ZDDP in Additives

by Robert Sanborn on October 15th, 2007, who was a member of the STLE Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers for 15 years.

ZDDP (Zinc Dithiophosphate)

In 2006 when a new motor oil warranty category for gasoline engines was developed GF-4, problems started occurring with older cars. When a new warranty specification is put on the market and licensed by the American Petroleum Institute (API) it makes all other previous specifications obsolete. All cars are supposed to be able to run on the new oil, however this is not the case with GF-4.

Zinc and the New Catalytic Converters

For many years major oil companies have used ZDDP (zinc dithiophosphate) in their motor oil formulations. The reason for this is ZDDP acts as a good anti-wear agent, and until metals of all kinds have escalated wildly in price, it was relatively cheap. Furthermore due to the skyrocketing price of platinum and palladium, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) decided to change the composition of your vehicles catalytic converter. With the new catalytic converter material, the new GF-4 specification is fine for new vehicles, however cars with flat tappet engines are not so lucky. Due to the pressure on flat tappets the new additives in the GF-4 are not working and customers are reporting early failure in droves! This is not an isolated problem, and the oil companies were aware of this problem. What has happened is that the EPA has mandated that sulfur, phosphorus and zinc (sulfated ash) were to be removed from the oil as it destroys the catalytic converter over a long period of time.

Older cars have run into a myriad of problems with flat tappet camshafts. Premature failure seems to be the rule rather than the exception. Car owners are mad and want answers fast. The fact is that older cars with their different catalytic converters need a product like zinc to protect its critical parts.

SFR 100 manufactured by SFR Corporation, SFR 100 with remarkable results published on the website. If you need ZDDP look for SFR’s SFR 100.

5 Responses to “ZDDP in Additives”

1. James Duvall Says:

   November 6th, 2008 at 4:47 pm

   Amsoil states not to add any other additives to their products,do you have an answer to their not adding to the oils chemestry ?
   James Duvall

2. roberts Says:

   November 7th, 2008 at 12:25 pm

   James,

   This is a question that comes up many times, especially by dealers of other products such as yourself. Without getting into the rhetoric of battling competitors the answer is quite simple. Every time a new category of a lubricant comes out, it calls for more additives. Thus if there was such a fine balance then additional additives would not be compatible based on “the fine chemical balance” marketers like to hide behind. Example Mobil 1 came out with their new extended drain interval motor oil claiming 15,000 miles. The reason they could do this is explained clearly on the bottle and that is it contains 18% more detergents then other lubricants such as Amsoil. If there is such a fine chemical balance, a whopping 18% increase in detergents would create problems. This is clearly not the case and actually gives us insight into additives, as its the the additives that does all the work not the base oil. Though there is a fairly slight difference between Group III, Polyalphaolefins, and polyol esters the base oils of choice in synthetic lubricants, the real performance enhancement is in the additives. These include pour point depressants, anti-oxidants, anti-wear agents, extreme pressure agents, corrosion inhibitors, anti-foam additives, detergents, dispersants and a few more. If it wasn’t for the additives no one could make a claim on performance.

3. Seth Says:

   January 24th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

   I just read your reply to a post from November 2008 and I want to say its nice to see a company give a straight answer and not one where they try to confuse the public with marketing.

4. richard duncaN Says:

   January 30th, 2009 at 4:20 pm

   Hi sounds like a great product I also like that the owners are in Montana my birth state

5. roberts Says:

   June 21st, 2010 at 1:51 pm

   Melvin: Yes you can use ZDDP in synthetic gear oil, however it won’t help you as much as using it in an engine. In a gear box you need extreme pressure agents like our Gearzol, which is a full synthetic. ZDDP is an anti-wear agent for lower pressures. Gear boxes have much higher load pressures and thus need EP agents. Gear oil usually contains sulfur and phosphorus as EP agents but it will not hold up to EP agents using metallic or CP’s. ZDDP is mostly for engines as a lower friction anti-wear agent. When they test anti-wear agents they perform a 4 ball wear test with the load maximum of 40kg. When they test EP, which they then use a 4 ball EP test ASTM-d-2783 the load goes to 880 kg. Big difference. If you want to maximize a differential or gear box use a product like our Gearzol found at http://www.sfrcorp.com. Thanks for the question and hope you have great results.

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