Shell Rotella 30 still has plenty of zinc for our Straight Eights

Straight Eight

Active Member
We still hear fatefull news about zinc leaving our favorite oils. I wrote to Shell Oil about their Rotella brand. Here is my letter, and their answer.

I have been using Rotella 30 for Years in my antique Buicks and
understand the latest version of Rotella has dramatically reduced the
amount of zinc. The overhead valve engine with non rollers valve
mechanism theoretically needs the zinc for the sliding friction. What
has happened to Rotella? Can I continue to use it in my antique
engines, or should I find another oil made just for the antiques with
zinc added?
----------------------------------------------

Clifford, there has been no reduction of zinc in the straight weight
Rotella oils such as Rotella T 30. There has been a slight reduction in
zinc for the multigrade Rotella T oils in order to meets the new API
CJ-4 specification. Rotella T 30 should still work well in your antique
Buicks.

Thank you for your interest in Shell products.

Richard Moore
Staff Engineer
Shell Global Solutions (US) Inc.
Westhollow Technology Center, PO Box 4327, Houston, TX 77210, United
States of America
1-800-231-6950
 
The info in the OP is very dated now. Anybody know if there has been further reduction in zinc content of SOPUSs more recent formulations?

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zddp levels

yeah, that'll work.

have you compared the zinc level in that vs what's in the diesel oils?
cant really say, ill have to wait till our show rep gets back from Vegas. I work for Motul. All I remember is him telling me this oil was made by special request from classic car collectors.
 
I work for SOPUS, but not in lubes.

I run Motul in my Ecoboost powered Taurus SHO. Great results.
Didn't know this classic car formula existed. About to place an order for some. :)

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motul mineral classic

I work for SOPUS, but not in lubes.

I run Motul in my Ecoboost powered Taurus SHO. Great results.
Didn't know this classic car formula existed. About to place an order for some. :)

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Check with p1performance.com
 
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My understanding is that it had to be "removed" from any oil not listed as "for offroad use only". I think the deadline was a year or so ago. As for the GM product EOS, I believe it can now be purchased ,not as an additive, but as "Engine Assembly Lube". I believe it is the same formulation as before. We always add a bottle to the race car every time we change oil. We use 10-30 Mobil One. Hope this helps. Doug [The reinstated part number is 88862587]
 
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I'm using Red Line 10W40 Motor Oil. It's got 1200 ppm zinc (versus 600-800 ppm of today's oils in general). All Red Line motor oils have about 1200 ppm, except for the new Euro-Spec oils which only contain 800 ppm. Red Line Race Oils contain 2400 ppm zinc.
 
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