oxidation reactions be suppressed.

The problem with zinc-d is that it shortens the life of catalytic converters. As the government pushes up the number of miles emissions control systems have to last and because older engines do experience blowby (oil getting past the rings into the combustion chamber) the amount of phosphorous (the active ingredient in zinc-d) in oil has been reduced. Starting in 2004 a new standard, ILSAC GF-4, was introduced and it limited phosphorous to 800 ppm. Previously oils had 1200 to 1400 ppm. All the automobile oils you commonly buy today meet this new standard. It's no problem on modern engines that have roller lifters, super-hard cylinder walls and molybdenum alloy piston rings. But if you have an old XK series engine, made through '87, a V-12, made through '96, or an even older pushrod 2.5 or 3.5, made through '51, these new oils can cause excessive wear and even failure, especially of camshafts and lifters/followers. This is especially true when an engine has been rebuilt, with a new or reground cam and new lifters/followers. A proper rebuild will have a special "moly" lube applied to these parts, but the oil will wash it away long before the cam is fully broken in. If the engine sits a long time between runs the oil will drain away from these parts and they will run dry for sometime after starting.

So what should you do to protect your investment? You can buy a can of additive that contains zinc-d and pour it in at each oil change. As you probably know, oil manufacturers do not recommend this. They carefully craft the additives they put in their oil and some bad interactions can occur if you mess with their formula. OR you can buy an oil that has more zinc-d in it. My research shows that Shell Rotella has 1400 ppm phosphorous. Rotella is a diesel oil with a 15-40 viscosity rating. Hmmm . . . is that OK when your V-12 should have 10-30? What other characteristics might it have that aren't good for your engine? Oils formulated for diesels have a different additive package than those formulated for gasoline engines. There are motorcycle oils that have 1200 ppm and a 10-30 rating. They tend to cost more than automobile oils. And, of course, there are specialty oils, like Amsoil, that meet all the requirements and are really expensive.

I'm not going to answer the question because I don't know. Each engine and each case is different. The oil makers claim the new oils are just fine in older cars and they are probably right if the engine is well broken in and gets run daily. If you have just rebuilt the engine you need special break-in oil that has extra zinc-d. If you only run you well-broken-in engine once a month you should check out a pre-luber. This is a device that builds up the oil pressure and delivers oil to all parts of the engine before it fires. Three products you might want to checkout are AMS-Oilers (Amsoil www.amsoil.com), Accusump (Canton Racing Products, www.accusump.com), and Revolution Marine's pre-luber (www.revolutionmarine.com).

Which brings me to the subject of oil additives in general. There are three kinds of after market additives; plastics, metals, and solvents. I'm not kidding! Remember, none of these are recommended by the oil manufacturers and in some cases their use can void your new car warranty.

The plastic is Teflon in microscopic particle (collodial) form. The most common trade name is Slick 50, which apparently consists of 50 weight oil and polytetrafluoroethylene, PTFE. Teflon is Dupont's trade name for PTFE. They invented it and definitely DO NOT recommend putting it in engine oil because it clogs oil filters and small oil passages. Slick claims that their particles are so small they pass right through an oil filter, but you have to remember that PTFE expands greatly with heat so those sub-micron particles soon grow to a size that will clog an oil filter. In Teflon's favor; tests have shown that engine friction can be reduced 10-15%, horsepower increased 5 to 8% and gas mileage improved by 10%. If you are willing to tear the engine down and completely remove all the coagulated plastic after 5 hours of running then PTFE is for you!

Metals . . . In addition to zinc and phosphorous most oils contain sulfides and, in some cases, molybdenum. Known as "moly", molybdenum disulfide is a prelube that should always be used when installing a new or reground cam and new lifters. My research would not turn up the amount of molybdenum and sulfur that is in oils commonly available today. Maybe it has been eliminated. Again, we are talking about very small amounts being enough to do the job of protecting parts until the oil gets there. Sulfur is a lubricant, but it's also a pollutant. We've taken it out of our gasoline, our diesel fuel now we need to get it out of our engine oil because, like the phosphorous, it can shorten the life of catalytic converters., and now we need to get it out of our engine oil because, like the phosphorous, it can shorten the life of catalytic converters.

Solvents are sold under many names. You are probably most familiar with Bardahl, which is 83% kerosene. Others are Rislone and Marvel Mystery Oil. Kerosene will certainly remove sludge from an engine. It will also reduce the viscosity of the oil and could lead to premature wear. Other solvents in these products are acetone, naphthalene, xylene, and isopropol alcohol. If an old engine has not had regular oil changes these products may be of some benefit in opening small oil galleys. Use them for a few hundred miles, then drain them out.

Did I forget to mention the monster of all oil treatments, STP? As near as I can determine STP is a combination of zinc-d and olefin paraffin. I've already discussed zinc-d and you have probably guessed that olefin paraffin is a viscosity enhancer. To paraphrase one source, STP makes 10-30 oil act like 15-40. While this may reduce oil consumption in a high mileage engine it certainly won't be good for all those small parts that need an adequate oil supply at low temperatures.

jtech "at" jags.org