Quick Question About Lifters

[etex211]

I've got a '96 Chevy one ton truck with a vortec 454. Did those come from the factory with roller lifters or flat tappets?

 

I'm trying to make a decision about which oil I need to be running.

 

Thanks.

[Silverado4x4]

Rollers or tappets use the same type oil, theres no certain oil for eather one.

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Just use regular oil gasoline oil. that 7.4 will last forever.

[etex211]

All oils made for the consumer market in the past 5 years (or so) are not suitable for flat tappet lifters. Thanks to our government, and subsequently the auto manufacturers, the heavy metals (zinc, phosphorous, etc.) have been removed from the oil. This is not a problem for roller lifter engines, but it is a big problem for flat tappets. To ensure that you don't have any flat tappet failures, those metals need to be added to the oil, or another type of oil (oil designed for racing that doesn't meet the modern OEM specs) needs to be used.

 

Believe me, my friends and I all went through this with our race engines about 3-4 years ago.

 

So, does anybody have an answer for my question?

 

 

 

For those interested in knowing why the oils changed, here is the answer. The federal government mandated that the automakers warranty catalytic converters for 120,000 miles. The automakers said that the heavy metals in the oils caused too many converters to be damaged before 120,000 miles, so they spec'd the metals out of the oil.

 

I believe there are still very small amounts of zinc and the other metals in the new oil, but not enough to adequately cushion the heavy metal to metal contact between camshafts and flat tappets.

 

Call any camshaft manufacturer, and they will confirm this.

 

 

 

ETA: The reason I put this thread in the "Ask a GM Technician" section is because I knew that any knowledgeable GM technician would immediately know why I was asking the question.

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I know this, but your truck doesn't have flat tappets, and doesn't need to use diesel oil(high zinc), but if it makes you feel better, use a diesel oil like rottella t. I can tell you from experience that it'll last atleast 300k using that oil....non synthetic. Because the work truck we have is a 94 tbi 454 with 300k miles, we always put the same oil we put in the tractors in it to cut costs. They're hydraulic, but not roller.

[etex211]

Thanks for answering my question. That's all I wanted to know.

 

And by the way, they pulled the zinc out of the 15w40 diesel oil (Rotella, etc.) about 3 years ago. It is now no better for flat tappets than any other kind of oil.

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Yeah they pulled a little, but oil still has zinc in it and diesel oil still has more than gas oil. When they moved to triple protection or whatever they call it they did pull some protection.

[etex211]

I don't take any chances now on my race car motors. I use only Valvoline racing oil and I also add half a bottle of Comp Cams cam break in lube with every oil change.

 

Now that I know the dually has roller lifters, I will be comfortable just using O'Reilly's 20w50 in it.

 

Thanks again for the info.

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Why so thick?

[HawkScot]

Agree on needing oil with more zinc for flat tappet lifters....

 

Sometimes I use parts lookup (used rockauto.com this time) to figure these things out. I looked up 96 3500 w/454 and the lifters shown are all rollers. It is not perfect so if you have any doubts, run the additive or use the oils for the flat tappet lifters.

[etex211]

Why so thick?

 

 

It has 145,000 miles, it is only used during warm weather months, and it used exclusively for pulling trailers.

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Alright, it's your truck.