Motor Oil, Oil Filters, Transmission Fluid

In this thread, I'm attempting to summarize the CCF forum answers to my questions about motor oil, oil filters and transmission fluid, with links to other threads and to additional information online.

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MOTOR OIL

Our PCM/Ford 351W engines use a flat tappet camshaft. A quick online search will provide a wealth of information on flat tappet cams and the antiwear additive ZDDP. Many experts, including some on this site, believe that ZDDP is needed beyond the engine break-in period to avoid cam wear, and believe that the lower levels of ZDDP in modern oils are too low for these engines.

Several experts on this site recommend these specific oils:

Valvoline VR1 Racing Oil 20W-50 (conventional p/n VV211 or synthetic p/n 679082.0)
or
Mobil 1 15W-50 (synthetic)


Here are some details:

Valvoline VR1 Racing Oil 20W-50
Spec Gravity @ 60°F: 0.888
Zinc: 1400 ppm
Phosphorus: 1300 ppm
Conventional p/n VV211 webpage pdf
Synthetic p/n 679082.0 webpage pdf

Mobil 1 15W-50
Density @15.6º C g/ml: 0.87
Zinc: 1300 ppm
Phosphorus: 1200 ppm
Mobil 1 Engine Oils Table
Mobil 1 15W-50


For more information, see the What Weight Oil thread and the threads it links to.

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OIL FILTERS

There seems to be a lot of emotion behind oil filter loyalty. Steve K (skutsch) and I took the results of a January 2011 oil filter study and removed price as a factor in grading the filters. These rankings are from the one referenced study only.

We are assuming that the individual category grades (filtering, quality, etc) are common across a manufacturer's sizes of a specific filter, because the part number used in the study is not necessarily the one for our engines.

These rankings do not factor in price (on purpose).





For more information, see the What Weight Oil thread, the Oil Filter Comparison/Evaluation thread, and the threads they link to.

I personally am switching to Mobil 1 oil filters.

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TRANSMISSION FLUID

Conventional Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF), Dexron-III/Mercon, not synthetic

Several experts on this site recommend Castrol and Valvoline (just confirm Dexron-III/Mercon, and not a different rated fluid).


For more information, including info about flushing the transmission, see the Transmission Fluid Type - Dextron or SAE20? thread, the Transmission Fluid type thread, and the threads they link to.

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I greatly appreciate everyone's input--thanks, guys.

Steve



edit 3/3/15: Mobil moved their Mobil 1 Engine Oils Table; edited the link
edit 5/13/21: Oil filter table image disappeared over the years. Added it in using newer ccfan image feature.

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I hope that I am putting my question in the correct spot/thread ... if not I hope that it can be bumped over to the "What Weight Oil" thread. Out here in CO, I will be getting down to preparing our '94 SN to spend winter in the garage (688 +/- hrs. on the Ford 351 Protec). I have been using the oil shown below, but based on this data (excellent work) I am considering switching to the Valvoline VR1 20W/50 (regular VV211). Can I just make the switch with no worries/concerns about the slight change in the weight of oil (i.e., out with the old, in with the new)? I am in the sweet spot on the other fluids. Thanks in advance.

Brian - Don't sweat it, just change to your new brand. It's not like your feeding MAC software to a PC!

Thanks for all the responses ... Don, I think I will lay up with the VR1 this year simply because of the slightly higher ZDDP (BTW ... the stereo turned out great!) ... thanks again!

Brian, I think it's wise to move away from the Castrol GTX Diesel 15W-40.

I realize you're moving away from it, but I wanted to share my thoughts about the Castrol...

The old data sheet for that oil showed Zinc 1300 ppm, Phosphorus 1100 ppm. The latest data sheet on the Castrol website no longer lists the zinc and phosphorus levels for that grade, and adds the SN standard.

Now, many people will reference that the SN standard (and the SM standard before it) limit phosphorus to 800 ppm. But, it's more complicated than that. Under the old SM standard, the phosphorus limit only applied to the "ILSAC" grades 0W-20, 0W-30, 5W-20, 5W-30 and 10W-30; other grades were exempt. Is that the case under the SN standard? I believe so, because the above-recommended Valvoline VR1 Racing Oil 20W-50 (conventional) and Mobil 1 15W-50 both include SN on their data sheets, but have the desired levels of zinc and phosphorus (these grades are presumably still exempt from the phosphorus limit and, provided they meet the rest of the standard, can still claim "SN").

So the bottom line with regard to Castrol is that they removed the zinc and phosphorus levels from their data sheet for that grade oil.

By the way, an option would be to use a ZDDP additive, so that "any" suitable oil could have high enough anti-wear levels. However, I have read that too much ZDDP can increase carbon deposits inside the engine.

So what's my point? Simple... this gets way too complicated way too fast. We have a couple of oils (Valvoline VR1 Racing Oil 20W-50 and Mobil 1 15W-50) that already have the target anti-wear levels. And, most importantly, we have seasoned veterans using these oils in our exact application and recommending these oils.

So I think you're wise to switch. And I agree that no flushing should be needed (let it drain awhile and obviously change out the filter). I'm switching to one of these oils, too.

Steve

There is a slight HP loss but it is miniscule.

Hmm interesting that I missed this thread. Anyway, I have been running Brad Penn Racing oils in the 98 Sport and the 64 Ski for several years now. It meets all the required ZDDP needs. It is also pretty reasonably priced. Here is a link the their website and you can look at each products data sheet (i.e. if you want to run straight 30W, 40W or one of the multi-viscosity oils). They also have independant testing verification of their ZDDP levels.

Brad Penn Racing Oils

Being that I am of German descent (at least that's what my wife blames most of my stubbornness on) I follow the manual to a tee, The 312 interceptor manual indicates straight 30W, so I run that in the Ski, and the PCM manual indicates straight 40W (unless you operate in ridiculously cold water) so I use straight 40W in the Sport. I do use the Racing or High Performance versions.

Recently a friend of mine completed a stroker build and he was having some weird things happening oil wise...loss of pressure and power...he is spinning as much as 5900 or so rpms Mercruiser recommend he use single weight oil which has solved those issures. His Sanger DXII runs 59 mph so far...small block.

He builds marine engines ...just some guy that knows a thing or two...he had built a 355 carbed that was good for 51 so I introduced him to my friend who had purchased a stroker from smeding performance that wasnt working well...he reworked it and cooperated with my friend o work out the bugs in regard to efi...mefi...to get a good tune been fiddling with it all summer and its finally producing the desired results.

After the trans is rebuilt I'd change the fluid in just a couple of hours. at least look at it to mark sure it's clean.

After your sure it's clean (not making metal) maybe every 100 hours / 3 years. It's only a QT.    

The end of each season when you change the motor oil and do not use synthetic.

quinner wrote: The end of each season when you change the motor oil and do not use synthetic.

4th ski-doo wrote: Why not use synthetic?

Joe,
Don't be confused as CQ is referring to not using synthetic in the trans and not the engine.

Just bringing this back to the top to see if anyone is aware of any changes with the oil ZDDP levels or the filter specs.