Valvoline Restore and Protect Fuel System Cleaner??

Finally Autozone got some in stock! Got 4 bottles from 2 stores (each had 2 bottles)! Excited to try it in my next fill up. 2 bottles for the truck (36 gal tank), 1 for the Subaru and 1 for the MR2.
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@Carguy2427 do you have any testing data or media similar to how Valvoline Restore and Protect oil shows piston ring deposit reduction? Also, what’s the difference between the Valvoline Restore and Protect vs MaxLife fuel system cleaner?
 
In case anyone wants to see the entire lineup of new performance chemicals. Here they are! Obviously, certain retailers will carry certain products, but all will be/ some are already are available on Amazon and other online selling platforms.

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Can you please explain what’s the same and/or different with Complete Fuel System Cleaner and Restore And Protect Fuel Injection Cleaner we see in this photo. Do they both have the same novel chemistry? Most complete system cleaner are usually more robust, so is there a higher percentage of the novel chemistry in the complete fuel system cleaner?

Also, the one poster above stated they sent in some questions before you came onboard. From the poster’s received answers I get the feeling you guys have found cleaning ability on GDI back of valve cleaning. The only way I see this happening is is valve overlap fuel/air pushback into the ports with injector cleaner added to the fuel or pvc vapor with the novel cleaner chemistry in the pvc oil vapors. Is this true and what of the the the two did your research find is the. Leaning pathway?
 
Can you please explain what’s the same and/or different with Complete Fuel System Cleaner and Restore And Protect Fuel Injection Cleaner we see in this photo. Do they both have the same novel chemistry? Most complete system cleaner are usually more robust, so is there a higher percentage of the novel chemistry in the complete fuel system cleaner?

Also, the one poster above stated they sent in some questions before you came onboard. From the poster’s received answers I get the feeling you guys have found cleaning ability on GDI back of valve cleaning. The only way I see this happening is is valve overlap fuel/air pushback into the ports with injector cleaner added to the fuel or pvc vapor with the novel cleaner chemistry in the pvc oil vapors. Is this true and what of the the the two did your research find is the. Leaning pathway?
The MAXLIFE, Complete, and Restore and Protect use the same base chemistry but contain different detergent packages based on what they are marketed to do. For example Restore and Protect has the strongest cleaners and most lubricants to get the ultimate clean for deposits and help increase MPGs. MAXLIFE has less of the lubricants, but more cleaners and actually a "keep clean" agent that helps deposits stay off of surfaces once cleaned. The complete fuel system cleaner is the "good" in the Good, Better, Best lineup. We suggest pricing to retailers... they dont always follow it. How we want it to be is Complete (under 10 bucks). Maxlife (around 11 bucks), Restore and Protect (around 12 bucks). Again, we suggest... but retailer sets it where they want. Long story short Restore and Protect is going to give you the best all around chemistry to clean and protect, while also having a friction reducer to also aid in MPG gain and help reduce wear. The other 2 additives are targeted for someone either looking for a budget friendly, but still great cleaner (complete) or something targeted specifically for high-mileage (MAXLIFE).

There is still no special fuel system cleaning sauce to clean the back of GDI valves that are not aided by port fuel injection, unfortunately. While yes, to your point if there is some overlap in timing you may get some residual clean, but nothing we would say is measurable. For an engine with direct injection only, the best way to keep valves clean is to continually add an additive like the Restore and Protect fuel system cleaner from new (getting the average person to understand that and actually do it is tough)! If they were to do it the cleaner burn of the fuel and reduction in deposits would help keep the valves clean much longer.

The testing mentioned above (ASTM D6201) is done with a Ford 2.3L 4 cylinder engine by an ASTM certified lab, not a direct injection engine. This is the industry standard to evaluate how well an additive prevents Intake Valve Deposits. They also use this for certification of top tier fuels.
 
The MAXLIFE, Complete, and Restore and Protect use the same base chemistry but contain different detergent packages based on what they are marketed to do. For example Restore and Protect has the strongest cleaners and most lubricants to get the ultimate clean for deposits and help increase MPGs. MAXLIFE has less of the lubricants, but more cleaners and actually a "keep clean" agent that helps deposits stay off of surfaces once cleaned. The complete fuel system cleaner is the "good" in the Good, Better, Best lineup. We suggest pricing to retailers... they dont always follow it. How we want it to be is Complete (under 10 bucks). Maxlife (around 11 bucks), Restore and Protect (around 12 bucks). Again, we suggest... but retailer sets it where they want. Long story short Restore and Protect is going to give you the best all around chemistry to clean and protect, while also having a friction reducer to also aid in MPG gain and help reduce wear. The other 2 additives are targeted for someone either looking for a budget friendly, but still great cleaner (complete) or something targeted specifically for high-mileage (MAXLIFE).

There is still no special fuel system cleaning sauce to clean the back of GDI valves that are not aided by port fuel injection, unfortunately. While yes, to your point if there is some overlap in timing you may get some residual clean, but nothing we would say is measurable. For an engine with direct injection only, the best way to keep valves clean is to continually add an additive like the Restore and Protect fuel system cleaner from new (getting the average person to understand that and actually do it is tough)! If they were to do it the cleaner burn of the fuel and reduction in deposits would help keep the valves clean much longer.

The testing mentioned above (ASTM D6201) is done with a Ford 2.3L 4 cylinder engine by an ASTM certified lab, not a direct injection engine. This is the industry standard to evaluate how well an additive prevents Intake Valve Deposits. They also use this for certification of top tier fuels.
Thank you for the break down of the 3 options. I hope some of that it makes it into the advertising literature online. So far on Autozone has no product description and I haven’t been able to find it on any other site yet. I realize the average public may not always read that, but so far this is the only place I’ve seen any description of the products.

I also wonder how the “Keep Clean” additives work in MAXLIFE. That’s an interesting claim I hadn’t seen before in a FSC (fuel system cleaner).
 
Local AZ shows it’s in stock. Gonna try to pick up a bottle tomorrow to dump in the old Accord just for the heck
Finally Autozone got some in stock! Got 4 bottles from 2 stores (each had 2 bottles)! Excited to try it in my next fill up. 2 bottles for the truck (36 gal tank), 1 for the Subaru and 1 for the MR2.
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@Carguy2427 do you have any testing data or media similar to how Valvoline Restore and Protect oil shows piston ring deposit reduction? Also, what’s the difference between the Valvoline Restore and Protect vs MaxLife fuel system cleaner?
Working on getting some nicer imagery to mimic what was done on the oil side. The ASTM testing does give us imagery to validate what was chatted about, but I would not say the images are consumer friendly, so that is something we are working on. A lot of feedback we get from average consumers (not the technical people in this group) whenever we put out test data or imagery from testing is "thats not true, this is staged, I dont believe it...). So internally we actually wanted to launch and hope people test it and do some marketing of their own rather than us pushing them to believe what we know to be true.

MAXLIFE Vs Valvoline Restore and Protect. 2 fold answer. 1. some of it is positioning, MAXLIFE for the person looking for something specifically with high mileage, Restore and Protect for pretty much the "all other" wanting the best technology. 2. The base chemistry is the same, but concentrations are tweaked. Restore and Protect is going to give you the best of all worlds (cleaning, deposit control, corrosion resistance, extra lubricants to prevent wear, and increase MPGs). MAXLIFE will still contain a great cleaning package, but less corrosion resistance, less lubrication, and again really focused on removing high mileage deposits for neglected engines and removing them safely, while with continued use protecting against future buildup.
 
Thank you for the break down of the 3 options. I hope some of that it makes it into the advertising literature online. So far on Autozone has no product description and I haven’t been able to find it on any other site yet. I realize the average public may not always read that, but so far this is the only place I’ve seen any description of the products.

I also wonder how the “Keep Clean” additives work in MAXLIFE. That’s an interesting claim I hadn’t seen before in a FSC (fuel system cleaner).
AutoZone is the first to get it... they have the website info... Just have not gotten it up yet.

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#1 Red Line is proven and does what it claims. So, it's better until Valvoline Restore and Protect proves itself. IDK how much it can improve upon SI - 1 though. That stuff cleans really well.


I guess we’ll see. I just struggle with declaring one product “better” than another without real-world data to support it. On BITOG, we’ve seen solid evidence that Valvoline Restore and Protect performs well in the crankcase in terms of varnish and deposit removal, so it’s reasonable to assume their fuel-side claims may also have merit.

Red Line advertises 30–40% PEA via SDSand recommends use every tank for best results, with a claim of “nearly 100% efficiency in one treatment.”

Valvoline Restore and Protect reportedly contains no PEA, assuming the active component is their proprietary chemistry, and recommends one bottle per OCI, claiming “up to 100% deposit removal in one treatment.”
 
I guess we’ll see. I just struggle with declaring one product “better” than another without real-world data to support it. On BITOG, we’ve seen solid evidence that Valvoline Restore and Protect performs well in the crankcase in terms of varnish and deposit removal, so it’s reasonable to assume their fuel-side claims may also have merit.

Red Line advertises 30–40% PEA via SDSand recommends use every tank for best results, with a claim of “nearly 100% efficiency in one treatment.”

Valvoline Restore and Protect reportedly contains no PEA, assuming the active component is their proprietary chemistry, and recommends one bottle per OCI, claiming “up to 100% deposit removal in one treatment.”
I probably shouldn’t have gotten into the bandwagon train of “better”.

Let me clarify: No where did I state Valvoline Restore and Protect won’t perform, but as you state we need real world data.

And, while Valvoline Restore and Protect has had success in engine oil, this is the first time we’ve seen them apparently use the new tech in a fuel additive.

That’s it.

Red Line SI - 1 is merely already proven in this space.

I’m hopeful Valvoline Restore and Protect will be a winner as a fuel additive, too.

Let’s see the real world data. ;) 🍻
 
I probably shouldn’t have gotten into the bandwagon train of “better”.

Let me clarify: No where did I state Valvoline Restore and Protect won’t perform, but as you state we need real world data.

And, while Valvoline Restore and Protect has had success in engine oil, this is the first time we’ve seen them apparently use the new tech in a fuel additive.

That’s it.

Red Line SI - 1 is merely already proven in this space.

I’m hopeful Valvoline Restore and Protect will be a winner as a fuel additive, too.

Let’s see the real world data. ;) 🍻
I agree. We all know what SL1 and Techron are capable of. I hope Valvoline Restore and Protect FSC proves itself too. With how successful Valvoline Restore and Protect oil has been, I doubt Valvoline would put the Valvoline Restore and Protect label on something that isn’t on par with the oil.

I wished I had a vehicle that was poorly maintained that I could do some before and after pictures. Otherwise I really don’t have a metric to know if it’s working other than if it feels or sounds smoother. I’m probably like many here that use a fuel system cleaner before every oil change, so I’m not sure any of my vehicles are heavily carboned.
 
Who wants to start the rumor that @Carguy2427 would love to help set up a group buy for a slightly discounted case of 6, maybe free shipping, you know like BITOG15 15% type thing? :unsure: ;) 😁 😁 😁.

Ok, I'm interested. Paypal, Venmo other pay methods. There's 6 cars between my driveway and front of house currently so that's one box done.

You KNOW we will spread the word, at least after we hoard our own stash.

The 3 stores close to me show available for pickup tomorrow. I'll need to see if I venture out with the pending light breeze (50-60mph) and flurries (16-20")
 
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