HPL Piston Photo

[KnappAttak]

I guess I'm the only one to see the ugly crap on both sides of the wrist pin areas and the carbon under oil control ring area along with the carbon in the oil control rings and ring land. Certainly not what I'd call clean, but to each their own. I'm not impressed by what I see from the control ring down, but above the control ring is clean where it sees no oil but just combustion, go figure how that could be as clean as it is as its not in the oil.

2:50 into this video, bad deposits on a piston vs a piston with little to no deposits. Makes this piston photo posted with look like a big fail to me. Far worse than the piston with bad deposits in this vid. Just saying.

 

[mt23]

I guess I'm the only one to see the ugly crap on both sides of the wrist pin areas and the carbon under oil control ring area along with the carbon in the oil control rings and ring land. Certainly not what I'd call clean, but to each their own. I'm not impressed by what I see from the control ring down, but above the control ring is clean where it sees no oil but just combustion, go figure how that could be as clean as it is as its not in the oil.

I wish I had a comparison picture from HPL start point. This engine was consuming quite a bit of oil from the intake valve stem seals. Camera in combustion chamber always showed oil coating the entire bottom of the cylinder wall and piston.

I got the impression that HPL kept things cleaner the hotter that it got in the area. Gives me confidence to drive harder without worry in that department

 

[Dborch41]

2002 Subaru WRX with 242,000 miles.

How many head gaskets does that convert to?

 

[mt23]

How many head gaskets does that convert to?

Zero head gasket leaks on this engine from 0 to 242k.

 

[buster]

Someone pointed out that there are still deposits after 50k miles of HPL use in this motor. What do you think?

I see hard carbon in between last grove. Piston skirts still heavily carboned up.

Is this considered good?

For comparison sake here is a piston before/after only 4k miles from Valvoline's lab. Notice the piston skirt was cleaned up.

 

[Astro14]

Some deposits are not going to be removed through chemical means.

You want a clean engine? Start with a clean one, not a dirty one.

Not everything can be remediated.

 

[buster]

Some deposits are not going to be removed through chemical means.

You want a clean engine? Start with a clean one, not a dirty one.

Not everything can be remediated.

I think that's the one bad thing about Valvoline Restore and Protect lol. We forget that using a top-notch oil form the beginning is the best practice.

 

[4wd]

I think that's the one bad thing about Valvoline Restore and Protect lol. We forget that using a top-notch oil form the beginning is the best practice.

I still think Valvoline is hinting at something in this pic - perhaps what they are doing with Valvoline Restore and Protect is cheap enough to do it in other lubes at the request of Supply Chain …

 

[Astro14]

I think that's the one bad thing about Valvoline Restore and Protect lol. We forget that using a top-notch oil form the beginning is the best practice.

I agree - but if HPL or Valvoline Restore and Protect removes some deposits - that’s still a net gain, still an improvement, just not a complete restoration.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

IMO, from all the rebuilds I did when I was young, the only way I got pistons spotless was by manually scraping the hard carbon to restore them. That carbon/ coked oil got stuck on them pretty good. I enjoyed cleaning them up back then. Now, I would go with Valvoline Restore and Protect to get them as clean as possible. Better than doing nothing, and the stuff works to an extent.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

I guess I'm the only one to see the ugly crap on both sides of the wrist pin areas and the carbon under oil control ring area along with the carbon in the oil control rings and ring land. Certainly not what I'd call clean, but to each their own. I'm not impressed by what I see from the control ring down, but above the control ring is clean where it sees no oil but just combustion, go figure how that could be as clean as it is as its not in the oil.

2:50 into this video, bad deposits on a piston vs a piston with little to no deposits. Makes this piston photo posted with look like a big fail to me. Far worse than the piston with bad deposits in this vid. Just saying.

Remember that pistons in a boxer do NOT see identical conditions to pistons in a typical straight- or V-configuration engine. The top sides of the pistons do not see full typical splash lubrication on full circumference, so there is not as much oil to provide cleaning as on a “more typical” surface engine style. Especially on the turbo engines that have windage trays; more pressure and heat with even less oil on the cylinder walls.

It’s the same reason piston soaks don’t work on a Boxer… so, all things considered this is definitely “worst-case” scenario, meaning results on any other style of engine should improve.

 

[demarpaint]

I think that's the one bad thing about Valvoline Restore and Protect lol. We forget that using a top-notch oil form the beginning is the best practice.

Valvoline Restore and Protect can be used in new engines as well.

 

[buster]

Valvoline Restore and Protect can be used in new engines as well.

Great thing about it.

 

[CleanSump]

Anyone who has had to use one of the tools below will agree with 50yr Street Mech.

Ring Groove Scraper:

And yes, we are cleaning the Grooves. The Lands are the parts between the grooves. Rings stick in Grooves. Pet peeve rant over.

 

[JTK]

Excellent pics! I'd like to see HPL's results on something GDI and turbo as opposed to this port injected Subaru engine.

 

[tired]

Someone pointed out that there are still deposits after 50k miles of HPL use in this motor. What do you think?

I see hard carbon in between last grove. Piston skirts still heavily carboned up.

Is this considered good?

View attachment 314778

View attachment 314779

View attachment 314780




For comparison sake here is a piston before/after only 4k miles from Valvoline's lab. Notice the piston skirt was cleaned up.

View attachment 314782

Agreed. Good eye. @KnappAttak called it early on, too.

 

[Japanese]

I see hard carbon in between last grove. Piston skirts still heavily carboned up.

Is this considered good?

Yes, piston is not perfectly clean, including some carbon in the oil ring groove.

But we don't have "before" pictures and if before the piston was much worse with sticked oil ring which was freed up by the HPL oil - that would be a big improvement.

So far, so good for not touching the piston. It cannot be perfect, but if that freed up oil rings and reduced oil consumption without opening the engine and replacing pistons and rings - that's a big win situation.

My mom says - don't expect dishes to get clean only by pouring water on them without using the scrub.
However, if people were able to open their engines and scrub out every part, there wouldn't be that much hype about cleaning oils like Valvoline Restore and Protect and HPL.

 

[tired]

Yes, piston is not perfectly clean, including some carbon in the oil ring groove.

But we don't have "before" pictures and if before the piston was much worse with sticked oil ring which was freed up by the HPL oil - that would be a big improvement.

So far, so good for not touching the piston. It cannot be perfect, but if that freed up oil rings and reduced oil consumption without opening the engine and replacing pistons and rings - that's a big win situation.

My mom says - don't expect dishes to get clean only by pouring water on them without using the scrub.
However, if people were able to open their engines and scrub out every part, there wouldn't be that much hype about cleaning oils like Valvoline Restore and Protect and HPL.

Valid point, but it still shows that HPL couldn't do in 50k what Valvoline Restore and Protect can do in 4k. Even if it took Valvoline Restore and Protect 20k (4x 5k OCIs), it takes them back to fully clean.

 

[Japanese]

Valid point, but it still shows that HPL couldn't do in 50k what Valvoline Restore and Protect can do in 4k. Even if it took Valvoline Restore and Protect 20k (4x 5k OCIs), it takes them back to fully clean.

This is still subjective because we compare real world HPL results - those piston pictures above with Valvoline Restore and Protect marketing images on the net.

If somebody take real world scenario before and after pictures after certain miles with Valvoline Restore and Protect - then the comparison would be fair enough with the HPL images above.

However, if I'm able to open my engine to take out the pistons, I wouldn't take pictures and put them back.
I would rather soak them for 24h in gasoline or other solvent and brush them clean, instead of puting them back and expecting Valvoline Restore and Protect or HPL to clean them out. (I like to soak parts in gasoline over night or 24 hours - it's the best cleaner for me.)

Everything is narrowed down that people are not mechanics that can open engines, take out and clean pistons and rings.

That's the whole purpose of those oils - touch free clean. Yes, touch free cleaning always has imperfections, but might be good enough.

 

[tired]

If somebody take real world scenario before and after pictures after certain miles with Valvoline Restore and Protect

You think Valvoline is manipulating them? You doubt their accuracy? Or what?

I don't think you're ever going to get someone to tear down their engine and not clean out the piston ring grooves while they're there.

The mental gymnastics people will do to not believe the results with this product are impressive sometimes. It would be one thing if the real world results didn't back this up, but we have countless success stories here of it working as advertised.