READ THIS IF you use Redline oil and Puralator
 

So I just picked up my 370 today and went to my friend's mechanic shop that he runs now. He's a honest fellow that knows a lot, and he questioned me about why I got the redline and puralator. Naturally I just replied I saw members on the forum using it and liking the results; also cause of AK370's great DIY thread.
Basically the Zinc in the redline oil will deteriorate the stock catalytic converter and shouldn't really be used unless you're running some serious mods or have racing headers, or driving your **** hard all the time. I know everyone wants the best for our 370 and I'm no different, but the general consensus is that it's a waste unless you fall into the said category.

With the Puralator oil filter, he said that it's cheap **** and don't use it. He showed me that inside it is missing (i forgot what it was called already) but it's like this little circular thing inside. He then showed me one that does have it and installed it, and told me to just return the Puralator if I can. The circular thing inside regulates oil pressure, and without it, you can ultimately blow the motor by not having the adequate oil pressure.

He then said, stick to Mobil1. He puts it in his 520hp Cobra, his client's Lambo, 911 Turbos specifically only want Mobil1 in their cars.

As for the remaining 7 bottles of Redline, I'll probably use it again for the next oil change if I don't end up selling it but afterwards, I'll just stick to Mobil1. I honestly didn't feel a difference with the new oil, and my car was at 3000 miles when I got the change. It never had a oil change prior and the oil was dirty.

So just helping the community out.

Being that there are a ton of other oil threads out there with actual oil wear results, I would be hesitant to take any anecdotal advice of a mechanic who seems to not have done a lot of work on 370Zs (just getting this from the other cars you mentioned).

I've used Redline and the Nissan Ester Oil and had Blackstone analyze both after about 3K miles of driving (one at 15K miles and the other at 18K). Redline oil does equally as well as the Ester Oil in terms of wear, and not sure how it would cause more damage to the stock catalytic converter.

Hi,
I believe you're confusing yourself with the TWO DIFFERENT kind of oil redline sells .

a. Redline Synthetic Oil for regular cars and trucks. This oil is formulated for regular everyday cars. This is what you want to use on your Z. DO NOT use racing oil in the Z!!!

b. Redline Synthetic RACING oil . This Is the serious "holy sh*t" oil that will allow your race car to redline all day long and withstand temparature that your regular car will never see or tolerate in it's lifetime.
However you said, That is also a true statement because ANY synthetic oil can be seen as a waste if you just drive your Z as a daily driver. But I like to put decent oil in my Z because I DO couple of track days a year. So, for me switching back and forth (regular dino oil vs synthetic) will be a pain. Hence I use the synthetic all year around. If you will never attend a track and drive pretty much like everyone on the road, you can just put regular oil in your car and save tons of money. However, I will say this, putting synthetic oil WILL extend the life of your engine in the long run (regardless of WHAT oil you choose). Just my :twocents:

I wouldn't say one synthetic is better than the other. It's a personal preference. If I had a GTR, i'd only put mobil 1 since Nissan recommends it. Since Nissan wanted us to use ester with the VQ, I went with Redline REGULAR synthetic oil (my personal prefence). About 32,000 miles this week on the Z and running stronger than the day I bought it (knock on wood. That's about 28,000+ miles on the Redline oil!)

What filter did you end up using it? The purolator pure1 is supposedly better than K&N which is much expansive. I haven't heard any bad reviews about Purolator pure 1. The only filter may be better (I'm just assuming) is WIX.

i pretty much got the same exact stuff you got kaiser. non-racing redline synthetic. perhaps my mechanic was reading up on the racing version, but i'll have to do some of my own reading. i'm not doubting you, i know you do your homework, that's why i went with the redline. he didn't say the oil doesn't work, but he did argue that the zinc (possibly in both or only in redline racing) will eat away at the catalytic converter.
this is all talking long-term damage.
as for what oil filter he put in, i honestly wish i could tell you the name, but i forgot. i just know that it had a little circular ring inside, that the puralator didn't. i'll probably stick with him on that.
just throwing it out there, this is my daily driver now but i will be taking it to the track here and there, when i can. i probably won't be going crazy with bolt-ons. the way i see it, go big or go home (boost).

:iagree: You should probably have the oil tested BEFORE you take advice from "some mechanic" on this very complicated fluid. There are many companies that do oil testing. Their results can confirm or deny any short-comings of any oil on the market.

He said the oil has Zinc in it and it will burn out the Cats? Would'nt you have to be burning the oil for that to happen??? But whatever, I have no Cats anymore so no worries for me LOL

I'm with you on this one...

I've used the Purolator Pure 1 filters on all of my cars. I've seen a few filtration comparison tests that show the K&N, FRAM, Moblie1 and OEM (in my car is was a Honda filter) all not being as effective as the Pure1. Not only for filtration but also affect in oil pressure.

I'll try to dig up the test and post the info...

^ I'm interested to see them.

Exactly.

Check out Bob Is The Oil Guy some time and you will see that the Purolator Pure 1 is about as good as you can get.

Either he didn't buy the Pure 1, or everyone else is wrong and this one mechanic is right.

Take a look here for example:

Pure 1 - Google Search

I think your mech was feeding you a line of BS.

Regarding the oil filters, Purolater makes more than one type of oil filter that will work the the Z. the mechanic may be referring to the "regular" Purolator oil filters as being "****" - the Purolator filter that has been highly recommended here for the Z is the Purolator PureONE filter.

Red-line Oil consistently performs very well in VQ37s as per bob the oil guy posts of the many oil analysis on that site. I don't know where your mechanic drew his information, but I don't believe a word of it and take it with a grain of salt.

Time for a new mechanic.. The 500hp should of been a sign..

lol mechanics talk sh!t on anything that you didn't pick up from their own recommendation...

Mobil 1 was a notorious culprit of oil consumption issues with the 350z's

I think your mechanic doesn't know what he's talking about or wanted to sell you something else. I use Redline 5w30 and I'm going to be doing an oil change with ALL redline fluids this weekend. Also, I use purolator filters :)

Same here ... I use nothing but redline.. You can search tons of forums and decide if mobile 1 is good for the vq

Did the first oil change at 2900 with Redline 5W-30 synthetic and a K&N filter. Ever since I installed the K&N, I had second thoughts about it so I went out as soon as I could and bought a Purolator PureONE. K&N is even smaller than the stock Nissan-badged FRAM!

I noticed that whatever they fill the Z with from the factory makes more of the characteristic valvetrain ticking than after the Redline does. Another buttdyno-ish assumption is that the oil temperature seems to rise faster and stay cooler (190-210).

In any case, I had to order my Redline from the internet so I've been considering just going to Royal Purple as it's readily available and it's still a very good oil. I might stay with Redline but seeing as I plan to change the oil every six months/5000 miles I will do an oil analysis with the Redline (even though I'm only at 6699 miles after about 14 months).

I hope your mechanic is wrong, because I've been using Redline since my 2nd oil change! Lol.

EDIT: And I have 35.8k miles on the clock.

i did some reading on what zinc does.
it will help with the motor break-in but zinc is like poison to the catalytic converter. it's fine if you're running test pipes and you probably wouldn't notice damage given that our cars are 2 years old at the latest, even with 20k miles. It's long term damage.

As for the purolator pure one filter that i got. its the PL14610, same one in kaiser's diy.
realistically, i'll finish off the redline and use the pure1 for the next oil change but after that i'm going royal purple and a suggested oil filter.

i'd have it no other way than to hear people's honest opinions, just to get a perspective on things, but i'm going to stay with my mechanic's advice on certain things. i consider him a good friend that a lot of people, including myself, entrust with their cars completely.

on a side note, he's rebuilding his 04 cobra, and throwing a meth kit, and should be pushing close to 700whp.
just hearing that makes me feel like my 370 is another 140hp honda. haha o well, im happy with my z. hoping for an amuse kit and tt setup in the future.
hope everyone is enjoying their z's

ZDDP is a common additive to increase pressure resistance in oils. It has been tied to killing cats, although the kind of cat-killing this does is much worse on a car that consumes a lot of oil (namely rebuilt, low tolerance motors, not OEM equipment).

Either way, if you plan to TT in the future, it won't matter. You'll just be running nice fat test pipes instead.

so basically you're saying the zinc in the redline won't do anything to our stock cats. sounds good to me. i assume it won't matter on HFC as well?

Every mechanic knows everything. I believe in test results, not the preference of a mechanic.

Data results should provide balance to decisions/choices. It's a good thing to put the question out to the forum because you will gather a bunch of opinion and data as well. Be prepared however, to hear what the majority of insight's can provide. A single mechanic can not provide the same level of experience that numerous people can ….thus the goodness of the forum:tup:

I run test pipes, Redline oil for engine and transmission fluids and after 40k miles and 2 years of running track sessions my car runs exceptionally well.

Just my opinion above…sorry about the soap box

Its tough to really know who you can and cannot trust in this matter, what I can tell you is that most mechanics are idiots and have no clue what they are talking about. You need to do the research yourself and drum up conclusions with actual facts and tests. The redline fluid and purolator filter has been proven with facts and oil analysis. I'm a service advisor at a VW dealer and get alot of people coming in with broken cars because they followed what their mechanic said or their mechanic screwed something up and won't own up to it. We can make a separate business fixing what other mechanics screw up that's how bad it is. I had this one guy come in because his tranny didn't shift one of our techs pulled the trans fluid out and it wasn't even the correct fluid. I called up the shop that installed the tranny and told them they didn't even put the right fluid in there and they just said well the box says it's good for that type of vehicle and then hung up... Perfect example.

[QUOTE=370Z Purist;945116]ZDDP is a common additive to increase pressure resistance in oils. It has been tied to killing cats, although the kind of cat-killing this does is much worse on a car that consumes a lot of oil (namely rebuilt, low tolerance motors, not OEM equipment).

:tiphat:I agree with 370z purist ( not about the cats). I am not an auto mechanic but have worked on heavy AC centrifugal machines and screw machines. we perform 50 or more oil analisys every year on differant oils
and what seems common is that all oil have zink in differant amount depending on the brand. I looked up Mobile 1 oil on their web and their
MSDS sheet indicates that Mobile 1 also contains Zink, so is the mechanic saying that redline contains more zink and will damage converter faster then Mobile 1 :icon14:

so what filter do you guys use with synthetic....anyone try the royal purple filter yet?

I have one installed on my car right now. I went with a larger one than recommended but it works just fine. I plan to cut it open when I change it in a couple of months. I will post my results then.

^Nice interested to see the results. I have a purelator pure1 on there now with mobil 1 synthetic....no complaints as of yet and i drive it pretty hard.

It's actually difficult to find oils that have enough ZDDP and redline isn't one of them. Valvoline VR1 is one of the only oils left that has any significant ammount of ZDDP and a version of Mobil 1. Ironically its the oil your mechanic should be running in his engine.

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ZDDP

Older engines with mechanical valve tappets like the ZCar L-series engines and V8s with flat tappets (not roller cams) were designed for motor oil which contains a moderate amount of zinc and phosphorus known as ZDDP (zinc diaklydithiophosphate). ZDDP is considered a miracle lubricant for engines and has been used for about 60 years in motor oil and greases worldwide. Modern engines weren't designed to need ZDDP so the modern-day automotive world doesn't even speak of it. But for vintage car and hot-rod owners the diminishing levels ZDDP in oil is a real issue because it's required to lubricate the cam lobes and prevent wear across the rocker arm surfaces.

WHY IT'S VANISHING IN OIL
While zinc is not directly harmful to the environment, if its burned due to ring blowby it ruins your catalytic converter. So over last decade the EPA has pressured the oil companies to reduce the percentage of ZDDP in their passenger car oils. This extends the life of converters...which in turn reduces total car emissions. Pressure from the construction industry allowed some diesel oils like Rotella T made by Shell to use higher levels of ZDDP which they claim is needed on heavy equipment. However, I don't like the idea of using bulldozer oil in my 7,000 rpm L28, even if it does have more zinc. Starting in 2007 construction equipment had tighter emissions standards so zinc in Rotella is likely to fade if not greatly diminished already.

Luckily there is still one company with the guts to market a higher ZDDP oil for passenger cars, in a viscosity that doesn't reduce horsepower: Valvoline. Their VR1 10W-30 racing oil is a quality SH grade oil which simply means the ZDDP hasn't been removed to qualify as a SL or SM grade. Valvoline's MSDS sheet lists it at 1.3% phosphorus/zinc, 1% sulfated ash and 2.5% calcium...which makes for a nice lube cocktail. The new SM grade oils all have about .08% ZDDP to conform to EPA standards while 2% and higher ZDDP is considered the level to use in an older motor. Valvoline states it exceeds SM levels of protection...so this is now my oil of choice, even over a synthetic. Mobil 1 is available in a high ZDDP synthetic but I find it too expensive for my tastes.

=Taken from http://datsunzgarage.com/engine/index.htm=

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As for the filter your mechanic was probably talking about the anti-backflow valve. The Purelator has been taken apart and has been highly rated by several people who have disassembled to see what the filter really looks like. The filtering area is high as is the quality of the build including the use of a silicone seal for the valve. It's comparable to a Wix which is also commonly know as an excellent filter as well.

Oil filter comparisons

Oil Filters Revealed - MiniMopar Resources

Also check out Bob is the Oil Guy. There is a lot of science on there and you can spend literally hours reading and researching on there - it's very good.

Your mechanic is a friend of yours. Do some research and come to your own conclusion about how accurate his information is.

wow good stuff. repped

Cats? Can't kill what isn't there :icon17:

So... the zinc additives are better for older motors only?

@wdkwang - So he told you that Walmart grade Mobil1 was better than Redline 5W30? Hmmm, time to find a new mechanic. Sure M1 is good enough in most cases, but it thins out a little too much at elevated temps for my liking.

As for the filters, the Pure1 filter is very well constructed, and is one of the best filters for the money. Cut one open and take a look! The K&N and the M1 Extended Performance filters are two other good options for street driven cars given their solid construction and heavy duty filtration layers, compare the weight of these to any other filter.

An easy way to increase your filtration surface area is to buy the GT-R spec filters, these filters are exactly the same but slightly longer.

I heard Royal Purple oil will wear out your rear sway bar faster. I'm sticking with Redline.

Fine, if you want your cat to die, probably your dog as well, hater. :mad:

+1

love this oil and filter

:bowrofl::bowrofl::bowrofl:



but seriously,
i'll done my own hw since i made the thread some weeks ago and found that redline and the pure one filter is fine for the z.
my mechanic has since then changed his oil to royal purple after i linked him this pdf file that was on this forum. i'll be switching out to royal purple as well once i'm done wit the box of redline i ordered.

Royal purple will rape your sister and murder your mother - use with caution.

...and ironically will not be using lube of any sort......