Valvoline 4-year 500k conventional vs synthetic engine tear down

[MuzzleFlash40]

Those are turbocharged direct injection 4 cyl engines. Which are hard on oil to begin with. With 10k mile OCI’s MINIMUM, they said they pushed it farther in some. Done on a dyno but said to replicate actual driving for 8 hours a day as much as possible. Using conventional and their basic synthetic oils. Now would their EP oil have done better? Absolutely. For 500k miles? I dont think ANY off the shelf oil or I dare say any boutique oil would have made those specific engines pass the “BITOG” cleanliness standard lol. JMHO

 

[ZZman]

Mixed feelings here. Great that both made it that long. Great and makes sense Syn oil engine looked and appeared better maintained. However this isn't real world as many said. Direct injection engines can be rough on oil due to fuel dilution. Short tripping, cold weather operation etc could have shown an even bigger difference.

 

[wemay]

Not sure this a favorable video when the conventional had 7 stuck rings and the synthetic had 1 stuck ring. That's terrible LOL.

See: 12:30 min mark.

And this after running conventional for 10k mi oci's. If cut in half, might have had equal results to the synthetic. I really see this as two oils good enough to achieve these results after 500k mi, but the nod goes to VWB in context.

 

[OCD-OCI]

You gotta hand it to them, they ran one hell of an expensive and time consuming test and published it to the public.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I think that the varnish and some sludge with conventional was not surprising . The surprising part was getting the high miles on the 2.3 Ecoboost with both a clean engine and one with a presence of vanish. All the hand wringing about clean pistons and such. Glad I saw that video. I’ll stick with synthetic and maybe consider the 2.3 Ecoboost in an Explorer.

 

[buster]

You gotta hand it to them, they ran one hell of an expensive and time consuming test and published it to the public.

That is true.

 

[wemay]

If i had to, I'd definitely use old faithful, VWB. I did so a few times in our old SFS 2.0T.

 

[Owen Lucas]

TL;DR:
- Timing chain tensioner stuck on the conventional engine
- Waste gate failed at 200K on convention and looked worse than the 500k original gate using synthetic oil.
- Oil control rings stuck on conventional oil engine.

I guess this proves don't run conventional oil lol.

 

[tolian21]

Why its important if 500k mile engine is clean or not? It has 500k miles, isnt it more than enough anyways?

 

[4LeggedFrog]

Informative video.
Bottom line..Synthetic for the win!

 

[Patman]

Why its important if 500k mile engine is clean or not? It has 500k miles, isnt it more than enough anyways?

That is a very valid point! Most people won’t even get to half of that mileage. It would have been interesting if they had stopped the test and took a look inside at the 250k point and then continued on for the other 250k.

 

[Ayrton]

I mentioned somewhere in this thread that I wasn't sure why they used Valvoline Advanced.

I watched for the third time and noticed it was actually Valvoline Extended Protection, or so they claim.

That is a little surprising that it was their top oil until R&P and it still didn't look as clean as some of us would have liked.

 

[Krieg]

So they measured wear by visual observations? Imagine if HPL had been used. Immaculate!

 

[wemay]

Taking this teardown into consideration, I might be using VWB 5W-20 exclusively in the Malibu. I do 3k mi OCI anyway, and receive significant discounts from VIOC. My Pops would be proud since this was the only oil he used. Granted, waaaay back.

 

[camrydriver111]

Do they show the cylinder bores anywhere?

That is what I'd be most interested in seeing.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

Do they show the cylinder bores anywhere?

That is what I'd be most interested in seeing.

This video has a lot of visual inspection and includes finding cylinder bore polishing. Also demonstrates the stuck rings on the conventional engine. The synthetic oil used was Valvoline synthetic extended Protection.

The driving cycle simulated stop and go city driving. The conventional engines turbo and its replacement did not do well.

Although discolored the varnish on the synthetic engine was soft and wipeable to clean metal. The conventional had a hard crust that could not be wiped off manually.
The conventional parts were more bonded during breakdown requiring more tools and force to remove.

Nothing groundbreaking. The chain tensioner on the conventional oil was stuck with sludge causing the chai to rattle and run loose

The main reason Dyno engines exteriors stay so clean is the lack of road dirt.

Video isn’t painful too watch and they are open about the performance differences and the wear differences. I applaud Valvoline for the test and the fair and open review of the results. They did sample the engine oil and collected a lot of data from this test.

 

[cb4017]

I thought it was interesting and no real surprises. In the two EB engines I had, (2.3L and 3.5L) I did 5k OCIs with synthetic oil. Since the 2.3L EB is a direct injection engine I would have liked to see the back of the intake valves.

I have a GM 2.7L Turbo Max now and stick with the same OCI routine. Currently running M1 EP in it.

 

[OilStainedNapkin]

Taking this teardown into consideration, I might be using VWB 5W-20 exclusively in the Malibu. I do 3k mi OCI anyway, and receive significant discounts from VIOC. My Pops would be proud since this was the only oil he used. Granted, waaaay back.

Mind sharing how one would get good discounts at VOIC?

 

[wemay]

Mind sharing how one would get good discounts at VOIC?

 

[Fair enough]

Did they say in this video, like I seem to recall in the M1 tear down, that there is no measurable engine wear using the synthetic? Did they mention which oil filter they used?

I think It’s the Motorcraft, seen near the beginning. Should be a 910s.