Valvoline vs. Pennzoil

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Originally Posted By: ShotGun429
Synpower hands down!! I work in a engine rebuilder shop, We know whats best here. Rarely a engine run with any Valvoline syn. oil makes it in (for a rebuild) the shop here, cly. wear and bearing is almost nonexistent with Synpower.


Working in a rebuilder shop for so long should have shown you that the BRAND of the oil used has NO effect on engine longevity.

I don't run Valvoline or SOPUS oils, The last engine I had go down was in the early 90's because it got hot.
 
I'd bet working in a machine shop would show more people use Pennzoil than Valvoline.
 
PP. No question.

I don't think I've ever poured Valvoline in a crankcase. If I have, it's been so long ago I can't recall. While I agree with clinebarger's comment above, I do tend to perceive Valvoline as being more of an entry level motor oil.
 
Pennzoil every time.

Pennzoil, Mobil, and Castrol are top tier oils.

What is the last Valvoline innovation that comes to mind?

That said, I do use Valvoline Synpower in one of my vehicles.
 
Long ago, in a decade far far away, my roommate worked at a radiator and tranny shop (that his dad owned). I hung out there a lot, earning a buck or 2 changing oil or slapping on brakes (twas a small town, and said R&T shop did a lot more than just R&T's, it was a trusted place, ya know, for the country folks). One day, this mysterious stranger shows up. He was one of those legendary folk that travelled the country and tried to get fix it joints, like the T&R shop, to use his brand of oil. Which was Castrol. Told us of the evil nature of Pennz, with all its sludge and wax creating propensities. How Havoline had once been a great oil, but had been taken over and ruined, and how Quaker State was barely legally allowed to be called motor oil. Some of this is embellished with time,but he did talk junk about a lot of popular brands of oil and their additives. He truly was hard on Pennz. He asked what we used, and Dave replied "Valvoline". Castrol guy actually said, "Well, that's actually a pretty good oil, but I'll beat their price". Dave scratched his head, looked over at his hobby- several dirt track cars, all with Valvoline on them as a sponser, and told the feller to "Go home, call the guy with the moneybags, git me a sponsorship package put together, and then come on back". He didn't come back, and I used Valvoline for 25 years, cause the Castrol guy actually didn't talk junk about it. Never bought so much as a quart of Pennz till I started reading on this site. I'd buy the Valvoline..... old habits are hard to break.
 
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Originally Posted By: ShotGun429
Synpower hands down!! I work in a engine rebuilder shop, We know whats best here. Rarely a engine run with any Valvoline syn. oil makes it in (for a rebuild) the shop here, cly. wear and bearing is almost nonexistent with Synpower.


Total twadle!

The folks who use Valvoline finish up with an engine that is well beyond economic rebuild and as it used to be cheaper than a top of the range Penn oil, the owners could not afford an expensive rebuild and just went for a cheaper used engine.

I suspect there are a lot more cars run with Penn oil anyway, as it has always been the dogs small round things in performance vs cost terms. Their advertising (Sold under the Shell Ultra name here) about the best ring cleaning and lowest friction of any major brand (Although they don't include Liqui Moly Synthoils) is 100% correct.

http://pureplus.shell.com/en-ae/
Ultra is the ultimate golden nectar of the engine wear factor gurus (If you can't afford a Synthoil), mostly because it has a real good add pack that includes Moly and Boron, in combination with a GTL (Gas To Liquids) technology group 3 base stock, not some liquid based on nasty contaminated black liquid laid down by dinosaurs.

If you need to cheap out or have some oil leaks, Castrol GTX HM is a better option if it's on special.
 
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Im not going to argue if you believe Valvoline is the "best Oil" then keep using it. I believe its a good oil but the best?

If you asked what oil was used before the rebuild do you mean as in the last oil change before they had a problem or what oil was used in the engine since it was new?
 
I wonder the percent of people who bring their cars in for an engine rebuild used the same oil the entire life of the engine. I'd say the percent is pretty small. I think a lot of well maintained cars rot away before they need an engine job.
 
NAPA SYN. Bare with me, PP is the better oil but...

Here is the trick, PP has consistently done well with VOA. Much lower NOACK and what appears to be a better add-pack. I see that it justifies its price a lot better than Synpower. So it is a premium product with a premium price.

Synpower is a very good motor oil but not for the price range. It is not quite on that PP/M1 top-shelf level. So, when I see it priced at the same $/qt, it is my least favorite choice because I view it as a slightly-second tier syn oil. If you want a Syn oil with a sodium addpack, then there are a lot of other lower-priced options... and other oils without a sodium addpack that do just as well.

So this brings me back around to NAPA SYN. The NAPA brand is made by Valvoline, the VOA come back nearly identical to Synpower (same with Royal Purple too), so when NAPA runs their $3-$3.50 per quart sale of NAPA Syn, why pay the top-shelf price for Synpower?

At the end of the day, for 95%+ of the drivers out there, the difference between a premium "the best-i-ests" oil and a very good oil is not going to be noticeable. Even for those "spirited" drivers. The difference between quality oil is very low so unless you are pushing the longest OCIs, creating prolonged trackday or towing conditions, the private label or "lesser" synthetic option is going to be more than fine. You just have to watch out if your vehicle has a specific requirements.

In my fleet, even using "recycled" prison oil, our vehicles hit the 200,000 mark without oil-related engine issues (transmission are a different story). Still, when the price is right, I grab PP drums... or Napa or Formula Shell etc. It is more about the price-point in my opinion.
 
I've tried them both and like them both. I wouldn't go back and forth between the two due to different add packs. I figure its best to not mix them like that. Now if you wanted to go back and forth between another brand of oil that had similar add packs, there probably isn't as much an effect on the chemistry of the OCI.

When I had a Nissan frontier, I liked Valvoline synpower, it seemed to have a little higher HTHS, which mattered more for that DI engine. I did try all sorts of brands and add packs before I settled on that. What I really liked about it was the ability to go between Napa Synthetic and Valvoline, Napa having hella good sales sometimes with pretty much the same Valvoline oil.

No it doesn't mean Valvoline is better than SOPUS or any other brand. I just recommend that you stay in a similar add pack oil if you are going to go back and forth between brand names, the oil will be of better service that way keeping chemistry in tune.

Now I own a RAM 3.6L, its not hard on oil at all with HTHS, so far I have run Havoline Synthetic (similar make up of QSUD when looking at add pack), QSUD, Pennzoil Gold, and now Castrol Magnetec. Castrol has a little different add pack with no Moly, but if the price stays 18-19$, I believe I will continue using it.

Valvoline may say 5000K OCI, but I highly doubt it would do any worse than PP running it out to the OLM. Neither company claims extended change intervals. Check out the UOA section, can learn a bit more.
 
Like most everyone else is saying, I'm sure either would work just fine. In my case, I stick with PP (use it in all three of our cars) just because I was born and raised on Pennzoil. It's what my dad used, so when it was time to change the oil in my first car, Pennzoil was in the barn. Pennzoil is just what I grab off the shelf at the store regardless of price. Old habits die hard they say.
 
Originally Posted By: FutureDoc
NAPA SYN. Bare with me, PP is the better oil but...

Here is the trick, PP has consistently done well with VOA. Much lower NOACK and what appears to be a better add-pack. I see that it justifies its price a lot better than Synpower. So it is a premium product with a premium price.

Synpower is a very good motor oil but not for the price range. It is not quite on that PP/M1 top-shelf level. So, when I see it priced at the same $/qt, it is my least favorite choice because I view it as a slightly-second tier syn oil. If you want a Syn oil with a sodium addpack, then there are a lot of other lower-priced options... and other oils without a sodium addpack that do just as well.

So this brings me back around to NAPA SYN. The NAPA brand is made by Valvoline, the VOA come back nearly identical to Synpower (same with Royal Purple too), so when NAPA runs their $3-$3.50 per quart sale of NAPA Syn, why pay the top-shelf price for Synpower?

At the end of the day, for 95%+ of the drivers out there, the difference between a premium "the best-i-ests" oil and a very good oil is not going to be noticeable. Even for those "spirited" drivers. The difference between quality oil is very low so unless you are pushing the longest OCIs, creating prolonged trackday or towing conditions, the private label or "lesser" synthetic option is going to be more than fine. You just have to watch out if your vehicle has a specific requirements.

In my fleet, even using "recycled" prison oil, our vehicles hit the 200,000 mark without oil-related engine issues (transmission are a different story). Still, when the price is right, I grab PP drums... or Napa or Formula Shell etc. It is more about the price-point in my opinion.



Great analogy....and I agree totally...
 
Been using PP in my cars. Last couple of OC's on my daughter's 07 Rav4 with 140k I've noticed some light weeping at the oil seal. After reviewing comments on BITOG, I decided to give Valvoline MaxLife HM a try instead the the Pennz equivalent without giving it a second thought.
 
Just think of all those poor engines out there suffering from Synpower. Only lasting 349,000 miles instead of 350,000.
 
I like to read here all the time and in my past life actually believed there was a mythic superior oil out there. With only a few exceptions, oil is oil. Some are designed to go longer between changes based on add pack, TBN, etc, BUT, if you use intelligence and don't try to push an oil way beyond its useful life, any of them will do, assuming proper grade and spec.
Of the easily available brands, national names, and quite a few store brands, such as AZ,Advance, Oreilly's, RK,ST, you can hardly say there is any substantial, real world difference at all. I defy anyone to ever say a car will last longer with oil "X" vs oil "Y".
So pick the best deal, prettiest bottle, favorite race's brand, the store brand where your nephew works, what your mechanic says,best advertising, or the best anecdotal oil story and drive without worry.
For the record, and in the interest of full disclosure, right now I have three cars, all relatively new and under warranty, with full syn Rural King oil in them, I bought for $2.59 a quart, made by Warren Unilube.
Of the two above oils, either will do fine in any vehicle spec'd for them. Where I live, pennzoil is usually cheaper, for whatever reason, but I've used my fair share of Valvoline.
 
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PP all the way for me. Am not quite sold on Synpower just yet. Love Valvoline conventional though, that's one of the best there is hands down.
 
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