Valvoline Restore & Protect experiment
- Thread starter the blur
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donjetman
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yesterday changed the first run of R&P. usually I do 3500 ish miles, this one was more like 4k because it was out of stock local.
what I saw was catch can that usually has just a few oz at the bottom, this time was over half full. and at the bottom was definitely gritty and gunk I've never seen before.
cut open the oil filter this morning, the media is still wicking oil off so I can inspect but it's very black looking. and bottom of the can had more of the same gunk the catch can did.
this engine I considered very clean for the mileage before, never took the drivers side valve cover off, which is normally the dirty side. but bore scope in the passengers side and oil pan looked very clean before, as well as under the vlom was just the normal red tint varnash. not sure where it's all coming from, but what I'm seeing would seem to be more than enough to plug up the filter under the oil pressure sensor if your afm is still active and had oil flow thru it. so might be worth noting you might need to clean that if you run 4 fills thru a dirty engine with active afm.
so far I'd say it's doing something. Will a slightly cleaner engine keep the afm valve train alive longer? I don't know but here to hoping it's helping not hurting haha.
why the catch can is much fuller too, I don't know. maybe it cleaned out plugged up pvc ports?
what I saw was catch can that usually has just a few oz at the bottom, this time was over half full. and at the bottom was definitely gritty and gunk I've never seen before.
cut open the oil filter this morning, the media is still wicking oil off so I can inspect but it's very black looking. and bottom of the can had more of the same gunk the catch can did.
this engine I considered very clean for the mileage before, never took the drivers side valve cover off, which is normally the dirty side. but bore scope in the passengers side and oil pan looked very clean before, as well as under the vlom was just the normal red tint varnash. not sure where it's all coming from, but what I'm seeing would seem to be more than enough to plug up the filter under the oil pressure sensor if your afm is still active and had oil flow thru it. so might be worth noting you might need to clean that if you run 4 fills thru a dirty engine with active afm.
so far I'd say it's doing something. Will a slightly cleaner engine keep the afm valve train alive longer? I don't know but here to hoping it's helping not hurting haha.
why the catch can is much fuller too, I don't know. maybe it cleaned out plugged up pvc ports?
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My guess is it's dissolving carbon deposits.... hopefully from the piston ring grooves. That could increase compression with free rings, which could also increase vacuum, which could result in a PCV system working better.
I would think that AFM filter would be a concern in an active system that's not turned off. I wonder if the r&p keeps dissolving the carbon even once it's broke loose, into even smaller particles..... I would think so. Looking forward to your second third and fourth oil change....
I would think that AFM filter would be a concern in an active system that's not turned off. I wonder if the r&p keeps dissolving the carbon even once it's broke loose, into even smaller particles..... I would think so. Looking forward to your second third and fourth oil change....
you might be right, it might just be gritty now and something that could clog. but maybe it could be broken down every further and wash away.
interesting.
my afm hardware is there but turned off in the ecm, and the oil port to the solenoids blocked off, screen removed and valley oil port gaskets clipped.
168k at this change, so we shall see.
pig mat does a good job of sucking the dark oil out so you can see what's left behind on the media
clean side
dirty side.
pulled tight so you can inspect
few little specks in there, but nothing out of the ordinary for what I'm used to seeing on engines(I cut open a lot at work) and much less than I find in my ls3 for years. so far so good
what was in the bottom of the catch can from wiping it out
interesting.
my afm hardware is there but turned off in the ecm, and the oil port to the solenoids blocked off, screen removed and valley oil port gaskets clipped.
168k at this change, so we shall see.
pig mat does a good job of sucking the dark oil out so you can see what's left behind on the media
clean side
dirty side.
pulled tight so you can inspect
few little specks in there, but nothing out of the ordinary for what I'm used to seeing on engines(I cut open a lot at work) and much less than I find in my ls3 for years. so far so good
what was in the bottom of the catch can from wiping it out
I could guess so. Just weird it would make it into the catch can. but yeah guess it's good to have, so it's but dumping it back into the intake.
I have a 2011 and just always figured I had the updated valve cover but I never pulled it to confirm since it catches less oil than my ls3 engine does that has the valley breather. but now I feel like I should just to see.
opfor2
Full Access Member
I too have a 2011, built in November 2010 and it DID NOT have the updated valve cover. I replaced the cover and now I have no more oil loss as I did before.
interesting, I'll have to look at the build.date again. I never had enough oil use to show on the dipstick between changes. after adding the catch can here was some in there but not what I'd call a lot. so I just always figured it did.
I'm going to check next time I get a minute.
opfor2
Full Access Member
Look at your driver's side door jamb sticker on the upper right hand top corner and it will show the build date. For example, mine is 11/10
