When to actually start using high milage oil.

[coastalguy]

I own a 2005 Camry SE 5 speed manual 4 cyl bought new. Very well maintained w/a 4000 mi oil change interval. Always used
Toyota 5w-30 ( Which I believe is Mobil Special ) and the last
15,000 miles or so have moved up to Mobil Super 5000 5W-30. Car
has always used about 1/3 qt between 4,000 mile changes and now at 90,000 miles runs great. My question is there any reason to start using H.M. oil if not actually experiencing consumption or leaking issues or should I wait for a while longer? Also once the switch is made to H M oil must that be a permanent switch
because of the seal additives? I intend to use Mobil Super H.M.
because I've always liked their products and I know they package
Toyota's oil anyway. I tow a 1,000 lb fishing boat on occasion
(car is rated for 2,000 lbs towing) but have not used synthetic
oil due to my 4,000 drain interval.
Thanks in advance Coastal guy

 

[abycat]

I used a HM oil in my truck at 29X,XXXkm It didnt make one bit of difference and I switched from a 10w-30 to a 5w-30. I do like most HM oils. the mobil super I used is a semi syn and it has a good amount of zinc for my flat tappet engine so im happy. I do have a oil temp guage and pressure too but it was not installed until I put in the 5w-30 so I cant tell you the technical differences I got.
I am talking about what I can hear not any UOA data yet for me but I will have some soon. Technically you could throw in HM oil into a car with 3km and it would not hurt a thing. I have no leaks so I didnt experiance that bennefit to the oil. I dont know if I will use this oil for a long OCI or switch to a full syn Mobil product for a extremely long OCI.

 

[tommygunn]

Keep using Mobil Super, you are a long ways away from needing HM.

 

[Quest]

I never uses HM oil in any of my vehicles, provided that there's no seal-related leaks to begin with.

Q.

 

[JHZR2]

IMO there is no need to use it unless you start to see some new found consumption.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: tommygunn
Keep using Mobil Super, you are a long ways away from needing HM.


X2. That engine just finished breaking in. Keep doing what you're doing.

 

[DC44]

No need I never saw a diffrence when I tried it. Why does everyone think that 100k is high mileage still? my car still had the cross-hatches on the cylinder walls at 140k.

 

[bigdawg74]

If you have no leaks, there's no reason to switch to HM oil, although I don't believe any damage would done if you did. My '02 Accord w/ 119K uses reg dino (no leaks), and my '91 w/139K uses HM dino because it had a leak.

 

[Merkava_4]

High mileage oils have seal conditioners which help condition rubber/neoprene seals and prevent
them from drying out, hardening, and shrinking. When rubber seals dry out and harden, they lose
their ability to conform to the surface that they're suppose to be sealing.

 

[97f150]

I never really had a need to use it in any of my vehicles, and every car or truck I owned was/is high mileage. I'd try it if one of them developed a leak that couldn't be gotten to right away, but I haven't experienced this yet even on my old F150 that I traded with 230,000+ on the clock.

 

[ahoier]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
IMO there is no need to use it unless you start to see some new found consumption.
Yep.....I wouldn't use a "HM" oil unless you notice a leak, or experience oil burning off. Keep doing what you're doing.



The 75k garbage for "High Mileage" is merely a gimmick, IMHO.....when modern engines are lasting to 3,000,000 miles.....I can't see how they can consider "75k" being high mileage.....really....

 

[linkbelt]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
High mileage oils have seal conditioners which help condition rubber/neoprene seals and prevent
them from drying out, hardening, and shrinking. When rubber seals dry out and harden, they lose
their ability to conform to the surface that they're suppose to be sealing.


Changed to QS high mileage on old 1999 Subaru with 150,000, now has 170,000.
This change did help with oil leakage, due to oil seals dryed out, etc.
Not a cure all, but it seems to help.

 

[demarpaint]

205,000 + miles on my Aerostar and I still don't use a HM oil. Unless you have problems like leaks, or oil use, stick with what has been working for you in the past. If/when you develop a problem you can always change to a HM oil. JMO

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
High mileage oils have seal conditioners which help condition rubber/neoprene seals and prevent
them from drying out, hardening, and shrinking. When rubber seals dry out and harden, they lose
their ability to conform to the surface that they're suppose to be sealing.


While they may have or not have conditioners, they have additives that cause seals to swell. I would not use a HM oil until I had a seal leak and had tried other things like Auto-Rx and synthetic oil (not together) to deal with a leaking seal.

 

[linkbelt]

Seems to that using Auto-RX, which is an engine cleaner, would cause seals to leak more.

 

[TFB1]

The idea is to start using HM oil BEFORE a leak develops, if a seal dries out enough to crack, the oil isn't going to be much help...

Granted 75K mi is probably a bit soon in most engines, plus age should be factored in as well... Probably any 10 year old vehicle with 100K mi would benefit...

 

[A_Harman]

I switched to an HM oil at 150K miles, even though I didn't think I needed it. It actually did help oil consumption and seemed to do some cleaning because it turned black faster than the previous oil I had been using. I don't think you need to switch to HM at 75k like the oil companies are saying, but switching does have benefits IME. You can switch back if you don't see any benefits.

 

[67Customs]

I have done it as "prevent" maintenance before. Did it help? Who knows. I have also started running it in one of my vehicles that I purchased use with 90k miles that consumed about a half a quart over 5k miles. Two runs of HM has stopped the consumption as far as I can tell.

With what you have been running, I'm sure your motor is fine. It definitely wouldn't hurt to run an OCI or two with a HM and then go back to your regular Mobil Super. Either way, I think your engine will be fine.

I certainly don't think you need to switch over just because you hit a certain mileage.

 

[Ken2]

Auto-Rx can recondition seals. The seal material is a synthetic rubber designed to run in oil. Crud blocks the oil from the seal and the seal doesn't work as designed. Auto-Rx cleans the crud, oil gets to the seal, and sometimes it seals better.

When to use "oil for high mileage engines?" When you have too much money in your pocket. When you want to do something you consider nice for that great old car. Or, if there is an oil related problem you want to try to cure at a low cost.

 

[number_41]

So here's a question I haven't seen addressed.

SN GF-5 oils are now supposed to have seal conditioners. Are High Mileage oils still even required?