Royal Purple Oil

[swc5150]

I've noticed a few people using Royal Purple on PN, and I'm curious if you truly notice a difference in performance/longevity? Amsoil is popular in my neck of the woods, so I'm also curious which is "better".

[DanielC]

My personal choice, none of the above.

I use Valvoline VR-1 40 weight.

[teamseal]

I use Royal purple in both of my Sprint boats (Big Block Chevy's), The 2011 ski 200 (6 liter) and in my GTO (400ci ). I find that the product does have IMO noticable performance gains. Have pulled down the the top end of the 502 and it was squeaky clean with no build up what so ever. Keep in mind that because the oil is a synthetic does not mean one can go longer between oil changes. As far is it better than Amsoil or any of the other synthetic oils it is probably six of one a half dozen of another. I have talked to both PCM and Indmar about Synthetics and both company's said as long as the recomended weight is utilized it is not a problem. For my day to day customers we utilize Shell Rotella 15W-40 and always Wix filters.
Funny we changed to Royal purple in the ski 200 at 60 hours and it went from 48.7 MPH to 50.2 on ZO GPS, almost a mile and a half faster at top end. who-da-thunk it??

[DanielC]

"Funny we changed to Royal purple in the ski 200 at 60 hours and it went from 48.7 MPH to 50.2 on ZO GPS, almost a mile and a half faster at top end. who-da-thunk it?? "

Change back to conventional oil, and back to the synthetic again. See if the same results happen. In short, is the experiment repeatable?
Keep track of the air temperature, the barometric pressure, and any other factors you can think of. Try to back up the GPS readings with a radar gun.

[horkn]

fwiw, royal purple has levels of ZDDP that are good for use in flat tappet motors.

I've used RP in the 4runner, and like all the other synthetic oils I have used in it, I noticed better mpg with the use of synthetics. Is RP any better than any other synthetic? I dunno, but it is flat tappet cam safe, along with redline and amsoil.

Trying to compare VR1 to a synthetic is not fair to VR1, it can't compete with synths.

[teamseal]

"Funny we changed to Royal purple in the ski 200 at 60 hours and it went from 48.7 MPH to 50.2 on ZO GPS, almost a mile and a half faster at top end. who-da-thunk it?? "

Change back to conventional oil, and back to the synthetic again. See if the same results happen. In short, is the experiment repeatable?
Keep track of the air temperature, the barometric pressure, and any other factors you can think of. Try to back up the GPS readings with a radar gun.

Hi Daniel,
Let me introduce my self so as you know who you are addressing and please do not take this internet forum wrong like a lot of problems get started.
I worked full time for Nautique for over 15 years in the R&D product design and development (skunk works) as their propulsion and senior field tech. I have over 40 years of performance boat experience from full racing inboards (hydros and flatbottom runabout) to current tournament and wakeboard machines. I have been a part of the design team that developed many of the systems in your current boat. I am currently employed by Nautiques as a field service tech and corporate represenitive on a contract basis.

I have read many of your posts and you are very good with giving accurate advice and I can tell you are very knowledgeable about service and repairs of these crafts. Repeatability comes from many years of experience of what works and what does not work. Yes when a new idea and concept needs to be proven out then repeatability testing is very necessary and believe me after the many years in the shop at Correct Craft repetition was the norm for testing and proving out a concept and we have many files from testing of everything from props to the lightning and 6-liter supercharged program and every thing in between. As for the benefits of any synthetic oil the proof is in the overwhelming documentation by users such as professional engine builders and racers alike along with the every day user. I started using Amsoil back in 83 in many of my cars and still use it or Royal purple in many of my boats and vehicles today.
Thanks for the consistant advice but remember their are a lot of us old geezers with many years of experiance here on the net reading your posts.. Want to Race???

[ClemsonDave]

While I believe in the benefits of synthetic, I also believe that if you change the oil on schedule or early, the brand is not that critical. They are all excellent. FWIW, I use M1. Not doubting you completely, but I'm with Daniel. Try changing to something else and see if the top speed goes back down.

Jody, won't race you with boats, but if you wanna race cars, I'm game!

[maxpower220]

Aside from repeatable performance measurements, the "best" way to measure oil is to use it and then send to an independent oil analysis company. You will be able to see a chemical composition of the used oil. It is possible to to that to all of your oil changes, develop a trend. Oil samples can help you understand if there are parts of your engine that are breaking down faster than normal. Obviously, if you engine is new, the early data will be slightly different. After a few oil changes, the trend of engine wear particles should level out and oil analysis will be your key indicator. It can be used to determine if one oil is "performing better" in your engine, in your environment.

The service is fairly inexpensive. Have used it on motorcycle engines on my track bike. High temp, high rpm, and low oil capacity pushed me to want to know what was going on. An internet search will yield a few companies that you can use. This way you won't have to trust "internet experts".

[DanielC]

Well, a little bit about me. Like many people my age, I started to mess around with engines and the things they go in, when I was in high school. When I was in high school, I had to challenge to get into the auto mechanics class, I did not take the small engines class, a prerequisite. I got in. In fact, my high school had a program in cooperation with GM, that two students from the class could get a scholarship to go to the GM training center, that was located in Tigard, Oregon at the time.
Why is this important? While at the GM training center one day in class, we had a discussion about the "new" oils coming out then. Gm had already tested these new synthetics. The consensus was this. they are OK, but you still have to use the same oil change intervals, because the problem is not the oil wearing out, it it the fact that every engine uses oil, and the reason the oil level does not go down on some engines is this. The volume of oil being used is being replaced by combustion byproducts that are contaminating the oil.

I have been using Valvoline oil since you could get it in cases of 24 cans that looked like this:

[skiinxs]

Royal Purple

One of the nice things about Royal Purple is that is available in the 15w40 weight spec'd by PCM. I can back up Jody's results with those (that I previously posted), on my 2010 343 200. I did a couple of top speed runs, then changed the oil at the dock. Did more top speed runs 10 minutes later after the switch from dino to Royal Purple. If I remember correctly it was worth .6 mph and 45 rpm's. Same lake, same lack of wind, bimini up both times, same air temp, same water temp, same boat crew. I checked top end again a little later after a couple of slalom sets with the same higher top end, just to make sure a cooler engine wasn't responsible. Intuition always told me that a slicker synthetic with less drag should have less parasitic drag and hence more hp, but I would have never imagined it would be measurable. I usually wait until I am over 100 hours to switch to synthetic to ensure a good break-in, but may consider switching my 2011 200 409 over at the 75 hour oil change (or earlier if my 25 hour change ends up earlier due to an upcoming tournament)
Dave

[skiinxs]

Well, a little bit about me. Like many people my age, I started to mess around with engines and the things they go in, when I was in high school. When I was in high school, I had to challenge to get into the auto mechanics class, I did not take the small engines class, a prerequisite. I got in. In fact, my high school had a program in cooperation with GM, that two students from the class could get a scholarship to go to the GM training center, that was located in Tigard, Oregon at the time.
Why is this important? While at the GM training center one day in class, we had a discussion about the "new" oils coming out then. Gm had already tested these new synthetics. The consensus was this. they are OK, but you still have to use the same oil change intervals, because the problem is not the oil wearing out, it it the fact that every engine uses oil, and the reason the oil level does not go down on some engines is this. The volume of oil being used is being replaced by combustion byproducts that are contaminating the oil.

I have been using Valvoline oil since you could get it in cases of 24 cans that looked like this:

I fully agree about oil change intervals, dino or synthetic, change it the same. Oil is cheap, engines aren't!
Dave

[DanielC]

I was going to add this to my post above, but was too late:

Valvoline oils has never done me wrong.
Fast forward about 30 or 40 years. A lot of us are still using engines that were basically unchanged since you could buy 24 can cases of oil. Many modern oils are being developed to accommodate the different requirements of modern automotive engines, many with roller camshafts, and catalytic converters in them.
I want the additives in my oil to be there for a reason. There is no scientific reason for oil to be colored purple. It is a pure sales gimmick. It is to make it look different on a weekend "hot rod" show that are barely more than a two hour info commercial.
I also do not trust multi-level marketing schemes.

My experience with motor oils is with Valvoline. It has served me good. That is why I use it. That is why I recommend it.
Is there a possibility that something better exists? Possibly. But I do not have the time to personally use it, put enough hours on an engine that I need to get inside it to check it out, and then form a new opinion.
My 1997 Ski Nautique has over 2308 hours on it, with Valvoline VR-1 40 weight oil
My 1996 Aerostar van has over 176,000 miles on it, many towing my boat, with Valvoline conventional oil in it. I use the Motorcraft FL1-A oil filter on both, by the way.

[swc5150]

Thanks guys! Just to see if I notice anything, I'm going to run RP for a while. I didn't realize it was ACTUALLY purple in color. That must be the eon flux used to lube the inline rotary girder;-)

[swc5150]

hey, that was my 500th post! Giggidy!

[horkn]

Thanks guys! Just to see if I notice anything, I'm going to run RP for a while. I didn't realize it was ACTUALLY purple in color. That must be the eon flux used to lube the inline rotary girder;-)

It actually stays purple too.

Now you see cars with 9 qt oil capacity. My Audi takes 9qts, and so do the new 5.0 fords. The reasoning is longer service intervals because the oil gets contaminated over miles/ run time. Adding nearly 2x the capacity allows longer oil change intervals.