Dont know how to choose correct HPL oil

[OVERKILL]

An important question though is:
If we all are using full synthetic oil, how are the engines getting so dirty with varnish and sludge in the first place?
I would expect that if you buy a new car, and only use a full synthetic oil, say for a reasonable oil change interval like 5k miles, that the engine's internals should be clean (no sludge or varnish) after 100k miles. Is something happening to the full synthetic oil to turn it into sludge/varnish that we are not aware of?

We've seen mixed results on that front. The HEMI is probably more the exception, these are filthy running engines and I expect the material is from the ring land area, you most likely won't see anything this severe with other, cleaner running, engines.

That said, the ring land area is probably the hardest to keep clean, and I suspect that despite the engines being clean elsewhere, this is the area where you'll see material get cleaned from.

 

[Bill7]

Overkill - Thanks. In your opinion, would there be any downside (ex: increased engine wear, etc), to always adding 1 quart of the HPL engine cleaner + 3.5 quarts of a low priced full Synthetic with every oil change (assuming the sump holds 4.5 quarts)?

 

[OVERKILL]

Overkill - Thanks. In your opinion, would there be any downside (ex: increased engine wear, etc), to always adding 1 quart of the HPL engine cleaner + 3.5 quarts of a low priced full Synthetic with every oil change (assuming the sump holds 4.5 quarts)?

No.

 

[Bill7]

No.

Thanks for your response.

Once running the HPL Engine cleaner is done and drained out, which HPL oil would you choose if a maximum cleaning effect is desired.

 

[Daverino]

Can someone break down the pcmo options please. Is there a reason to get their top tier vs lower? Tried reading descriptions and they all just have a lot of the same language. If i do switch it would be to follow OLM on a 2019 Ram Hemi. Inside should be clean. 55k miles with 5k PUP oil changes and a WIXxp

I sent a message to High Performance Lubricants asking if their is any difference in cleaning ability between their oils. I have a 2010 Prius which has begun to burn oil, and I am hoping that a good cleaning oil will unstick the rings.

I very quickly got a message back that they all clean equally, so you can pick your flavor. And from the text on each variant it seems that there is intended to be an increase in service length corresponding with the price increase for each step up.

I personally chose the basic 5w20 as I am uninterested in longer service intervals, and the price savings was more interesting.

 

[Bill7]

I sent a message to High Performance Lubricants asking if their is any difference in cleaning ability between their oils. I have a 2010 Prius which has begun to burn oil, and I am hoping that a good cleaning oil will unstick the rings.

I very quickly got a message back that they all clean equally, so you can pick your flavor. And from the text on each variant it seems that there is intended to be an increase in service length corresponding with the price increase for each step up.

I personally chose the basic 5w20 as I am uninterested in longer service intervals, and the price savings was more interesting.

One other concern I have is:
I have 4 Honda Odysseys: Two 2006's, and Two 2007's. So they are old vehicles.
Currently no oil leaks. Even rear main seals are not leaking or oozing. I've been very lucky.
Have been using high mileage oil on them for a long time to treat the seals.

Would the Ester in the HPL engine cleaner or regular HPL oils either harm or clean too well the seals, and cause them to start leaking?
Has anyone experienced new leaks after using HPL engine cleaner or regular oils in their older vehicle?

 

[Daverino]

One other concern I have is:
I have 4 Honda Odysseys: Two 2006's, and Two 2007's. So they are old vehicles.
Currently no oil leaks. Even rear main seals are not leaking or oozing. I've been very lucky.
Have been using high mileage oil on them for a long time to treat the seals.

Would the Ester in the HPL engine cleaner or regular HPL oils either harm or clean too well the seals, and cause them to start leaking?
Has anyone experienced new leaks after using HPL engine cleaner or regular oils in their older vehicle?

In this video Lubrication Explained is talking about Alkylated Naphthalene, and he mentions that they both (AN and Esters) have good seal swelling ability, unlike PAO which does not swell seals. And we know that HPL uses a lot of Esters.

I would be surprised if High Performance Lubricants made an oil which ruined the seals in an engine, I'd guess that this would be discovered rather quickly.

I have a 2005 Acura TL with 228K on it, with a very similar engine to your Odysseys, and the seals have yet to leak either. The J series V6 engines of that era are amazing engines. I'll probably be able to tell you if HPL makes that car leak in a few months, when I change the oil in it with a couple of quarts of HPL 5w20.

 

[Bill7]

In this video Lubrication Explained is talking about Alkylated Naphthalene, and he mentions that they both (AN and Esters) have good seal swelling ability, unlike PAO which does not swell seals. And we know that HPL uses a lot of Esters.

I would be surprised if High Performance Lubricants made an oil which ruined the seals in an engine, I'd guess that this would be discovered rather quickly.

I have a 2005 Acura TL with 228K on it, with a very similar engine to your Odysseys, and the seals have yet to leak either. The J series V6 engines of that era are amazing engines. I'll probably be able to tell you if HPL makes that car leak in a few months, when I change the oil in it with a couple of quarts of HPL 5w20.

Yes, I was thinking about buying a very low mileage 2011 Toyota Corolla for the high reliability/gas mileage, but after more research, I found out that Toyota started using low tension piston rings, and they always get gummed up and cause oil burning, and also the 1.8 Liter 2ZR-FE seems to eventually get multiple oil leaks, some serious enough that fixing them requires removing the engine from the vehicle. So, I am going to stick with my 2006/2007 Honda J series 3.5 liter vehicles. I really like them and am thinking I can keep them another 12 years. Will continue to use high mileage oil to treat all the oil seals, and will do some HPL engine cleaning too. Please keep us posted how your engine cleaning with HPL oil goes.

 

[OVERKILL]

Thanks for your response.

Once running the HPL Engine cleaner is done and drained out, which HPL oil would you choose if a maximum cleaning effect is desired.

Unless Dave @High Performance Lubricants indicates otherwise, I expect they all have the same cleaning capability, so I'd just go with whatever best matches your budget and application.

 

[Bill7]

Unless Dave @High Performance Lubricants indicates otherwise, I expect they all have the same cleaning capability, so I'd just go with whatever best matches your budget and application.

Thanks. I was thinking about the lower priced HPL regular PCMO, which is a group III synthetic + AN + Ester (as long as it has the same Ester content as the 2 higher level HPL tiers that are Group IV PAO based).

I just want the Ester for the cleaning abilities (not the extended OCI's).
The cheaper HPL PCMO group III + Esther oil isn't that expensive, expecially if you buy a lot of it in 1 shipment to save money on the shipping.

Have 3 quick questions:

[1] Is there a separate discount code for the HP engine cleaner (Besides the BITOG15 discount code)?

[2] If I wanted to ask Dave a question, what is the recommended way to do that? By sending a private message on BITOG or via an external email that he might have?

[3] Since these HPL oils aren't API SP or ACEA certified, one of Dave's posts in the sticky acknowledged that he thinks HPL oil will never get the API or Acea certifications because then HPL oils would be limited in what HPL's superior chemistry can accomplish.
It's also interesting that RedLine oils (which have Ester also), don't have API SP or Acea certifications.
Could there be a reason Ester based oils can't get the API SP certification?

Also, are there any BITOG UOA's posted of virgin UOA's with each type of HPL oil? Just wanted to check the phosphorus levels
to make sure they aren't too high which might damage catalytic converters.

 

[OVERKILL]

Thanks. I was thinking about the lower priced HPL regular PCMO, which is a group III synthetic + AN + Ester (as long as it has the same Ester content as the 2 higher level HPL tiers that are Group IV PAO based).

I just want the Ester for the cleaning abilities (not the extended OCI's).
The cheaper HPL PCMO group III + Esther oil isn't that expensive, expecially if you buy a lot of it in 1 shipment to save money on the shipping.

Have 3 quick questions:

[1] Is there a separate discount code for the HP engine cleaner (Besides the BITOG15 discount code)?

[2] If I wanted to ask Dave a question, what is the recommended way to do that? By sending a private message on BITOG or via an external email that he might have?

[3] Since these HPL oils aren't API SP or ACEA certified, one of Dave's posts in the sticky acknowledged that he thinks HPL oil will never get the API or Acea certifications because then HPL oils would be limited in what HPL's superior chemistry can accomplish.
It's also interesting that RedLine oils (which have Ester also), don't have API SP or Acea certifications.
Could there be a reason Ester based oils can't get the API SP certification?

Also, are there any BITOG UOA's posted of virgin UOA's with each type of HPL oil? Just wanted to check the phosphorus levels
to make sure they aren't too high which might damage catalytic converters.

There are some VOA's and UOA's (I've VOA'd a couple of the Super Car oils) in the respective sections on here. I don't think the entire product line has been done.

Staying API compliant means necessarily limiting some additive and base oil chemistry (Base Oil Interchange guidelines) and doesn't make sense for some product lines produced by some blenders. This is a double-edged sword because this can mean subpar products (City Star) or exceptional (HPL, AMSOIL SS, Redline white bottle) products depending on the goals of the blender.

As far as I know, the BITOG15 is the only discount code.

 

[Bill7]

There are some VOA's and UOA's (I've VOA'd a couple of the Super Car oils) in the respective sections on here. I don't think the entire product line has been done.

Staying API compliant means necessarily limiting some additive and base oil chemistry (Base Oil Interchange guidelines) and doesn't make sense for some product lines produced by some blenders. This is a double-edged sword because this can mean subpar products (City Star) or exceptional (HPL, AMSOIL SS, Redline white bottle) products depending on the goals of the blender.

As far as I know, the BITOG15 is the only discount code.

Thanks for that information. That help's to explain why HPL doesn't have API certifications.

 

[High Performance Lubricants]

There are some VOA's and UOA's (I've VOA'd a couple of the Super Car oils) in the respective sections on here. I don't think the entire product line has been done.

Staying API compliant means necessarily limiting some additive and base oil chemistry (Base Oil Interchange guidelines) and doesn't make sense for some product lines produced by some blenders. This is a double-edged sword because this can mean subpar products (City Star) or exceptional (HPL, AMSOIL SS, Redline white bottle) products depending on the goals of the blender.

As far as I know, the BITOG15 is the only discount code.

This

 

[Deleted member 89374]

This

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

There are some VOA's and UOA's (I've VOA'd a couple of the Super Car oils) in the respective sections on here. I don't think the entire product line has been done.

Staying API compliant means necessarily limiting some additive and base oil chemistry (Base Oil Interchange guidelines) and doesn't make sense for some product lines produced by some blenders. This is a double-edged sword because this can mean subpar products (City Star) or exceptional (HPL, AMSOIL SS, Redline white bottle) products depending on the goals of the blender.

As far as I know, the BITOG15 is the only discount code.

Yeah, as of two weeks ago - the BITOG15 was still working. I placed my very first order with them and it worked fine. Matter of fact
I was very surprised and happy at how very fast my order arrived.

 

[Impatient]

Per HPL, the PCMO is their “regular” synthetic. The Premium uses an advanced VI improver that’s sheer stable. The Premium Plus uses the advanced VI improver and PAO to improve cold temperature performance even further.

I deleted my post, because I’m not sure I was supposed to repeat what “someone” at HPL had told me. But Skippy’s post #3 is consistent with what I heard….though even the “lowly“ PCMO is stellar compared to most offerings on the market. And less shearing as you go up from PCMO to Premium, and some inherent advantages for cold weather use at the Prem Plus level. And, theoretically, no shearing at all with the NoVII version.

 

[Impatient]

as far as I know, no one has compared HPL products with the old Valvoline/Cummins Premium Blue Restore. There are certainly some similarities, though there was only one grade (10w30) of VPBR. So I would love to hear some thought on that comparison. There is a newer VPBR (Gen II), with which I have no experience, but it has lower visc, and a lower level of a few additives…possibly still available, and possibly closer to SN+ or SP. of course, you won’t save much if any money seeking out VPBR.

 

[JRHAWK9]

I just placed my first order of the "lowly" PCMO 5w30. I plan on using it in my '21 Crosstrek and doing 4 month/4K OCI's with it.

 

[Impatient]

I just placed my first order of the "lowly" PCMO 5w30. I plan on using it in my '21 Crosstrek and doing 4 month/4K OCI's with it.

By all means do what you like, but that should be a waste. try what some (including HPL’s leader) are suggesting: do a filter change at 4K if you insist, or 5k, run a UOA on the oil, then decide if you need to change the oil. I bet you could run it 10k. Of course, if your Subie is heavily diluting the oil with fuel, you might decide to change it right after the test. But, aren’t you already going up a grade (thicker) from “Subaru recommended?”

 

[buster]

I just placed my first order of the "lowly" PCMO 5w30. I plan on using it in my '21 Crosstrek and doing 4 month/4K OCI's with it.

Why not just round it up to 5k lol? It can easily handle that.