Thinner alternative to Australian maxlife?

[19jacobob93]

Hi guys!
I really want to try maxlife to clean the varnish off my engine and condition my seals but the problem in Australia is it only comes in the 20w50 guise!
I have mild varnishing in my engine because I let it go 25,000kms on cheap Dino a couple of years ago! I was on a 10,000km road trip, I was 18 and didn't know any better! I read on here that someone with a commodore (another Aus car with a Buick 3.8) did 2 x 3,000km OCIs with maxlife and it cleared ALL varnish.
My problem is I only run 10w30 or 10w40 which is what's recommended, and the last time I tried 20w50 I had a huge knock on startup and that was in summer!
Winter is now on it's way down here and even here in Coastal southern queensland we get some near freezing mornings so I was wondering if there is a thinner alternative or high detergent semi? Would I also benefit from running a bottle of synth through?
Thanks!
Jacob

 

[antiqueshell]

Have you attempted to contact Valvoline Corporate in Australia and ask if they might have the weights you want in a warehouse and might be willing to ship some to your location.

Actually it looks like the DuraBlend semi-synthetic 10w-30
fills that spot in Australia.

Give one of those a try.

That being said I am so tired of the marketing nonsense that so many companies pull today, I mean honestly are consumers in
Australia, Canada, the UK, or Europe THAT much different than those in the US? Of course not.

It would not only be easier for consumers to understand the products available but it would be cheaper for those companies to consolidate their marketing expenditures.

 

[19jacobob93]

Yeah, I think they're relying on the fact that Australians tend to still use thicker oils than most other countries, and over here no one would see a 30 weight as a high milage rather one for a new engine!
Big W have now stocked durablend 10w30 for $35 plus I get discount on that so that is definitely what's going in next.
I currently have shell helix 10w40 cause apparently shell have the strongest detergents but after 2,000kms the varnish remains!
Will probably drop that next week and fill it with the valvoline engine armour 10w30 that's been kicking around my bedroom for months haha

 

[Spetz]

Is it the Shell Helix Ultra you are using?
To be honest though I have no experience I think once you get varnish it's there to stay

 

[19jacobob93]

Nope it's not the ultra I'm afraid, just the hx7 semi synth. It was only $15 so I planned on running it for about 2,000kms and then dropping it but it's a decent oil so I'm taking it to 5,000 now. That probably won't be too far away so I'm on the hunt for a high detergent oil and I'm hoping someone could help me out if they've had experience with an oil removing varnish.
To be honest I thought the same and it was just the metal that had discoloured but apparently it's a very sticky deposit dropped by a bad or well used oil and I'm certain it's the cause of my sticky clicky lifters!

I should have named the thread oils with the best detergents. I'm thinking whether to try a fully synthetic as valvoline synpower is on sale at $45

 

[Shannow]

I'm playing with ridiculously short (about 1,000km, as soon as the oil turns "dark" (opaque, can't see through a 30mm cylinder of the stuff against the sun), with Helix 15W-40 that was on special from supercheap for $3/L.

You could cut the maxlife with some of your 10W-30...50:50 should make a 40 (ish) oil.

 

[19jacobob93]

Yeah shell oils tend to turn darker quicker than others I've tried which I think is down to their 'active cleansing agents' cleaning some crud out
But this stuff has had 2,000ks so far and still looks very clean but the varnish remains. What's the general opinion with oil flushes on here? I know there's very mixed ideas when it comes to the subject but if I add it to relatively clean oil and idle it for 10 mins, it comes out black when I drop it so it must do something

 

[Shannow]

My first torana came fully sludged (rockers had their own grooves in the rocker cover)...mechanically scraped out what I could, then did a few flushed at idle of basically kerosene (kero and sludge came out fairly thick). For most of the late 80s, I would add diesel to the oil and idle it before an oil change.

Nowadays, I'm less inclined to "flush", just to change oil early if I can get oil cheap.

 

[19jacobob93]

Yep might have to give that a go since I've got a few bottles of random stuff that I got in SCA sales over the past few months haha they have some very good deals if you're a club member
Do you think it would help to try a ryco platinum filter? They're only 4 bucks more at $12 and reading the box they have similar filtration levels to some of the expensive high end filters

 

[Shannow]

I'm a big fan of the SCA filters (for the price)...better filters can't hurt, but may not offer huge advantage

 

[19jacobob93]

Okay, I change the filter that often I don't think it matters anyway to be honest

I just poured a little sand into the crank case hoping it will wash around and exfoliate the varnish away. Do you reckon this would work?

 

[Shannow]

Jeweler's rouge is said to be more consistent in make-up

 

[Merkava_4]

I think it's rather odd that Maxlife 10W-30 is a rare commodity in Australia.

Over here in the U.S. it's everywhere.