High Milage Oils-What Makes Them Work?

[MikeTEC]

What makes high milage oils work? At 107K I thinking of switching in my 96 5.0L to Valvoline or new Castrol high milage. Any negatives? Thanks Mike

 

[Billy177]

they swell your seals if you dont have any leaks i dont really recommend them i would just stick with castrol

 

[MikeTEC]

No Billy, I do not have any leaks. My 5.0 Explorer has always had Motorcraft 5-30 since new; absolutely no oil usage between changes or leaks. Mike

 

[Billy177]

if you have no leaks and burn no oil i would just keep doing what you have been doing

 

[mrboyle]

Honestly, I think they are just another sales gimic. For starters, 75,000 is in no way "high mileage." Most modern egines are good for well over 200K with regular maintance, so why would you think your engine is "old" at 1/3 of its life expectancy?

 

[Robb]

I agree with mrboyle..........I think "high mileage" oils are just marketing.

 

[Hokie]

Originally posted by MikeTEC
What makes high milage oils work?

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I'm going to try Valvoline's Max Life b/c they're paying for free oil for 1 oil change. (There's a thread somewhere on here that you can print out a coupon)

 

[etc]

<--has max life in it right now(free oil change as hokie said). So far so good. I'm around 130k by the way.

 

[MikeTEC]

Thanks, folks. I am sticking with Mike Boyle's recommendation of not changing. He has always given very sound and practical advice on issues. Thanks for all the input on this subject.

Happy Trails

 

[Tom G]

Originally posted by MikeTEC
absolutely no oil usage between changes or leaks. Mike

If it aint broke, don't fix it.

 

[410Fortune]

Personally I like the WINTER oil and the especially for 4x4's....

The same damn engine comes in a 2wd truck as does a 4x4.........


gimick, sales ploy, new package, whatever you want to call it....

You can only sell the same toothpaste in the same package for so long, eventually it needs a new wrapper/tube/box whatever

 

[MikeTEC]

It is hard to know who Ford outsources their Motorcraft oil to these days. Believe it was Mobil about 10 years ago.

Had my 96 5.0L Explorer been new when I bought it, I would have used Mobil 1 5W-30. However, I have found Motorcraft to be decent oil. Certainly better than some others. The original owner used Motorcraft oil and filters. So far it has seemed to do fine. So I will stick with it. Thanks- Mike

 

[Maniak]

If you had a tired motor, with leaks, then I'd use one of the gimic oils.. e.g. high mileage etc..

Our '92 X has 294k miles on it.. and I still run 10w-30 Mobile 1 synthetic.. (actually, I have 5w-30 in it now... and I seem to be loosing teh same amount of oil.. 1 qt every 4k miles)

We loose 1 quart every 4-5k miles...

We just now started getting intermittant valve clatter at idle, just off idle.

The motor is stock EXCEPT for the heads that I warped when I lost the water pump/water (the temp gauge won't read when there is no water in the motor).. I'm still using the orig. push rods, lifters, rockers etc... (and all bottom end)..

Heck, when I did the heads, I still had cross hatch in a few of the cylinders.. and that was at 236k miles (give or take a few thousand)

Btw.. I still use 10w-30 on our '95 neon.. and that has just under 230k miles... and that one looses 1 quart every 6k miles or so (thats when I change the oil)..

now, keep in mind.. most of our miles are highway, but that is around 2750 rpms on the truck, and 3300 rpms on the neon...

~Mark