HM oil? 75K?

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I see a lot of ads for High Mileage oil and most have 75K on the label. Ive honestly never used the stuff but have had several vehicles go to 200K. Current vehicles over 100k are my Ford Transit Connect at 118K and a VW Jetta at 110K. Neither vehicle uses a drop of oil on a 10K OCI. When would one get any benefit of High Mileage oil?
 
If your engine is burning oil - HM seems to reduce or eliminate it, most of the time. If your engine seals are leaking and you are feeling lazy to replace those - HM oils sometimes do a great job of conditioning those seals just enough to stop the leak for many miles to come. And also HM oils (synthetics) are a little more viscous that their regular versions. Due to that I definitely see a benefit of using it in a harsh environment, like Death Valley or Phoenix. Valvoline specifically says that their HM synthetics (MaxLife) are suitable for use in old and brand new engines. I see HM oils as regular oils on steroids, and use them accordingly to that.
 
If you haven't got any leaks, HM oil is a waste. However they are solid oils and can be used from a low mileage.
 
My car is nearing 300k miles and I'm not using a HM oil. No need to. It doesn't weep, or drip oil. The oil stays on the full mark through the entire interval on 5,000 miles, but I have run it to 8,500 miles on two occasions and still full.
 
Originally Posted By: Syntheticuser
My car is nearing 300k miles and I'm not using a HM oil. No need to. It doesn't weep, or drip oil. The oil stays on the full mark through the entire interval on 5,000 miles, but I have run it to 8,500 miles on two occasions and still full.


What do you drive ?
 
Regular oils on steroids?
Probably a good analogy, although maybe not as valid as it once was, with oils like Maxlife SB now being energy conserving and having quite tame add packs with no moly.
A good HM oil may have a stronger add pack than its non-HM brethren, like the old QS Defy and may be both thicker and have higher detergency, like M1 HM.
We have many posters come here and wonder why their engines do just fine without HM oils.
The answer is usually that they're already using an HM oil like Red Line or that given good engine design and good maintenance they aren't yet at the point where an HM oil would be helpful.
I've run engines out to around 200K without using HM oils but I've also had some that benefited from these oils at 100K or so.
YMMV
 
High mileage oils have additives that cause seals to swell to hopefully fix seal leaks. I would avoid it unless you have a rear main seal leaking. Fix any other seals that are leaking.
 
I bought some synpower Max life on amazon to add to an order to ship quick. Ive never used it before but I will try it next change. I only have one car under 75k miles.
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
HM oil is a band aid for people who can't be bothered to fix their leaking/burning issues.


Well that is a pretentious thing to say. Most high mileage cars with leaking burning issues aren't worth it to fix. If an oil can patch the problem and keep it on the road, what's the big deal? Not all cars are as easy and cheap to do internal engine work on as an 82 VW.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: 1JZ_E46
Originally Posted By: Olas
HM oil is a band aid for people who can't be bothered to fix their leaking/burning issues.


Well that is a pretentious thing to say. Most high mileage cars with leaking burning issues aren't worth it to fix. If an oil can patch the problem and keep it on the road, what's the big deal? Not all cars are as easy and cheap to do internal engine work on as an 82 VW.


I'm not comparing anything to the Rocco, only commenting that oil burning in any measurable quantity shows a weakness in the rings, or the stem seals. Similarly, leaks only occur when gaskets fail.
Repairing the problem is always the correct option, irrespective of the vehicle age or market value.
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
Originally Posted By: 1JZ_E46
Originally Posted By: Olas
HM oil is a band aid for people who can't be bothered to fix their leaking/burning issues.


Well that is a pretentious thing to say. Most high mileage cars with leaking burning issues aren't worth it to fix. If an oil can patch the problem and keep it on the road, what's the big deal? Not all cars are as easy and cheap to do internal engine work on as an 82 VW.


I'm not comparing anything to the Rocco, only commenting that oil burning in any measurable quantity shows a weakness in the rings, or the stem seals. Similarly, leaks only occur when gaskets fail.
Repairing the problem is always the correct option, irrespective of the vehicle age or market value.
An example comes to mind... There was a gentleman who got tired of oil consumprion in his Acura TSX with k24 engine. He had the engine rebuilt with quality parts, and the shop doing the work had a big name in business with Honda engines. Well, a few thousand dollars later he had a rebuilt engine that went from consuming 1qt/1k miles before the rebuild, to 1qt/3k miles. So rebuild does not always eliminate oil consumption, for one reason or another... I heard quite a few similar stories over the years.
 
Originally Posted By: Olas


I'm not comparing anything to the Rocco, only commenting that oil burning in any measurable quantity shows a weakness in the rings, or the stem seals. Similarly, leaks only occur when gaskets fail.
Repairing the problem is always the correct option, irrespective of the vehicle age or market value.


Well of course repairing the problem is the best option, irrespective of money. But like I said, for many cars it's not worth it. Fixing consumption (1qt every 2,000 miles) on my X5 would be north of $5k... I pad $16k for the car. No way! I'll continue to use Liqui-Moly motor oil saver (ester based seal condition).
 
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