valvoline VR! fully synthetic vs royal purple oil

jof_03 · Mar 29, 2013

ive had noisy lifeters before and have been using royal purple 5w30 as it says on the reviews that this is one of the best oils out there, but alot of guys owning a dsm was suggesting that valvoline vr1 oil 10w30, was wondering if you guys ever used both, does the lifter tick go away? and does the valvoline perofrm better than the royal purple?

mitsu-luver · Mar 29, 2013

I would say you can hear your lifters ticking because of the low viscosity of the oil your using. Royal Purple is very good oil I think but that's just me. Try 10-30 Royal or vr1 and see what happens. Also you can try to add some Lucas oil stabilizer, that stuff should make the tick go away for sure.

Kapok6 · Mar 29, 2013

mitsu-luver said:
I would say you can hear your lifters ticking because of the low viscosity of the oil your using. Royal Purple is very good oil I think but that's just me. Try 10-30 Royal or vr1 and see what happens. Also you can try to add some Lucas oil stabilizer, that stuff should make the tick go away for sure.

I use Brad Penn w/ Lucas.

I have a close friend and hardcore DSMer who is a mechanic and swears by Lucas. Said he has torn down motors that used lucas and ones that didn't and the ones that used lucas we in much better condition internally when it comes to wear than the ones that did not use it.

dsmcurse · Mar 29, 2013

i personally have used both. the royal purple is NOT any better IMO. the purple oil is all "name brand" and fancy and expensive, BUT, what i dont like about it is it is very dark in color right from the get go. it turns black super fast. then you cant really give a visual on the break down of the oil.

i change my oil every 1-2 thousand miles depending on how hard i was boostin around. with the vavoline, it pours in very clean and clear and LOOKS like fresh oil, as it wears and breaks down it browns and finally turns black. i look at my dipstick level and color to determine my next oil change.

every engine has a certain amount of blow-by and burn-off. you cant get around that, this amount of burn-off and blow-by depends on boost and rev and a few other factors. so if im changing my oil VERY often to insure that my engine always has clean blood runnin through its veins then it makes me HATE the purple oil as it turns black very quick and makes it hard to determine the amount of break down.

the other major advantage to runnin vavoline, is that it terully is GOOD oil and can be purchased at wal-mart cheaper than any parts store! period. and with the wal mart oil you can go there 24/7 any time of day or night and get it.

oh, and as far as lifter tick goes, if you have 1G lifters, they have a tiny piss hole for oiling. get 2G lifters at minimum. they have bigger oiling hole which helps alot for tickin sound and a few other factors as well.

Archer Fabrications · Mar 29, 2013

I use valvoline 20w50 and it's great, i agree with the above post, i change my oil every 750-1000 miles.

Jon91TSi · Mar 29, 2013

dsmcurse said:
i personally have used both. the royal purple is NOT any better IMO. the purple oil is all "name brand" and fancy and expensive, BUT, what i dont like about it is it is very dark in color right from the get go. it turns black super fast. then you cant really give a visual on the break down of the oil.

i change my oil every 1-2 thousand miles depending on how hard i was boostin around. with the vavoline, it pours in very clean and clear and LOOKS like fresh oil, as it wears and breaks down it browns and finally turns black. i look at my dipstick level and color to determine my next oil change.

every engine has a certain amount of blow-by and burn-off. you cant get around that, this amount of burn-off and blow-by depends on boost and rev and a few other factors. so if im changing my oil VERY often to insure that my engine always has clean blood runnin through its veins then it makes me HATE the purple oil as it turns black very quick and makes it hard to determine the amount of break down.

the other major advantage to runnin vavoline, is that it terully is GOOD oil and can be purchased at wal-mart cheaper than any parts store! period. and with the wal mart oil you can go there 24/7 any time of day or night and get it.

oh, and as far as lifter tick goes, if you have 1G lifters, they have a tiny piss hole for oiling. get 2G lifters at minimum. they have bigger oiling hole which helps alot for tickin sound and a few other factors as well.

Don't forget smell. My oil quickly becomes diluted after about 600 miles of driving on e90. A few starts during the winter months to keep things circulating, and the oil really smells like fuel since the e90 doesn't cold start well. I use the color method in the warmer months if the car is driven any ammount.

HIGHPSI4 · Mar 29, 2013

A good search of the subject should have led you to this from Forced Performance.

http://store.forcedperformance.net/...Performance Recommendations for Motor Oil.pdf

Dsmkauai · Mar 29, 2013

Everyone's going to have there own opinion. I personally wouldn't pay for royal purple and don't see the point. I've ran vr1 20w50 in my gst since day one that I got it. It's been a great reliable oil and that's why I stick with it. Plus I had close to 240k on my stock block when it finally let go and the oil always looked fresh.

donniekak · Mar 29, 2013

If your lifters tick, replace them, or at least remove them and clean them.

little-razcal · Mar 29, 2013

I use vr1 though I'm sure there is better oil. I change my oil about every 4-5 track outings, or 25-30 passes. So if you think about it I change my oil every 7 miles. Ha

I'm a 20-50 lover myself, but that should depend on your clearances.

jof_03 · Mar 29, 2013

thanks for the reply, one reason probably too is that i thought i still have ot stick with changing the oil every 3k miles, but most of you change the oil more often, ill try the vr1 with lucas, and also get my mechanic to clean or maybe change the lifters, i have the 2g head. thanks

WES_393 · Mar 29, 2013

donniekak said:
If your lifters tick, replace them, or at least remove them and clean them.

This.

Lifter tick is a mechanical problem, not something easily solved by oil and additives. Even if you can get the lifters to quiet down with new oil, they will more than likely begin to tick again soon. I'd suggest researching how to remove lifters and replace (or clean) them yourself.

For oil, I personally run 15w-40 Rotella. It's very cheap ($13/gallon) and has more ZDDP than most "performance" motor oils.

JusMX141 · Mar 29, 2013

5W30 is too thin for ANY DSM. Do not use anything thinner than 10W30 in a 4G63; thicker if you're making any amount of power.

Shell Rotella T5 is an affordable partial-synthetic diesel-grade oil available in 10W30 and 10W40...it has more zinc and detergent than any current auto-grade oil, and more detergent than any of the racing oils so it doesn't need to be changed as often. IDEAL for DSM use.

Thicker oil will help control a lifter that bleeds, and a high-detergent diesel-grade oil will help clean the burnt oil crud from the check valves in all of your lifters which may potentially stop the noise altogether. I use 15W40 in my girlfriend's non-turbo daily driver all the time and it's original lifters from 1992 with 215K on them don't make a sound.

Archer Fabrications · Mar 29, 2013

^ is that what you use?

EC17PSE · Mar 29, 2013

Yes as its been said 5w30 is thin and you only run that if your in a very cold place! I run royal purple as I ran vr1 in my old French car but I did not rate the vr1 much and it seemed on par with castrol gtx etc.

You really need to clean or replace your lifters as mine also made noises and stopped when I replaced them! Thats your best bet and lucus stuff is good but its been known to break down the oil quicker so it needs changing alot sooner then you need to

-red97rum- · Mar 29, 2013

Conventional VR1 20/50 here, great oil for the price. The price has gone up a bit in the past year, but it's still my oil of choice.

HIGHPSI4 · Mar 29, 2013

For me I run Rotella and ZDDP additive.

Archer Fabrications · Mar 29, 2013

Where can you get zddp additive I'd like to add that to vr1

Yomero · Mar 30, 2013

Is the valvoline vr1 oil safe to use with a cat?

white92talontsi · Mar 30, 2013

Yomero said:
Is the valvoline vr1 oil safe to use with a cat?

Any oil with High ZDDP(Esp Zinc) additives will over time be detrimental to the Catalyst.

Yomero · Mar 30, 2013

Ok! Thanks my friend

catomlinson42 · Nov 20, 2014

I know old thread but dont want to addd zddp it can actually cause more damage. http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35836
This link talks about it very well. Rotella has enough zddp in it already

bastarddsm · Nov 20, 2014

I'd take everything that 540Rat guys says with a large grain of salt. He posts a lot of far out things. The test performed there isn't an actual "wear test"

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valvoline VR! fully synthetic vs royal purple oil

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