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Hi mileage oils, are they worth it ?

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Jedi Knight
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Hey guys,
I've got a mini van with 60K on it and was thinking of using a hi mileage engine oil when I change the oil, but I'm not sure it is worth the extra cost. I can't seem to find any information other than everyone advertising their own product. What do yall think? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
I've never seen a difference, other than the oil weight. In the olden days (60's) we'd use an oil that was 10 pts higher (10-30W would go to 10-40W) for older engines. That seemed to work fine for us. I've done that with my 94 Chev S-10 and it seems to hold up well (104,000 miles).
 
My dad and I haven't used anything but the same oil we've always used. His '47 Lincoln V-12 has over 200,000 miles on it and still runs great. He just traded in his '83 GMC diesel van with 190,000 miles, and I traded in my '97 Saturn with 128,000. Both of those were running fine, passed emissions, and no blue smoke. Never used anything but the same oil the owner's manuals called for. Does anyone know what's so special about the high mileage stuff? Or is it a clever marketing ploy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif?
-Dave
 
They are the same oils your owner's manual calls for, just a (supposedly) different additive pack that is supposedly set up to help rings, seals, valve guides, etc. I think there might be an argument for just changing the oil regularly with the proper oil and maybe adding a little mystery oil to help the rings.

On the other hand... a lot of people wouldn't consider 60,000 miles all that high anyway. I traded in an Explorer a few years ago with about 58000 miles on it and they said that wasn't very many miles. Go figure.
 
I agree. The mini van had 55000 on it when we bought it. I just wanted to see what everybody else thought before I changed the oil in it. I like to buy one brand and weight of oil and stick with it. I didn't want to change later down the road. Well, it's a moot point now. I just purchased a 5 quart jug of Castrol at Wally World. I'm sure it will be fine. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I think these have a chemical additive that swells seals and can stop minor leaks (same thing is available as a bottled additive). I tried the Valvoline Maxlife in my 200K+ VW (using the full price rebate they had) and it may have helped with the small rear seal leak (I guess that's a front seal on a VDub).

OTOH, 60K? I start thinking 'high milelage' when it is about the same as the distance to the Moon.

You might Google and see if you can find a link to the rebate if it is still available. I tried but it told me I had already downloaded my rebate so maybe it is still active.
 
My 84 Camaro has 320,000 km(u do the conversion) on it but we've always run fully synthetic oil in it and NEVER had a problem in 21 years!! I don't think I'd bother with any overly expensive oil in a Minivan thou.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Or is it a clever marketing ploy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif?
-Dave

[/ QUOTE ]

That would be my guess.

Bruce
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Or is it a clever marketing ploy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif?
-Dave

[/ QUOTE ]

That would be my guess.

Bruce

[/ QUOTE ]

Mine too.
 
Dissenting opinion here. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I put Valvoline MaxLife (I think that's it, the extra bottle is in the back of the truck) in the 97 Ford Expedition I purchased from my parents (148k miles) at the last change (2k miles ago). When my father ran it with whatever oil the Ford dealership put in he would be a quart low each 3k miles. At 2k with the MaxLife I haven't seen any sign of burning and my oil level is just fine. I got the MaxLife on sale, so it was ~$2 more for the case than the regular.
 
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