Valvoline Synpower Additive Package

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I was perusing the UOA section and noticed that Synpower UOA's don't show the typical additive formulation of other name brand sythetics. It essentially doesn't contain any Molybdenum and Boron compounds, yet it appears to perform as one of the best synthetics. I do notice that it does contain sodium. Any idea how the lack of these two compounds impact an engine?
 
MC has about 40 ppm Moly. Synpower seems to have essentially no amount of Mo and B, as if it is not formulated to have any.
 
Yeah, SynPower is weird. Their additive looks very light, but it preforms very well. I use it. Their additive doesn't show up very well in UOA/VOA. It's lead to speculation that they are using some organic-based additives they have been working on with Lubrizol (these don't show up very well in a UOA, hence the speculation). They have been working on the HyperZDP additive with Lubrizol too.
 
I think SynPower is a good oil, but as you pointed out its additive package is completely different from all other oils. That makes me have second thoughts about it. Is this additive package cheaper or more expensive? Is it better than other packages used in other major oils? If it is less expensive why other oil manufacturers are not using it? If it is better why other major brands didn't emulate it in their top of the line oils...
 
i;ve used synpower exclusively for the past two years and its been fantastic. additive package doesn't mean much.......conventional oils have significantly less additives yet we often see similar or better uoa with them. take the additive package with a grain of salt for most cars.

moly isnt everything

high end oils such as amsoil 0w-30, castrol 0w-30 contain zero moly.
 
There are a lot of additives packages out there, some custom, that all perform well. You can get good results multiple ways. You generally see the same additives among 90% of most oils. Oils are more alike than different, but formulations do vary.
 
No assumptions about "all additives". Original post refers to common chemistry that does show up in UOA's ( Mo/B).
 
Mobil's 5000/7500 oils were using Na in the same amount Valvoline is now using. This was a few years ago. Amsoil was using Mg in their oils until API SM, and now use the same level of boron Mobil 1 was using years ago. Weird. Some oils use no ZDP at all. This kind of confirms what that guy on Noria said in that many of these oils are really not state of the art. It's the overall balance and how many specifications an oil meets that truly determines quality. Anything beyond that is simply assumption. Without testing, how do you truly know? You don't. Some oils do things better than others.
 
That sounds about right regarding oil specifications met and quality. It seems dexos1 kind of gives a benchmark for quality that was missing in synthetics. I think I will stick with QSUD/PP.

Before I joined BITOG, I just believed a reputable name brand (Mobil 1) was all that mattered. I poured it in and was confident that all is well, didn't even think about UOA. Maybe over analyzing motor oil.
 
Originally Posted By: rslifkin
Chances are, it's just different, and not significantly better or worse.

+1....have used it in the past and was completely satisfied.
________________________________
2003 Ford Focus (Duratec 2.3L) / 89K
M1 5w20EP / OCI: 1 Yr or 12K +/-
Filter: M1 EP / Redline Sl-1
 
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GTX uses the Na too.

I've been saying too that all you can really judge an oil by is it's specs, with notable exceptions, like TDT. This works fine with the Euro oem specs, but the thinner API specs are pretty limited to GM 4718M and now Dexos, which is not that killer of a spec if you look at it. In a thin oil, I want to see A5, period. SynPower delivers that.

Anyone have a clue if SynPower and Valvoline Racing synth have close enough additive packs to mix them? That is, does the VRS have the organic adds too or just the ZDDP?
 
Originally Posted By: modularv8
It seems dexos1 kind of gives a benchmark for quality that was missing in synthetics.


err.. what?
 
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