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Login to post Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » Valvoline NextGen oil.

April 10, 2011 9:17 a.m. Bench Racer (BowtieBandit) Reader

So, we just got in this new line of oil from Valvoline called NextGen. For the enviromentally friendly crowd, it's made up of 50% recycled oil. However it is the same, if not a little higher than 100% virgin oil. Part of me thinks you pay for the hip green packaging (color, it's still in a bad-for-the-polar-bears plastic bottle)

What do you guys think? Would you feel comfortable running an oil that's had a past life? They say it meets all the lubrication requirements, and I'm sure they do filter it and add in additives, but I still don't know how I feel about it.
April 10, 2011 10:16 a.m. m4ff3w SuperDork

I'd buy it if it was available in 20w-50 AND it wasn't priced higher than conventional.
April 10, 2011 10:31 a.m. joey48442 SuperDork

Cut out the middle man! Just stop changing your oil. Thats what I do.

Joey
April 10, 2011 12:01 p.m. RexSeven Dork

If I owned a car I didn't care about, say a Prius, but wanted all of the pretensions of saving the environment, I might use this oil. However, I have two rotaries and a turbo four-banger to worry about. Unless BITOG and Blackstone labs say this stuff is automotive ambrosia, I'll stick to what I'm using now.
April 10, 2011 12:27 p.m. DoctorBlade HalfDork

No harm in letting someone else be the alpha tester there.
April 10, 2011 1:30 p.m. 02Pilot Reader

Bench Racer (BowtieBandit) wrote: Would you feel comfortable running an oil that's had a past life?

Given that petroleum comes from rotted dinosaurs, this seems a moot question.
April 10, 2011 1:33 p.m. Teh E36 M3 HalfDork

joey48442 wrote:

Cut out the middle man! Just stop changing your oil. Thats what I do.

Joey

I know you're probably joking, but changing your oil will probably become a thing of the past. What we really need is a good filtration system, and additive replacements. Oil doesn't "go bad", its just that it gets dirty and uses up the additive pack. I used to work on a large ship- they never changed the oil, just used a centripetal oil cleaner - solids and etc gets flung to the outside, clean oil right up the middle (it's too weird a device to really describe). The engine was really something too- a vertically opposed inline 12 cylinder two stroke that was supercharged and turbo'ed- inter, and aftercooled.

Long story short, I don't think there would be any problem with "used" oil. Do you think it comes out the ground that honey color?
April 10, 2011 1:39 p.m. fifty Reader

Teh E36 M3 wrote: Oil doesn't "go bad", its just that it gets dirty and uses up the additive pack.

I thought the long polymers that make up the oil break down with mechanical shear, temperature etc? Which is why the oil goes in thick and gloopy and comes out free flowing and watery - the viscosity changes as the oil is used. i might be off base on that one, feel free to correct me.

I'd run "re-used" oil. If it passes the industry standard for my engine (SL, SM etc) i don't see the big deal.
April 10, 2011 2:44 p.m. procker Reader

My girlfriend gets the oil in her 2008 Honda Civic changed at her local LubeStop and she prefers the EcoGuard that they offer there. Shes is pretty routine in getting her oil changed, every 4,000 miles or so. Anyways, she likes to use it because it makes her feel warm and cuddly inside that she is saving the planet. I believe it is about 10$ more expensive than the "regular" oil they use for the normal oil changes, but I really don't care...

FWIW, this is pulled from the LubeStop website...

Includes up to 5 qt. of Lyden ProGuard ECO re-refined motor oil. ProGuard is an API "SM", ILSAC GF-4 certified motor oil that meets all manufacturer requirements. Using re-refined motor oil reduces carbon emissions, reuses existing oil supplies, and prevents environmental contamination. The U.S. federal government, including the U.S. Military, U.S. Postal Service, General Services Administration, CIA, and FBI, adopted the use of re-refined motor oil in 1998.
April 10, 2011 3:02 p.m. Zomby woof SuperDork

I believe it is about 10$ more expensive than the "regular" oil they use for the normal oil changes
No scam there.
April 10, 2011 3:32 p.m. huge-O-chavez SuperDork

Zomby woof wrote:

I believe it is about 10$ more expensive than the "regular" oil they use for the normal oil changes
No scam there.

actually, I'll bet its not a scam. It's probably more expensive to make than "new" oil.
April 10, 2011 3:37 p.m. Zomby woof SuperDork

We use thousands of liters of recycled oil every year at work for 1 reason. It's cheaper.

Walmart's house brand oil used to be recycled. I used it in my race car for a season. It was less then half the price of regular oil.
April 10, 2011 3:45 p.m. huge-O-chavez SuperDork

Zomby woof wrote:

We use thousands of liters of recycled oil every year at work for 1 reason. It's cheaper.

Walmart's house brand oil used to be recycled. I used it in my race car for a season. It was less then half the price of regular oil.

maybe up in canada, but that certainly isn't true in the US.
April 10, 2011 3:48 p.m. procker Reader

Zomby woof wrote:

...I used it in my race car for a season. It was less then half the price of regular oil.

Why only for one season?
April 10, 2011 4:37 p.m. Zomby woof SuperDork

I did well enough to move up, and pick up a good sponsor with free Pennzoil race oil.

I don't know if they still sell that oil.
April 10, 2011 5:05 p.m. neckromacr Reader

Sounds interesting, no mention of it at work, funny since we just moved to Valvoline from Pennzoil.

I just keep thinking "If I put this oil in my car, it's like my car having been with all the others cars that oils ever been with."

There's no such thing as Automotive STDs are there?
April 10, 2011 6:20 p.m. joey48442 SuperDork

procker wrote:

My girlfriend gets the oil in her 2008 Honda Civic changed at her local LubeStop and she prefers the EcoGuard that they offer there. Shes is pretty routine in getting her oil changed, every 4,000 miles or so. Anyways, she likes to use it because it makes her feel warm and cuddly inside that she is saving the planet. I believe it is about 10$ more expensive than the "regular" oil they use for the normal oil changes, but I really don't care...

FWIW, this is pulled from the LubeStop website...

Includes up to 5 qt. of Lyden ProGuard ECO re-refined motor oil. ProGuard is an API "SM", ILSAC GF-4 certified motor oil that meets all manufacturer requirements. Using re-refined motor oil reduces carbon emissions, reuses existing oil supplies, and prevents environmental contamination. The U.S. federal government, including the U.S. Military, U.S. Postal Service, General Services Administration, CIA, and FBI, adopted the use of re-refined motor oil in 1998.

Yeah... I'm just joking! That's it!

Joey
April 11, 2011 9:41 a.m. KATYB Reader

ummm us postal service uses rotella in the iron duke is the carrier trucks. used to work at a shop that had the postal service account here.
April 12, 2011 4:06 p.m. HiTempguy Dork

huge-O-chavez wrote:

actually, I'll bet its not a scam. It's probably more expensive to make than "new" oil.

Recycled oil is actually cheaper than new oil. Big article on it recently in a newstand magazine (some sort of tech or business mag). Valvoline, as stated in the article, is looking to gain market share (and you have to admit, Valvoline just ain't that big of an oil name compared to some of it's competitors). So, they want to get their sales up to 50% recycled oil. The problem is that the facilities in the states that do this are already running at peak capacity. So until there is more demand, no more capacity is being built.

Since Valvoline is hitting the marketing hard, they are hoping demand increases, which then means the recycling companies can increase volume, etc etc. What I found odd though is that in the article (IIRC), it was stated the oil would sell for the same price as their standard oil. I think the middle-man (the store) is charging more, not valvoline. Same reason I can get GM syncrosmash for cheaper from the dealer than I can from the franchise in "pennzoil" form.
April 12, 2011 5:01 p.m. slantvaliant Dork

neckromacr wrote:

There's no such thing as Automotive STDs are there?

This belongs in the magazine.
April 12, 2011 8:24 p.m. johnp2 New Reader

I just got a free 5 quart jug of this stuff from work. Don't plan on putting it in my Miata, however it may see use in the ranger we don't use often.

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