Originally Posted By: Durango
Good evening to you all,
While driving home I had wondered if my newly bought and currently using Kendall synthetic is comparable to it's inrernal cleaning abilities to Mobil 1???
Kendall I heard is an good quality synthetic to use but do you believe it'll clean just as good as M1???
Durango
I personally don't use Mobil1 products. No need to go into why and start a fight so let's just say I am not a fan and leave it at that. So, I can't compare the cleaning ability of Kendal vs M1.
HOWEVER, I have some experience with Kendal GT1 FS and it's cleaning ability. I have posted about this before here. My Sister had a 2006 Impala w/ 3.5L V6. I had her running Quaker State Horsepower synthetic. She had run it for approx 20K when I discovered an issue.
I was getting ready to take her car on a trip so I was checking fluids, filters, belts, etc... before going. Just for the heck of it I popped the oil fill cap to see if there was any condensation and just for a quick look inside. I was shocked at what I saw.
Heavy dark varnish/discoloration and a lot of desposits that were sludge like all over everything I could see of the valvetrain and head. This motor had only been run on the QSHP after removing the FF( actually it was a replacement engine at approx 5000 as the one in the car new had a defect and failed right off ).
While I always have been and still am a fan of QS oils it was clear the QSHP was not the best choice for her vehicle( no clue why ). Or, something was wrong with the engine again but that seemed unlikely( good OP and no noise )? I ended up having her swap over to Kendall GT1 FS. I had no real expectations of it cleaning things up. I was just trying to stop it from getting worse. I figured I could clean it out at some point with Seafoam or MMO. The goal was to stop it from getting worse.
She ran the Kendall for a couple OC's and it did a very good job of cleaning the deposits out. It also got rid of a lot of the varnish/discoloration in there too. I was very pleased with how the Kendall GT1 FS did as far as cleaning in my Sister's 06 Impala. I would check after an OC and it always was a little cleaner. She no longer has the vehicle so I have no idea what shape things are in now? What I saw while she had it was the Kendall GT1 FS does a very good job of cleaning.
She now has a 2005 Impala w/ 3.4L( long story - her daughter screwed her over and she had to sell the 06 and take over this POC from the daughter as the loan is in her name ). This vehicle was really neglected and almost zero basic maintenance was done. I am surprised it is still running to be honest. Just had the tranny rebuilt and have done $1500 in other things that would never have been an issue if regular maintenance or general repairs had been done as needed and on time. Just 100% neglect.
Anyway... Back to oil and Kendall cleaning...
It does not appear OC's were done on this vehicle with any regularity if at all. It has 118,000 and the 3.4L does run decent surprisingly so "some" OC's were done but I doubt with anything but the cheapest oil and filters possible and no question they went WAY over reasonable time frames for them. When it was dumped off at my Sister's it was almost 2 qts of oil low and it is only a 2qt sump! I am serious.
The inside of the engine from what I can see is pretty dirty. Very dark and lots of deposits everywhere. Like what the QSHP did but to the umpteenth degree worse. I originally wanted to run the Kendall GT1 FS in this too but after seeing how bad it is, and based on how fast and good the Kendall cleaned out the other engine, I have held off.
This engine is getting some high mileage oil( MaxLife blend - wanted to run the Kendall HM blend but the only store here with it didn't have enough )on short OCI's( 500 +/- )until things look a little cleaner in there. I don't dare run the Kendall FS yet as I am afraid it would clean things too fast and might lead to issues. Once things look good and it looks like no leaks I will swap it over to the Kendall GT1 FS.
I think the Kendall GT1 FS is one heck of an "affordable" synthetic. I think based on what you pay for what it gives you back it is a great choice. To be honest it has pretty much leaped to the top of my name brand synthetic list. If I wasn't going to run RP in a vehicle and still wanted to run synthetic the Kendalll would now be my 1st choice.
In the one instance where I used it that cleaning would be something to monitor it did outstanding. Sorry for the rambling post. Just thought this would answer your question. IMO just stay with the Kendall. It is excellent stuff.
