Motor oil for diesels?
 

I was at Costco today and noticed there was a motor oil for diesel engines from Castrol or so it said on the box. This has me wondering if my use of regular old 15/40 motor oil is sufficient or do I need a "special" motor oil made for diesel engines?

what brand
oil are you using

It just needs to be rated for compression ignition hence the CI,CJ, etc. Gasser oils are rated with a S.

Better explanation here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_oil

Diesel engine oil is designed to hold the large amount of soot diesel engines produce in suspension.
That's why the oil gets black so fast.
Gasser engine oil doesn't hold the soot and causes sludge deposits in your engine.
Bad idea to use the wrong oil.

CI-4 or CJ is what is recommended.

BTW, it's Castrol Tection Extra.

According to this it sounds fine for a diesel>
http://www.castrol.com/castrol/secti...tentId=7020979

I normally use Valvoline Premium Blue but since I happened across a "decent quantity" of Cat oil I won't have to go back to the VPB anytime soon. Only thing is, with the newer diesel engines, it's recommended to use a ZDDP supplement. I never have, with no problems as of late, but did some reading on it, and after talking with my diesel engine shop class teacher, who taught Zack Hamilton of Hamilton cams, I believe I will start using it with the next oil change!!!!

Any oil rated for diesel engines will be fine as long as it's rated for the newer engines....the CJ4 or something or other. Do some reading on the ZDDP and you will see that you too will start using it as well. Some might take this as a non-useful snake oil product but I'm a firm believer that if you take care of your vehicle it will take care of you. Knock on wood, I'm still running my factory injectors, but I also change the filters on my AirDog setup every 3k miles (along with oil change) whether they need them or not. Maintenance is way cheaper than full-blown repairs. Just remember that motor oil is the life blood of your engine.....keep it clean and take care of it.

ZDDP (zinc) is an anti wear additive. It was signficiantly reduced in all oils because it can clog the cats. Some new diesels have cats, so they need to avoid additives.

It's most important on anything with flat tappet cams. Oddly enough, the 5.9 Cummins still uses flat tappets/lifters. Everything else I own has roller lifters.

It also helps prevent glasssification of the cylinder walls.

With every oil change I add 2 bottles of Comp Cams break in additive. I also add it to my race car, even though it uses roller lifters.

Reason I posted the question is I used to have a shop do my oil changes mostly because it was required for a warranty I had but now that it's expired and maybe a little because I was lazy. I figured they knew what oil to use (it was Shell Rottella) but now I plan on doing it myself so now I know to check that it's CI-4 or CJ compliant. I could have looked it up in the owners manual but that has to do with the laziness issue and besides, I get way better information on here.
The ZDDP suppliment is interesting and I'm like jhensen, a true believer in preventitive maintainance rather than repair. I use Power Service in the fuel believing that if it may have some benefits and does no harm, I'll use it. The ZDDP additive might be an option at the next oil change after a little more research. Thanks for the replies.

I would like to hear(learn) more regarding ZDDP as it looks like a wise investment maintenance wise. Have mercy on my flat tappets.
Leave it to the EPA/DEQ etc to screw[tapdshut] up a good thing!
My concern is adding too much(2 bottles) since there is already some(?) in the CJ-4 oil?????????????????????????
Just a question-ie.. how much to use? What brand works best????????
[coffee]

I'm using ZDDP Plus, 2oz per oil change.

I have read that too much zinc isn't good either. Thinking next time I'll go 5k miles before adding zinc to replentish what's been lost.

Bighorn--thanks for starting this thread

Mikey-Using 2 ozs, is that correct(1/2 bottle)?
sounds about right to not use too much ZDDP

6cyl---thanks for the chart---Delo LE does not look too bad compared to the other oils regarding ZINC

6cyl also thanks for the chart, delo also looks better than the others in phosphorus, molly and boron, the better of the anti wear additives.