CleanSump
Site Donor 2026
The Euro versions have to be different because they meet ACEA HTHS specifications that are higher than the versions sold in the US right now.
Valvoline Restore and Protect
- Thread starter Scott S
- Start date
C&P here
Thread 'Wix 57145 used oil filter cut open'
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/wix-57145-used-oil-filter-cut-open.406984/
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I hope they bring that formulation here, eventually. Would pill in tons of VW/Audi/BMW guys to the fold.
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Be cool to see the Euro spec here certainly, but there is a ton of Audi guys already using the Valvoline Restore and Protect 5w30 in their Euro cars, including the twin turbo hot rod S8's and A8's with huge success and getting rid of the oil consumption problems.
Audi approved "Euro oil" is what created the mess of oil guzzlers in the first place. Possible the 40 weight oil is just too thick here in the states with our low speed limits making the rings stick? Or is its just poor oil contamination or to long of an interval? Don't know, but many guys still had oil control rings sticking even doing just 5000 mile intervals on their Euro oils, so there is that. Many will say its bad engine design and engineering bla, bla, bla, but the ring sticking doesn't seem to happen in Europe where people can flog on them over there. It's the majority of the late model Audis here in the states where the speed limits are low. IMO you don't need the elevated HTHS here in the states as the engine doesn't heat the oil near enough at the low RPMS we drive at compared to the roads in Europe.
Keep the interval at a reasonable 5000 miles on the Valvoline Restore and Protect on the Euro engines and all is good. One guy has well over 60,000 miles on the Valvoline Restore and Protect 5w30 and oil consumption has not returned at all. So thats really speaking volumes, and he lives in the Texas heat. His engine had consumed a quart in 400 miles previously. Valvoline Restore and Protect is an engine saver for vehicles with stuck oil control rings, we have proved that with many of these Audi engines with their very low tension oil control rings that are prone to stick with coked up carbon in the ring land area.
I'm running Valvoline Restore and Protect in every single one of our vehicles now. I just cut apart the filter on my Daughters 1.5L turbo CRV today from her first 5000 mile run on Valvoline Restore and Protect, and it was loaded with carbon. I was plenty surprised as this engine only has 65,000 miles on it, so the Valvoline Restore and Protect has started to clean this engine up nicely as well. I will continue with Valvoline Restore and Protect in all of our engines as the forever oil it works so well.
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Did these people do a piston soak to start or are they resolving the oil burning with just Valvoline Restore and Protect?
What was it run on for the first 65,000 miles? Was it burning oil? I’m always surprised by how much people get out of their engines the first Valvoline Restore and Protect run even when they didn’t think they had an issue.
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The guys on the Audi forum with the twin turbo V8's Audis just switched to the Valvoline Restore and Protect oil. Some of the V6 guys do a little of everything, piston soak and Valvoline Restore and Protect, some use Yamalube Ring Free now and Valvoline Restore and Protect. Some just do the Valvoline Restore and Protect if consumption is not too severe. Doing nothing will take the engine out of service with burned or broken exhaust valves from carbon debris holding them open thats why some with sever oil consumption need to hit it hard with heavy Ring Free dosage or the piston soak. When you are at a quart in lees than 1000-500 miles, engine failure can happen at any time on them it seems. So you have to throw the book at it and dose it with Ring Free quick and possibly a piston soak which works immediately when done properly. Heavy Ring Free dosage should still be done prior to the piston soak as to prevent the carbon from the combustion chamber and piston from building up and preventing the engine from turning over due to the carbon making a interference fit between the piston and head, it's so severe if not doing the Ring Free first as a chamber cleanup, that the loose carbon that comes free of the chamber will literally need blown or vacuumed out of the cylinder before the crank can be turned over. The Ring free super clean the chambers and piston crowns. It's amazing to see how well Ring Free works on the borescope to clean everything up in there after pulling the plugs! No wonder it helps to unstick the rings with a heavy dosage!
We ran my Daughters CRV on 5w/30 Quaker State full synthetic on 7500 mile intervals all highway use the first 65,000 miles of its life till I started to see dark internal staining in the oil filter boss area of the engine. I was quite surprised to see all the carbon in that filter of her CRV for sure! Same thing I saw on the first few filters of our Audi Q7, in fact I'm still seeing some carbon bits the 4th or 5th filter change on the Q7, not a lot like initially, but some. With every change it gets to be less and less at least anyway, but the first few filters were loaded with carbon debris for sure.
Think that a bit too much, IMO. That's why I advocate for strictly 5,000 OCI with "full synthetics" from Walmart.
My 09 ES350 2GR-FE V6 NA has 62k mi and it is on its 1sr Valvoline Restore and Protect. The last 20k or 8yrs it has been on a Pennzoil Ultra Platinum, Mobil 1 and Quaker State. Previous 40k, an unknown oil used. Fall time, it is going to be interesting to what carbon I find in the filter cartridge.
Probably a good time to post this again: following Maintenance Minder to 10-15% and using off-the-shelf 0w20's on my Honda 2.4. This was suburban use 7500-10,000 miles per OCI.
Patman
Staff member
Surely you must be kidding I regularly do 7000-7500 mile intervals in my Corvette and 10,000 mile intervals in the Civic, using off the shelf oil that can be found in Walmart and Canadian Tire.
5000 miles is too early for most people unless it’s a severe fuel diluter. Even with a little bit of fuel, 6-7k intervals are fine. There are plenty of high mileage 1.5T Hondas out there chugging along just fine using intervals determined by their OLM (which means 9-10k)
Nobody has ever had premature car death from changing his oil a little earlier. But there are plenty of documented car deaths on people who were very good about changing oil at 7k intervals. Whether it was infrequency of oil changes or a car design flaw… the only thing you lose from earlier oil changes is time and 30 to 80 bucks (depending on the volume of oil and cost of filter). Nissan’s top engine designer/engineer recommends every 2K mile oil changes on the Nissan GT-R despite what the manual says.
I regularly do 7000-7500 mile intervals in my Corvette and 10,000 mile intervals in the Civic, using off the shelf oil that can be found in Walmart and Canadian Tire.
5000 miles is too early for most people unless it’s a severe fuel diluter. Even with a little bit of fuel, 6-7k intervals are fine. There are plenty of high mileage 1.5T Hondas out there chugging along just fine using intervals determined by their OLM (which means 9-10k)
VRP will save a lot of cars from premature engine death
If your Civic gets to 300k miles on 10k mile oil changes intervals, I’ll be VERY impressed. If the goal is to get the car to 120-150K miles, then a Civic engine probably won’t complain about 10K intervals.
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Patman
Staff member
Over the course of many decades you lose a lot of money if you change your oil too often. I have easily saved a few THOUSAND dollars in the past 20 years by switching to longer intervals. And I have never had any engine problems. So changing my oil sooner would have done absolutely nothing for me.
I’ve said it many times on here, but a lot of people here change their oil way too often and always use the same tired excuse that it’s cheap insurance. But in reality it’s not cheap. I like keeping money in my pocket and not wasting it needlessly.
Car deaths due to the oil not making it 7k miles? Has it been documented on here? If not, would you mind sharing the info?
One concrete example would be premature death from fuel dilution in some poor cold weather dude driving short trip intervals. This is partly behavior, partly engine design, but is partly remedied with frequent oil change.
Small displacement turbo-charged engines should get frequent oil changes. 7K is too long. A TEOST test doesn’t account for the contaminants accumulating in the oil which can still crud up.
Small displacement turbo-charged engines should get frequent oil changes. 7K is too long. A TEOST test doesn’t account for the contaminants accumulating in the oil which can still crud up.
That was also GM's direction in the late 90's and onward. They focused on the lowest cost of ownership, and was one of the primary reasons that the GMOLM was INITIALLY designed for oil changes at roughly 12,000 miles.
However, oil requirements changed, and ZDDP levels, which the OLM was based on, were reduced for other reasons. Likely CAT longevity.
I still maintain, like you, that 5000 mile OCI's are too frequent for most engines, and certainly for most wallets.
How many miles on that engine? And what oil(s) were used?
This is an example of how an engine can have lots for deposits in the oil control rings and make them stuck and not function properly, but the rest of the engine looks pristine clean. Go to around the middle of the video (17 minutes) if you want to see how clean the rest of the engine was.
I'm not kidding. That's what UOA say. Oil is not only viscosity, it's TBN and many other things too. When I drive 5K-6K and the TBN is 2.5 on a non-turbo, non-GDI engine - what that tells you? Run more 1K-2K miles like Blackstone Labs suggests? No, I won't.
I regularly do 7000-7500 mile intervals in my Corvette and 10,000 mile intervals in the Civic, using off the shelf oil that can be found in Walmart and Canadian Tire.
5000 miles is too early for most people unless it’s a severe fuel diluter. Even with a little bit of fuel, 6-7k intervals are fine. There are plenty of high mileage 1.5T Hondas out there chugging along just fine using intervals determined by their OLM (which means 9-10k)
Can you analyze for me the two UOA reports below? What about the viscosity, but what about the TBN? Polaris will never suggest to extend your OCI if your TBN is already 2.5 or lower.
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/mobil-1-5w-30-6-000-miles-2014-scion-tc-2ar-fe-used-oil-analysis.405866/
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/mobil-1-afe-0w-20-5-000-miles-2014-scion-tc-2ar-fe-used-oil-analysis.405867/
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122,418. Had a seal leaking...adjusted exhaust valve clearance on #1...it was a bit snug...all the remainder were within spec. Mostly Mobil 1 0w20, Pennzoil Platinum 0w20.
Sounds like my son's Civic. He never was fastidious with oil changes. He sold that car with over 325,000 miles...still not burning any between his not-frequent changes at whatever oil change place he was closest to when he decided to take time to get it done. Stop-and-go California traffic for him. I was always amazed how nice that engine ran with so little care. I'm much more particular with my own vehicles. Neither of us have ever had an engine problem (if you don't count replacing the Cam Chain Tensioner on my 2.4 at 121,924 miles...a known problem area).
Currently on my 2nd fill of Valvoline Restore and Protect. First fill has been drained out first going into the collecting container, then transferred out to an empty for proper disposal. A lot of sediments, which I assume is carbon particles settling on the bottom. Could this be too small to be captured by the oil filter?
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