High Mileage Silverado, is there something better?

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My Silverado had 190K on it and for the last 100K I've been doing OCI of anywhere from 3-5K (never over 5K) with Mobil 1 5w30 and a Mobil 1 filter. The truck sees a lot of highway miles at 80+ mph here on the OK turnpikes.

Having been researching oils for our new Sonata I started wondering if there is something better I could be using for the Silverado. With the holidays/birthdays etc the last couple of months this is literally the first time I"ve gone over 5K for an oil change since I've owned the truck. I'm at 6K and the engine oil life monitor says I have 3% left. I still haven't recycled the oil from my last change at 4K and had to top off with a quart of the used oil today before I left the house.

Being such high mileage vehicle is there something better or an additive I should be using? Thought about doing a UOA on this change just to see, even though I topped off with a quart of used oil.
 
I believe your OLM is figuring on the cheapest dino that makes the required spec. You are probably greatly under utilizing your M1.

I don't see the point of a UOA if you added a quart of used oil unless it was the same oil and also from your truck (kinda sounded like it might have been from your post) even then it probably had quite a few contaminants in it.
 
Originally Posted By: RichardSenn
Being such high mileage vehicle is there something better or an additive I should be using?


If you haven't already, a PEA-based fuel system cleaner (Regane, Techron, Redline SI-1)
 
Okay, I guess I haven't figured out how to multi quote on this site.

I was doing every 3K just out of habit. I had a dealer coupon for an oil change and filter for $22 that had no expiration date so I printed multiple copies. I did a 3K oil change like clockwork at the dealer up to 80K until the dealer finally said they wouldn't honor it anymore.

So I switched to Mobil 1 then and just kept at it until I found this site and started stretching them out to 5K. 5K just seemed so long and still does.

I only topped off with used oil, because I was in a hurry trying to get out to the lease today, not something I normally do, in fact I've never had to top off but I checked before leaving since I've never gone 6K either and I was a quart low so I did.

So no reason to switch or use additives?
 
Originally Posted By: KCJeep
I believe your OLM is figuring on the cheapest dino that makes the required spec. You are probably greatly under utilizing your M1.

I don't see the point of a UOA if you added a quart of used oil unless it was the same oil and also from your truck (kinda sounded like it might have been from your post) even then it probably had quite a few contaminants in it.


Yes it was from the same truck and it had 4K on it. I religiously clean the bucket I use to catch the oil from oil changes after each change and I pour the old oil into the 5 quart jug of the new oil I just used.
 
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Originally Posted By: RichardSenn
Being such high mileage vehicle is there something better or an additive I should be using?


If you haven't already, a PEA-based fuel system cleaner (Regane, Techron, Redline SI-1)



Only fuel system cleaner I've ever used is B12 Chemtool fuel treatment. How often should I be using a fuel cleaner?
 
If you like to work on your cars and don't like longer OCI then any conventional will be good for 5-6k miles with mostly highway mileage.
 
Mobil has a pretty good looking line up.
Ever thought about M1 HM?

Honestly if it were mine, and it doesnt leak, id be running M1 0w40.
Nectar of the God's! !
 
Mobil 1 HM, minimum 5k OCI, uoa.....if results comeback good push 6-7k OCI and determine if your OLM needs recalibration.
 
The Mobil 1 would still be good after the oil life monitor reaches zero. Had you topped up with fresh oil I would steer you towards resetting the oil monitor and running it down to at least 50% before doing a uoa but used oil is unsettling at best, I hope it was stored in a closed container. Either way 7500 should be cake.

Fuel cleaners can be used every oil change or more if you can afford it but once every change is good. Techron and Gumout regane have the proper chemical to clean.

How about the cooling system and automatic transmission fluid if it's an automatic? The engine isn't too picky but those two things are.
 
Okay, so it sounds like I just need to stick to Mobil 1 and just extend the OCI out past 5K.

The cooling system was flushed and changed somewhere around 120-130K I can't remember exactly.

At 170K I finally decided to mityvac out 6 quarts, drive it around for a bit, then dropped the pan changed the filter and topped it off with 6 more quarts. After that I did one more mityvac of 6 quarts. It's been running great so far, and I waited so long because I believed flushing would ruin my transmission. This site is changing that opinion.
 
Keep up with the Mityvac fills a couple every 30k and you should be good.

If you want to drain your oil everytime the olm hits 0% I would move to Pennzoil conventional or Mobil conventional and grab a more cost effective filter like a Purolator classic and do that.

If you want to double your oci grab the Mobil 1 EP and keep the Mobil 1 oil filter and run it down to 0% twice.

Make sure to top off with fresh oil as it gives you a TBN boost and makes it easier to extend the mileage without depleting the oil.

Since you added the used oil to this run I wouldn't bother doing a uoa this time around as it will look much better with fresh oil as top off.

Other extended drain oils are Castrol Edge or Amsoil signature series.
 
Good idea on the Mityvac every 30K on the trans. Honestly just happy it's made it this far, not sure how long the 4L60e will go.

I'll just stick with Mobil 1, there's usually an auto store running a special every month for 5 quarts with a filter for right at $30-$33.

Just wanted to check and make sure that there wasn't a unanimous opinion to make a switch to something specific.
 
Originally Posted By: RichardSenn
Okay, I guess I haven't figured out how to multi quote on this site.

I was doing every 3K just out of habit. I had a dealer coupon for an oil change and filter for $22 that had no expiration date so I printed multiple copies. I did a 3K oil change like clockwork at the dealer up to 80K until the dealer finally said they wouldn't honor it anymore.

So I switched to Mobil 1 then and just kept at it until I found this site and started stretching them out to 5K. 5K just seemed so long and still does.

I only topped off with used oil, because I was in a hurry trying to get out to the lease today, not something I normally do, in fact I've never had to top off but I checked before leaving since I've never gone 6K either and I was a quart low so I did.

So no reason to switch or use additives?


I have a 99 silverado Z71 extended cab with a 5.3. That truck religiously got 450kms per tank no matter what I did,whether in the city or on the highway always 450kms.
I used amsoil SSO 5w-30 in it. Truck ran great with it. So to get to the point I found this stuff called liqui-moly MOS2 at napa and thought I'd give it a shot in my truck.
Over the course of 3 tanks my mileage improved incrementally and by the end of the 3rd tank I got 570kms.
Its a 100 litre tank so the mos2 increased my mileage by 1.2km per litre of fuel.
The mileage increase was consistent and if I feathered the pedal 600km per tank was achievable.
Since first using mos2 a few years ago in my chev I use it with every oil change. Mileage has stayed around 550-575km now and not dropped off to pre mos2 levels.
Remember I put 100k on that truck prior to using mos2,and the only variable that changed was adding mos2 to the oil, the same oil I had been using for 100k,so I have to conclude that the mos2 was the reason for the fuel economy increase.
There's lots of threads on mos2. Check them out. I even ran an 8000 mile mos2 test to see if it helped my chargers fuel economy. It did increase my mileage a couple mpg consistently, tracked over thousands of miles.
And for 8 bucks a can it pays for itself in the first tank of gas.
Anyways I thought I'd share my experience with a similar truck.
 
If you buy from the auto parts stores you might as well spring for the EP since they don't charge more for it as far as I know. Walmart charges a few extra bucks for the EP.
 
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