Rotella T oil

[Endangered Species]

I though Brad Penn was good. I am running BP 10W 40 partial syn.,do I need to change? I do not want sludge.

Brad Penn is some of the best oil out there. It's the old Kendall.... made in the same plant in Bradford Pa.

 

[monaco66coupe]

Kendall is a very good product, I didn't know the connection. My experience resembled the results of running Quaker state oil. All foam, all sludge. Yellow, ugly junk.

 

[Budnicks]

Remember these trucks that the Rotella is made for,
all run 12+ quart oil capacity too, not a small 5-6 qt. oil capacity...

just thought I'd point that out...

no reflection on whether the oil is good or not, I use it in my diesel, Shell's version...

 

[wedge69]

Brad Penn is some of the best oil out there. It's the old Kendall.... made in the same plant in Bradford Pa.

YEP ! talked to a Brad Penn guy and he filled me in on it. I ALWAYS run Kendell and still do but didn't like it when it went brown from green ! He gave me the in's and out's on it and I am thinking of going with Brad penn now.
The only time I didn't run it was with the injected sprint car motor as it would seperate from the Alky gettin inot the oil so went with Penzoil at that time.

 

[FJ6AAR]

What did say that makes you want to go with Brad Penn

 

[wedge69]

He showed me that Brad Penn was the Origenal maker of Kendell. Also that thay had to change the formula and that's why it went from green to brown. Also that the test's on there product shows it to be a very good oil for Hi performance engines. Thay also make a Hi performance oil just for the older motors.
Don't ask me for the spc's as My memory is not that good ! LOL!!
But being into motors as long as i have what he said AND Showed me left me impressed !
Just my 2 cents on this as I am NO exbert !!

 

[Cranky]

To clarify my experience with Brad penn, I drive my cars a lot. after long trips, and in the desert heat the oil blackened up pretty bad, and the Inside of the valve covers showed it. It began to look like the crap the Dodge dealer uses when I got oil changes on my Ram. I now use Rotella or Mobil delvac. I don't want to mislead anyone, this is just my experience. I've been around oil since the 50's working at my Dad's Mobil station. and in my view there is a fine line between non Detergent, which caused sludge and pre-mature wear in the old days, and excessive detergents , that to me scours the old engines too much. I found I needed a product that would stick to the metal parts, rather than completely drain down to the pan. The diesel oils in my case eliminated the harsh metal on metal sounds I would get during warmup. the lifters stayed pumped up, and the bearings still had oil residue on them from the previous drive. it isn't just about Zinc, it is the other stuff in the oil designed to Increase fuel mileage in the newer cars. A middle ground product that cleans, but not too much, and sticks around, not disappear, is the best for an engine that is driven on a regular basis. I drive a 69' Coronet 383 HP, and 440 GTX. I don't race at the track,I just do lots of driving.

Years back I used Castrol GTX 20-50 and that stuff kept my engines clean....too clean. Seems to be that oils with a lot of detergent have less lubricity. After tearing down 3 different engines and seeing what they looked like inside as far as bearings go.....I quit using that crap. Don't know how it is today but don't care to find out.

 

[Cranky]

To bring this thread back to life.....I'm seeing some build up with the Rotella but it's not black. It's more like a golden brown color. I've noticed this on my daughter's PT turbo and not on the others. Thing is her car has 103k miles on it and nothing has been changed except for the timing belt and other maintenance items but she runs 5k miles between changes. I use Rotella in all our vehicles and don't see that on any of the others but I don't really like what I'm seeing on her car. On a 1990 Dakota, I ran Exxon XD-3 (Exxon/diesel 30wt) and that engine looked really good at 100k miles. Thinking about going with the Delvac......

 

[65 3 times]

I use Rotella T but I also use a zinc additive. Race only 10-1 440 older Bullet Flat tappet cam. 6500 rpm max. about 150 runs and no problems so far.
Most here seem to run Brad Penn or Royal Purple. I may switch but am looking for guidance. Lots of articles last year on performance oil and Rotella was not highly spoken of. ??? FWIW Dave

 

[66Satellite47]

To bring this thread back to life.....I'm seeing some build up with the Rotella but it's not black. It's more like a golden brown color. I've noticed this on my daughter's PT turbo and not on the others. Thing is her car has 103k miles on it and nothing has been changed except for the timing belt and other maintenance items but she runs 5k miles between changes. I use Rotella in all our vehicles and don't see that on any of the others but I don't really like what I'm seeing on her car. On a 1990 Dakota, I ran Exxon XD-3 (Exxon/diesel 30wt) and that engine looked really good at 100k miles. Thinking about going with the Delvac......

Thanks a lot Cranky, this thread is VERY interesting to me since I've been out of the high performance game for so long. I knew oil had changed, but I ***-umed old style "racing oil" was still readily available & fairly reasonable. But no! Last summer after I bought my car I used Valvoline 20-50 Racing, expensive, hard to find locally. This winter I went with the Lucas 20-50 Racing. Sure am interested in what the options are. I have a streetable (500-700 miles) 500" solid lifter cam motor that will see 6000 -6200 (hopefully) at the strip. I'll try to digest all this & hear more input. BTW, in the late '70's had a deal with Kendall (20-50 Racing), worked great, stayed clean. Deal switched to Castrol GTX, worked fine but seemed to change color more quickly. Back then ran to 7000 rpm all the time, bearings held up well with both. Hope to hear more.

 

[HT413]

According to this guy, zinc levels in 'new Rotella T' are just fine. No idea if it's correct or how he tested the oils, as it's "just a forum post". Also, I noticed the comments in that thread are not so supportive. No idea if this guy is the village idiot or if speedtalk is just full of trolls bustin this guy's balls.

17. 15W40 “NEW” SHELL ROTELLA T Diesel Oil conventional, API CJ-4, CI-4 Plus, CH-4, CF-4,CF/SM = 72,022 psi
zinc = 1454 ppm
phos = 1062 ppm
ZDDP = 1200 ppm

http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35836

 

[HT413]

Here's this guy's blog post. Interesting, his testing shows Rotella T's zinc levels have gone UP since it was reformulated.

https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/motor-oil-wear-test-ranking/

 

[Cranky]

Kinda doubtful it's gone up.....

 

[Bigal75]

Kendall is a very good product, I didn't know the connection. My experience resembled the results of running Quaker state oil. All foam, all sludge. Yellow, ugly junk.

Brad Penn is green.

It's very good oil, It's all that I use and have never had sludge, EVER. I use 20-50 BP in my 572 HEMI.

 

[GrabberOrange69]

This is always a lively topic. I'll add a little to HT413's discussion and throw in these: http://www.apicj-4.org/2009_engine_oil_guide.pdf; http://www.shell.com/rotella/products/tpl-pro.html

You'll notice Rotella has an API rating for gasoline auto engines of SM, SL, SJ, SH, so its good for engine designs older than 1996. I've used it for a decade in my vintage cars with no ill results, some of which have high valve spring pressures/high lift cams. Are there better oils with more zinc? I'm sure there are, but at the easy availability and price point of Rotella, there are very few competitors.

 

[HT413]

Kinda doubtful it's gone up.....

I hear ya, his numbers show ZDDP went up by 100 ppm, so we're not talking very much. Heck, maybe that's within the error levels of the test.

Honestly, I mean this respectfully to all, oil discussions across the interweb all tend to be 50% hearsay mixed with 50% "well I've been using this for a bazillion years and never had a problem". I just wish we could find a reliable source of data to underpin this conversation.

 

[mopar 3 B]

I can still order Valvoline Racing oil by the case yes I pay a premium for it I also use a good filter. Cost around $60 for materials twice a year to change oil per car. They do not get driven much any more some times the oil still looks like new but at the cost of rebuilding an engine these days oil is still cheap.

 

[Budnicks]

I ran Torco Racing oil for 30 years
Various different viscosities, some with a synthetic base in all my race cars,
I never had any failure because of any issue with oil break down, loss of lubrication value
I had to change it more often when running Methanol, turned to mustard looking baby diaper chit
plenty of Phosphorus Zinc Oxide {or now ZDDP} additive blended into most of them too...

I agree for the most part, there's allot of mumbo jumbo agenda's
out there when it comes to oils & Zinc content, depends on who you ask,
ask 10 people seems you'll get 10 stories/likes or dislikes

I have {had} a buddy Doug that works for Chevron/Standard oil
My Grandad Whitey worked for Shell Oil as an Engineer for 40+ years
My Uncle Ron worked for Chevron/Standard Oil as an VP Engineer for 40+ years
My buddy Doug in the Richmond Ca. CRC {Chevron Research Center},
he did destructive tests on different oils all the time, many different brands &
different types of tests, fuel/chemical breakdowns or dilution, longevity, wear & cleanliness
he was also a devout Div. 7 drag racer, he also affirmed/confirmed my thoughts about
Torco Racing Oils

I use Royal Purple 10/40 full synthetic in my since new 99 Dakota SLT 4X4 5.2ltr/318 Magnum hyd. roller
with 1.7 ratio Harlen Sharp full roller trunnion pedestal type roller tip rockers, a few other bolt on stuff,
it has 56k now, no signs of any issues or undue wear, knock on wood...LOL
Change oil every 7000 miles or so & change the filter every 3500 miles or so,
supposedly I don't even need to change the oil even that often but it's cheap insurance anyway...
Have the oil tested a few times {by my buddy Doug @ CRC} & it's allegedly still good to go too...

Different strokes for different folks,
I stick with what I know has worked for me,
I'd suggest people don't get pulled into allot of the hype,
newest flavor of the month, when it comes to oils,
there allot of good oils out there, some better than others...

I know Quakerstate & Pennsoil have been like crap for me,
get dirty really fast, sludge really easily too {means it's breaking down}
& even tested like crap too...

Just my experiences, yours may vary,
it depends on driving styles, heat build up,
even the way engines are tuned, what fuel your using etc.

My step dad use to do a test tube test with oils, when he was still racing
he should me how different oils & different additive different types of viscosities,
thicken up or break down under heat, just a simple flame test,
it was amazing how quickly some oils boiled & turned to varnish/sludge...
Especially Pennsoil & Quakerstate...
he loved Valvoline & Havoline oils, I don't use either anymore...