Valvoline Restore and Protect 5W-20 Volatility Results - Dec 2024

JAG

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Please see this earlier thread for a more complete description of the test procedure: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/t...rotection-volatility-results-nov-2024.389905/
In this paragraph, I will only point out things that differed. Oil temperature was ~380 F. The oils' initial oil weights were 0.850 grams. The total heating duration was 7 hours. The 7 hours does not include the time it took to cool the oils prior to weighing or to do the weighing. 7 hours provided sufficient data and VRP 5W-20 lost 16.5% of its weight by then, which is much more than the percentage lost in a typical engine over a typical OCI. I measured the weights after every hour but the plots show data only for hours 2, 4, 6, and 7 hours. The reason for that is that QS UD 10W-30 was losing mass at such a low rate, that actual weight losses per hour were approximately the same size as the scale's measurement error. Showing data only at hours 2, 4, 6, and 7 greatly improves the signal to noise ratio of the data, especially in the relative cumulative weight loss data.

Like in the other thread, Quaker State Ultimate Durability (QS UD) 10W-30 was used as the reference oil. The Valvoline Restore and Protect (VRP) 5W-20 was purchased in the United States a few months ago. As the graphs show, VRP 5W-20 is much more volatile than QS UD 10W-30, which I expected given that QS UD 10W-30 is one of the least volatile oils I've ever tested. More interesting is how its volatility compares to QS Ultimate Protection (QS UP) 5W-20 and 0W-20. VRP 5W-20 is more volatile than QS UP 0W-20. QS UP using majority or entirely GTL base oil is probably the main reason for that. Whatever VRP 5W-20's mystery ingredient is potentially is more volatile than the rest of VRP, so that could also play a role in the result. VRP has a bad smell that I've never experienced with any other virgin oil. Earlier in the test, that smell continued. After 6 hours of heating, I could no longer smell that foul odor in it, so apparently most of whatever causes that odor was gone.

Effects of measurement error on the cumulative weight losses decrease the longer the test goes. The bar graph of relative cumulative weight loss data is based on end of test weights rather than as a function of time like the other graphs. That minimizes the error of the data in the bar graph. Bar graphs have the virtue of simplicity and the weakness of concealing trends in the data and measurement error. Oil A will generally not be X times as volatile as Oil B, as the bar graphs simplify it to. Assume these are oils that have never been in contact with fuel and combustion byproducts. That ratio of volatilities will be a function of how much oil has already evaporated, the chemical/thermal reactions that have occurrred, what the temperature is, and other factors. If I left anything important out, please let me know.

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For reference, Quaker State UD 5W-20 has a Noack of 7.1% according to PQIA (API SN+ from 2019). I'd assume the QS UP 5W-20 tested here is similar.

The Valvoline R&P seems to be around 40% more volatile than the QS 5W-20 according to this test, which might put its Noack at around 10%.
 
Thanks twX. With all of the necessary assumptions being made, then VRP 5W-20 Noack volatility estimate is around 10.5%. The numbers are: 7.1*4.00/2.71. As I test more oils with published Noack volatilities, I can start to explore the relationships between results in these tests vs Noack test. I hope that the ratio between volatilities of Oil A and Oil B in my tests is close to the ratio of the Noack volatilities, since that makes the math easy. Things are often not that simple though.

Edit to add something: I plan to not publish test results of boutique oil brands because I respect them and do not want to influence perception or sales of them. I just did the calculation for the Noack estimate of a boutique oil that I have tested and the manufacturer has published the Noack volatilty. The estimate for the Noack volatility based on my results has an error of only 0.18%. This is good!
 
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Thanks for doing this. Cool test imo. Not iso but interesting.

Boutique results should be published to compare to the spec sheet(which I believe is accurate). This would give an indication of how accurate your calculations are.
 
I do respect all of the major motor oil makers. They have enormous amounts of sales, so any potential influence that publishing test results of their oils is insignificant enough that I am comfortable with it. Also, I am opposed to them getting rid of many oil properties on their product data sheets, so I am attempting to remedy that for the lack of Noack volatility. Since Amsoil does publish their Noack volatilities and after a conversation about this with Pablo, I have decided to share my data on Amsoil SS 10W-30.

Amsoil SS 10W-30 has a published Noack volatility of 4.1%. Using that and the results of my tests, I can calculate Noack volatilty estimates of the other oils, by making the assumption that the ratio of Noack volatilities between two oils is the same as the ratio of the volatilities in my tests. We are fairly confident that QS UP 5W-40's Noack volatility is 5.7%, according to: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/pp-euro-0w40-noack.383603/
My estimate for it is 5.74%. All of the other oil's Noack volatility estimates are in the bar graph below. By the way, it appears that QS Ultimate Protection 5W-20's Noack is not the same as the 7.1% that PQIA measured with QS Ultimate Durability 5W-20, because when I used the assumption that they are the same, the Noack estimate for QS UP 5W-40 was 6.0, which has more error than when using Amsoil SS 10W-30's data from my tests and what's published. As I get more data, my estimates may change. I do have Amsoil SS 5W-20 that I have not tested yet, but will. That gives another source of calibration to an oil with published Noack volatility.

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These are different products designed with separate objectives in mind. This is akin to comparing a defensive lineman to a wide receiver and complaining about their stats when they don't align. They play different roles.
 
I wonder if this helps explain, at least in part, why people using VRP seem to report far more substantial oil consumption than anticipated.
 
I wonder if this helps explain, at least in part, why people using VRP seem to report far more substantial oil consumption than anticipated.
Funny you put it that way.

FIL's Renegade got a new motor and when we first got it back we had to add 1/2qt of oil within 2 weeks but ten was good for rest of OCI, not showing down any with almost 5k OCI.

I used the VRP 5W-30 on last (first) change and it has been fine all eth times I checked it. I filled it up a couple days ago and I'm down about 3/4 qt now with only 3400 on the OCI. I'll have to monitor as we go. It's getting marked in a book in glove box now when we add any and how much. I"ll probably just change it when it gets to lower mark since I'm doing severe service 4k intervals anyway.

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Thank you Patrick and Sequoiasoon. I would really like to test all of those oils. I will send you both my address. This picture will give you an idea of how much oil one test uses, which is around 1 gram. The coin is a US quarter and the depth of the oil is probably 2 to 3 quarters stacked thickness. Be on the safe side and provide considerably more oil than that but I don’t need anywhere near as much as an oil sample sent to a lab. The second picture is just for fun to show that I also do deposit tests. That is of more interest to me than the volatility tests. The tests start out by measuring volatility long before deposits form, then I stop weighing the oils and just monitor deposit formation. I have not yet documented any of those results because it would be quite time consuming. I can simply say that theQuaker State Ultimate Protection oils are very resistant to forming deposits. Quaker State Ultimate Durability 10W-30 did very well until it suddenly did not. It went from best or second best to by far the worst within only one hour. The picture is from toward the end of the test and was well after QS UD 10W-30 made a mess of itself. QS UP 5W-40 won that test by a clear margin. QS UP 0W-20 at that point because it had lost so much base oil that it was like hard shoe polish in consistency.

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HOw did you pick that relatively low temp? I think ASTM D5800 tests at 250C. A question: how often will engine oil in use reach that temp (482°) to make that a reasonible standard?
 
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