Engine Flush, Nextgen or Both?

[qdeezie]

I realize I might get a few insults hurled my way about how I could've destroyed my engine with snake oil and I've lost my mind as evidenced by the placebo effect I'm describing below, but I was previously running 5w-20 Havoline High Mileage in my Focus and when time came to change the oil, I grabbed some 5w-20 Valvoline Nextgen Conventional out of the stash to use. Prior to draining the oil, I ran a bottle of Gunk High Mileage Engine Flush through the engine and let it drain until there was pretty much no drips coming out. Well, the oil change itself was pretty uneventful, but there are a few good things I've noticed since changing the oil. 1) The engine turns over faster during startup. 2) Upon cold startup, I no longer hear any tapping noises. There was a light tapping noise I'd hear that would go away once the engine warmed up. 3) My highway gas mileage has increased from 31mpg to 32mpg. 4) The car has a manual transmission and I notice less drag when taking off. To describe it in more detail, I don't have to leave my foot on the clutch as long anymore because the engine doesn't bog down as it once did. I can come off the clutch much faster than what I was able to. 5) The engine already ran smooth, but it just seems to have smoothed out even more over the past 2000 miles or so since going with Nextgen. When I pull up to a traffic signal, the car idles noticeably quieter with less vibration than what it previously did. As far as why I decided to use the engine flush, the engine has varnish and out of curiosity, I wanted to see if the engine flush would do anything with regards to that. It was a one time deal on using engine flush. The varnish seemed to be slightly lighter after the flush (not enough to go wild over), but that could be just me wanting to see something better since I paid for a bottle of engine flush. I noticed that the Nextgen definitely was thinner than the Havoline High Mileage when pouring it out, so that could be why I'm noticing these improvements. Aside from me being out of my mind for using snake oil (I'm sure someone will imply that), what are your opinions about about my observations above? Is Nextgen just that good or did the snake oil provide any real benefit? Or is it a combination of both?

 

[Jimzz]

Look up the ratings on the oil that will tell you the true viscosity. But the flush also vaporizes as well so it could clean some of the PCV system up also a little if ran long enough. But also many of the things you notice are minor and could be placebo affect. But as long as it runs well and you are happy that's what matters.

 

[Donald]

Its subjective and you are wanting it to perform better. Its probably not beforming better or worse. You seem to have lucked out with the flush. PU is good oil, why not use it for all your vehicles?

 

[qdeezie]

Originally Posted By: Donald

PU is good oil, why not use it for all your vehicles?

When I first bought the car, the car had oil leaks and I also didn't know if the car had oil consumption or what, so I hoarded oil a bit. Since I have repaired all of the leaks, I have determined that the car does not consume oil and it's likely I'll use some sort of synthetic once my stash runs out. With the other two vehicles, I knew the history of those (rebuilt the truck engine myself) and the other one was new, so I was ok with using PU in those.

 

[Nick1994]

Wasn't there something with the VOA tests on NextGen 5w20 that showed something wrong with it?

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994

Wasn't there something with the VOA tests on NextGen 5w20 that showed something wrong with it?

Yup it's NOACK was way out of whack. http://www.pqiamerica.com/Nov2013/Valvolinenextgen.htm

 

[qdeezie]

I remember seeing this awhile back. PQIA and Valvoline have butted heads on more than one product. I remember PQIA got after Valvoline regarding their Maxlife ATF as well (that stuff is AWESOME in my truck-BTW). I do value PQIA's findings, but I feel like Valvoline is still a safe choice based on my experiences with them.

 

[JHZR2]

I don't see a reason to use these things regularly, but I did have an issue with a cold start lifter tick, which I utilized Chemtool B-12 after other products did not fix. I also added some restore "snake oil" after seeing it commonly used for this in the Jeep 4.0 world. No more lifter tick at below-freezing conditions, even with heavier oils in use (5w-40 through 20w-50) in my BMW. So its not always snake oil, it just doesn't have a typical place in a maintenance regimen... And may not always work if there is a mechanical issue.