another oil thread

maybe we should just have a whole forum for oil discussions.

I'm thinking about grabbing some Valvoline Restore and Protect, but not sure yet. They are running a deal for BOGO 50% off with free shipping.

I guess I'm just looking for opinions. My truck is approaching 210k miles and i run the 5w30 Valvoline synthetic blend for high mileage engine. Any reason to not switch to the Restore and Protect?


https://shop.valvolineglobal.com/co...e-protect-full-synthetic-motor-oil-sae-5w-30#

 

Personally I get the full synthetic Kirkland oil from Costco. Super cheap and has been good to me so far.

 

i guess my main concern is, will running the restore and protect cause issues because i havent ever run full synthetic in my truck. its always been dino or blended

 

This! I have been using Kirkland 5w30 in the GX, 4Runner and Tundra for years.

 

I assume by issues you're referring to leaks. Based on my limited knowledge, full synthetic in older vehicles causing leaks is an old wives' tale. That said, there could be some truth to it in the sense that if you have a gasket that's just about to go and is hanging on by a thread with the help of some sludge, the better detergents in full synthetic could dislodge that sludge and therefore appear to cause a leak.

 

I used it in my latest oil change and have about 2000 miles on it with no issues, but it's too early to tell. Otherwise, I've been a Costco Kirkland, Walmart Super tech, or Havoline user and change oil every 5000 miles. Our HHR is changed once a year because it doesn't ever get to the 5000-mile mark and has a percentage of use monitor. In the most recent oil change on the HHR the monitor said there was like 65% oil life.

 

Why change brand/type oil now, obviously that oil has served you well. Pretty sure you won't feel any "improvements" over what you're putting in now.

 

Listen to everyone so far in this thread. There are no magical products when it comes to engines.

If you've been running good quality oils and changing frequently, then you aren't likely to gain anything.


But 210k miles is 210k miles. Nothing can reverse that fact.

 

it mainly got me curious because valvoline claims that it will remove 100% engine deposits over a couple oil changes. that plus the deal they are running with half price got me thinking of trying it.

 

I don't think Valvoline would put out anything that's going to cause your engine to fail. With today's olis and if you follow the recommended OCI and your engine fails I would think there's something else going on in the engine or abuse. Years ago when I was at Cummins one engineer with the alternator group told me Valvoline Blue was their recommended oil and in particular we were looking at one unit they converted from diesel to natural gas.
In a side note, Cummins has Cummins spark plugs, a rebranded Denso, and at a steep price. The Spark plug says Cummins on it.

 

That is correct on why full synthetic got hated on when it was introduced, the dino oil sludge helped seal the old gaskets and the full synthetic cleaned the sludge away like its suppose to.
Personally if your engine isn't making any noise I would just use regular oil, not high mileage or restore or magic fix-it. As a few people have already said I also happily use Kirkland full synthetic in both my 05 civic and 08 tacoma, no issues at all with civics at 180K and tacoma is at 230K.

 

i used to run only dino up until 160k-ish. started going to a new shop after relocating and they didnt even have dino oil at the time and i needed the oil change bad. thats when i switch to the blended valvoline. the past couple years i've been doing the changes myself and kept using the blended oil. i have thought about switching to the kirkland full synthetic but never pulled the trigger. next oil change i may just switch to kirkland or try this R&P.

 

Nothing is really wrong with reputable blended oil but my understanding of blended is that its got part dino and part synthetic but I've never seen a bottle say what the percentage is so in theory it could be 95% dino and 5% synthetic and count as blended. I just use kirkland cause its good and cheep, I'm sure mobi1 and royal purple are better but my vehicles are basic boring engines.
Is your engine making any abnormal noise?

 

hard to say. i did get the valve cover gasket changed last year and after that it started making an odd vibration type sound, but i never really got concerned with it because it goes away on its own and seems to do it randomly.

 

I've had good luck putting about one cup of NOT synthetic transmission fluid in the engine to fix lifter noise. Im sure others have other such fixes as well.

 

sounds scary to me lol

 

If you want to clean the inside of your engine, add 1oz of seafoam per qt of oil in the motor 1000mi before your next oil change, take the rest and dump it in the gas tank. It's a one time deal. For me it got rid of a subtle valve clatter Id hear when accelerating away for the first time in the day when the engine was cold. I take it easy on the motor when it's cold but anything above a mild acceleration sounded like a bad lifter, it always went away quickly as the engine warmed but it was annoying. That went away almost immediately and was easily noticed. My used motor oil is typically a dark golden brown when it's changed @ 5K interval, when I dumped out the oil after putting in the seafoam for 1Kmi it was like ink, jet black. Next change it was back to golden brown. Did it clean it? I really don't know but it looked like it did and I had some noticeable improvements post treatment.

 

Honestly no idea why not synthetic but a much older mechanic taught me that and it works, he said something along the lines of non synthetic transmission fluid has more detergents then motor oil does and that cleans it up.

 

Restore and protect? Sounds like the usual marketing lingo. They need new and exciting ways to get people to buy oil.

The concern about synthetic oil causing leaks goes back to the days of old push-rod engines that had crappy seal designs, like rope lol. These modern toyota engines are for the most part, well designed and rarely leak.

Bottom line, if you've got leaks with Dino oil, fix the leaks
If you've got leaks with synthetic, fix the leaks. Switching back and forth trying to remedy a leak is a waste of time


Running a quart of ATF with 4 qts of engine oil is a old backyard mechanic trick. You just run the engine for a few minutes at idle, don't drive it around .. I don't think it really works anyway

 

After reading the product documentation, it seems you have to use it regularly. So unless you can always get that deal, it sounds like they are trying to suck you in. I'd stick with what you have been doing with the High Mileage and just stay consistent. Or, commit to using this new stuff and stick with it regardless of price.