Any reason not to use high mileage formula oil?

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Car carefully maintained and now out of warranty. 80,000 miles. No sludge issues.

Any reason not to use high mileage formulation of my favorite oil?
 
I ran high mile oil a few times on my 2015 F150 when it was new, no problem running the oils. Marketing really works.
 
I wouldn't use the oils with the seal swellers unless you have leaks. But the oils with the conditioners would be ok.
 
Originally Posted by Warstud
I wouldn't use the oils with the seal swellers unless you have leaks. But the oils with the conditioners would be ok.


How do you know which is which? I'm thinking of using Mobil 1EP based on some of the excellent reports I've seen here .
 
I'll let ya know. I've got some valvoline 0-20 maxlife synthetic going into the wifes 2018 rogue. If it blows and they deny the warranty then we will know lol.
 
Originally Posted by jimbrewer
Originally Posted by Warstud
I wouldn't use the oils with the seal swellers unless you have leaks. But the oils with the conditioners would be ok.


How do you know which is which? I'm thinking of using Mobil 1EP based on some of the excellent reports I've seen here .

I would like to know too. My Jeep has started using and leaking oil. Currently running Napa high milage in it.
 
Originally Posted by Warstud
I wouldn't use the oils with the seal swellers unless you have leaks. But the oils with the conditioners would be ok.

I'm pretty sure all oils contains seal conditioning agents (SCA) to mitigate hardening. Seal sweller is SCA, SCA is "seal sweller". I believe, but I might be wrong on this part, SCA's are esters??🤔...SCA's essentially allow hardened, shrunken seals to return to their normal shape and size. And with respect to SCA's, I believe the difference between a HiMi formula and your run of the mill formula is the amount and type (there can be compatibility issues amongst the different grp oils) of SCA's in the finished lube.
 
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Every time I've looked at an oil company website for their answer to this, they have stated that there is absolutely no harm in using a HM oil in a new/newish car.

Because my cars are well into the 100K range, I use it when I can get it for the same price as nonHM oil. Usually when Wm has a line of oil on rollback, it all goes to the same price. But I wouldn't pay a buck more for a 5 quart jug for the HM difference. I'm sure there is some difference, just not sure how much.
 
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Marketing works and so do HM oils. Reducing oil consumption (piston rings) and eliminating rear seal seepage. Marketing and HM works for me!
 
if there is no reason to use it i would not bother. If thats all they had on the shelf, i would not have a secnd thought about using it.
 
Originally Posted by jimbrewer
Originally Posted by Warstud
I wouldn't use the oils with the seal swellers unless you have leaks. But the oils with the conditioners would be ok.


How do you know which is which? I'm thinking of using Mobil 1EP based on some of the excellent reports I've seen here .

I'm using Mobil1EP 0w20 in my 2016 Outback, can someone explain to me what the EP Extended Performance is supposed to achieve, other than longer OCI' s?
 
If you are not losing oil due to seal shinkage or wear, a HM oil with a seal conditioner that swells them more than their already acceptable amount, will only wear them faster and should be avoided.

It's not "any reason not to" so much as don't use HM oil unless you have a reason to. An engine with no problems should continue using the same high quality oil you would have used. Mileage cannot predict the HM oil need, some engines last many more miles than others plus there is the driving environment, whether they were easy highway miles or short trips and/or temperature extremes.

HM oil does nothing useful for a properly working engine (and exhaust). If it did, they'd put the same additives in all their oil.
 
Perfectly safe to use. If it's a current API oil, it must fall within API SN parameters in order to meet that spec. And if it does, it's perfectly safe for use in any modern vehicle, new or high mileage.
 
Originally Posted by Dave9
If you are not losing oil due to seal shinkage or wear, a HM oil with a seal conditioner that swells them more than their already acceptable amount, will only wear them faster and should be avoided.

It's not "any reason not to" so much as don't use HM oil unless you have a reason to. An engine with no problems should continue using the same high quality oil you would have used. Mileage cannot predict the HM oil need, some engines last many more miles than others plus there is the driving environment, whether they were easy highway miles or short trips and/or temperature extremes.

HM oil does nothing useful for a properly working engine (and exhaust). If it did, they'd put the same additives in all their oil.

Rubber seals can and do get brittle, crack and shrink over the course of tens of thousands of miles. The idea is to PREVENT a leak, not try and fix one after it's occurred. At that point you're asking a lot of a HiMi formula to undo years of neglect and the window of opportunity to stay or undo the effects of time, has essentially closed on you. In that case you can't blame the HiMi formula for not being able to undo the fallout of your poor choices. There was a time when you could do something about it, now it's too late....
 
Originally Posted by wemay
Perfectly safe to use. If it's a current API oil, it must fall within API SN parameters in order to meet that spec. And if it does, it's perfectly safe for use in any modern vehicle, new or high mileage.

The old rumors live on...
 
Originally Posted by ka9mnx
Originally Posted by wemay
Perfectly safe to use. If it's a current API oil, it must fall within API SN parameters in order to meet that spec. And if it does, it's perfectly safe for use in any modern vehicle, new or high mileage.

The old rumors live on...

If seal conditioners "ruined seals" in cars, then EVERY HiMi product would come with a warning or disclaimer saying not to use in engines where the seals aren't already leaking.. just saying....

There is simply no scientific evidence to support the claim that conditioning agents "ruin" good seals. If someone has said evidence, they might want to forward it on to the likes of Valvoline or Chevron or XOM et al... because it would seem that they didn't get the memo....‚
 
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High mileage oils are designed to treat symptoms common to high mileage engines. The problem is that different engines will show these symptoms at different mileage numbers, but the oil makers tend to give one mileage number for all vehicles. While HM oil will actually help with these symptoms, any oil company that says "you should use this special type of oil after this many miles" sure sounds like a racket to me. There is no reason to start using HM oil unless your engine starts showing these symptoms of high mileage. My Tacoma has 154,000 miles running Mobil 1 vanilla, runs great with no leaks or noises, and I don't plan to use a HM oil until it is actually needed. My Corvette has 74,000 miles, same story.
 
Originally Posted by DGXR
I don't plan to use a HM oil until it is actually needed. My Corvette has 74,000 miles, same story.

Curious, do you run your oil to the point of failure (engine noise) or do you change it at some arbitrary number as a preventative measure? Or how about your coolant..do you forgo changing it until your temp gauge is pegged?
 
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