What the What? Zinc...

[Infidel Edition]

So I'm breaking in my newly rebuilt engine and didn't drop $$$ for break in oil as you can just get some straight 30 weight and add zinc to get pretty much the same thing for like 1/3. Run it for the first 3-5 hours (200-250 miles) and then change it.

Though sometimes tricky to find, Auto Zone has 1 gal Rotella SAE 30 for like $16 and I picked up a bottle of Zinc from O'Reilly's Auto the other day.

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When I ran into the local auto parts store (Mike's / he's a great guy), I wanted to grab another bottle of Zinc, I noticed the same bottle on the shelf...
Mike jokingly asked why I'd buy a bottle of nothing ~ and when I told him what I was doing, he said he could order some Zinc additive for me.

Puzzled, I said, "isn't that zinc?"

Mike: "didn't you read the label?"

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"Does not contain Zinc or Phosphorous"
................WHAT THE WHAT!

So my zinc additive will be in today.
** he said, though this does roughly the same thing for an older engine, it's not the best thing for a new engine because it'll reduce the vital wear-in of the rings and such.....

[bluedragon436]

OK... could of sworn I posted in this thread already... Guess it didn't apply when I said post reply... oh well... Yeah that's good that you had someone that stopped you from wasting more money and even more so from wasting more money by possibly damaging or not really properly breaking in your new engine... The unfortunate part is... I'm sure many people have been like yeah, I did run zinc additive for the break-in of my engine, I don't know what happened... all because of the way they lightly put does not contain zinc on the back... Guess I'll have to make sure when I finally get to that stage on my build to remember to pickup either true break-in oil, or if I do the 30wt route, to make sure I get some real zinc additive to make my own break-in oil... Thanks for that heads up Dave!!

[denverd1]

crazy what some people bottle and sell these days