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Not exactly. Remember in grade school hearing that math axiom, "All squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares"? When an oil flies the DEXOS flag it means it is, 1.) Chemically compliant 2.) Performance tested and passed 3.) Paid my dues to fly the flag. 4.) GM knows exactly what's in the bottle and we have an NDA. When an oil only says on the back label, "Meets the DEXOS spec" it could mean a few things. 1.) It is chemically compliant and it does meet the test standards but I'm not paying you nor am I giving you my recipe. (Valvoline R&P) 2.) Is not chemically compliant yet meets performance testing. (Mobil 1 ESP) 3.) Is not chemically compliant and far exceeds performance standards. AMSOILSS/Red Line HP/TORCO SR-5. Oils like AMSOIL, Red Line, TORCO, and even Mobil 1 ESP far exceed the performance standards, do not comply with the favored chemistries and couldn't be licensed even if they wished to be. GM would like people to believe that any oil not DEXOS licensed is sub par. Simply not true. Most of the boutiques and a handful of Big Box oils out perform in spades. Give you just one spec to chew on. DEXOS1Gen2 NOACK standard is 13% and that was improved by DEXOS1Gen3 to 12.5%. (Lower is better) AMSOIL SS 0W20 has a NOACH of 8.5 and the 5W30 is 6.7%. Red Line HP 0W20 is 5% while the 5W30 is 6%. Both of these oil exceed standards by half or nearly so. Cleanliness or deposits. AMSOIL is 40% cleaner than Gen2 oils. Fact, cleanliness, deposit and sludge control of Gen2 licensed oils is the same as API SN+/SP. Neither were clean enough to keeps rings free thus the Gen3 oils, which still aren't as good.

Effective April 8, we are implementing a temporary surcharge across our product portfolio. The surcharge will vary by product type and be built into the product price rather than applied during the transaction so it is abundantly clear for customers. Because this is a temporary measure to recover spiraling costs, commissions will not be adjusted. Wholesale pricing has been adjusted according to the list below. Preferred Customer and online/catalog customer pricing will adjust at a commensurate rate. This action is necessary due to rapid and significant increases in the cost of raw materials and other goods driven by ongoing global supply disruptions resulting from the conflict in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. These events have materially impacted the availability and cost of nearly everything required to manufacture our products.

DEXOS oils all have a very similar add package and identical base oil packages. Each DEXOS version is different in both regards. Each blender is required to surrender the exact formulation to acquire the license. It is the reason Valvoline R&P, AMSOIL, Red Line, TORCO and a few others do not have this license. Not even all Mobil 1 oils are DEXOS licensed.

283,000 miles. Haven’t gotten it apart yet to know what happened.

To your point of Dexos oils and then those oils that are perhaps considered slightly above but are not Dexos certified. An example and I might be able to go back and find it but it was a half ton chev truck owner in a comments section of a oil related video that had his truck from new and it has the 5.3 engine. He as he saw it meticulously changed the oil himself every 5000 miles using Pennzoil Ultra Platinum and thought he was doing an excellent job of maintaining the oil quality he was using as well as the OCI. I don't recall the exact miles on his truck but it certainly was no where near 250000, I believe just over half of that in total. For some reason he decided to switch over to the Valvoline R&P 5W-30 and had ran it for 5 OCI and it was that fifth OCi that he had a photo of his filter after about 4300 miles. The filter media was a dark brown and could see fine brown deposits in the bottom of the pleat grooves and it certainly did not look like what one normally sees on a used oil filter. That R&P had been removing a massive amount of built up deposits on the inside of that engine, who's to know what the status had been of the oil control rings and the drain holes in the piston when he switched over to the R&P. I was shocked at seeing that as there has been a lot of positive talk about the Pennzoil Ultra Platinum and in that sense that its considered slightly above the Dexos spec. The gist is that whatever is in the Valvoline R&P is helping reverse deposits and would stand to reason that if an oil with those additives was used from the start the deposits would be far less. Time will tell with the Mobil oil they just came out with as its being marketed on a somewhat similar theme to the R&P, or put another way it would suggest that not all the commonly obtained oils and that includes Dexos certified oils on the shelf are created equally. One thing is for sure, all the oil companies sure push to create fantastic claims for their oils and where does the truth end and the bs line begin, case in point are the mileage protection distances on some major brands and being in Canada, an example is Castrol Edge Titanium in the gold bottle with a "32000 km protection"

, and as if to illustrate my point. When you factor in the same thermostat, the delta between the highest and lowest temp was 5deg. Again,charts. Yes, you can show endless data showing whatever, and you can torture the tests until they produce whatever outcome you want. Ultimately, take 2 correct weight, Dexos oils. Any 2. Do the first oil/filter change at 750mi, the 2nd at 2,000, and every 5,000 thereafter and show me a real world difference to the owner over 250,000mi.

If you know someone with a 3D printer, have them print the funnel I designed. https://www.printables.com/model/1152790-oil-funnel-gm-66l-gas-engine