What does zinc phosphate have to do with cams wearing out? All it is is that black/dark gray coating they put on most of the parts inside the engine before they are machined. It helps keep stuff from rusting while it's going through the various machining steps. It's actually not even zinc phosphate anymore. Hasn't been since the 50's with most companies unless they like doing more work than necessary. It's usually Manganese phosphate nowdays.
I do this process on guns mostly but also quite a bit on my own engine parts and for a few custom engine builders around the country. Manganese, or Zinc phosphate coatings on parts like connecting rods and cam shafts also helps the parts to hold oil and run a bit cooler. The coating is porous and soaks up and holds oil a ton better than a bare steel part. That's why it's been the standard military gun coating since the M-1 Garand in the late 30's and has been the standard for refinishing all steel rifles and pistols since the 40's. Just a small amount of oil is all it takes to soak in and provide protection for a long time with coatings like this.
I was just curious about the title of this thread is all.
Nevermind, I just read that article. That stuff is different. What I said still applies though if you all want your engines to run a little cooler.
Anyway, I had a rash of bad cams back in the mid 90's myself. It really ticked me off too when that company tried blaming it on me for two of them. It was in a crate engine that came fully set up internally and pretty much ready to run. In fact I remember the instructions saying specifically not to adjust the lifters until after a certain number of miles that it never even made it to. I finally talked them into sending me another engine and on that one it locked up solid after less than two hours of running. They forgot to put the piston pin clips on the back two pistons! I never bought another crate motor again after that. I had at least 5 cams go bad on me in the first year of service back in those days too. All from the same company also. If anyone else had offered that particular grind at the time I would have used them but noone did back then. It doesn't surprise me that changing the properties of the oil might have had something to do with it.
Try finding the proper oil for a powerstroke diesel these days. One with the anti foam additive they require. Mobil-1 did have it but not anymore. I'm stuck with Rotella synthetic now but I really prefer the Mobil-1. I've run one engine over a million miles on that stuff already and am hooked.
