Valvoline Restore and Protect skepticism

[ZeeOSix]

Valvoline R&P cleans rings and other areas of the engine without engine disassembly.

 

[MaximumMini]

Valvoline R&P cleans rings and other areas of the engine without engine disassembly.

Nah...I run my minivans like dragsters.....rebuild after every run.

lol. Note I did say "IF I need it cleaner than that".....

 

[Mainia]

Dave G. from Redline told me a few times that the esters used in Red Line ran clean but wouldn't clean. I thought that was interesting. With so many esters though it makes sense. But initially I was surprised by that.

Sure worked for me, no other top shelf or bouquet oil cracked the carbon jammed rings seal on my rings, with years of multi use. The first 1,500 miles of use, then no fuel dilution. It may not of clean them fully like VRP, but it sure cracked the seal wide open on my problem.

 

[Boge60]

...Dunno. My personal opinion is many people are seeing what they WANT to see...

So, tell us what YOU see here?

 

[bruce381]

did not see where it notes any name, Patent No .: US 11,078,436 B2
at least shows where there head is at?

 

[MaximumMini]

So, tell us what YOU see here?

I see excellent marketing
The better mousetrap was never the best seller....it was the best MARKETED mousetrap that brought the gold.

Like I said...detergents are known to clean engines. If it has more detergents in it....good.
Do you know what "YMMV" means ? Did you see that in the post?

 

[ZeeOSix]

The results may not be the same for everyone in terms of stopping oil burning (because some engines are burning oil from something beside stuck rings), but for the majority of users that do the 4 normal recommend oil changes it has proven to work very well.

 

[Boge60]

I see excellent marketing
The better mousetrap was never the best seller....it was the best MARKETED mousetrap that brought the gold.

Like I said...detergents are known to clean engines. If it has more detergents in it....good.
Do you know what "YMMV" means ? Did you see that in the post?

The Dunning-Kruger effect.

 

[OVERKILL]

did not see where it notes any name, Patent No .: US 11,078,436 B2
at least shows where there head is at?

Yeah, that's Premium Blue Restore, which has a huge dose of ester:

Post in thread 'Restore and Protect; How does it clean?'

Mar 7, 2025

US Patent 11,078,436 gives a good idea of what Valvoline Restore and Protect is about. Specific base oils from Groups III, IV and V blended to a specific aniline point provides the solubility needed to remove deposits. A patent doesn't provide specific commercial formulas but it will give an idea of the technology behind the invention. Valvoline Restore and Protect is not a solvent but it has relatively high solvency characteristics. It certainly isn't micro-abrasives which is counter to lubrication principles and best practices.

However, greases with abrasives have been used in...

• buster

• 

Patent is from 2015:
https://patents.justia.com/patent/11078436

Relevant section:

In one embodiment, the lubricant formulation can include 40-60% polyol ester, 5-15% alkylated naphthalene and 15-25% PAO, in particular about 50% of the polyol ester, in particular Priolube 1973, 10% of an alkylated naphthalene and 20% PAO.

It was designed to clean in a single use (also from the patent):

In using the formulation of the present invention to free piston rings and remove previously built-up carbon deposits on engine pistons, the oil in the engine is drained and replaced with a formulation having significant solvency, such as one with an aniline point of about 60. The engine is run until the oil needs to be replaced again, which typically is at least 30,000 miles of operation for the diesel engine and 5000 miles for gasoline engine in a vehicle. Once the oil needs to be replaced, it can be replaced with standard engine oil formulation.

---

This is markedly different from VRP, which doesn't use esters for its cleaning, it uses a novel chemical or compound that they stumbled across apparently by accident, and this is included in what is otherwise just a plane-Jane engine oil with no special or exotic base oil blend. This is why VRP VOA's don't show high levels of oxidation, unlike oils with high levels of esters like Premium Blue Restore:

VRP, oxidation at 5 (no ester content):

VPBR, oxidation at 109 (significant ester content):

 

[OVERKILL]

I see excellent marketing
The better mousetrap was never the best seller....it was the best MARKETED mousetrap that brought the gold.

Like I said...detergents are known to clean engines. If it has more detergents in it....good.
Do you know what "YMMV" means ? Did you see that in the post?

No, detergents don't clean engines. They are designed to prevent deposits. The detergent and dispersant package is designed to provide two functions:

1. Prevent agglomeration of particulate (dispersants), which prevents them from becoming large enough to settle

2. Latch on to these contaminants, keeping them in suspension (detergents), so that ultimately they can get to the oil filter

Neither of these functions are meant to deal with deposits that have already accumulated, though sludge, because it's soft, can be coaxed back into suspension quite easily, which is why most oils advertise as being able to clean-up sludge.

Varnish and lacquer on the other hand require either a solvent or something with very high polarity to work away at it. Flushes generally take the solvent route, oils like Valvoline's Premium Blue Restore product took the latter route.

The claim with VRP is that it is able to provide what is effectively the same function as PBR, without the giant dose of esters.

 

[CANADADIY]

Valvoline's videos indicate that they deliberately selected a low concentration of the magic additive in Valvoline Restore and Protect - it's not a lack of capability, it was a deliberate decision to reduce the cleaning effect.

They claim it was to prevent accidental filter overloads, but there's probably also a strong component of product planning strategy in there too. If you can make the customer buy a minimum of 4 oil changes worth of your oil instead of, say, 2 (assuming they increased the additive concentration and therefore the cleaning action), seems like free money to me.

With the healthy amount of Moly and Boron on top of the cleaning power at a very reasonable price point I’ll support that strategy.

 

[Crashbox]

I think I'll chime in on this newfangled oil.

As someone else mentioned, it seems to be the new German Castrol of BITOG. I tend to agree with that assertion. To a lesser degree, perhaps the new Auto-Rx or LC-20 as well of which I have used both in my trusty ol' '95 Civic. Going from my ancient vacuum-tube memory (thermionic valve memory for the non-USA folks), I think it was Terry Dyson back in the day who spoke positively of ARX & LC-20 and that likely influenced me. Both seemed to work for me. I'll leave it at that.

Valvoline Restore & Protect is indeed the newer kid on the block, and there are numerous video testimonies of its effectiveness. I haven't seen much at all stating otherwise but given the bazillion potential engine/oil/additive combinations out there, it certainly seems likely that such cases could/would exist. I would personally consider them as fringe cases at this point, but time will tell.

For the record, I put VRP in my Civic about 700 miles ago and plan to run it to at least 3K before changing it out. I intend to make a video or four on the results, along with mention of the history of using ARX & LC-20 in the crankcase. I'm reservedly optimistic that VRP will show at least something in the filter even with the engine's history; we'll see.