A while back I did volatility tests of Amsoil SS 10W-30 and Quaker State Ultimate Durability 10W-30. The oils ended up forming soft insoluble particles, as oils do when subjected to such temperatures for long enough. Today I decided to determine if VRP would resolubize the insolubles.
I first mixed those two insoluble-containing oils in a metal cup, poured off the excess oil, and kept as many of the insolubles as possible in the cup. The first picture shows that. Then I added fresh VRP 5W-20, and heated the oil for around 5 minutes above 200 F. I swirled the oil around while doing that.
I let the oil cool with the cup tilted far to pool the oil to one side to get the insolubles, if present, on one side. Then I slowly started tilting it to the other side to separate the oil from the insolubles as much as possible. The second picture shows that. Yes, there is a small fabric fiber present. In this test, VRP was not able to significantly resolubize the original insolubles. I didn’t expect them to based on all of my past experience but I still did hold out some hope. An oil that cleans an engine with deposits can do it by at least two mechanisms: solubizing particles and dislodging particles attached to engine surfaces, which get transported to and caught by the oil filter.
From all of the experiences I’ve seen on the internet, I do believe the evidence for VRP’s ability to clean is convincing, but we still have much to learn. In this test, it didn’t achieve what I hoped. Yes, perhaps it needed to be heated for hours, days, or weeks but I wasn’t up to doing that. I just wanted to do a quick test instead of just disposing of the oils from the prior volatility test. I will likely do other, different cleaning tests of VRP in the future. I did different VRP vs other oil cleaning tests in the past but the results were too inconclusive, though they were positive, for me to post about them.
I first mixed those two insoluble-containing oils in a metal cup, poured off the excess oil, and kept as many of the insolubles as possible in the cup. The first picture shows that. Then I added fresh VRP 5W-20, and heated the oil for around 5 minutes above 200 F. I swirled the oil around while doing that.
I let the oil cool with the cup tilted far to pool the oil to one side to get the insolubles, if present, on one side. Then I slowly started tilting it to the other side to separate the oil from the insolubles as much as possible. The second picture shows that. Yes, there is a small fabric fiber present. In this test, VRP was not able to significantly resolubize the original insolubles. I didn’t expect them to based on all of my past experience but I still did hold out some hope. An oil that cleans an engine with deposits can do it by at least two mechanisms: solubizing particles and dislodging particles attached to engine surfaces, which get transported to and caught by the oil filter.
From all of the experiences I’ve seen on the internet, I do believe the evidence for VRP’s ability to clean is convincing, but we still have much to learn. In this test, it didn’t achieve what I hoped. Yes, perhaps it needed to be heated for hours, days, or weeks but I wasn’t up to doing that. I just wanted to do a quick test instead of just disposing of the oils from the prior volatility test. I will likely do other, different cleaning tests of VRP in the future. I did different VRP vs other oil cleaning tests in the past but the results were too inconclusive, though they were positive, for me to post about them.
