Castrol Oil Recomendations for Classic Cars

[bunzil]

While I was not at our regular meeting last night, today an email appeared from the club. A Castrol representitive attended and fielded questions. I wish I'd been there. I see Paul has a separate post up, and last year, I went round on this topic (mostly regarding oil weight) with TR6Bill. I think you will find the following notes from last night interesting, and surprising, as Castrol now only recommends its synthetic "Syntec 20-50" for our cars. This is because of lowered zinc levels in modern oils.

From: Miranda, Timothy
To: VinceMaggio@msn.com ; William L. Smith
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 3:15 PM
Subject: List Of Oils To Offer For Flat Tappet Cam Engines


Vince, Bill,
Thanks for hosting Bruce and I last evening. I learned more about Triumph cars and hope I was able to help your club understand more about engine oil.
As promised, I do have a list of Castrol engine oils with higher antiwear levels, some are passenger car and some are motorcycle. Syntec 20W-50 is the only passenger car oil with close to the recommended minimum zinc level of 1300 ppm. If you have any questions about the list, please give me a call (973-305-3334). Joe from your club asked me if it is possible to purchase the antiwear additive to add to your oil of choice - call me about this as I have some information for you. Remember, neither diesel nor racing oils are appropriate for your gasoline engine gems.
Best regards,
Timothy Miranda
Senior Engineer
BP Castrol



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From: Miranda, Timothy
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 3:27 PM
To:
Subject: Updated List Of Oils To Offer For Flat Tappet Cam Engines


Hello everyone,
It's time to update the list of Castrol engine oils to offer for use in flat tappet cam engines in classic cars, historic cars, muscle cars, and hot rods. This is a very common consumer question these days with the car collectors and is related to the need for higher Zinc antiwear additive levels in the classic cars. The latest API SM/ILSAC GF-4 category calls for reduced Zinc and Phosphorus levels to allow extended catalyst life in current model vehicles. There appear to be field issues associated with the SM/GF-4 oil's level of antiwear in the classic car engines known as flat tappet cam engines. Note that current late model passenger car engines are not flat tappet cam engines and have no reported field issues related to the level of antiwear chemistry in the SM/GF-4 oils.
* Reason for the update is the new motorcylce product lineup that will be rolling out circa Q2 this year.
* Additionally, I've added minimum Zinc (Zn) level in weight percent and ppm for those consumers who ask about the Zinc level in the product.
* Note that the preferred level of Zinc to offer is the higher level (minimum 0.12 wt % = 1200 ppm). I have italized and bolded these products.


Product Recommendations for Flat Tappet (Solid Lifter) Cam Engines:
Castrol Syntec 5W-40 (min Zn = 0.10 wt % = 1000 ppm)(full synthetic)
<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">Castrol Syntec 20W-50 (Recent reformulation identified by "Recommended for Classic Cars" text on back label) (min Zn = 0.12 = 1200 ppm)(full synthetic)</span></span>
Castrol TWS Motorsport 10W-60 (BMW dealerships) (min Zn = 0.10 = 1000 ppm)(full synthetic)
BMW Long Life 5W-30 (BMW dealerships)(min Zn = 0.095 = 950 ppm)(full synthetic)

 

[Brosky]

Ned,

As I said earlier, Bob recommended a full synthetic after the rings had seated and this looks like a good one as well. My other post covers the AERA recommendation for flat tappet cam break in as well.

Thanks for this information.

 

[Don Elliott]

"Syntec 20W-50 is the only passenger car oil with close to the recommended minimum zinc level of 1300 ppm"

I wonder how close to 1300 ppm it really is. Maybe it's like all the other new and conforming oils at 600 ppm.

I have added a small can of AC Delco "EOS" to my newly re-built engine last summer and again when I changed the oil after 3000 miles. I used Castrol 10W30 in the newly re-built engine which hasn't got enough zinc by itself.

I think next time I'm going to switch to Valvoline 20W50 Racing Grade oil which I have been told has more than enough zinc in the oil.

 

[bunzil]

We've been using Castrol since the cars rolled off the line. I'd say if Castrol claims 1300 ppm for 20-50 Syntec that's as good a claim as we're likely to find from any other manufacturer.

This site from Castrol seems to address the issue:

https://www.castrol.com/castrol/printgenericarticle.do?categoryId=82915470&contentId=7032644