Switched to Maxlife

[Dominic]

Patman - I'm following your tracks I just switched my Camaro over to maxlife. I drained the Mobil1 out today and filled up the 3.8L with some clean 10W30 SL grade Valvoline Maxlife. Impressions: Like all valvoline products, the maxlife has a very greasy smell - seems superslick between the fingers - and slips on itself going down the funnel (cool effect!). After allowing the engine to idle a bit, and maybe its just my imagination, I honestly think the engine now idles far quieter - I hear much less valve ticking! I drove it around a bit and at every stoplight I came to I couldn't feel a vibration in the seat like I could with the Mobil1. Maybe I'm nuts, but I'm pretty impressed so far. Also, the Mobil1 was a very yellow oil by my standards, while the maxlife was nearly clear. Clear is pretty spiff - I don't know what that means but I can only guess its cleaner? I like it so far, we'll see how it holds up over time [ July 31, 2002, 12:47 AM: Message edited by: Dominic ]

 

[Patman]

I noticed how clear it was too. I wonder if the earlier stuff with moly was darker? People in my car club that used to use moly additives back in the 60s said that the moly was always very black. They had wondered how Maxlife could have moly, yet be such a clear colored oil. When I first put in Maxlife I too felt the engine get smoother, and found a bit of extra oomph down low. I switched directly from Mobil 1 as well. Strange eh? I'm 2000km into this interval now, so I'm 1/3rd of the way there (I'm switching it out to Schaeffers at 6000km)

 

[Dominic]

Thats comforting we had similar experiences. Once I get to Tallahasse I am probably also switching to schaeffers after I get the maxlife analysed to compare with your numbers. I should have 3,000 miles racked up in the next 2-3 weeks since I'm about to drive across the nation on this oil. As far as the clearness goes with oil, most valvoline products I've used are this way. A very non scientific test I've done is always smell the oil and then place it between my forefinger and thumb and rub/smack it to see how it 'felt'. Valvoline products, any of them, always will not rub off my fingers - they cling like superglue but are continuously slick. Quakerstate/Pennzoil would eventually rub out from under my fingers. And Castrol, worst of all, felt "tacky" and would smack and stick between my fingers when I pressed and let go - unlike the 3 brands above. Not to mention castrol left a bad taste in my mouth after running it in several vehicles during the late 80's and seeing how it varnished the insides of the engine quite badly. Formulas change, and they might not be this way anymore, but thats why I don't like the above brands Call me superstitious I guess [ July 31, 2002, 04:35 PM: Message edited by: Dominic ]

 

[Cooper]

Maxlife is still pretty clear. And, it has moly now.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Coop is busy today - resurrecting the dead.

 

[Cooper]

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Coop is busy today - resurrecting the dead.

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I would have to say that a lot of these older threads are much more intelligent conversation than MOST of the current threads. I am very interested in them, and I am sure some others are as well. That is why I am bringing out the dead per- say.

 

[SFCP]

Precisely, so now your oil stays more clear longer because it has less detergents to pick up dirt. You sure about this idea of swithcing to Maxlife? You sure? Hmmm???

 

[SFCP]

So you are saying you would rather have a run of the mill conventional which for all intents is what Maxlife is running in your high tech engine? Vs. Mobil 1?

 

[Drew99GT]

Maxlife is not a run of the mill conventional. It's likely more synthetic blend than most synthetic blends are. It has 20% PAO in the base stock and a far superior additive package than most oils. Geeze SFCP, I thought you liked Valvoline??? Trader

 

[Cooper]

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Precisely, so now your oil stays more clear longer because it has less detergents to pick up dirt. You sure about this idea of swithcing to Maxlife? You sure? Hmmm???

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I think that Maxlife will work well in my applications, but if it doesn't, then I will switch to something else. I still have 20 qts. of 5w30 PP, 10 qts. of 10w30 Pennzoil, and 17 qts. of 0w30 GC to use. I also only have 5 qts. of Maxlife. I am sure I will use it all sooner or later.

 

[Merkava_4]

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Geeze SFCP, I thought you liked Valvoline??? Trader

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He's hung up on that stupid Energy Conserving label; it just fricking drives me up the wall.

 

[Jaymus]

Where's the evidence? You can't judge an oil by the smell of it or feel of it. *Mmm... dis ohyul hir feel reel gud!* And then, there's the ones who say that just because your engine runs more quiet doesn't mean the oil is doing better, it's just not insulating the noise as well, and they say that doesn't mean it is or isn't lubricating good/bad. Just show some UOA's and let everyone else be the judge of the oil for themselves. I'm looking for a different oil for a couple of our cars, and would like to see some real results on oils.

 

[Dominic]

Holy crud... Old thread alert! I posted this in 2002! I dont even have the Camaro anymore sadly.

 

[Merkava_4]

It's good to have you back Dominic!

 

[BrianWC]

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Coop is busy today - resurrecting the dead.

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I would have to say that a lot of these older threads are much more intelligent conversation than MOST of the current threads. I am very interested in them, and I am sure some others are as well. That is why I am bringing out the dead per- say.

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Um, I don't know. There are plenty of silly old threads as well. Lots of stuff on SLick50 and the like.

 

[polecat]

I called Valvoline and they said the Maxlife is 25% synthetic & depending on which grade you get its either PAO or Group III based, but he wouldnt tell me which was what base. He said I could use it in my nissan titan truck which has 18k miles with no problem. I've got to decide to stop using M1 5w30 to try it though.

 

[polecat]

I did'nt mean to reply to [BrianWC] this was suppose to be in general.

 

[BrianWC]

Don't think anyone notices that type of thing. It's what everyone does.

 

[TallPaul]

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I called Valvoline and they said the Maxlife is 25% synthetic & depending on which grade you get its either PAO or Group III based, but he wouldnt tell me which was what base.

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First time I ever heard that. Last I looked, each grade of Maxlife showed the CAS number for PAO in it's MSDS and approximately 12-22%.