Valvoline MaxLife Synthetic Blend Clean engine?

[bourne]

Your UOA will tell us whether they kept the moly with the new formulation or not ! I offered a virgin sample if someone would pay for a VOA, no one agreed. Guess it aint loved that much yet

 

[FoxS]

Buster, I know you used top quality synths but what were your oci's like and did those oils drain out black in the end?

How often did you run 20 weight oils before the VHM?

 

[buster]

FoxS, OCI's were usually 10k miles or less. A few were 11-12k. The oil always came out dark. 90% 20 grades throughout the life of the engine.

 

[FoxS]

I think your intuition on the seals is a good one

The only other explanation is that some of your previous oil changes were a little too long and left deposits in areas you can't see. The higher detergents in the HM oil have gotten to them faster.

I was surprised how black M1 0w40 was after 6k oci / 30k total after being dealer serviced with presumably the same oil at 7k, then 17k, then 24k. The current fill at 6k is nowhere near as black.

 

[buster]

I agree. I'm going with the seal theory for now. Refilled with ML 5w30. Engine is silent on cold starts.