I thought Valvoline Restore and Protect needed heat that was near operating temperatures.
Valvoline Restore and Protect
- Thread starter Scott S
- Start date
That's what a lot of us think but no one knows for sure. Remains to be seen. It's all just a guess. No one even knows what the compound(s) is/are that are doing the cleaning.
I have a 2-strike piston which might need cleaning. I'll pour about 8oz of Valvoline Restore and Protect in a tin container and see what it does.
I can heat up on the stove, if needed.
The guy uploaded another video after the piston has soaked for 24 hours in Valvoline Restore and Protect. He asked should he takes a video every 24 hours or just wait until the 7th day of soaking.
This guy drove 9,000 miles with Valvoline Restore and Protect in his Chevy Silverado 4.6L. Then cut the oil filter, and did UOA at SPEEDiagnostics.
Valvoline Restore and Protect keeps its viscosity. It's interesting because it has more zinc than when new. Also, he has some metals wear but I canoot comment on those.
Valvoline Restore and Protect - product data sheet
https://sharena21.springcm.com/Publ...379f19f8/ffdb3f9b-e06d-ee11-b828-48df379f19f8
Valvoline Restore and Protect keeps its viscosity. It's interesting because it has more zinc than when new. Also, he has some metals wear but I canoot comment on those.
Valvoline Restore and Protect - product data sheet
https://sharena21.springcm.com/Publ...379f19f8/ffdb3f9b-e06d-ee11-b828-48df379f19f8
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
Increased zinc due to removing zinc plated on to engine surfaces?
I've seen all kinds of claims on this site over the years snd typically with no concrete proof. I remain skeptical of Valvoline Restore and Protect.
Interesting, I also did a -26 C / -15F cold start experiment with restore & protect since I’m a reluctant 5W-30 user (normally use 0W-30). I have no concerns or gripes, just curiosity. I ran this test with Valvoline Restore and Protect 5W-30 that had been used 12 weeks and 4300 miles. Filter is a Fram Synthetic Endurance cartridge. Vehicle type is in my username, 2024.
Temps at startup after 12 hours of cold soaking:
Below are graphs showing Oil Pressure in green, top of scale 155 bottom 15 psi. Red is misfires (there were none) and blue is voltage.
The pressure hit 154 psi at initial startup and then oscillated between ~70 and ~130 psi about once a second.
I would love any guesses at why the pressure looks like this @ZeeOSix . The oil pump is “continuous variable displacement”; the oscillating could be due to that or some kind of interaction between pump bypass and filter bypass?
After about 2 minutes pressure stabilized at ~80.
Video of the same -26C start above (sorry the cold impaired my cognitive ability to remember to use screen recording):
For reference, here is a normal start at 50F in the garage with same oil and filter:
Last edited:
Nice results. Sounds like it cleaned up the engine quite well.
He said this was coal black prior to this photo:
Healthy skepticism is a good thing! Which part(s) are you skeptical of in regards to Restore and Protect?
The only thing I am skeptical about Valvoline in general is the lack of usefull specifications on their product data sheet, not just a generalizing of pour points etc, and would like to see the CCS and MRV test results also.
Most oil manufacture's data sheets are pretty sparse in specs these days. Some don't even give a HTHS viscosity or a Noack anymore.
The W rating tells you where those lie in general. Only time the CCS and MRV viscosity are useful is if someone is into splitting hairs within the W rating (ie, how close is it to the next lower W rating).
Last edited:
Yes, it looks like the oil pump pressure regulation and possibly the oil filter bypass valve fluctuations are going on due to the thick cold oil. The initial start-up pressure of 154 PSI was due to the pump not able to react instantly. The pump trying to control the max pressure when the oil is that thick might put it into an oscillating control fit like you see here until the oil starts to warm up and thin down some. The cold start with the oil at 50 F doesn't show this behavior probably because the pump can control the max pressure better when the oil is thinner.
On a side note, someone here had a spin-on oil filter blow-out the base gasket on a cold start like this (high initial oil pressure) due to the filter possibly not being tightened down all the way and the base gasket blew out the side of the filter and puked oil all over the place. That's for people who have a spin-on filter ... make sure it's installed correctly.
Last edited:
CCS is on their PDS (link in my previous comment).
6200 cP @ -30°C
Last edited:
I suggested to him to inspect the Valvoline Professional Series brands for Heavy Duty cleaning.
https://www.valvolineglobal.com/en/blog/product/valvoline-professional-series-vps/
I don't think he's trying to clean the piston. He's just running an experiment to see if Valvoline Restore and Protect will clean it up without the oil getting heated up to operating temp.
As far as I know (from an automotive engineer), it takes about a minute for all the oil to be pumped around the engine. So those 2 min. and the oil pressure explain that once again. Which explains why a couple of minutes are enough before you start moving and don't need to run your engine longer than that. However, that doesn't mean the engine is up to operating temp. and needs to be babied the initial 5 miles or so.
Last edited:
Similar threads
