Valvoline Modern Engine Full Synthetic Oil. I didn't see this in my local Walmart but they could simply have been temporarily out of stock. On-line, it is listed for $35 USD for 5 quarts, as opposed to $25 for Advanced Full Synthetic. I wonder if it is worth spending the extra $10 for 30 percent improvement in preventing carbon deposits. 30% of what? They say "industry standards." Now that comparison is making me skeptical. Clearly, they aren't necessarily saying it is 30% better than their Advanced Full Synthetic product. Their spiel for the Advanced product says it exceeds industry standards. So I think maybe there is some bullshitting happening here.

Assuming valve guides are not worn, oil contributes a bit to carbon deposits on direct injection engines if and when a little bit of oil gets into the combustion chamber via the pcv valve, leaving a film of oil on the inside of the valve head, and making it more susceptible to having carbon stick to it. According to my understanding modern pcv valves, if they are working properly, do have features which minimize how much oil gets by.

Any opinions? Any knowledge beyond what Valvoline's marketing spiel tells us?

Acc to the PI sheet for Advanced Full Synthetic, this cheaper oil is "formulated... to meet the... requirements of... direct injection engines." So I'm not going to go back to the store and exchange the Advanced oil for some Modern oil. But maybe next time I might buy the Modern. Especially if they lower the price to be close to the same as the Advanced.

 

Sounds a bit like "snake oil" claims to me, but what do I know? I've run my car exclusively on Honda 0W-20, as Honda specifies. If there IS an issue, the Honda can't blame it on the oil.

 

Might be the greatest stuff in the world. BUT..that's a significant price increase.
I support using quality oil but before I would commit to this new formulation and marketing approach, I'd want more of a real world trial. Let other people pay the premium and produce the results or not for a while. If the feedback in a year or so is good? Then I might consider using it.

At this point? I don't feel like I need to be in the first wave of adopters of this expensive product.

 

Sounds about the same price as mobile-1's full synthetic. I don't experiment with oil, too critical of a component; i either get the mobile 1 advanced fuel economy 0w20, or the extended performance 0w20. Cycled at no more than 5k mile intervals.

 

Pretty much all of the major manufacturers produce a top of the line synthetic OW20 oil - often more than one - which meets or exceeds all of the industry standards including anything specified by Honda. They are all perfectly acceptable for warranty purposes and beyond that it is impossible to prove that any one is significantly better than the others. Take your pick of the best from your favorite local brands and otherwise ignore all the marketing hype ("our oil is refined by fairies and contains magical rainbow dust ...while our competitors produce their oil from badly filtered dog piss ...."). Price, and especially sale price can be an important factor in deciding.

 

Only the best for my car. It's got to be made from unicorn tears or I'm not interested.

In all seriousness, I basically do what woof suggested above and get whatever full synthetic is on sale at the time.

That being said, there are definitely oils that are better than the on sale synthetics. Driven Racing, Amsoil Signature, Redline, and the Euro spec full synthetics are a step above the discount full synthetics. The premium synthetics use a pure esther or PAO base stock and are better. If you're looking for the best, and willing to pay more, use one of those.

 

Yes....
But the OP is asking specifically about THIS oil.
My guess, is that it is not all JUST a snake oil claim. It's probably at "least" a very, very good synthetic oil. But even from it's own marketing, it's pretty thin on details as to exactly "how" it's better.
At this point, vs. any other high end synthetic I don't think I'd be willing to pay $10 more. And in fact, until it's usage has been vetted in the real world? I think I'd avoid it. If it really is a new formulation? Sometimes you hear of long term problems developing. Again, I'll let others be in the real world test phase of this product. Whatever the product is? You'll hear more opinions as more and more people do use it, and do try it.

Kind of off topic, but how many automotive products, oils and fuel system cleaners get sold with a similar set of pictures of an injector caked with what appears to be a carbon datable amount of horrific looking carbon, placed aside a picture of a Excalibur shining injector? It's so common, that now when I see anything promoting that "type" of picture, I'm almost immediately moved to skepticism. Probably the opposite affect of what marketing is hoping to accomplish.

But in this specific case? This stuff might be fantastic. But not enough is said about exactly how it is different and what would justify it as being a top of the premium purchase. I want MORE than just the typical and now common picture of the carbon destroyed injector, split screened with the nice shiny clean one. I need a little more than just...Modern Engines are different and this Oil prevents...this....

 

Oh, I completely agree! For me it starts with the base stock. If they aren't willing to make the commitment and state that it's a 100% esther or PAO base stock, than I'm not paying more for it than what I can buy a 5 gallon jug of MoCaPenVal for at the local Walmart. Same reason I've never bought Royal Purple.

 

Valvoline is currently running an offer where you get $15 back if you upload a receipt of purchase for 5 quarts of their Modern Engine Oil. Pretty good net price, although you do have to pay the $35 upfront. Details are on their website, you just have to enter your email address.
https://team.valvoline.com/promo/modern-engine

 

Thanks for the tip on the oil. I'm at 40% so was just going to start looking for oil.

 

Mobil 1 also has some pretty good rebates going on their synthetic oil.

https://mobiloil.com/en/promotion/mobil-promotions

 

Yes but you can also get $10 off the $25 you pay for Valvoline "Advanced" Full Synthetic. So that comes to $15 as compared to $20 for the "modern."

 

Valvoline "Modern Engine" oil has been discontinued, and instead they now have Valvoline "Extended Protection" synthetic oil, in addition to "advanced" and "high mileage" synthetic. Extended Protection oil is only about a dollar or 2 more than "Advanced Synthetic" for a 5 quart container. The product label compares the 2 oils, as well the "high mileage" synthetic oil. See this page. Scroll down to the ridiculous bar graph. The label has the same bar graph. The bar graph tells us that the extended protection oil works better to control deposits and works better to limit wear. How much better? It doesn't say. No numbers. Apparently the extended protection has more detergent action. How much more? I'm going to guess that the difference is "statistically significantly" otherwise they wouldn't legally be able to make the claim.. A statistically significant difference is not necessarily a substantial difference. It may be only a slight difference. My guess it is just a tiny difference. If it were a large difference, Valvoline would give us some specific numbers. But they don't. They are entirely vague about just how large a difference the "statistically significant" difference is. Big pharma does the same thing with many pharmaceuticals. If there is significant difference between some drug, and a placebo, no matter how small the difference is, the drug company will claim that the drug is "effective."

To further confuse things with marketing jargon, they do not use parallel structure when naming the 3 kinds of synthetic motor oil that they sell. The adjective "full synthetic" comes before the adjective "extended protection" and the adjective "full synthetic" comes before the adjective "high mileage," but the adjective "full synthetic" comes after the adjective "advanced."

"Advanced" meets or exceeds ILSAC GF-5. "Extended" meets or exceeds ILSAC GF-6A. I don't know what those specs mean.

I don't know if it is OK to use 0W-16 in my 2015 Fit. Walmart didn't have any 0W-16 oils.

 

I simply replace my oil well before the gizmo says to change. On my Fit GK it's about 7500 miles using Walmart's trusty Super Tech 0W20 Full Synthetic. I've used Walmart oil in all of my fire breathers for a long time with no issues. I'm more of a get rid of dirty oil sooner than running for longevity with a "cleanier, gooder" oil. Supertech rates SN+ or SP so it has the API required detergents and suspension agents in it.

 

My 2018 manual states that both 0W16 and 0W20 are acceptable grades. 0W16 is apparently designed for the very newest engines, specifically designed for them because it gives better fuel economy. I personally wouldn't use 0W16 because I think it's too thin and anyways it's hard to find in stores.

All premium synthetic oils on the shelves now should meet the latest quality standard, SP or ILSAC GF-6A which will be marked on the back of the jug.. The changeover started more than a year ago. Beyond these standards all the marketing hype is irrelevant.

 

Absolutely. I replace my oil when the gizmo says to do it. I would not consider going longer than that just because I have oil with a label that says it can last longer. I go by the car maker's recommendations, not the oil company's. Although sometimes a year goes by before the gizmo says its time to change the oil and the Fit's owners manual says change the oil if a year has gone by, even if the wrench pictograph in the instrument cluster hasn't lit up yet. To be honest, I once let more than a year go by before I changed the oil. I wouldn't have been sure what to do if I changed the oil at exactly one year, and then 4 months and 2000 miles later the wrench appeared. Now what? It's only 2000 miles. It's only 4 months. What do I do? I would surely go into a state of terrible confusion and paralyzing indecision. Also, I am old and debilitated and although I look forward to changing the oil myself, I find it difficult and tiring. At my age and in my condition, it is true that my nighttime dreams of putting a rigid funnel into my car's oil filler hole are more exciting than any of my other "filler-up" dreams, or "fill her up" dreams. I look forward to to changing the oil. Still, I don't do it as often as I would like, or as the car would like, because I know I will be sore the nexgt day, and tired for 2 days, and have to spend a several hours put all my tools away later, trying to remember where they go.

The label on Valvoline "Extended Protection" synthetic oil says it has better detergent action than the "Advanced" synthetic oil. How much better? There is no way to tell. But with gasoline direct injection (which sounds to me like the same thing as "direct gasoline injection" but less fluent – because usually modifiers go before nouns) should I be getting the most detergent activity as I can, get out of my motor oil, and avoid having to buy walnut shells for as long as possible? And the Extended Erection was only $2.00 more than the Advanced. That's what was the most convincing about going with the Extended Protection variant – it was only 2 dollars more for 5 quarts. That's like only $1.40 more for 3.5 quarts.

I still don't know if Extended is actually different formulation than "Modern Engine," or is simply the same oil with a new label.

I think using SuperTech will probably help the engine work just as well and last just as long as Valvoline. I have little doubt that using the correct grade and correct API spec, and changing it at the correct intervals, is by far what is most important and most relevant, so maybe I should save another $0.40 per quart by using SuperTech instead of Valvoline Advanced synthetic, or $0.80 per quart by using SuperTech instead of Valvoline Extended synthetic. But then again, what is $2.80 every 7000 miles? Not a lot of money. In my imagination I'm thinking that if I religiously use Supertech my wngine will last 325,000 miles and if I use Valvoline Extended it will last 328,000 miles.

 

I don't know about Valvoline, but in the case of Castrol and Mobil, the big thing that "Extended Performance" gives you is a synthetic base stock oil.

The regular Mobil1 and Syntec oils are formulated from old fashioned dinosaur based oil. In most of the rest of the world, they are not allowed to even market them as synthetic oil as they are not derived from a synthetic base stock. When you see the bottles labeled as "European Formula" that is also a sign of synthetic base stock as the other is not legally synthetic in Europe.

For my $2 more per 5 quart jug, I will always pick the oil that is an actual synthetic oil in the rest of the world. I'm not saying that the other won't do the job. I'm just saying that you are getting a better oil (and in my opinion a better value) when you elect to buy the oil with an actual synthetic base stock. The cheapest way to accomplish that in the US is to buy the "Extended Performance" version.

 

One reason I buy Valvoline is they seem to have some limits on the marketing label nonsense that is rampant in the world of consumer products. They clearly divide their products into syntheic oil and non-synthetic oil. Yes, "synthetic" is a misnomer. Regular oil comes from petroleum which, to start, is a kind of oil. So-called synthetic oil comes from natural gas, which to start, is not an oil – it's a gas. That's about all I know. I don't know why it's better, but word is that it is.

anyway in 0W-20 oil, Valvoline has only 3 choices, and they are all synthetic. I'm reminded how underarm deodorant is labeled – there are men's deodorants, and women's deodorants. Read the ingredient list, and you'll see they have the same ingredient. I buy whichever is on sale at the moment. The kind without a fragrance supposedly (they actually usually have a mild fragrance to disguise the natural fragrances of the substances they contain). Anyway, Valvoline has only 3 choices. I believe Mobile 1 has more choices and Castrol has more choices. Any day now there will be a different label for oil used in cars driven by women, than for cars driven by men. I've seen this marketing ploy in laxatives too. There is bisacodyl sold as "Womens' gentle laxative" and the same exact formulation sold as "Bisacodyl laxative." They don't even bother to add different food coloring to the the tablet. The active ingredient and all the inactive ingredients are the same.

 

Castrol has at least 6 different 0W-20 synthetic motor oils. 6 of them. And all of the 6 are synthetic. 1 Castrol Edge High Mileage, 2 Castrol Edge 0W-20 U.S, 3 Castrol Edge Extended Performance. 4 Castrol GTX Magnatic. 5 Castrol Edge Biosynthetic. 6 Castrol GTX Ultraclean. I don't feel like reading 6 different labels to see if there is any real difference. Plus what the F does "magnatic" mean? Plus their web site recommend DOT 4 brake fluid for a 2015 Fit. The car's owners manual says do not use DOT 4.

Castrol Magnatic has "intelligent molecules." They don't even bother to put the word intelligent in quotation marks and add a footnote explaining what they really means. They claim the molecules are "intelligent" but they don't bother providing the consumer with an Intelligence Quotient from an standardized intelligence test, much less tell us which of the 2 or 3 commonly used standardized intelligence tests they have used to assess the intelligence of the magnatic molecules. How are we going to assess their "intelligence" if they don't provide an IQ score? One person may think someone is intelligent, while another person may think that the same someone is stupid. You resolve the difference of opinion with a standardized test, administered by a certified psychologist.. Castrol doesn't do that. I thought Valvoline was laying on the bullshit thick. Castrol has outdone them.

I tend to think that all the "synthetic" oils with the varying names are the same oil, with a different additive package. Since the fit has gasoline injected directly, the valves are prone to accumulating carbon deposits. That is the main "weakness" of direct injection engines. I would think that the best thing to do to minimize build up is to change the motor oil frequently. The second best thing may perhaps be to use an oil which does a relatively good job of keeping combustion products that get into the oil, in suspension – mixed in with the oil, rather than sticking to engine parts. That is what detergent are for. Do some oils have detergents that do a better job of keeping valves clean? Valvoline used to make that claim in regard to the Modern Engine oil. Now they have Extended Protection (not extended performance) oil, instead. The label claims it has enhanced detergent functioning. But they no longer specify less deposits on valved, rather, just less deposits in general. How much less? Who know.

By the way, the natural gas from which synthetic oil is made is just as much dinosauer-based as petroleum. Both are found together. Petroleum and natural gas form together from plant and animal matter decaying while under long periods of pressure. They are part of the same process. The natural gas is the lightest part of the fossil fuel cache, and thus it rises to the top. When driller drilled for petroleum they struck the gas first. The drillers would know they struck an underground load of petroleum when they heard hit natural gas and heard it expanding. Then they knew to dig further, because liquid petroleum was going to be underneath. In the early days of petroleum drilling drillers used to just waste the gas, let it escape. Then eventually they realized in has practical value so they devised ways to capture it. Interestingly the United States has lots of natural gas available for being captured from underground reserves. Ratios of natural gas to liquid petroleum are larger than most fossil fuel caches. It would seem natural to run our internal combustion engines on natural gas instead of gasoline, but we mostly use gasoline. It is easier to deal with. With gas, fuel lines feed to be stronger and better sealed, in order withstand high pressure without leaking. Also, the consequences of leaking are a bit worse. So there are reasons to use gasoline rather than natural gas. But it is not because gasoline is more abundant. In the US, natural gas is more abundant as a natural resource. Some places use municpal busses that run on natural gas. But we don't see a lot of it being used to run cars and light trucks. I'm not really sure why. Natural gas burns cleaner too. You don't need as much technology to get it to function at the same level of cleanliness, as you need to use with gasoline