high-mileage oil for cars?

I think some of them contain ingredients designed to soften and expand seals, which might retard or prevent oil leaks. I use a high mileage oil in a '69 Chevy truck for that reason. Not sure if its beneficial, but I'm willing to drop a few extra buck for the oil just in case.
 
I always, since day one have used castrol syntec, and change my oil about every 12-15k miles, the oil is hardly dirty by then. But I change it anyway. I have 135k miles on my truck and it runs like new. Yes, I would buy the high mileage GTX from Castrol.
 
Synthetic and high mileage oils do make a difference. Though I still stick to the reg and just change my oil more often. Oil is the blood of an engine.
 
Oil change is the simplest and cheapest for of preventive maintanence !
Yes the synthetic oils do make a difference .Higher mileage , longer engine life. I've talked to people who do engine tests and they found the benefits years ago . I've been using synthetic oils for at least 15 years !
BTW synthetics make excellent gun oils as many have learned .
 
swamp said:
I always, since day one have used castrol syntec, and change my oil about every 12-15k miles, the oil is hardly dirty by then. But I change it anyway. I have 135k miles on my truck and it runs like new. Yes, I would buy the high mileage GTX from Castrol.
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My folks ran synthetic in their Honda, the body and interior literally fell apart before they retired it. The engine still ran like a champ though. Had over 200K on it. I'm about to switch to full synthetic in my year old pick up. :thumbup:
 
There is no sence in changing the oil unless you rustproof the vehicle each year if you live in an area where they apply roadsalt during winter.

Around here the body will always rust out before the drivetrain is finished. Many rusted vehicles are in good mechanical shape capable of reliable service for years to come, but salt eats out the body because too many folks overlook the importance of rustproofing.

Vehicles are like firearms, they need to be lubed once in awhile to prevent rust.

Engines go on almost forever with regular oil changes using synthetic oils.

Yep synthetics are good stuff.
 
Back in high school a friend of mine inherited an early 80's two wheel drive Toyota pickup from his grandpa. When he got it it had 367,000 miles on it. By the time we graduated, we had upped that number to 472,000 and it still ran strong. As far as I know, that truck never tasted synthetic oils. I'm not saying synthetics aren't an improvement over conventional oils, but if you change your oil frequently enough, conventional oils are fine.
 
I think there are situations where synthetics are definitely beneficial.
Racing engines and engines that are used in extreme hot and cold, or heavy towing.
For normal driving I don't think most will notice much difference. It is not uncommon to see engines with 200,000 miles or more still running fine and using conventional motor oil.

It is more expensive, but if you can run it for 10- 15,000 miles, it probably isn't much worse than regular oil changed at 3,000 miles.
In the end, it definitely isn't going to hurt anything using it.

Heck, most people only keep a car for a few years then trade it off anyway
 
Joe was originally posting about high mileage oil (oil marketed for high mileage vehicles), not synthetic oil. They aren't the same thing.
 
The main difference between regular oil and high mileage oil is in the additive packages. High mileage oil(my experience here pertains to synthetics, however there may be parallels for dino oil) tends to have a higher ZDDP(Zinc dialkyldithiophosphate) content. The ZDDP plays a part in reducing cam and lifter wear. High ZDDP content tends to do well for flat tappet motors, which were prevelent in the late 80's through the mid 90's. Since then, many have switched to hydraulic systems which don't require the same levels of ZDDP for protection. The logic is that high mileage motors are more likely to require the protection offered by ZDDP. It's a little more complicated than that, but those are the basics.

Now, on synthetics versus dino oil, I generally recommend synthetic. With dino oil(non synthetic), you have oil molecules of all different sizes. Some are big, some are small. With a synthetic, you have molecules that are all the same size, and they are all small. That said, small molecules fit into smaller spacer more easily, and you get better wear protection.

The tradeoff here is that because all the molecules are small, leaky seals will make their presence known more easily. The big molecules in dino oil tend to better resist slipping out of a failing seal. On a brand new motor in a brand new car, definately go synthetic. Most cars nowadays are designed for synthetic, and you should run that.

You should note, however, that on synthetics often times it says you can wait 7500 for an oil change interval. In SOME cases this is true. On a new car designed for synthetic and long oil change intervals(has to do with tolerancing in the motor in part), you can get away with this.

Older cars designed to run on dino oil don't always have the same tolerancing characteristics. That said, cars not designed to run originally on synthetic have more avenues to dilute the oil, making it less effective(for instance some fuel gets into the oil as a result of blow by...which is fuel/air slipping by your piston rings under compression). On old cars, synthetic will slow the deposition of metallic particles into the oil to some degree, but the oil can and will still suffer dilution. That said, on older cars, you can extend your intervals a little bit, but not as much as some marketing towards new car owners would allow you to believe . You just have to be careful.

That was a bit of rambling so here are some cliffs:

High Mileage Oil: Often times good for older cars(likely to have higher mileage) due to additive packages which more closely match oils old motors were originally designed around. May not be as beneficial for newer cars that don't require similar zddp levels.

Synthetic: Generally a good idea on newer cars, rebuilt motors, etc due to better wear protection. May find leaks more easily on tired motors.


if you really want to research the topic, I recommend checking out www.bobistheoilguy.com

good luck
 
fishshooter said:
My folks ran synthetic in their Honda, the body and interior literally fell apart before they retired it. The engine still ran like a champ though. Had over 200K on it. I'm about to switch to full synthetic in my year old pick up. :thumbup:
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i have a 02 taco 4x4 4 door with 151k miles on her.. i use amsoil in the diffies and tranny.. my oil is a synthetci that has been on sale.. if no sale i use penzoil platinum. i drive a lot so synthetics help me from changing my oil so damn often. she runs like the day i bought her..

as for HM oils. most are pretty good, my fave would be maxlife by valvoline. lots of info on this oil on BITOG..
 
The EPA has phasing out ZDDP in all oils. They have restricted zinc content down to a fraction of what regular oil used to contain. Only racing oils, and off road oil additives containing ZDDP, have enough ZDDP to make a difference on older engines.

High mileage oils do not contain more zinc than their counterparts.
 
powernoodle said:
Joe was originally posting about high mileage oil (oil marketed for high mileage vehicles), not synthetic oil. They aren't the same thing.
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They make both high mileage synthetics and high mileage dino oil, and the op didn't specify which he was interested in.
 
I have found the secret to long engine life is as simple as changing the oil and taking the time to Break in the engine right in the beginning.

My wife kids me about how she is not able to drive a new car or truck in the first 1,000 miles after we by it because of Break In. :D

I have a car with over 375,000 miles, all on Conventional Motor Oil.

I have found over the years, engine life is like tire or brake life. It has a lot to do with the operator of the vehicle.

With the engines of today, it's easy to get 200K on them, unlike the days when it was a big deal to make the 100K mark in a car and spray paint the event on the road with pride. :D


As far as Conventional Motor Oil vs synthetics, for the miles I've seen on engines run with Conventional Motor Oil, when I see a 750,00 or million mile engine with synthetics, then I'll make the switch to synthetic motor oil.
 
I like this topic....I always feel like the Jiffy Lube guys are just trying to 'upsell' me on the high mileage oil.
 
555 said:
I have found the secret to long engine life is as simple as changing the oil and taking the time to Break in the engine right in the beginning.

My wife kids me about how she is not able to drive a new car or truck in the first 1,000 miles after we by it because of Break In. :D

I have a car with over 375,000 miles, all on Conventional Motor Oil.

I have found over the years, engine life is like tire or brake life. It has a lot to do with the operator of the vehicle.

With the engines of today, it's easy to get 200K on them, unlike the days when it was a big deal to make the 100K mark in a car and spray paint the event on the road with pride. :D


As far as Conventional Motor Oil vs synthetics, for the miles I've seen on engines run with Conventional Motor Oil, when I see a 750,00 or million mile engine with synthetics, then I'll make the switch to synthetic motor oil.
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todays conventional oils are superb compared to even 5-10 yrs ago. most name brand conent oils (dino oils) can go 4-7k miles before an oil change. (pending on the engine).. like mentioned before, the only reason why i use syn oils is so i dont have to change it as often. i drive a lot and do not have time to change the oil every 2 months. i wouldnt hesitate to use a conventional oil if that were not the case... penzoil is my top pick in that category..
 
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