General thoughts on high milage oils.

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Jun 10, 2019
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FL
I have a slight rear main leak on a 06 tahoe.200+ miles.
Blows back on exhaust and leaks on garage floor slightly. Not a big leak.
I used Valvoline 5w 30 syn maxlife.
Valvoline 10w 30 syn maxlife
Now supertech 5w 30 Hm.
The supertech seams to leak more than valvoline.
Thinking mobil 1 syn hm 5w30 or 10w 30 or castrol edge hm 5w 30 or 10w 30 next.
I'm leaning toward edge hm 10w 30.
Anyone used edge hm. Does not seam too popular

I'm sure most will say fix it. I dont feel like doing it or paying to have it done.
 
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I had a very similar situation to yours in my Charger. A small drip was dried up with several OCIs of Maxlife 10w-30 and one of 5w-30 MaxLife.

Then a sudden switch to ST HM synthetic 10w-30 seemingly restarted the drip. A couple OCIs of M1 HM syn 10w-30 slowed it back to barely a coating on underside of engine with occasional drops.

Subsequent OCIs have all been MaxLife 5-30 or 10w-30, and the drop has once again dried up.

Coincidence? Maybe, but it's one heck of one if so, and I'm going to continue to use the Valvoline Maxlife regardless.
 
I have ran synthetic for the full 200k but was thinking maybe a syn blend castrol or maxlife may slow it down. I'm change oil about every 5k, about 30% oil life.
 
I've always had good luck with STHM. It helped a slight rear main seal on my wife's old Malibu Maxx.
That said, Maxlife is an outstanding oil and many here have had very good experiences with it.

I picked up a 6qt box of Havoline SB HM 5W20 I'm going to use in my F150. Not that I need HM at only 72K, but the deal was good at $12/box

The Havoline HM was purchased online at Walmart. Might be another option for you.
 
M1 HM 10w-30 worked for me on a seeping rear main seal in the F150. But as others have said, it takes a few thousand miles.
 
Have had good result in 3 different vehicles with Valvoline Maxlife products. Slowed the pushrod tube seal leaks on a BMW motorcycle, gave new life to a 15 yr old push mower, and somehow slowed a invisible coolant leak in a Honda Accord. After topping off a normal oil with a qt of Maxlife that was in the garage. About a month later I noticed the very slow drop in coolant reservoir had ceased. Never had to add coolant again. VooDoo I think.
 
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Originally Posted by gfh77665
In Fl, stay with the Valvoline 10w 30 syn Maxlife. It s probably the highest regarded HM oil here.

Very low Noack on that 10w-30
 
The HM oil will/should cause the seal to swell enough to stop or slow down the leak., if the shaft is in perfect condition. If the shaft is not in perfect condition then all bets are off.
 
I've used edge high milage 40 weight in my tiburon and when i went to a 5w30 i burned a quart over the oil change that i hadn't noticed beforehand. Whether that is up to oil weight or additives I couldn't tell you. I can certainly tell you that Valvoline Maxlife semi syn slowed burning and leaking in my b4000.
 
With very small gasket or seal leak you may be able to cure it with HM oil.
Mobil 1 HM oil did the trick for me while ST HM and Valvoline HM didn't close the leak.
 
On the Firebird in my signature, I started using HM oils when they were still SL/GF-3. So, I can say that I am coming close to two decades now. And although they have certainly helped, they've not completely stopped my drips.

Prior to using HM oils, my engine would leave a silver dollar size puddle in the driveway or where ever I'd park. Now, the droplets are closer to nickel size or smaller.

And I must have been burning oil as well(nothing I could see) due to the amount of makeup oil I would add during the summer months...as even that large puddle WOULDN'T have caused me to add this amount of additional oil.

I started out(2003-'04?) using MaxLife syn blend 10W30 then moving to 5W30. Now I am staying with 5W30's but have moved around with brands mainly using, QS Defy/QSHM, PYB HM. But, I think I may give ML another try.
 
Originally Posted by tblt44
06 tahoe.200+ miles.
Blows back on exhaust


What is the meaning of "Blows back"?

back = black?
If so, what is the cause of "black"?
 
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I have had really good results in the past with Maxlife, significantly better than other high mileage brands. My first car was a used '91 Acura Integra that burned 1 quart every 500 miles. I tried many different brands in that car. The best results were with semi-synthetic Valvoline Maxlife; the car still ended up burning 1 quart every 1,000 miles.

I currently drive a used Scion tC (2az-fe engine found in mid-2000 Camry & Rav4). It burned around 1 quart every 1,000 miles when I got it. It also had a valve cover gasket leak. I replaced the valve cover gasket and I've been using Maxlife over the past three oil changes. The oil consumption is down to 1 quart every 2,500 miles.

High mileage oils are generally good, and Maxlife is among the best.
 
I don't buy it for leaks. I use it because I'm getting more detergents for the same money as the regular equivalent versions.
 
Originally Posted by stanlee
I don't buy it for leaks. I use it because I'm getting more detergents for the same money as the regular equivalent versions.

Do they all have more detergents ?
 
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