Does Amsoil still have the same high levels of Zinc and Phosphorus as before?

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Manure green 2005 CRD sport4x4, GDE Hot tune, Cat Gut, OE skids, Draw tight hitch, Duramax lift pump, 160K on multiple varieties of fuel, XM radio, Escort live with Redline, fog light mod, GPS, Icom IC7000 all band radio call sign KC9QPF, Grabber AT2s on Soft 8s, FIA grill blanket.

retmil, I'm not totally up on the camshaft discussions, but you mentioned some were wearing without showing up on a UOA? I cannot believe that - the levels of wear they are showing should peg the iron and whatever else those lobes and lifter are made of.

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'05 Liberty CRD B100, SEGR - SOLD

'01 Beetle TDi B100, EGR delete
'83 Mercedes 240D B100, no EGR

--- SEGR Builder ---

I'm not up on the full explanation as well, being it was related second-hand to me. The basic grasp I have of it is that the wear was so rapid and the particles so large that they were outside the range of what the UOA tests are looking for - ie, the UOA is looking for materials in solution with the oil - not chunkies large enough to be trapped by the oil filter or settle to the bottom of the sump.

From what I gathered, some of the failures were rapid enough to occur in between UOA's 10K miles apart.

I'll double-check with my source when I get the chance. But if this is on the up and up, it doesn't bode well for CJ spec oils.

Kinda glad I stocked up on the "old" Rotella 5W40 CI-4 before they switched over.

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Mitchell Oates
'87 MB 300D Diamond Blue Metallic
'87 MB 300D - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Sport CRD Stone White
Provent CCV Filter/AT2525 Muffler
Stanadyne 30 u/Cat 2 u Fuel Filters
Fumoto Drain/Fleetguard LF3487 Oil filter
V6 Airbox/Amsoil EAA Air Filter
Suncoast TC/Shift Kit/Aux Cooler
Kennedy Lift Pump/Return Fuel Cooler

Oh crap... Maybe this is a contributing factor in my recent pain, as I had been specifically looking for the CJ4 oils thinking they were "better" than the previous stuff. Add to that, I prefer to use the Mobil 1 Delvac synth product... But it looks like I need to start using the Rotella.

Now, about the additives - Is there something specific that we can add back into the CJ4 to put back the zinc and such? And then, how much to add per change? I'm not worried a whit about the life of my cat... He's grey and fuzzy and doesn't like riding in the car anyway. The underside of my Jeep is a cat-free zone, but the lifespan of my ENGINE is what concerns me now. That isn't likely to change anytime soon either.

Unfortunately, Rotella has went over to the new CJ spec as well. Only thing I've seen recently that was still CI-4+ or earlier were quart bottles of Mobil 1 5W40 TDT at Advance - but that might be old stock they're still purging from the system.

From what I've heard, Amsoil still makes at least a couple grades of diesel engine oil that still meet the older CI-4+ spec as far as zinc and phosphorous.

If you can call up the spec sheets for various oils on line, look for percent by weight of either zinc or sulfated ash. Basically, 1% by weight = 1000 ppm. Anything over 1% is most likely pre - CJ spec. Most of the CJ spec oils are down in the 0.4% to 0.8% range.

As far as additives - the TDI gents mentioned ZDDP Plus, which can apparently only be ordered thru their website. There are some off the shelf additives at the auto parts stores that do contain ZDDP, but as far as how much they contain and how much to use to get a certain concentration in your oil, your guess is as good as mine.

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Mitchell Oates
'87 MB 300D Diamond Blue Metallic
'87 MB 300D - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Sport CRD Stone White
Provent CCV Filter/AT2525 Muffler
Stanadyne 30 u/Cat 2 u Fuel Filters
Fumoto Drain/Fleetguard LF3487 Oil filter
V6 Airbox/Amsoil EAA Air Filter
Suncoast TC/Shift Kit/Aux Cooler
Kennedy Lift Pump/Return Fuel Cooler

I have my doubts that the new spec oils have that significant part in the VW cam failures. I think the design itself, combined with some off-spec materials, have contributed more. I have never seen such skinny cam lobes, the pressure between the lobe and the lifter must be twice that of a typical engine. I admire the guts of some PD VW owners who elect to stick with the older spec oils, and possibly invalidating the warranty coverage on a cam failure.

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'05 Liberty CRD B100, SEGR - SOLD

'01 Beetle TDi B100, EGR delete
'83 Mercedes 240D B100, no EGR

--- SEGR Builder ---

If the CJ spec oil theory is correct, the design of the cam lobes you mentioned would certainly account for why this problem would be rearing it's head first in older TDI engines. From what I've seen on line, they've encountered this same problem with older design flat tappet gas engines as well. Thankfully, our CRD engines are blessed with roller lifters.

_________________
Mitchell Oates
'87 MB 300D Diamond Blue Metallic
'87 MB 300D - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Sport CRD Stone White
Provent CCV Filter/AT2525 Muffler
Stanadyne 30 u/Cat 2 u Fuel Filters
Fumoto Drain/Fleetguard LF3487 Oil filter
V6 Airbox/Amsoil EAA Air Filter
Suncoast TC/Shift Kit/Aux Cooler
Kennedy Lift Pump/Return Fuel Cooler