Valvoline R&P - Engine Builder Mag

[buster]

Dealing with Deposits to Boost Engine Life - Engine Builder Magazine

Engine oil slows down engine deposit development, but in concocting its latest engine-protecting blend, Valvoline found something surprising.

www.enginebuildermag.com

"Traditionally the role of engine oil has been to slow down engine deposit development, but in concocting its latest engine-protecting blend, the Valvoline team stumbled upon something… surprising."

“There are some deposits that are temporary that you can wipe off with your finger, and there are others that can get very thick,” explained Dr. Michael Warholic, global technology director, Valvoline Global Operations

“We were trying to basically minimize deposits, engine wear, friction and heat, and oil formulation is a balance, so you have to pick and choose what you want it to do,” Warholic says. “What we didn’t know was before the testing that it would remove and reverse the process – that is something you can’t predict by modeling. Restore and Protect removed engine deposits. I had never seen anything like it before, and I have eight years at Valvoline and 16 years at a company that makes the additives used in oil formulation.”

 

[drtyler]

How many people keep a modern car until the engine wears out? Even where they don’t rust away, other items get in the way of the 1,000,000 mile mark.

 

[buster]

How many people keep a modern car until the engine wears out? Even where they don’t rust away, other items get in the way of the 1,000,000 mile march.

Not many but quite a few do keep cars a very long time. In many ways this does look a breakthrough product and not marketing that was suggested by quite a few people being it can remove deposits that previously could not be removed. The focus has always been on prevention.

Over the typical life of a vehicle many see oil consumption as the engine ages. This could completely stop that.

 

[Cujet]

How many people keep a modern car until the engine wears out? Even where they don’t rust away, other items get in the way of the 1,000,000 mile march.

An objective look at this reveals that a great many people experience early engine failures, while following the manual exactly or better.

There are innumerable Prius owners who have wear related oil consumption problems from as low as 100K miles on. More typically about 175K miles. Honda/Acura V6 owners are another group where piston rings rapidly wear enough to fail to seal properly. The list of worn modern engines is very, very long. Hyundai rod bearings, BMW rod bearings, Jaguar main bearings, Ford cam phasers and cam bearings.

As always, adequate viscosity and clean oil are required for maximum engine life.

 

[drtyler]

An objective look at this reveals that a great many people experience early engine failures, while following the manual exactly or better.

There are innumerable Prius owners who have wear related oil consumption problems from as low as 100K miles on. More typically about 175K miles. Honda/Acura V6 owners are another group where piston rings rapidly wear enough to fail to seal properly. The list of worn modern engines is very, very long. Hyundai rod bearings, BMW rod bearings, Jaguar main bearings, Ford cam phasers and cam bearings.

As always, adequate viscosity and clean oil are required for maximum engine life.

But would this particular product have saved those blown engines?

Its a great innovation they have found, and I am all for clean engines. But I am uncertain as to how much increased engine longevity one would see using it. Thats all.

 

[PandaBear]

I see this as a remedy to an engine with design problems. If your engine is designed right they should not need it and something else will usually wear out first.

 

[4WD]

Even a …

 

[Brian123]

Real-world testing is crucial. For instance, a Ford Mustang was subjected to extensive testing with Restore and Protect, showing significant reductions in wear and deposit formation. The testing extended to various engine components, including the timing chain cover, oil pan, and valvetrain, demonstrating the comprehensive benefits of the oil. The team also ran Restore and Protect in a Ford Explorer with more than 500,000 miles.

“And we also did a chassis dynamometer test where we put a vehicle on rollers basically and ran it 300,000 miles,” Warholic says. “Restore and Protect actually cleaned up the entire engine.”

A Ford Explorer with more than 500,000 miles.

This is getting Ridiculous with the Claims, there was another claim where a person used it for like 4 OCI's. This product came out in December of last year, when did this person get the product and what were his OCI's? Was he driving from Maryland to California and back?

 

[4WD]

It’s a low cost API SP - won’t hurt to try it in many motors …
Just another oil change with potential (new) benefits …

 

[buster]

Already meets GF-7 too. But yea, if you're using a top-quality oil at a reasonable OCI your rings will likely stay clean. Still it's an interesting product and new technology.

 

[TumblrDucks]

People with sludge engines are testing with it in this forum. Maybe next year we would see some under the valve cover pic or disassembled block pic to prove the claim...

 

[KGMtech]

I would try this new oil without hesitation on an older engine, but based on how well it cleans, it might be a good idea to change the oil filter at mid-point to prevent the overloading of filter = bypass concerns.

 

[buster]

I would try this new oil without hesitation on an older engine, but based on how well it cleans, it might be a good idea to change the oil filter at mid-point to prevent the overloading of filter = bypass concerns.

They designed it so it would clean slowly and not overload the filter hence 4 OCIs.

 

[Cujet]

But would this particular product have saved those blown engines?

Its a great innovation they have found, and I am all for clean engines. But I am uncertain as to how much increased engine longevity one would see using it. Thats all.

If used in time with subsequent proper oil choices, in some cases, maybe. A good example might be the purchase of a mid-life used Corolla with the propensity to carbon up the piston's oil drain holes.

An example of where it won't work would be on many Hyundai/Kia products with insufficient rod bearing setups and weak connecting rods. Those are going to fail regardless of oil choice.

 

[nascarnation]

“And we also did a chassis dynamometer test where we put a vehicle on rollers basically and ran it 300,000 miles,” Warholic says. “Restore and Protect actually cleaned up the entire engine.”

That's a really expensive test. And a really lengthy time to complete. I'd love to know how many days it took them to get to that mileage. Assuming you were able to maintain a 25mph average speed (that has to include ALL downtime for scheduled things like maintenance and unscheduled things like random vehicle failures) we're talking 12,000 hours test time.

I'm surprised they didn't run that test on an engine dynamometer.

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

Not many but quite a few do keep cars a very long time. In many ways this does look a breakthrough product and not marketing that was suggested by quite a few people being it can remove deposits that previously could not be removed. The focus has always been on prevention.

Over the typical life of a vehicle many see oil consumption as the engine ages. This could completely stop that.

Never owned a car that had oil consumption issues until recently. Not sure if it’s wear, or deposits causing it. Very curious if this new product from Valvoline will fix the problem ( Honda earth dreams - nightmare - GDI engine ).

Just changed oil ( has had several previous runs with HPL ) and increased viscosity to 0W40 from 0w30 ( manual says 0w20 ) and , so far, it appears the consumption has decreased significantly.

Hard to believe going up one viscosity , so far, makes such a noticeable difference ( only 150,000 miles on engine ). If it’s wear versus deposits, hard to believe given the relatively low mileage.

 

[buster]

“And we also did a chassis dynamometer test where we put a vehicle on rollers basically and ran it 300,000 miles,” Warholic says. “Restore and Protect actually cleaned up the entire engine.”

That's a really expensive test. And a really lengthy time to complete. I'd love to know how many days it took them to get to that mileage. Assuming you were able to maintain a 25mph average speed (that has to include ALL downtime for scheduled things like maintenance and unscheduled things like random vehicle failures) we're talking 12,000 hours test time.

I'm surprised they didn't run that test on an engine dynamometer.

I found how they discovered it interesting. It was completely random. That's the benefit you gain when you have your own engine lab. That's where you can test in actual engines and discover things. It wasn't just using an existing add pack and boosting the treat rate. Many oils that do that don't meet the specifications due to the higher ash levels. Ex- throwing excessive amount of Ca or Mg in your oil to boost Tbn even though the oil thickens. What good is it?

It's also a rebuttal to the idea that off-the shelf oils aim to just hit baseline specifications.

Mobil 1:

Site Maintenance

"We were trying to put together an oil that would just crush all of those tests and well exceed the limits for those, "Salvesen says.

"We don't just want to pass the test to get the checkmark, we do what's called ‘Proof of Performance,'" Salvesen says.

"I think that level of testing, that level of prove-out work is really what we can bring to the table versus most smaller brands."

 

[Four Rings]

I see this as a remedy to an engine with design problems. If your engine is designed right they should not need it and something else will usually wear out first.

Respectfully, it is not reasonable to assume designs are or can be optimized for the consumer when the consumer is not the only design input group/consideration.

Thus the desired target performance of the automobile buying public is subject to compromises to satisfy 3rd parties. On this board we often discuss design issues, e.g. low tension oil control rings that foul with carbon, that are induced due to attempting to meet regulatory (government) mandates.

Conclusion: Optimal designs are often compromised to meet the demands of regulations.

 

[Glenda W.]

IMO this is the perfect product for stuck piston rings. Blame it on low tension rings, but plenty burn oil after 5k mile oci’s on top notch majority group 3 synthetics sold at Walmart for under $30 per jug. I currently own 2. If it works, it’s a game changer.

 

[mr_boring]

Real-world testing is crucial. For instance, a Ford Mustang was subjected to extensive testing with Restore and Protect, showing significant reductions in wear and deposit formation. The testing extended to various engine components, including the timing chain cover, oil pan, and valvetrain, demonstrating the comprehensive benefits of the oil. The team also ran Restore and Protect in a Ford Explorer with more than 500,000 miles.

“And we also did a chassis dynamometer test where we put a vehicle on rollers basically and ran it 300,000 miles,” Warholic says. “Restore and Protect actually cleaned up the entire engine.”

A Ford Explorer with more than 500,000 miles.

This is getting Ridiculous with the Claims, there was another claim where a person used it for like 4 OCI's. This product came out in December of last year, when did this person get the product and what were his OCI's? Was he driving from Maryland to California and back?

It was not out of the norm for me to run out between 1.5 and 2.5 tanks of gas per week between January and May. 36 gallon tank.

I've changed mine 3x since November. If I wasn't so strapped for time I'd really be on #4 - but my last couple of intervals have been between 7 and 8k rather than the 6-7 I'd really much rather do.

EDIT: Dr. Michael Warholic - what a name!