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My opinion on Valvoline Nextgen recycled oil; It sucks!!!
Topic Started: Sep 1 2014, 06:30 PM (1,375 Views)
cwatkin


I had some of this I got for like $5 for 5 quarts and a filter when it first came out. I pretty much run synthetic in everything with an engine now so it sat around not going into anything. I had been using it bit by bit as chainsaw bar lube when it was really cold as the 10W30 works better.

Well I needed to ad some oil to my Kohler Courage 25 HP riding mower. This is the one I have had problems with all along. Let's just say that it started using oil so I added more. I had burned through an entire 5 quart jug in about 2 hours of mowing. Yeah, there was oil smoke and fog coming out at times rivaling the best of Geo Metro oil farts. I figured either a ring had stuck or broken but found some Castrol Edge 10W30 full synthetic and added this to top it off. The smoking and oil consumption immediately improved dramatically. How can one 10W30 oil just blow out as a thick fog while the other one hold together? There are places where the ground was covered in the thick oily film where I had this thing parked and running.

I for one won't buy any more of this oil unless it is really cheap again and then it will be reserved for chainsaw bar lube.

Conor
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Cubey
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I got some of that on clearance at one time and did an oil change with it in my lightly oil burning 5.9L 360 V8 (carb). It burned oil no worse with it than with regular MaxLife which is what I keep in the engine all the time.

It burned oil with who knows what oil it had when I bought it. It's 36 year old engine so I expect it'll burn oil no matter what I put in it, short of something so thick it might actually blow the engine.
Edited by Cubey, Sep 1 2014, 07:06 PM.
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Coche Blanco
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Never had any problems with it. I think something else is up here.
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cwatkin


Something else could very well be up with that mower! I have had TONS of problems with it. Why it would just decide to use oil at the same rate as gas and then stop is beyond me. How it keeps running in this condition is also beyond me. I looked into rebuilding but was told it isn't worth it so plan to just keep adding oil and not mess with it.

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BillHoo
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Maybe the NexGen oil has more detergent additives to counter the fact it's made from crummy re-cycled oil? The cleaners would remove all the carbon and gunk in the pistons, thereby exposing worn and pitted areas from which it could leak into the chamber and get vaporized.

Just a guess. I hold no certificates in two stroke quantum engine dynamics.
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Rondawg
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IMO Kohler makes a darn good motor. If you bought it used who knows what kind of abuse it has had over the years. Sitting idle for months at a time you might have had a ring stuck and fresh oil freed it up.
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cwatkin


I had Rotella T6 5W40 synthetic oil for diesels in it and this didn't burn to the same degree. Again, it is a 40W so that helps but diesel oil has more detergent additives than just about any other oil. I have always been pretty good about keeping the oil changed with synthetic and saw no sludge when I had to pull the valve covers.

The engine is a 4 stroke, not a 2 stroke. It is a 2 cylinder though.

I have gotten less picky about the oil in this since it started drinking it.

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Cubey
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BillHoo
Sep 2 2014, 07:39 AM
Maybe the NexGen oil has more detergent additives to counter the fact it's made from crummy re-cycled oil? The cleaners would remove all the carbon and gunk in the pistons, thereby exposing worn and pitted areas from which it could leak into the chamber and get vaporized.

Just a guess. I hold no certificates in two stroke quantum engine dynamics.
"When you buy a new bottle of motor oil, what you're actually getting is a liquid that contains 85 percent motor oil and 15 percent additives. When that motor oil runs through your engine for a few thousand miles and gets "used," all that really happens is that additives get contaminated and useless, while the 85 percent motor oil is still there, still okay. This 85 percent is called base oil, and it can be reclaimed and turned into new motor oil."

Long article about NextGen: http://green.autoblog.com/2011/03/16/valvoline-nextgen-recycled-motor-oil/

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cwatkin


I know this was one of the main complaints about earlier multi-viscosity oils with a wide range such as 5W30 and 10W40. They had to use more additives to make them work this way and there was less base oil. I seem to recall many issues with early 10W40 oils turning to sludge or something.

I found another partially used container of the Nextgen and added it to the mower as it needed topping off. We will see how this goes. I looked and it is the Maxlife variety in 10W30. I wonder if this will work or just blow out the tailpipe as a massive oil fog.

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truckjohn


This is a problem with many different motor oils in general - probably not simply an issue with this specific oil...

There are a LOT of different properties of oil and a ZILLION additives that can change those properties in the current crop of motor oils out there... One of the biggest problems I have had is when they blend the motor oil to be more "Sticky"....

"Sticky" is a great property when you are looking at periodic lubrication on sliding fits.... but it's a terrible property when you are talking moving shafts, seals, and things like oil rings....

Bar and chain lube vs Mobil 1 is a great comparison here... Bar and chain lube slings like snail slime... Mobil1 runs more like water.....

That thick, slimey oil will "Hold" on your shafts and push through the seals... It will also "Hold" in the oil rings and start pushing through the compression rings into the cylinders.... That's not a good thing...

So... For your mower... I would dump out all the oil in it - and switch to a motor oil that flows real clean.. Something not sticky in the least bit...... I actually found the Castrol Edge in the gold bottle works very well in the Wife's minivan that sucks oil like crazy... It cut down on the oil consumption like 75%.... where Walmart blue bottle oil increased the oil consumption by like 3x....

Thanks
Edited by truckjohn, Sep 2 2014, 12:19 PM.
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cwatkin


Interesting. I had always heard that mixing oils wasn't a big deal although it wasn't something one would suggest on a regular basis. In my case, I don't care a ton about this engine anymore. I will swap out to something a little thicker, possibly the Castrol Edge in the gold bottle. This seemed to reduce oil burning a great deal in this mower, even just mixed in with all the other oils.

Just curious... Is the minivan that sucks oil a Chrysler brand? I have seen some real oil eaters of that variety including some that blow some pretty impressive oil fogs.

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92blumetro
jack of all trades, master of two

I used Wal-Mart oil in my dodge minivan once (and only once!) and it smoked somewhat terrible after that.never smoked before the wal mart oil, always smoked after that crappy oil. used Pennzoil on the next oil change, the smoking slowed but never stopped. wrecked a otherwise good engine.
my dad used some instore brand oil years ago in a 454, I remember him buying it by the case cuz it wound up using so much.....same thing, he was using pennzoil before the change, topped it up with shit oil, and the damage was done. basically one liter for every 100 km/ 60 miles.....12 liters a week.....''CHECK THE GAS ,FILL THE OIL'' :lol
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cwatkin


I have heard about people using the Wal-Mart oil without many problems at all. It wouldn't be my first choice but I wouldn't be chomping at the bit to change it out at my first opportunity if it was all I had access to.

Pennzoil standard (yellow bottle) is known for leaving deposits quite nicely. At least some of the older formulations were. I wonder if any oil besides this dissolved the crud and started the oil burning. I have changed oil on severely neglected engines that soon begin burning through oil like mad or just give it up all together. In this case I feel that changing the oil can shorten the life of an engine that is already really bad off. I don't know why this is but I figure it is either too thin for the severely worn parts or dissolves crud which then clogs something.

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LeoGeo
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Two new bottles, two new clean cups:
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cwatkin


Looks like the additives are different. I have seen oils darker than others out of the bottle before.

Conor
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