Grumpy Bear

Put new plates on Pepper. I guess the state thinks ten years is long enough.

I've been using this product in Dizzy now on here second batch and changing at 3,000 miles as well. I'm fairly certain the bores are toast but thought I'd give it a shot. Nothing to loose, right?

Hovering $4 for regular and $5 for premium.

You are on the money and have been for quite some time. You are a guy that commonly uses common sense. While my post wasn't intended to be religious the parable, in context, isn't from the viewpoint of the person on the path but rather explaining the choice between a standard set by God and one men choose for themselves. So, I'd say yes a person knows if he is attempting to walk a prescribed path or one he makes up as he goes along. As I intended it to be taken, however, the narrow path in oil matters requires knowledge and application of the facts as opposed to the wider path of 'what's on sale and lets run it a few years' thinking or....or....or. Science v Whatever you think. But knowing you @Atlas, I expect you already knew all of this.

I'm in constant amazement over the number of people that do oil maintenance by how they feel, what they were told, what materials cost, what brand A claims vs brand B. Come to think of it, this behavior isn't exclusive to oil. They drive this way too. There is a 20 plus page thread on BITOG on Mobil 1 Advanced Clean vs Valvoline Restore and Protect it would be amusing if it were not so........humanly pitiful. Last Sunday we were are sitting at services and listening to a speaker talk about Jesus parable of the wide and narrow gates and he said something that hadn't dawned on me but totally fit the way people in general are about just about everything. He said there are so few people on the narrow path leading to a good reward not because the the narrow gate was hidden or hard to find but because the wide gate leading to a bad end it so darn easy and uncomplicated to follow!!!

Best part of this video is how it resets expectations. Wonderfully done piece. It also made clear a few points I've made from day one. Detergent oils DO NOT KEEP A MOTOR CLEAN at the recommended or longer change intervals. They just get dirty slower than a non-detergent oil and there isn't spits difference between them on this point if they carry the DEXOS license. Great thing about the license that gets missed is it assures CONFORMITY even if that means a low bar. One thing he did not talk about that I paused on an magnified was the condition of the oil ring separator. Besides a stuck ring a plugged separator and land drain back is huge when it comes control. We see in short order improvement in control IF that is the problem. Another item I took exception to and he did not make plain was the condition of the timing chest and under valve cover having something to do with indicating piston cleanliness. Schaeffer's Oil makes that same omission in their million mile Ford video. I'm guessing he has never torn down a Red Line HP, AMSOIL SS motor that has been on that diet from the get. What he showed in the video was a good deal of varnish. Something totally absent in Peppers 165K cover off look. I smiled because he did his at the same milage. He also makes the mistake of assuming oil temperatures in the pan are the temperature all over the motor even though he makes note of the piston being the hottest part of the engine. that baffled me a bit. I can tell you from personal experience and witnessing teardowns of family motors that even oils of the 1960's would keep them squeaky clean when OCI's were 1500 to 2000 miles without exception. At 3K and above you get what he experienced and the longer you leave it the quicker to gets to the junkyard. I think he is missing a opportunity not tearing it down again when he's done killing it. Time would be his only cost.

How long you running each OCI in the Vibe?

HM oils and cleaning. Well, soft deposits yes, perhaps. Like you say esters are present in in theory that should be a plus. But, is there enough? The marker is the "Aniline Point" and it has to be pretty low to solve out baked on deposits. The softer sludge, yea, they do that and that is the claim. Valvoline R&P is the only HM oil I know of (Jury is out on Mobil 1's product) whose chemistry is uniquely able to remove the hard stuff and not be so aggressive as to swell seals to uselessness. Oxidation levels in virgin oils blends is a good indicator of ester level and higher is generally a lower Aniline number and at one time we could predict without the $400 aniline test it's effectiveness. AN's, alkylated naphthalene doesn't show up in the oxidation test but does show in the aniline test and has become sort of a cheaper go to but most oils only add enough to solve the additive package. Not nearly enough to clean the harder carbon materials. To your second question about does it matter. Yes is the short answer. Deposits are insulative. Those under the piston crown for example add octane requirement for knock free running. We don't' normally notice in todays motors due to Knock sensor driven ignition R-e-t-a-r-d. At least until the full slate of available values is consumed. Newer motors also often use oil jets to cool the piston to achieve tunes that would otherwise not be possible. Deposits on either side subtract from that. Deposits in fine screens used in VVT/VVL or DFM/AFM services live and die on cleanliness and screens are front and center. Vacuum pumps as well like brake booster in the K2's. 90% of todays oils are Group II+/III blends. A few more at PAO/AN/Group II's. A few boutique oils not Walmart shelf materials have enough solvency to prevent but not remove the hard stuff. R & P the current exception. Even HPL's EC30/40 used as directed (20% max) will get the soft stuff and some varnish out but not the hard stuff. That orange varnish isn't baked on oil. Those are fuel varnishes left when the fuel diluted in the oil drops out when the oil cools. Like sugar does in a saturated mix of sugar and water that is put into the frig. That is ring sticking material and a glue the binds hard carbon sometimes. Name brand shelf oils are intended to provide a useful service life at the least cost and highest benefit to the OEM who is trying very hard to keep you in $500 a month payment programs where the real money is made. Did I miss anything you asked or left unsatisfied?

$3.90 to $4.50 depending on the brand and location of the station. 87 regular.

Guys that read Dizzy's thread know that eons ago after multiple manifold pulls to clear the CCV orifice I converted it to a PCV system with an orifice below it via the valve cover. The blow-by (sticky rings) was so bad it was impossible to keep clean and accumulated water in the oil in the winter when the moisture would freeze in the fresh air side. The PCV functioning mainly as a check valve. I carefully sized the orifice to reproduce the factory values for crankcase pressure at idle. Well...took a slug of oil to get my attention but the ring seal improvement meant the system was over drafting sucking oil up and out the breather. (V8 guys with orifice systems are nodding their heads). So today I choked it down...allot....to replicate the "just enough to hold a piece of paper on the fresh air side at idle". May still be to much but I'm working with shims at the moment. When I get it sorted I'll make a proper plate and plug. Perhaps using carburetor jets to tune it. So I guess this means it isn't my imagination. Dizzy is a pig guys so don't go expecting huge moves in equipment (your equipment) that is in much better shape. A needle valve....lord that just came to me....

Okay boys and girls I put a bottle of this in Dizzy the oil burning guineapig after a tank between the coil and plug service of the #3 hole and near the end of the first R&P 5W30 attempt. As a note I did a two R&P oil changes back in October of 2025 with little effect. Granted they were 1K mile a shot oil changes so.... Then followed by fourteen 1K mile changes of Mobil 1 Euro 5W30 FS. Also ineffective. Anyone who has followed the adventures of Dizzy may remember that to put the oil on the full mark of the published nominal 5 quart change I withhold about a cup of oil. That over the last 50K miles the P0420 light has been a frequent flyer, sometimes three or four a day. And that even on 93 octane fuel she registers some KR even in moderate conditions on favorable days on slight inclines. Lastly when giving her a kick in the pants, something done about once a week, she looks like a diesel with the pump turned up. After one bottle and over the last 500 miles of a 3K mile OCI, of the first oil change I dropped the nastiest looking oil ever in her history. That's saying something as you will recall I have used AutoRx, HP EC30/40 and a few other harsh solvents in her before including the GM top soak twice. This was syrup. Black stinky, inky syrup but the filter wasn't all that bad. On the second fill I had to use the entire 5 quarts to reach the full mark. That was unexpected! The ignition KR is completely gone! Even at 99% engine load. MAP is much lower. Level road is now 9.8 instead of 12.5. Fuel economy is remarkably higher and for the first time since her earliest days she will spin to 6500, more than a thousand higher with out laying down dead. Yes, the coil and plug had something to do with that but remember the first 2500 miles after that repair on the first change it was same ole same ole Dizzy. Seems we have top rings that are somewhat functional again. P0420 code only comes on now if run in town for more than an hour of stop and go. On the open road it goes weeks without a incident. Perhaps it is cleaning the cat on the pass through? Fuel Trims have improved as well. Nothing not to like. To early to say about oil economy but the changes to date in the operational aspect is remarkable. I can't think of a worse case than Dizzy.... It's already paid for itself in a few tanks of fuel with the mpg improvement. @OnTheReel, I'd say if the Jeep didn't respond perhaps there wasn't an issue to respond to. I've run the Red Line SI-1, AMSOIL fuel cleaner, GUMOUT and Techron all in this SUV without any such results. Color me impressed. I'll be running out my supplies of the list mentioned and moving on to the Valvoline R&P Fuel System Cleaner.

Wife has enough metal in her she hides from the scrapper.

Oh please, tell me who I am and what I know. (This is going to get interesting) Please, continue. Floor is yours.

Hormuz has them confused around here. Some stations down twenty cent and other up that amount.