Break in Oil...What's the general consensus?

[karls59tr]

I've put Rotella 15W/40 in the motor. I ran this rebuilt motor for a few hundred miles on Castrol 20W/50 but because of all that has been written about changes in the current oils and cam problems I've decided to go with the Rotella. I'm wondering if it would be beneficial to add a liter of STP? What ever happened to "Molyslip E"? I havent seen any lately at the Auto stores. Karl

 

[YankeeTR]

I think you are on the right track with the diesel oil.

STP does contain high levels of zinc and phosphurus but it's also (primarliy) a visosity index improver...it makes the oil thicker...I don't think that will be needed with a 15W40 oil.

I would suggest using GM's "Engine Oil Supplement"...use up to one can per oil change. With the diesel oil you may not need a full can each time but it certainly won't hust anything.

 

[tomshobby]

I agree with YankeeTR.

I just received a shipment of GM OES and am going to use it for my break-in per instructions. After I also plan on using it for an oil supplement.

I figure if GM recommends it as "outstanding protection against run-in wear and piston scuffing as well as run-in camshaft lobe and lifter scuffing resulting from insufficient lubrication" that it should work for me.

 

[jackag91]

just out of curiosity, has anyone tried the lucas oil additives?

 

[dklawson]

I wasn't aware of the oil formulation changes until about a month ago. I did some googling about it and found the GM product highly recommended. I also contacted STP and asked whether their products still contained ZDDP (the zinc additive). They replied that it did and went on to recommend the following. For smaller engines (4 cylinders specifically) they recommend their product in the "red" bottle. If that's unavailable, they recommended adding to a warm engine 1/2 of their thicker product in the "blue" bottle.

 

[hondo402000]

you might want to read this on engine break in procedures, sounds reasonable to me
https://www.ntnoa.org/enginebreakin.htm

 

[YankeeTR]

just out of curiosity, has anyone tried the lucas oil additives?

Many OTR truckers swear by Lucas products. I have used their engine oil additive in my big trucks for several years. I think it adds some extra protection from wear as well as adding certain additives that help when you run an extended oil drain period like I did.

My oil samples always came back looking better after 50,000 miles of use with Lucas than they did after 10,000 miles without Lucas. And my oil's additive package was always better with Mobil Delvac or Pennzoil than with Rotella oil. But I doubt that using Rotella will hurt your engine especially with normal drain periods. I just liked the extra protection that Mobil or Pennzoil gave with long drain intervals.

 

[YankeeTR]

I wasn't aware of the oil formulation changes until about a month ago. I did some googling about it and found the GM product highly recommended. I also contacted STP and asked whether their products still contained ZDDP (the zinc additive). They replied that it did and went on to recommend the following. For smaller engines (4 cylinders specifically) they recommend their product in the "red" bottle. If that's unavailable, they recommended adding to a warm engine 1/2 of their thicker product in the "blue" bottle.

I forgot about their two different formlations at STP.

The 'red' stuff will not thicken the oil like the stuff in the 'blue' bottle. That's important to know with new engines that are built to very close tolerances.