Valvoline MaxLife woes (long)

[Robert Jobson, Jr.]

Not exactly. I've switched to Castrol extended life, same idea, but I've
never lost a drop of oil, before or after, through burning, leaks, seepage,
etc. and have almost 190,000 miles on this one. I also never had any issues
of the like with my 84 4kq, with countless miles due to odometer issues, but
I believed it to be over 200,000. But the oils performance seems excellent.

Bob J
89 80Q


----Original Message Follows----
From: "Jeroen Bruintjes" <brun at bart.nl>
Reply-To: brun at bart.nl
To: quattro at audifans.com
Subject: Valvoline MaxLife woes (long)
Date: Tue, 05 Aug 2003 15:38:04 +0200

It's been a while since I've posted something valuable to this list,
been a lurker for months now. But now I've got something to add :-)

Being totally allergic to oil additives, I've been using straight
Castrol 15W40 in my CGT for the past 2 years. Topped it up with the
other major brands sometimes, but always used good mineral oil. The
car has never seen any Motor-Up or Slick 50 ever since I've owned it
(4+ years). It burned around litre on 4500 km, more when I had
floored it frequently. But I was more than curious when reading
Valvoline's claims that their MaxLife 10W40 may do your engine some
good. They recommended it to cars that had done 100.000 km or more.

Of course, I hereby disclaim myself from the product, being not
affiliated nor a Valvoline stockholder. Just your regular old-Audi
driver.

Anyway, being the archetypical, careful, critical consumer, I'd
thought about testing this stuff. After all, could you think of a
vehicle better suited for this breakthrough enterprise than my own
1985 Coupe GT, first engine (KV) with new valve stem seals, but with
original lifters, pistons etc etc etc, daily driver, a whopping
374.000 km on the odometer and a documented history INCLUDING oil
consumption?

Neither could I.

So here's the saga. The other day, I got 5 litres of Valvoline
MaxLife 10W40 and a shiny new filter from the dealer. Changed oil and
filter and checked the entire engine for leaks. Found a giant oil
stain on my parent's driveway. Diagnosed it to the can lying next to
my foot, with 3 litres of used oil pooring out of of it. Put can
upright and closed the cap. Made it up to parents by cleaning the
driveway. Checked entire engine for leaks again. Found none (of
course).

Preliminary results are promising, to say the least. The engine is
quieter and runs less hot. This has become very clear since I've
covered around 3000 km now. Did the first 1900 km on a trip to
Germany. Long, highspeed autobahn runs with lots and lots of full-
throttle overtaking. Maximum oil temperature was 140C, at 160 km/h
(100 mph). Daytime temperatures were way over 30 degrees C (86F). At
first, I saw quite a lot of blue smoke on overrun at high rpms, this
has now gone. Used 0,7 litres of oil on this trip, which equates to
about a litre/pint every 2600 km. Not bad, but not that impressive
either. Castrol burnt about a  litre every 2300 km under these
conditions.

I've slowed down now. Again it's long day trips, but this time with
oil temps around 110-120C. Here I'm avoiding full throttle whenever I
can. It has now burned just over 0,1 litres on 800 km... So it's down
to a litre every 6000 km. That seems impressive, far better than my
usual litre on 45000 km.

Of course, I've got a lot more miles to cover before I can make an
adequate measurement. But I'm curious if other listers have had
similar experiences?

--
Brun uit/uut/aus/from/de Amsterdam.
Met een dakje op de u!
brun at bart.nl
--

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