quote:
Originally posted by 1Rocketship:
... I'm "Confused" as to "WHAT" properties an oil would contain that would disqualiy useage on the street ...
If a manufacturer warns an oil is not fit for street use, I don't argue. I'm not a chemical engineer and therefore I'm not the best person to answer your question. Its obviously related to the additive package.
My knowledge about motor oil, like many subjects, is a mixture of recommendations from "mechanics and racers" I trust, advice and comments from other grass roots racers, personal experience, and feed back from folks who I have worked with in the past. Feedback is always very important to me. Not helpful to you Mark ... I know. And I wish I could be more helpful. But I'm just being honest.
I was not raised to be a Valvoline fan. Long ago I preferred Castrol in air cooled motorcyles and in all of my automobiles. Castrol seemed to run very clean and very well in all applications, including air cooled applications. In contrast, Valvoline left a disgusting "grey" colored residue in engines, Pennzoil left a brown varnish in engines. Quaker State was better than those two, but Castrol held up to the heat of air cooled motorcycles the best as judged by the rate of discoloration, how well it retained its "tackiness", the amount of particulates found in the oil after x number of rides, and how badly the ring grooves "carboned-up". Therefore I had been a Castrol fan since the 1960s, as were many motorcyclists. So I have no "Valvoline" agenda I'm trying to vindicate or justify. I have no "ego" invested in the use of Valvoline oil.
Having prefaced my comments thus, there's a tremendous amount of modern grass roots support for Valvoline VR1. I feel the fact that 540 RAT's testing backs this up, lends credence to his results, and not the other way around. I feel very safe recommending VR1 to you guys. My preference would be the synthetic variety. The synthetics should keep the engine cleaner internally AND keep the rings sealing better (no carbon build-up in the ring grooves). My preference for synthetic oil is something I can expound upon (doesn't require a chemical degree).
When synthetic oil was first introduced to the consumer market (1970s) there had been lots of problems associated with its use. I had used synthetic oil at work in industrial applications with mixed results; I was not sold on the benefits of synthetic oil in the 1970s. By the 1980s those problems were reported to be resolved. Amsoil 20W50 was recommended to me, therefore Amsoil became my first foray into the personal use of synthetic oil, circa 1980s, in my air cooled 4 stroke motorcycles (street bikes and dirt bikes). The results of using Amsoil were way better than using Castrol had been. The positive experiences using Amsoil 20W50 in the air cooled 4 strokes led to using Bel Ray synthetic pre-mix oil in the two strokes. I tore down the motorcycle engines from time to time, thus I had opportunity to view the internals and see what differences, if any, the synthetic oil was making. The Amsoil came out of the 4 strokes looking the same color as it did when I poured it in. And it was just as tacky too. The period of time between valve adjustments increased. There was no carbon build-up in the combustion chamber or ring grooves. The Bel Ray oil kept the exhaust power valves of the two strokes absolutely clean, no carbon build up in the exhaust port at all. In fact there was a thin film of "clear" lubricant on the power valve parts, it felt and looked like a thin film of silicon grease or petroleum jelly. Two stroke exhaust ports were something that I had previously had to scrape the carbon out of from time to time. The absence of carbon was absolutely amazing. Obviously the synthetic lubricants handled high temperatures much better than the petroleum based lubricants I had used in the past, and petroleum based Castrol had the reputation for being the best (petroleum based) oil for air cooled (high temperature) applications.
So after a decade of using Amsoil synthetics in my motorcycles I decided to try Mobil 1 in the daily driver car I purchased after one of my sons totaled my second Mach 1 Mustang (mid-1990s). Amsoil was too expensive to use 5 quarts at a time! I began using Mobil One in my daily drivers circa 1994, with unbelievably good results. Before retirement I put a lot of miles on the cars I drove to work daily (roughly 30,000 per year). I've used Mobil 1 10W30 in the last three daily driver cars I've owned (T-Bird, Taurus, Continental), each was sold off after I put 200,000 miles on them, each had gradually burned less and less oil than they did when they were new. The rings were seating better and better as time went on. And internally the engines looked like new castings, no build-up of anything anywhere. The chassis components and other parts of those cars were worn out, but the short blocks (and cylinder heads) of the engines were in great shape.
Based on those personal experiences using synthetic motor oil, and on the feedback from others regarding Valvoline VR1, I use (and recommend) Valvoline VR1 10W30 synthetic in my 351C, straight out of the bottle, no additives. If its an old engine, petroleum based VR1 would probably be good enough, I'd save the synthetic for a fresh engine. If the bearings of the old engine are in bad shape 15W40 or 20W50 may be a better choice. Let the "hot" oil pressure be your guide in that regard.
If you had told me 20 years ago that someday I would be using Valvoline myself and recommending it to others I would have told you you're crazy.