I have always thought Valvoline had good products.

The new Max Life products seem prefect for my 94 GXE with 130k miles. I am not interested in synthetic products. No way I am switching a car with 130K on it to syn.
Would you guys use Max Life? If not, Why?
Can you make any reccommendations for any thing better?

Also, I tend to think the original Nissan oil filter form my local dealer for $6 is my best bet. What do you think?

Thanks,
Jim

 

if you do a search when its available you will see i did a post about this and i love valvoline max life products. made my max purrrrr! i also back marvel mystery oil!

 

Valvoline Conventional 5W/30:

Calcium: 1549
Phosphorus: 699
Zinc: 811

Average of other 5W/30 Conventional oils in my spreadsheet:

Calcium: 1672
Phosphorus: 847
Zinc: 1055


As you can see, the ZDDP additive package used by the All-Climate Valvoline conventional oil is inferior and outright pathetic for a brand new conventional oil. For the same money, much better oils with stronger additive packages are available.


This may or may not apply to your dad's car, as we are examining the latest SJ/SL formulations of the oil, which may be different than what your dad primarily used.



In addition, Valvoline's MaxLife dino formulation was a relatively good dino oil, as it used molybdenum as a barrier additive and had several decent results in my spreadsheet and elsewhere on oil forums on the internet. Unfortunately, Valvoline removed the molybdenum in mid-2002, and the MaxLife formulation is now not any better regarded than the All-Climate conventional formulation.


Valvoline's SynPower full synthetic is empirically good, but has a chronic history in oil analyses of breaking down to a low 20-weight oil in under 3,000 miles, which is pitiful for a full synthetic oil.


For the money, there are several much better choices than anything Valvoline currently has to offer.




Oh, and Marvel Mystery Oil is garbage and should only be used when, not if, the motor is being replaced in the near future.

 

I ran Max Life in my VE for a short while... changed it at 4k miles and had some of the oil tested.. it was waaay used up, and was just basically black sludes at that point. no longer really oil.

I would highly recommend going with castrol products instead of the valvoline Max Life stuff.

 

I like mobil synthetic blend and change it at 35-4k and use nissan filter. Not all oils are created equal but they are all superior to oils of yesteryear. As long as you change your oil on regular intervals and take good care of your car almost any oil will do (I said almost)