Valvoline Restore and Protect drawbacks?

[ProbeGT]

If it has higher ZDDP it won't be API SQ and ILSAC GF-7. Then people will say they won't buy it because it doesn't cover those specs. As people say now that is a drawback that is not Dexos1Gen3 approved.
If it come up as 5W-40 or 0W-40, but is not API SQ and ILSAC GF-7 - are you gonna buy it?

I have many different 0W-40 and 5W-40 oils on my shelf with 1,000+ PPM of Phopshorus that are API SP certified. xW-40 oils have always been non-ILSAC from what I understand. No Phosphorus limits apply. This does not change in API SQ.
https://www.infineuminsight.com/media/ud2lat5v/infineum_api_2025_9-11-25.pdf

Valvoline could make a 0W-40 RP flavor with 1,400 PPM Phosphorus and 1,400 PPM Zinc if they wanted to and still get it API SQ certified.

Not that it matters. Of course I would buy it, regardless of the API donut. API has become irrelevant to me. The oils best suited for my cars do not carry any API certifications (e.g. Valvoline VR1 or Mobil 1 Classic).

 

[OilStained]

In response to dissolved solids. If it’s dissolved, any media wouldn’t catch it.

In my case, the solids were broken down. The heavy solids stayed suspended and settled. The loose sand-like solids were felt on the media.

 

[Hohn]

Yes, I think we need to stop saying that Valvoline Restore and Protect "dissolves" solids, because, as was mentioned, the filter cannot remove dissolved solids. Yet we know quite confidently that Valvoline Restore and Protect's cleaning action causes the oil contaminants to be filterable.

I think it's more correct to say that the contaminants are first removed by breaking down their adhesion, then they are suspended in the oil almost like an emulsion.

Under the valve cover of my Odyssey, there's a little bolt hole pocket that just collects a static puddle of oil. Before I ran Valvoline Restore and Protect, the bottom of this puddle was hard sludge that you could feel with a long pick. It's what happens when oil just sits in one place, it never really drained or circulated, and just cooks at high heat for hours.

After using Valvoline Restore and Protect, probing this pocket shows that the sludge is now very soft, almost like a soft gelatinous black goo. This is exactly what I saw in the filters.


The goo is essentially just oil and suspended solids. When you wick away the oil, you're left with a carbonaceous powdery cake.

There's a lot of research going on now in soot dispersants for diesel oils. These dispersant prevent agglomeration-- the process by which microscopic dusty soot particles stick together to form progressively larger particles until they become a problem.

I have to wonder if Valvoline researchers were doing research on soot dispersants when they came across a sort of anti-dispersant that can make carbon particle stick together just enough to be filterable.

Nominal soot particles are much too small to be removed by full flow filtration.

 

[Ray S]

Drawback is I can't see running a 0W40 in my 1971 413

 

[kschachn]

Drawback is I can't see running a 0W40 in my 1971 413

You can get Valvoline Restore and Protect in a 0W-40?

 

[Ray S]

You can get Valvoline Restore and Protect in a 0W-40?

Ah, prob not. And 0W30 would be right out.

 

[kschachn]

Ah, prob not. And 0W30 would be right out.

Well there is a -30 grade but it has a 5W winter rating.

 

[Ray S]

Well there is a -30 grade but it has a 5W winter rating.

still not going in the industrial 413
20W50 is what it gets

 

[JohnnyG]

Con: usually priced higher than other products like Mobil 1 ESP, PUP, Castrol EDGE Extended Performance, etc.

Valvoline Restore and Protect might be a great product for cleaning up a dirty engine but what if you have a new(er) engine that may not need cleaning? Do the aforementioned competitor products not do enough of a good job to keep the engine clean that Valvoline Restore and Protect should be needed?

My Mercedes has 20,000 miles on it, very clean inside, no oil usage. I used Valvoline Restore and Protect as an additive, like 1.5 qts and the under valve cover cam area was visibly cleaner. On the last oil change, I also found particles of hard carbon in the filter pleats.

 

[gfh77665]

Question: Valvoline says 4 oil changes for cleaning, but what about in a low mileage (presumably pretty clean) engine? My ‘24 Tucson plug-in has just over 10K miles

I would think it will clean about 25% of whatever happens to be there.

 

[Ray S]

I would think it will clean about 25% of whatever happens to be there.

My question is: is it better for initial clean than Rislone?
I can see that using it would be good maintenance.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Was thinking about the long-term ramifications of using Valvoline Restore and Protect. Just wondering if there are any downsides to using it. Could Valvoline Restore and Protect be harder on engine gaskets and seals than other oils? Because it chews up sludge and varnish, could it also chew on gaskets and seals?

I would presume on a new engine, there's no issue.

On an old sludged up clunker, probably 1K OCIs until there is an indicator that the sludged is cleaned up such as cleaner topend visible through oil fill hole?

 

[Carlostrece]

I think a lot of consumers who would change their oil don’t understand the importance of what may be going on with the oil rings and carbon build up . They think about as far as sludge prevention or sludge clean up and believe they are doing good with other WM available synthetic oils that meet SP / Dexos.

Yup. That's me!

 

[OilStainedNapkin]

Drawbacks? Getting addicted to the best oil on the market, bar none

 

[Noobto_rescue]

No science or way to validate my statement but my nose detects sulfur smells or sulfur like smells that other oils don’t seem to have. I also have not smelled every oil out there. Does anyone else have that experience. The only downside I think why aren’t other brands using or releasing there own versions of an oil with alleged super cleaning abilities based on something else besides typical add packs. Restore and protect seems to be a real money maker why haven’t other brands copied?

 

[Patman]

Restore and protect seems to be a real money maker why haven’t other brands copied?

They are using an ingredient that nobody else has been able to figure out yet that’s why.

 

[goingplacesanddoingstuff]

I wish they could use a better base oil. It seems to be a basic group 3. Nothing wrong with that, per se, but it’s not an extended drain oil.

I’d love to see a PAO or at least GTL version.

Who knows, maybe the secret sauce is incompatible with more refined base oils?

 

[melk]

Because I legitimately believe other companies have not yet figured out whatever particular chemistry Valvoline has discovered.

Valvoline has said it was an “accidental”discovery. The cleaning action is novel and unlike existing chemistries.

Mobil 1 Advanced Clean for example, appears to be using PAO, which is a known entity. It can help “clean up an engine” in very general terms, but note that Mobil makes no specific claims of cleaning piston ring lands, which is the #1 culprit of oil consumption on most modern engines.

Whereas Valvoline, with their proprietary formula, specifically calls out Valvoline Restore and Protect’s ability to clean piston rings, and provides photographic proof from their testing. Valvoline Restore and Protect has now been on the market I believe nearly 2 years now, and plenty of real world use across many different engine designs has seemingly backed up their claims.

While I am optimistic that Mobil 1 Advanced Clean may be a “next gen” cleaner like Valvoline Restore and Protect clearly is, I’m not so sure that it has any “special sauce” beyond a good dose of PAO, which can already be had in their Mobil 1 ESP line for example.

 

[GW.]

No science or way to validate my statement but my nose detects sulfur smells or sulfur like smells that other oils don’t seem to have. I also have not smelled every oil out there. Does anyone else have that experience. The only downside I think why aren’t other brands using or releasing there own versions of an oil with alleged super cleaning abilities based on something else besides typical add packs. Restore and protect seems to be a real money maker why haven’t other brands copied?

I get the exact same smell. Almost like a hint of gear oil.

 

[goingplacesanddoingstuff]

Because I legitimately believe other companies have not yet figured out whatever particular chemistry Valvoline has discovered.

Valvoline has said it was an “accidental”discovery. The cleaning action is novel and unlike existing chemistries.

Mobil 1 Advanced Clean for example, appears to be using PAO, which is a known entity. It can help “clean up an engine” in very general terms, but note that Mobil makes no specific claims of cleaning piston ring lands, which is the #1 culprit of oil consumption on most modern engines.

Whereas Valvoline, with their proprietary formula, specifically calls out Valvoline Restore and Protect’s ability to clean piston rings, and provides photographic proof from their testing. Valvoline Restore and Protect has now been on the market I believe nearly 2 years now, and plenty of real world use across many different engine designs has seemingly backed up their claims.

While I am optimistic that Mobil 1 Advanced Clean may be a “next gen” cleaner like Valvoline Restore and Protect clearly is, I’m not so sure that it has any “special sauce” beyond a good dose of PAO, which can already be had in their Mobil 1 ESP line for example.

PAO has very little cleaning ability because there are very few polar molecules. In fact, its Aniline point is higher (worse for solvency) than group 2.

A big challenge is what to mix in with a PAO-based oil to give it a better solvency. Usually it is ANs and/or esters along with detergents.