Hello Everyone,
I'm posting this in Service because this can affect ALL Cobalt Engines.
The other day will doing errands with my dad, (Hes trying to find a new engine for his Ranger) talking to some people, Some one said that Zinc, had been removed from motor Oils about 2 years ago. It was discussed that the Zinc helps prevent wear in parts, and it's removal is responsible to the worn out pushrods/lifters in my dad's ranger.

I started thinking. If that's true, it would affect ALOT more then just Ford Rangers, It would affect my cobalt, (and yours) as well.

My line of thinking is that if this critial componant of the oil was removed 2 years ago,
that alot of manufactures will have a great deal of warranty work they will have to perform due to insufficent oiling, not at the fault of the customer. So I figured maybe it's abit BS,

So I went to my friend Google.
I found this
Has Zinc Been Removed from Motor Oils?

So I'm curious, should we switch to an oil that has the higher phosperases? I mean after all our engines were reccomending Mobil 1 5W-30 BEFORE they lowed the phosperous. Some one said that GM now reccomends a diffrent oil in a thread somewhere, Should we switch? I noticed that on the chart that the Mobil 1 5w-30 High Milage Oils have higher levels of this phospherase in them. It says they are for 75, 000 miles or more vehicals, but should we switch to it even if were under 75K just to re-gain the lost phsoverase?

 

The lower zinc levels will affect cars and trucks that have flat tappet cams. The Cobalt is setup like a roller cam, so this will not affect our cars like older ones.

Most cars and trucks went to roller cams some time in the 90's. With most modern cars, if you use a good oil that meets or exceeds the GM standard for high performance oils, you will be ok.

If you want to use the higher zinc oils, it should not affect your car in the near future. One thing that I did hear that in the long run, is that it can affect the cats due to the some affect on the newer designs.

I have a car that is affected by this, so I am running Royal Purple XP 15-50 in it. This is like 15 dollars a quart!!!! So, when I rebuild that motor soon it will be a full roller motor.

 

Ok that makes sence. Thanks. My dad's Ranger is a 91 so it still has the flat cams then, He needs a top overhaull but thats a message for another forum (fordrangerforum.com)

Thanks,

 

Your welcome.

All of the changes that they have made in the last few years makes it fun to figure things out. They need to have a degreed program just to keep up with it.

 

- Bob is the Oil Guy