Break-in and Synthetic Oils

To understand the effect of synthetic oil on break-in, you have to understand the break-in
process.
Any new or rebuilt engine is clean, and that is a good thing. However, all the freshly machined
and clean surfaces lack one thing an anti-wear film. Under the heavy loads created in the
valvetrain, a thin film called a boundary layer can prevent metal-to-metal contact. Without a
boundary film, rapid wear can occur. Oil additives like Zinc, create these boundary films on
the metal components in the engine.
During break-in of an engine, it is critical to establish the boundary film on the wear surfaces
of the engine. The sooner the boundary film is established, the less wear occurs in the engine.
Less wear in the engine translates into longer life of the engine.
The old school theory of using non-detergent oils for break-in validates this. Detergents protect
the engine from build up of deposits like sludge and varnish. Detergents compete against the
Zinc type additives that are trying to create the boundary film. By reducing the detergents, you
increase the effectiveness of the Zinc. As a result, the boundary film is quickly established and
the wear surfaces properly mate. Detergents serve a good purpose to keep your engine free
from deposits. So it is important to have detergents in oil in order to keep critical areas like ring
lands free from deposits. However, too much of a good thing is a bad thing.
The balance between detergents and anti-wear additives is the most important factor in the
performance of the oil. The proper balance for a racing application will be different from the
proper balance for a passenger car or diesel truck.
A passenger car that spends time in stop and go traffic needs a higher level of detergents and
dispersants to keep the engine clean compared to a race car running over 7,000 PRM. A race car
needs more anti-wear protection due to the higher loads created by a high RPM engine. As a
result, less detergent is needed in a race application. Non-detergent oils are a bad idea for race
engines due to the high combustion temperatures. Some amount of detergent is needed to help
prevent ring sticking and other deposit formations.
During break-in, detergents work against the Zinc additives, so having the proper balance during
this critical stage is very important to ring seal as well as the camshaft and lifters.
Synthetic oils can contain chemicals that also compete against the Zinc, so synthetic oils can
present a challenge for breaking-in engines. At Joe Gibbs Racing, we use a mineral based breakin oil that is very high in Zinc to quickly establish the boundary film in our NASCAR engines.
We have used synthetic oils for break-in before, but we found that the high Zinc mineral oil does
a better job.

A system approach to protection

Just like a valve train is a system of different components working together with each part doing
its individual job, the lubricants used to assemble, break-in and operate an engine must work
together to protect your engine.
Just like valve springs are chosen to work with the weight of valves and the RPM of the engine,
lubricants must be carefully chosen to make sure they work correctly with each other. As stated
in the book The Lubrication Engineers Manual, Because oil additives are reactive chemicals,
they can interact with each other in the lubricant, either synergistically or antagonistically. The
job of the formulator is to deliver the intended performance by minimizing the antagonistic
effects and maximizing the synergistic effects of the additives through careful balancing. The
additives used in the Joe Gibbs Driven family of lubricants have been carefully chosen and
balanced to ensure the each product compliments the next creating a synergistic effect where
the whole protective package is greater than the sum of the individual parts. Using different
brands of assembly lube, break-in oil and race oil may not yield this effect.

API licensed lubricants

To further complicate matters, the use of API licensed products in flat-tappet engines and race
only engines introduces compromised chemistry for these applications. API Licensed products
are great for modern engines used in passenger cars. Due to the need for cleaner emissions and
extended drain intervals, API licensed oils are designed to be compatible with catalytic converts,
EGR valves, and OBD-2 systems. These modern car formulas feature reduced phosphorus, zinc
and sulfur in an effort to extend catalytic converter life. Use of EGR valves increases the need
for higher levels of detergent to control combustion residue, and detergents compete for surface

space with Zinc, Phosphorus and Sulfur anti-wear compromising the effectiveness of those
additives.

Why Joe Gibbs Oil?

Joe Gibbs Driven Oil is formulated specifically for racing engines and older style flat-tappet
engines. A recent camshaft company Technical Bulletin said it best, "Today's engine oil is just
not the same as it used to be, thanks to the ever tightening environmental regulations." Today's
API Licensed passenger car motor oils are formulated to be compatible with your street car's
emission control equipment, and Federal EPA requirements have led to a reduction in formulated
anti-wear chemistries like Zinc, Phosphorus and Sulfur in API rated engine oils. As a result, the
oil you buy today is not the same as it was 10 years ago. While this is good for your street car, it
is bad news for your racing engine. As stated in the book Lubrication Fundamentals,"In heavily
loaded applications, flat tappet cam followers operate on partial oil films at least part of the time.
Lubricants with anti-wear additives are necessary if rapid wear and surface distress are to be
avoided. The oil additive Zinc Dithiophosphate is to provide anti-wear activity for the camshaft
and lifters.
Racing engines see more RPM, higher loads and increased temperatures compared to street
engines, so a racing engine requires higher levels of Zinc, Phosphorus, Sulfur and other additives
to prevent premature part failure. This is especially true in flat-tappet engines. Joe Gibbs Driven
Racing Oil contains all of the correct additives, like Zinc, Phosphorus and Sulfur in addition to
the highest quality base oils to protect your engine. Again, the book Lubrication Fundamentals
sums this up, "Loading on the rubbing surfaces in the valve train may be high, particularly in
high speed engines, where stiff valve springs must be used to ensure that the valves close rapidly
and positively. This loading can result in lubrication failure unless special care is taken in
the formulation of the lubricant." Simply put, the oil used in an engine needs to be formulated
specifically for that type of engine. You wouldn't use a stock piston in a race engine, and the
same goes for oil. Our NASCAR championship winning formula protects our 9,000 RPM, FlatTappet engines for over 500 miles of competition, and our oils are used by other championship
winning engine builders to conquer the grueling 24 hours of Daytona and the Baja 1000. We
offer a variety of oil viscosities to fit various engine builds and operating temps. We also offer
Joe Gibbs Driven Hot Rod Oil for street driven flat-tappet and push-rod engines. Joe Gibbs
Driven Hot Rod oil features high levels of zinc for wear protection plus US Military spec rust
and corrosion inhibitors to protect the engine when it is not running as well. No other oil
provides this type of protection in the garage and on the road.

Oil Today Vs. Yesterday

Oil Prior to
2001

Oil Today

Diesel Oil

Racing Oil

National Brand
SAE 20W-50

National
Brand SAE
20W-50

National Brand
SAE 15W-40

Joe Gibbs
Driven XP7

CJ-4
2297

Racing Oil
410

36
1127
3489
1285

515
152
1670
7800
1860

DESCRIPTION
Rating

API SJ
1054

API SM
2097
10

143
996
2626
1142

49
240
745
3637
881

CALCIUM ppm - Detergent

MAGNESIUM ppm - Detergent
MOLYBDENUM ppm - Friction
Modifier
BORON ppm - Friction Modifier
PHOSPHORUS ppm - Anti-wear
SULFUR ppm - Anti-wear
ZINC ppm - Anti-wear

2500
2000
1500
Zinc/Phosphorus
1000

Detergent

500
0
API SJ

API SN

CJ-4 Diesel

Joe Gibbs XP5

Its not about more zinc, its about the right balance.
For Automotive Applications, the best resource for information on motor oils is the SAE
Automotive Lubricants Reference Book.
Here are (word for word) the facts about ZDDP from this book:
2.2.7 Anti-Wear Additives
The boundary lubricant additives referred to in the preceding sections (usually natural acids or
their esters) provides sufficient anti-wear activity in the early days of non-detergent gasoline
engine oils, while diesel engines were more massively built and operated at lower speeds and so
did not initially exhibit any wear problems. Bearings were initially made of the soft conformable
babbit material (a tin/copper/antimony alloy), which was relatively inert chemically and had the
capacity to absorb small amounts of foreign material.
However, as engine power outputs grew, babbit ceased to be strong enough to bear the increased
loadings on the bearings, and harder bearings of cadmium/silver, cadmium/nickel, and
copper/lead were developed. These materials were strong but were not so chemically inert as
babbit and were attacked by the acids generated from oil oxidation. They were also unable to
absorb into the bearing surface foreign material such as grit and wear debris. In consequence,
improvements in filtration were developed.

In the 1930s, organic acid inhibitors, bearing corrosion inhibitors and various anti-wear agents
were developed to protect these bearings, many of the compounds being multifunctional and
providing protection of bearings against both corrosive and mechanical wear. These compounds
included organic phosphates, sulfurized sperm oil, dithiophosphates and dithiocarbonates, and
culminated in 1941 with Lubrizols development of Zinc DialkylDithioPhosphates (ZDDP).
Initially used at low concentrations (0.1 to 0.25%) as a bearing passivator and oil anti-oxidant,
ZDDP was soon found to be remarkably effective as an anti-wear additive. The anti-wear
activity extends from boundary lubrication up to true EP activity for heavily loaded steel-on-steel
sliding mechanisms.
In a gasoline engine, the valve gear is heavily stressed due to the high engine speeds producing
high sliding speeds between cams and tappets, which are basically poorly lubricated. For systems
without hydraulic backlash take-up (the norm in Europe until the 1990s), high impact loads also
resulted from the reaction between cam-follower (tappet), the push-rod, and the rocker. Impacts
in this chain leading from the cam to the valve stem were increased in severity as valve spring
loadings increased, and also mechanical resonances in this cumbersome system tended to
produce high instantaneous loads at the contacting surfaces. For the early non-detergent gasoline
oils, small additions of additives such as ZDDP were sufficient to provide anti-wear protection
for these various parts, which are often called the valvetrain.
However, when attempts were made to introduce detergent additives into gasoline engines, or to
use diesel lubricants containing detergents in gasoline engines, there were many failures with
heavy wear resulting particularly in the cam and tappets. The initial reactions were these
detergents were either chemically attacking the metal or that their apparently colloidal metal
compounds were actually abrading the surfaces. This is now known not to be the case, and the
effect is due to the highly surface active nature of detergents, which causes them to compete
strongly for possession of the metal surfaces with boundary layer and anti-wear additives or
natural lubricity compounds in the oil. Because most detergents do not have significant anti-wear
capability, the surfaces become relatively unprotected, and wear takes place where loadings are
heavy. To overcome this, the concentration of ZDDP, or other anti-wear additives, must be
increased substantially for it to compete successfully with the detergent and obtain some measure
of occupation of the metal surfaces.
Today, ZDDP is the predominant anti-wear additive used in crankcase oils, although it is a class
of additive rather than one particular chemical. The solubilizing groups that enable the metal
dithiophosphate to be soluble in oil can either be alkyl (straight or branched chain) or aryl
(aromatic rings). The anti-wear activity (or rather the sensitivity of the additive to commence
giving anti-wear protection) varies inversely with the thermal stability of the particular structure.
This increases with carbon number and in the order of secondary alkyl (the least stable and the
most potent), through the primary alkyl to aryl types (the most stable but least potent). Diesel
engines run considerably hotter in the ring zone than gasoline engines, and ZDDP decomposition
tends to produce lacquer in this area. On the other hand, diesel engines, because of their design
and metallurgy, tend to have fewer wear problems than gasoline engines. Thus, for a simple
diesel oil, a more stable but less potent type of ZDDP can be tolerated. However, when
formulating multipurpose oils for use in gasoline engines, high-speed passenger-car diesel
engines and larger diesel engines, it is necessary to select carefully between the possible ZDDP
types available and sometimes to use balanced mixtures of two or more types. In some countries,
restrictions on lubricant phosphorus content, caused by concern for exhaust catalyst poisoning,

can limit the level of ZDDP that can be used. A phosphorus limit of 0.05% maximum has been
common for many years in Japan, and a limit of 0.1% maximum is common elsewhere.
ZDDPs contain high levels of sulfur species. As a result of the concerns expressed by some
OEMs of the adverse effect of sulfur species on aftertreatment performance, it is probable that
zero/minimal sulfur formulations will become available to meet the needs of the U.S. 2004
heavy-duty diesel emissions legislation.

Heres the timeline on when the ZDDP was limited in API / ILSAC licensed oils. Remember the
limit is on Phosphorus, and that limits the amount of ZDDP you can use.
Model Year
1992
1996
2001
2004

API rating
SH
SJ
SL
SM

ILSAC rating
GF-1
GF-2
GF-3
GF-4

Phosphorus limit
1,200 ppm
1,000 ppm
1,000 ppm
800 ppm

As you know, cam problems started to occur with the SL/GF-3 oils (due to higher detergent
levels used to meet increased engine cleanliness standards), and cam failures rapidly increased
with SM/GF-4 oils. It is important to remember that the Phosphorus limits are mandatory for
SAE 10W-30 and lower viscosity grades. Some higher viscosity grades have adopted the lower
Phosphorus limits, but it is not required. All API rated oils must meet the detergent and
dispersant requirements regardless of viscosity grades. This means that even high viscosity oils,
say a 20W-50, must meet the same detergent and dispersant standard as a 5W-20, so while a
20W-50 may have more ZDDP than a 5W-20, both oils have to meet the increased engine
cleanliness requirements of API SM.
Also, the current CJ-4 diesel engine oil specification has a Phosphorus limit of 1,200 ppm. Prior
diesel engine oil specifications did not have Sulfur or Phosphorus limits. The high level of
dispersants in the CJ-4 oils has proven to be competitive with the ZDDP for occupation of the
metal surfaces.
For 2010, API SN / ILSAC GF-5 oils hit the market. The phosphorus limits are 600 ppm
minimum and 800 ppm maximum (same as API SM/ GF-4), but a new phosphorus retention test
has been added. Passing this new phosphorus retention test may require the use of alternative
ZDDPs. We do not know the effects of these alternative ZDDPs with older flat-tappet, push-rod
valvetrains.
This information has been complied by Lake Speed, Jr Certified Lubrication Specialist &
Member of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers.