I've never used HPL before myself. A couple of guys on AudiWorld forums have claimed to used HPL when they begun to consume some oil on their Audis and claimed to reverse the consumption because they were scared of using Valvoline Restore and Protect and wouldn't think outside the box worrying about approvals, even though HPL has no VW/Audi approvals either.
Yeah, that's consistent with my recollection. No, the HPL doesn't have official approvals, but it does use an approved additive package (with the approvals nullified because of the base oil blend) from one of the majors like Infineum or Lubrizol, and this has higher levels of AW additives, consistent with what's spec'd for the applications.
Most all of us on AudiWorld forums that have had or are having oil consumption issues are using Restore & Protect even though it doesn't meet the specifications required from Audi. All of us that are using Valvoline Restore and Protect have been extremely impressed and will continue to use it at up to 6000 mile intervals. I'm on my 4th run of Valvoline Restore and Protect now and will continue to utilize it on 6000 mile intervals forever. One fella has over 60,000 miles using Valvoline Restore and Protect 5w/30 in Texas on a tuned Audi engine. Both of us were using a quart in 400 miles and went to less than a quart in 5000 miles, or in my case no oil consumption at all. The fella thats in Texas thats tuned uses less than a quart in 5000 and 6000 mile intervals. He's been using Speediognistics for analysis on every singe oil change, and Lake said 6000 miles is fine and the interval he'd continue with on this tuned supercharged 3.0 CREC engine moving forward. The Valvoline Restore and Protect is showing extremely low wear numbers on his engine with now over 200,000 miles on it. Its amazing to see the results with unsticking the rings on all these engines using Valvoline Restore and Protect along with Berryman B12 piston soaks and/or Yamalube Ring Free plus to do a quick unstick of the oil control rings have done.
Many fellas are running Valvoline Restore and Protect in there high HP twin turbo 4.0 V8 putting out over 600 HP and it's fixed their consumption woes. Keep in mind Audis spec is to use 40 weight Euro oils, and these recommended oils is what got them/us into the consumption problems in the first place sticking & coking the oil control rings on these German made vehicles.
Its funny to come here and see people that are still skeptical or refuse to think outside the box and worry about manufactures approved oil specifications. It's part of the reason I don't visit here much anymore because of the all the Johnny Skeptical's and naysayers who worry about putting it in the Euro vehicles. Just stick to using a 5 or 6000 mile interval and use it forever to clean it up and keep it clean. The used oil analysis are showing better wear than the 40 weight Euro oils these guys we're using previously for those that have done the sampling. Imagine using it in twin turbo V8 600 plus HP car that runs very hot under the hood in that 4.0 liter hot V and shows better wear protection AND cleans up the rings and engine internals! Talk about a win-win!
You are aware of my position on "bench racing" used oil analysis, so I won't belabor that point further. However, there is legitimate reason to be concerned about a reduction in physical properties (HTHS, lower levels of AW additives) mandated by the approvals. That's why so many are hopeful that Valvoline will release a Euro version of Restore and Protect.
OEM testing and approvals, all of them, along with API and ACEA, do not specify cleaning as a requirement. The requirements are to simply maintain a level of cleanliness in the ring land area, after a certain duration, in a certain application (for IIIH, that's in a Stellantis 3.6L naturally aspirated and port-injected Penstastar engine). As you've experienced, this clearly doesn't address specifically problem-prone applications with design defects that result in them accruing deposits in these areas at a rate far higher than what is tested for.
Restore and Protect's ability to actually reverse this process in an OTS product carrying a basic slate of approvals is game changing, because it's not achieved using expensive blends of base oils like with Valvoline's own Premium Blue Restore, or products like HPL, but through what's clearly an inexpensive additive that can be used in a relatively generic API-compliant formulation that can be priced alongside peer products and still turn a profit.
It is important to understand just how far outside the API/ILSAC/ACEA and OEM performance envelope what Restore and Protect delivers is. This isn't just slightly better results in a certain sequence, but a full reversal of a process that is accepted and account for in all current test slates.
