4wd
$50 site donor 2026
That’s from the jewelry shine40k? Almost as many times as the guy blinks on TV.
Why not Valvoline Restore and Protect for average Joe OCIs?
- Thread starter apollo18
- Start date
Mobil 1 is the most popular DIY oil brand hands-down even outside of BITOG. I don’t think a few bucks here and there this as important to the average Joe as it is to the oil tightwad BITOGERS. If you go watch YouTube tutorials on oil changes, you’ll see Mobil 1and other name brands are well represented.If we’re talking about the “average Joe” than it will all be about pricing. If the Valvoline Restore and Protect is a dollar more than the supertech, the supertech wins. Reality is, with Walmart pricing, the Valvoline Restore and Protect is $11-$12 more. That’s big money for the average Joe. Supertech wins nearly every time. Has nothing to do with cleaning ability, etc.
I’m talking average Joe here, not BITOG members. We’re decidedly NOT average Joe.
Nothing wrong with using it for an "Average Joe OCI," as long as it meets the engine requirements.
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
It's average in the sense that it is an API licensed oil which makes it appropriate for Average Joe OCIs. Just as the title asks.
Looking at the spec sheet of Valvoline Restore and Protect 5w30 it is thicker than some budget 10w30s. My s2000 has an oil change coming up and 10w30 is the recommended oil. Any reason not to use Valvoline Restore and Protect 5w30?
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
And if Joe was to run it past the average - it will un-restore and un-protect
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CleanSump
Site Donor 2026
That would be OK.
I would research more before that and maybe reach out to Honda. Back in the days the oils had more ZDDP, calcium, etc.
OOOPs I meant to say I ran it for about two MONTHS not weeks.
No, it will work fine as long as you don't go over your car manufacturer's maximum OCI. It is not a 15-20-25 thousand mile oil drain interval oil, and they don't advertise it as such like say Mobil 1, Castrol Edge, Amsoil, etc. Personally, I am into a maximum of 5000 miles or 6 months OCI, whichever comes first, no matter which oil I use. I am also sure I pour out a lot of good oil that is not even close to used up. Another good thing is the Valvoline Restore and Protect 5W-30 has a HTHS of >3.2 which is higher than most 5W-30 API rated oils on the market now. The ACEA Euro C3 rated 5W-30 oils are a little higher at >3.5 but the Europeans are more concerned with engine wear protection rather than that extra 1/10 of 1 mpg they may get on a lineup of 10 test stand engines in their lab with lower HTHS oils. Europe doesn't have the US government CAFE regulations to deal with. The Valvoline Restore and Protect will clean up your engine and if it is already clean it will prevent the varnish and piston ring deposit build-up so common today in these newer engines with the low-tension piston rings. I think it is a good choice, you will be using Valvoline's best gas engine oil they make, according to their own engineers. The cleaning is actually just a side effect of using the Valvoline Restore and Protect that their competitors haven't quite matched yet, at-least figuring in the price point, though I bet it is in the works. I don't use it myself right now, but I do like the results others have seen with it so far.
Have you noticed the top end to be any cleaner of varnish?
You probably already know this, I just want to point out you can use the Valvoline Restore and Protect oil all the time, from the day the vehicle is brand new, until it is time to junk it. It is Valvoline's premium engine oil for gas engines according to Valvoline themselves; the unique cleaning thing is just a side effect of using the Valvoline Restore and Protect.
Short story long.... I got the car in mid 2021 and I put about 3-4k on it per nice weather season and do 1 oil change per year because of the mileage I put on it. In the remaining summer of 21 (maybe 1500-2k miles before storage) it used about 1qt per 700-800 miles and smoked on cold startup if sitting for more than a few hours with unknown oil that came in the car and topping off with whatever 5w30 I had laying around before putting it away for winter. I used Mobil 5w40 Euro in 22 & 23. It used about 1qt per 1k miles with about 3-4k miles driven each summer before storage, cold start smoke improved a little as it didn't smoke as much and would only smoke if sitting for more than 12hrs or so. In 24 I started using Valvoline Restore and Protect 5w30. The first 1k miles it used about 1qt, then it seemed to be about 3/4qt per 1k when topping off after that throughout the summer. This last summer using Valvoline Restore and Protect 5w30 once again, it only used about 1/2qt per 1k miles. Also it now smokes less on cold start and only if sitting for a few days instead of hours.
Typically in my experience with cold start smoke is that it's usually associated with valve guide seals leaking. So if this oil is helping with the valve guide seals leaking as well as cleaning up the rings, then that's pretty impressive and goes against some opinions floating around that it may damage old seals when in my case it seems to be helping. I also have NOT done any piston soaks or anything else that would affect oil usage. Though I have used Techron a 4-5 times, but I've never known for that to reduce oil consumption. If you know the 5SFE engine, they all used a bit of oil but just kept on going anyways. Even my previous 5SFE 91 MR2 I owned in high school and college from 2002-2005 would use oil and occasionally smoke on cold starts, but I can't recall how much it used or what oil I used 20yrs ago on that car.
Overall I'm happy with the current results for a 35 year old engine that has about 130k with unknown oil brand, type and intervals history. The previous owner did have it maintained quite well at a shop as he was 87 when he sold it to me. He had it for 15 or so years and bought it from the original owner who was a female. I would say it's likely been driven pretty mildly most of it's life. I do drive a bit spirited, but overall it's mostly a cruiser. When I did the valve cover gasket this spring, the valve train seemed quite clean. Whether that's a result of proper maintenance over many years, or Valvoline Restore and Protect cleaning, I don't know? I'm going to guess a bit of both. Either way, if the engine does give up the ghost for whatever reason, it just gives me an excuse to swap to a 2AR or 2GR sooner than planned.
Is it your belief that if you started out with any brand new engine, that running Valvoline Restore and Protect from day one exclusively for say the first 5yrs of 5000 mile oil change intervals, that it would be in better shape and cleaner than it would be if you did the exact same thing with Mobil 1 0W-40?
Well, I don't think Valvoline Restore and Protect makes a 0W-40, they might in their European oils. As of right now, as far as keeping a new engine clean and preventing or removing piston ring deposits, it looks like Valvoline Restore and Protect is on top. The Valvoline Restore and Protect is not an extended drain engine oil like Mobil 1 is though. I have seen some very impressive results with Mobil 1 online with owners that always did 5000-7000 oil change intervals. The engine internals were spotless, as is the Valvoline Restore and Protect engines. Valvoline has proven they can and do clean up dirty varnished engines and removed piston ring deposits, the only oil out there right now like that. As far as engine wear, they both have great anti-wear additive packs. If you want to extend your intervals, I would go with a Mobil 1 product however.
I used 0W-40 in my query because it's stout (~3.8 HTHS) and contains high levels of detergents. I'd be almost as confident in the 0/5W-30 ESP variants in the same scenario. A clean well protected engine will continue to be as much if a regimented oil change interval is followed, the fact that euro oils are made to be tougher and run longer makes it a simple choice for me even from day one.
If I was looking to clean up a neglected engine, Valvoline Restore and Protect would definitely be on the list of things to implement.
I don't know what you are running it in, but you may want to consider the Mobil 1 ESP 0W-30. It has a ACEA C3 rating, giving it the >3.5 HTHS. There are some other choices out there, but the best prices will be with the Mobil 1 ESP. Do frequent oil and filter changes, no matter the oil or the owner's manual recommendations. I go 5000 miles or 6 months, whatever comes first. All we do is city short trips and only have a 4.7 qt. engine oil capacity though.
