Maxlife Blend red jug vs Maxlife Plus Blend black jug

[Carlostrece]

Maxlife blend red bottle states for cars with 75K+ miles.

Maxlife blend black bottle states for cars with 150K+ miles.

Black bottle mentions having moly. Red bottle I didn't see any mention of moly.

I found VOAs for black bottle 5w30, but none for red bottle.

What's the difference between these oils? Is one better than the other for a car with 106K miles on it?

 

[burbguy82]

no clue, go with R&P though

gimmicks......

 

[Astro14]

It’s marketing. Use either one. Or neither.

The 300,000+ mile Volvo has never used high mileage oil.

It doesn’t need it

 

[CharBaby]

^^^ YES, I believe that too. Here's what Valvoline says.

MaxLife Blend 75K(RED) Available in 5 grades
https://shop.valvolineglobal.com/pr...ife-technology-motor-oil-sae-10w-30?Size=5+QT

MaxLife Blend 150K(BLACK) Available in 3 grades with some extra additives
https://shop.valvolineglobal.com/pr...plus-technology-motor-oil-sae-5w-30?Size=5+QT

 

[shortyb]

Well, the bottle color is different .

Seriously though, I used the red MaxLife in my Passat when it had 145K and it stopped the leaks. Would have used the black, but didn't come in a 40wt. Red bottle has a 10W-40 with an HTHS of 4.0. Highest HTHS for the black 10W-30 is 3.2.

 

[Patrick0525]

Well, the bottle color is different .

Seriously though, I used the red MaxLife in my Passat when it had 145K and it stopped the leaks. Would have used the black, but didn't come in a 40wt. Red bottle has a 10W-40 with an HTHS of 4.0. Highest HTHS for the black 10W-30 is 3.2.

What type of leak did it stop? How long did it take?

 

[Averroes]

Black jug says “Molly additive protection”. Interesting. We know that VHM has a good dose of moly in it anyways.

 

[shortyb]

What type of leak did it stop? How long did it take?

Timing cover gasket, breather hose gasket, VVT solenoid gasket, and cam bridge o-ring. Took about 7-800 miles before no more drips on the floor (cardboard). I have replaced the breather hose and gaskets, next up is the timing cover with all the attached gaskets mentioned. When done, I'll switch back to a regular Euro 0/5W-40 and check my work.

 

[Patrick0525]

Timing cover gasket, breather hose gasket, VVT solenoid gasket, and cam bridge o-ring. Took about 7-800 miles before no more drips on the floor (cardboard). I have replaced the breather hose and gaskets, next up is the timing cover with all the attached gaskets mentioned. When done, I'll switch back to a regular Euro 0/5W-40 and check my work.

Thanks, I am using the Valvoline EP HM 5w-30 to stop a rear main seal seepage. So far it has been 11days and 300 miles and appears drip free. I hope I caught it early.

 

[Carlostrece]

Black jug says “Molly additive protection”. Interesting. We know that VHM has a good dose of moly in it anyways.

When you say we know VHM has a good doses of moly, do you mean black jug specifically? I'm wondering what red jug has in it, but I can't find any red jug VOAs.

 

[Carlostrece]

I used red bottle to slow a valve cover gasket leak from a small puddle (after each drive) to only a few drops. Red bottle was fairly effective for slowing the leak, but couldn't entirely stop it because the gasket was too far gone. It reduced the leak in just a few weeks time.

Then I had my valve covers gaskets replaced. No more leaks.

 

[Carlostrece]

I contacted Valvoline. I received this answer within 30 min:

"All of our light duty oils contain Moly. The 150K(black bottle) PN 891664 contain an additional booster and more Moly. Unfortunately, the exact amounts are considered proprietary and I do not have that information."

So red jug has moly. Black jug has more moly plus an additional additive booster of some unspecified proprietary type. The other additives are (apparently) the same and base oils are the same.

The fact that I couldn't find any red bottle VOAs at BITOG, but did find several black bottle VOAs and UOAs suggests to me that longtime BITOG members already knew (or assumed) the info I learned from Valvoline. Thus they didn't bother with getting or posting red bottle VOAs, but instead focused on black bottle VOAs.

I'm still confident that red bottle is good, but I'm now confident that black bottle is better, and now I know why.

 

[burbguy82]

Well, the bottle color is different .

Seriously though, I used the red MaxLife in my Passat when it had 145K and it stopped the leaks. Would have used the black, but didn't come in a 40wt. Red bottle has a 10W-40 with an HTHS of 4.0. Highest HTHS for the black 10W-30 is 3.2.

i have had the same effect after using maxlife.

recently. in a 38yo engine with a rear main leak, at204 reseal stopped a rear main leak. i dont think valvoline has a maxlife diesel oil anymore. i would use it however

 

[Carlostrece]

I found a 2023 thread where several BITOG members said red bottle has more additives based on comparing VOAs. However, I can't find any red bottle VOAs posted in recent years. So I can't compare VOAs. How they could compare VOAs if there's no posted red bottle VOAs from same time period and same oil lab?

I still don't know the difference between red and black bottle Maxlife, nor do I know which is better for my 97 Buick or any other model year car.

 

[KCJeep]

Both would be just fine, Valvoline promotes black bottle as an upgrade so I would grab that if it was sitting there and not sweat it one bit if not.

 

[Carlostrece]

Red bottle is available everywhere locally and online, often at low prices. Black bottle is not available anywhere locally and relatively few places online. Price of black bottle online varies from $6 more, up to $20 more, than red bottle. Availability and price are a definitive difference.

 

[shortyb]

Red bottle is available everywhere locally and online, often at low prices. Black bottle is not available anywhere locally and relatively few places online. Price of black bottle online varies from $6 more, up to $20 more, than red bottle. Availability and price are a definitive difference.

Sounds like you have figured out which one to use.

 

[Averroes]

When you say we know VHM has a good doses of moly, do you mean black jug specifically? I'm wondering what red jug has in it, but I can't find any red jug VOAs.

 

[Carlostrece]

The oils in that video are all synthetic oils. This thread is about the red and black bottle Maxlife synthetic Blend oils. The video is off topic, but still a good video. Thanks