I wanted to share some observations based on my experiences with Valvoline's European Vehicle 5W-40 in three separate applications; a '18 Mitsubishi Pajero 3.8L V6 (6G75), a '10 Toyota Camry 2.4L L4 (2AZ-FE) and my '05 Lexus RX 330 3.3L V6 (3MZ-FE).
All three vehicles had regular oil changes with bulk 20W-50 at ~5,000 km/3,000 mi intervals with OE filters (Toyo Roki sourced for the Mitsubishi and Denso sourced for the Toyotas) since new. As I don't have a detailed service history for any of them, I don't know how many of those oil changes were extended beyond this interval. With that being said, they all used oil sourced from Dubai with questionable quality; as a result, the engine internals were heavily varnished despite the short drains. Looking through the fill hole, you could clearly see everything was covered.
I decided to run the Valvoline, which was primarily a cost driven decision, considering it is a competitively priced synthetic. The first drain interval (5,000 km/3,000 mi) on all three vehicles raised eyebrows, because the oil drained had a red tint like ATF. But what was surprising was I could start to see shiny metal through the fill hole now, albeit it all had a darker yellowish hue/tint to it. I did not take any before/after pictures, because again, I was not experimenting with its cleaning abilities and all three vehicles got their oil changed during the same week.
The last vehicle to get its oil changed was the Lexus, which was on Friday, and I have attached a picture of the oil being drained. I will follow up to see what the oil looks like after the second interval, but I'm curious if anyone has had any similar observations/experiences with this particular oil. I don't know what the base oil is, although I assume it's just a Group III based on price alone. I have looked at some VOAs posted here and did not notice anything any different than other comparable oils.
All three vehicles had regular oil changes with bulk 20W-50 at ~5,000 km/3,000 mi intervals with OE filters (Toyo Roki sourced for the Mitsubishi and Denso sourced for the Toyotas) since new. As I don't have a detailed service history for any of them, I don't know how many of those oil changes were extended beyond this interval. With that being said, they all used oil sourced from Dubai with questionable quality; as a result, the engine internals were heavily varnished despite the short drains. Looking through the fill hole, you could clearly see everything was covered.
I decided to run the Valvoline, which was primarily a cost driven decision, considering it is a competitively priced synthetic. The first drain interval (5,000 km/3,000 mi) on all three vehicles raised eyebrows, because the oil drained had a red tint like ATF. But what was surprising was I could start to see shiny metal through the fill hole now, albeit it all had a darker yellowish hue/tint to it. I did not take any before/after pictures, because again, I was not experimenting with its cleaning abilities and all three vehicles got their oil changed during the same week.
The last vehicle to get its oil changed was the Lexus, which was on Friday, and I have attached a picture of the oil being drained. I will follow up to see what the oil looks like after the second interval, but I'm curious if anyone has had any similar observations/experiences with this particular oil. I don't know what the base oil is, although I assume it's just a Group III based on price alone. I have looked at some VOAs posted here and did not notice anything any different than other comparable oils.
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