Valvoline MaxLife NextGen 5W-30 SN

[AP9]

Saw it on sale at Meijer back in October 2013 along with a manufacturer's coupon attached (that had expired almost a year earlier, but that Meijer overrode). Also had the rebate going at the time, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Had some left over, so I decided to submit it for VOA at the same time as my UOA on it, especially since I have begun to question Valvoline's QC a bit ever since the PQIA test on regular 5W-20 NextGen didn't pass the SN Noack test, and this thread from tinmanSC didn't give me too much reassurance, and thought it would be interesting to see how it compared to slightly older batches.

Didn't bother to get a TBN (sorry), but here were the results:

 

[NMBurb02]

I am running this in both my vehicles right now (I stocked up at a few clearances) and am not a fan after comparing it to the PU that was the previous fill in the Burb. I can't make an engine noise comparison, as the Gibson cat-back exhaust drowns out all engine bay noise, but it is a good bit thicker than the PU, as evidenced by hot and cold oil pressures and freeway cruise rpm: on the PU diet the tach would be glued at 2,000 rpm when warm, whereas on the ML NG, it never gets below 2,050. I know that's a silly comparison, but I can be a bit OCD and I like the tach needle sitting right on the 2k hash mark. In fact, I will be dumping it after ~2,000 miles and refilling with the much lighter G-Oil 5W-30 before embarking on a 3,000 mile road trip that will take me across the continental divide. It will be wasteful, but I do not want that 50 rpm mocking me the entire 40+ hours I will be spending behind the wheel.

But it seemed to hold up well in the GP during a 4,000 mile run, as confirmed by a UOA. But consumption control has been only fair, requiring a 1 qt top off after 4,500 miles in the current fill which is about consistent with a PP run I did two OCIs ago.