Valvoline Restore & Protect

Has anyone here tried Restore & Protect from Valvoline? I picked up my truck at about 40k miles and am around 75k.

Not sure how dirty from the previous owner of the truck but I’ve been doing oil changes between 4k and 5k miles.
Would anyone here recommend using R&P to clean up the engine?

 

Its an API SP oil. It will be fine. If there is any cleaning to do, it appears to be a proven product to do it safely.

This is a much better option than adding Seafoam to the crankcase.

 

I’ve always been a little leery about adding seafoam to the crankcase. I’ve only use in the fuel tank

 

What exactly are you trying to clean up?
I think doing your oil changes will be doing any cleaning just fine. 75k is nothing for a motor that’s been maintained since 40k.
Edit to add: I am in a similar situation with my ‘17. Got it at 36k, now at 77k.

 

i just wanted to clean up the dust bunnies the previous owner left behind. I really like this truck and would like to keep it for a long time. It’s a huge step up from the 2011 Honda crv I had before this.

 

I’m running this product in one of my older vehicles and about to run it in a new-to-me Tundra that had documented 10k mile oil changes.

My rationale is that 10k changes are too long for most average conditions. I’m going to switch to the R&P at 5k mile intervals for a while because it’s only a couple bucks more than the Mobil1 I typically use. There’s some good credible evidence to support this product actually works as advertised (which is really surprising in the world of motor oils)

To add: I don’t believe Tundras will benefit from this product as much as cars with low-tension rings, direct injected, or extended interval oil changes.

 

I am running it currently in my truck. I have a little over 4k miles on the oil and I plan on changing it out this weekend. I’m curious to look at the condition of the filter. I will also be sending in a sample to Blackstone Labs as I’ve done with other oils for the last 30 or 40k miles.

FYI, 4-5k miles about what I’ve been able to get reliably out of most oils given my use case and operating conditions. Penzoil Ultra Platinum has fared the best so far, but I figured at 217k miles, a few OCI’s with a good cleaning oil wouldn’t hurt.

 

I'll be running it next change as well.

just to see if the bull shits in the buckwheat.

I'll send into blackstone & verify the manganese is remarkably higher.

a clean piston ring is a happy piston ring.
a happy piston ring makes a happy supercharger.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IDvx1LtqVM

 

Just changed it out at 43XX miles. Looked a bit dirty, as did the filter. Not ‘forgot to change it this year’ kind of dirty, just more like 7k miles dirty vs 4K miles. But I suppose thats the point.

I know I’ll catch some flack for saying this, but I can always tell when it’s time to change the oil by how the truck drives and how much noise it makes. This time was no different. I collected a sample for Blackstone Labs so we will see good of an oil whisperer I am.

Another 8 quarts of Restore and Protect 5w30 went back in and the truck immediately smoothed out and quieted down. Might need to move to even shorter OCI intervals in the winter. I’ve been aiming for 4-5k miles but I did a lot of towing at highway speeds on this OCI. Before the Whipple, testing confirmed 6-8k miles was good, so maybe 3k in the winter is perfectly legit.

 

Looking forward to the blackstone lab updates. I too run Pennzoil Ultra Platinum now for 4-5kish miles and am also supercharged but only at 103k total miles. Thinking I might switch over after I use up my last of my Pennzoil in the shed.

 

I have 3 jugs of pennzoil ultra platinum on the shelf, but am curious about this stuff as well. I wonder if it would still work pretty well cleaning wise doing a 5qt jug of R&P mixed in with ~ 3 quarts of pennzoil so I don’t have the pennzoil sitting around for as long.

 

I've been reading a lot of threads on BobIsTheOilGuy and it seems like it's been helping for the most part which has me excited. But, I have noticed a lot of comments about oil consumption when switching over to this, so that may be something to keep an eye on going forward.

 

Good to know. I would have hoped clean piston rings meant less oil consumption, but maybe that’s not the case unfortunately. Maybe I should leave well enough alone if I’ve only ever done 5k oil changes. I should not have much varnish buildup with my maintenance schedule, I would hope.

 

FWIW, I checked the dipstick before draining the old oil and it read over halfway between the Low and Full dots. The truck had only been sitting a few minutes so the oil hadn’t completely drained back. Also, I have a slight weep (no drips or drops) from the cam towers at the back of the passengers side. The oil level is consistent with just about every other oil change I’ve performed on the vehicle. I consider it an unappreciable amount of oil consumption, especially consider the heavy towing I’ve done on this fill.

 

Any updates on results with Restore & Protect? Just ordered some for my next oil change.

 

I experienced excessive consumption on my Saturn Outlook. It typically used a quart over a 4-5k oil change interval. With the R&P it used a quart in just over 1k miles.

I did an early oil change at that point with R&P and experienced the same result over a 1100mi trip. Going to run it to the end of interval and go back to Supertech to compare consumption.


ETA: this is a GM 3.6 LLT engine, so oil consumption is expected. At this point, I’m not insisting that R&P caused the excessive consumption

 

Did you end up using it in the Tundra?

 

Mobil 1 has been claiming the same for decades - Back of bottle claim in pic. Cleans out Sludge in one oil duty cycle.

Valvi is just doing a little marketing and it appears to be working.


- Cleans out

 

I was planning to run it in the Tundra with a transition to 5w30.

I just remembered that I put 0w20 R&P in my 4Runner, so I’ll keep an eye on it more frequently.

 

different approaches to cleaning.

Mobil1 uses the solvency of esters and additives to remove sludge… this has been the traditional approach to “cleaning” engines; same as Valvoline’s super cleaning oil designed for Cummins.

Valvoline R&P is allegedly using new chemistry to remove carbon deposits from specific problem areas like ring grooves.

 

I will catch a lot of shit on this but as a petroleum engineer with decades of experience I can tell you there’s only 1 patent on synthetic oil. It was first developed in 1877 by a French chemist & some American guy but it was patented in 1929 by Standard Oil & that company kept updating the patent & therefore control of the formula. Some chemist from Germany jumped into the pool & claimed he had discovered synthetic oil in 1931 (I think that’s the right year) but he just presented the same formula. In 1933 or 1934, a Standard Oil chemist put out a research paper that let everyone who cared to read it, in on the mysteries of synthetic oil. Synthetic oil got real popular during WWII when GI mechanics figured out synthetic oil didn’t freeze up in cold weather like regular motor oil. Standard Oil was behind the ‘upgrade’ of the original formula in 1945-1946 when it changed one of the building block processes involving the synthesis process. Yes, lots of companies tell us they have their own creative process for their ‘versions’ of synthetic oil & they sell it under all kinds of packaging but those companies are all selling the same basic product & are using the same basic ‘recipe.’
In case you’re curious, the recipe for synthetic oil starts with molecules of ethylene & then thru a process of organic synthesis that ethylene turns into larger molecules known as alphaolefins. Alphaolefins are used to create polyalphaolephins which is the base of all brands of synthetic oils. This type of oil is truly ‘built’ In a lab-like setting & not refined or ‘distilled’ like regular oil made out of crude oil.
Some companies add colored dye, solvents, fancy lubricants, or detergents to ‘build’ their synthetics & make them stand out in the market place but those additives don’t really do a whole lot when it comes to the lubricating functions of the original synthetic oil.

It comes down to which one of the additives to the synthetic oil is going to catch your eye thru the advertising.
My best advice is to use a good filter because that is what catches all the dirt or impurities in the oil.

 

You had me at alphaolefins. Seriously, though, very informative.

 

I appreciate your insight and generally agree with your assessment on the advertising aspect.

I’m reallly curious about the “new” technology incorporated into the R&P product, because it’s either going to be ground breaking or Valvoline, Lake Speed Jr. and a bunch of YouTube shills are going to lose a LOT of credibility.

 

My 2012 5.7 now has just over 200K miles. I bought it new and it gets regular dealer oil changes with a genuine Toyota filter and 0-20W Mobil 1.

At around 170K miles I started to get that cold start clatter, especially if the truck sat a couple days unused, which happens a lot with mine. At around 197K I decided to try this Valvoline Restore and Protect. Interestingly the local, newly opened Valvoline Instant Oil Change center doesn't even carry this Valvoline-branded oil. But the local Walmart does so the VIOC place agreed to change my oil and filter using a genuine Toyota filter I provided with 2 gallons of R&P from Walmart. The oil change takes about 8 quarts so I always have some left over.

This is purely anecdotal but within the first 1,000 miles of the R&P oil change, I no longer had the cold start clatter. At 3,000 miles, right when my truck hit the 200K mark, I had it changed again, same as last time, genuine filter and 8 quarts of R&P. I'm at 201K now and the truck has never run better or quieter. Even if it sits for days, no more clatter on cold start.

I had my doubts and concerns about R&P but so far I'm happy with it. That cold start rattle/clatter really bugged me but it seems to be totally gone now. All of my vehicles (the Tundra, two Mitsubishis, and a Honda) have over 200K miles so I'm going to try this stuff in all of them and see what happens. So far I'm impressed. Just wish the Valvoline instant Oil Change stores carried it. I was told the only reason is that they can't get it in bulk (55 gallon drums). But props to them for letting me supply my own oil and filter.

 

But in order for a good filter to filter the dirt agents must be suspended. What makes synthetic oils so good at getting rid of dirt gunk and junk we do not want in our engines ?

 

Used it on my last tundra, I was getting the timing chain rattle that comes and goes, had around 140,000 miles. Took two oil changes but the intermittent rattle was all but gone.
I believe in it

 

Maybe I’ll try this. Mine has been rattling for the last 100k miles

 

I guess we’ll see what happens with this. Did an oil change today with this stuff. After I change the oil, the clacking always gets quiet. Almost like my truck lets me know when it’s time for new fluid. I’ll report back after a few changes.