'0W' High Mileage oils...will we see them?

[addyguy]

Just randomly tossing this out there for discussion...

Think we will ever see 0W-20, 0W-30, or High Mileage 0w40 oils of any kind?

I know there are already synthetic High Mileage oils, and I know it's not really necessary, I'm just wondering if anyone will try to market a High Mileage oil that also flows in the super-cold.

My thought is there might be a market for a 0w20 High Mileage oil - for high-mileage Honda, Toyota, or Subaru vehicle that spec a 0W-20.

Your thoughts?

 

[beast3300]

I would doubt it because high mileage oils are thicker than regular oils. They may not be able to pass as a 0w. Not sure though, it would be sweet to see some new oils.

 

[Rand]

yes, but by then we will have 0w5 0w10 and 0w15 oils..
and 0w20 will be split into a smaller viscosity spread.

 

[buster]

Doubtful. High Mileage oils are often made to help reduce oil consumption and be less volatile. 0w oils are generally more volatile.

 

[bluestream]

We might, but only after 0W20 becomes the new 5W20

 

[daves87rs]

I hope not...

 

[Zako2]

I have no idea, but if my vehicle was spec'd for 0w30 or 5w30, I think there is no problem with alternating between 0w30 and HM 5w30 of your choice every 6 months, with 0w30 used during the winter months. The same could be done for a vehicle that calls for 5W-20 or 0W-20. It seems like the biggest advantage of the 0W oils is cold start flow in freezing temperature. When its warm, 5W-X oil should be roughly equivalent to 0W-X oil..

 

[Garak]

Something like GC or Delvac 222 Elite 0w30 are fairly thick at operating temperatures. One could consider them high mileage oils, since they're not SN/GF-5.

 

[LeakySeals]

I bet they have it now. My guess is they are waiting after getting burned by early releases/no adoption of the 0w oils in the past. Most engines will be running 0w oils over the next few years. Somewhere there's a bean counter/marketing dude figuring out a release date. Based on some fuzzy math equation they will estimate when the 0w cars start getting old in mass and boom, release the 0w HM and maximize profits.

I know I couldn't run it. I keep squeezing 0w20 in as a blend, the car keeps expelling it or burning it. I leave the 5w30 HM only in, everything's fine.

 

[Loobed]

Are not most High Mileage oils either conventional or synthetic blend? Can you get a 0W with dino or a syn-blend.



Is Mobil 1 the only ones making high mileage synthetic oil?

 

[LeakySeals]

Originally Posted By: Loobed


Is Mobil 1 the only ones making high mileage synthetic oil?




Valvoline makes a full synthetic MaxLife , I've never been able to find it. And its not cheap.

 

[Lead Shoes]

Originally Posted By: LeakySeals
Originally Posted By: Loobed


Is Mobil 1 the only ones making high mileage synthetic oil?




Valvoline makes a full synthetic MaxLife , I've never been able to find it. And its not cheap.


Ahh the white rhino of High Mileage oil, you have to find a store like Napa and special order it, it wont be cheap.

They do not make a 0w High Mileage oil that I know of.

 

[A_Harman]

The Valvoline red bottle MaxLife is a syn-blend. They also make a full-synthetic MaxLife in the silver bottle. It's available at my local Meijer all the time. It is the same price as their Synpower, but Meijer has Valvoline oils priced 50 cents/quart higher than the Mobil oils that are next to them on the shelf, so I just buy Mobil.

 

[Loobed]

Originally Posted By: LeakySeals
Originally Posted By: Loobed


Is Mobil 1 the only ones making high mileage synthetic oil?




Valvoline makes a full synthetic MaxLife , I've never been able to find it. And its not cheap.



They had some at Oreilly's, but I can't find it on their website. Napa and Walmart also had it, but I can't find it on their website either.

 

[LeakySeals]

Originally Posted By: Loobed
Originally Posted By: LeakySeals
Originally Posted By: Loobed


Is Mobil 1 the only ones making high mileage synthetic oil?




Valvoline makes a full synthetic MaxLife , I've never been able to find it. And its not cheap.



They had some at Oreilly's, but I can't find it on their website. Napa and Walmart also had it, but I can't find it on their website either.



I think a lot of it is Marketing a name, not the brand. Two bottles with HUGE MaxLife labels on them, one $16.99, one $27.99. One is red just like the transmission fluid. Which one will people grab? The answer to that is the one stores keep stocking.

 

[gpshumway]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Something like GC or Delvac 222 Elite 0w30 are fairly thick at operating temperatures. One could consider them high mileage oils, since they're not SN/GF-5.

+1 GC is already basically a "High Mileage" oil. Mobil 1 0w40 could be considered a high mileage 0w30 as well. It's so close to the 30/40wt border as to be irrelevant.

"High Mileage" is just a marketing term for an oil which is at the thick end of it's viscosity grade, possibly with some more seal conditioners, and possibly with some extra anti-wear additives or possibly not.

The extra additives apply mostly to conventional High Mileage oils, as I suspect good synthetic oils have highly effective levels of AW additives and seal conditioners regardless of whether they're labeled "high mileage" or not.

The characteristics which differentiate a high mileage oil from it's "low mileage" counterpart are generally different from the characteristics which differentiate a 0w oil from a 5w or 10w oil. W numbers are about performance in extreme cold, high mileage oils are generally thicker at operating temperature, and don't meet EC and GF specs due either to high levels of additives detrimental to emissions systems, lower fuel economy performance or both.

I suspect adding a few pour point modifiers to a good 5w30 high mileage synthetic would result in a 0w30 with little change in other performance characteristics, though that's just speculation on my part.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I do think we'll see 0W-20 high mileage oils, eventually. Remember: it took a while to see 5W-20 high mileage oils, and maybe even 5w30. In the very beginning, most of what I saw were 10w30 and 10W-40 high mileage oil, maybe with 5w30 at the beginning also. It took years for high mileage 5W-20s to come out. Cars that call for 0W-20 are fairly new, so they probably rightly figure that high mileage oil in that grade would not sell well. But as the 0W-20 fleet ages, I'm sure you'll see these oils pop up. They'll do whatever they can do to buy more shelf space.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: gpshumway
"High Mileage" is just a marketing term for an oil which is at the thick end of it's viscosity grade, possibly with some more seal conditioners, and possibly with some extra anti-wear additives or possibly not.


Plus, they usually don't have the latest API specs or none at all, and same for ILSAC. Part of being a "high mileage" vehicle is that it's probably not under warranty anymore, and SM/GF-4 or better isn't exactly crucial.

My "high mileage" regimen when the old F-150 was leaking like a sieve was MaxLife 5w30 in winter and Delvac 1300 15w40 in winter. Both reduced the leaks sufficiently that I didn't have to add during an OCI, something that did not happen with normal PCMO 5w30.

 

[LeakySeals]

My high mileage oil is only SL. Many on here would consider that inferior to SN...but why?... Or is it SL because it still has the anti-wear goodies stripped from SN to protect the trees and my catalytic converter..

 

[Garak]

Well, there's really no need for an SN/GF-5 high mileage oil, other than someone wishing to pay the oil companies more to get a synthetic blend that might be a bit thicker and have some seal swellers. An SL high mileage wouldn't be appropriate for something new and still under warranty.

As for the anti-wear goodies, while the high mileage oils that have older API rating or none at all technically can have higher ZDDP levels, I think we're deluding ourselves if we think they all actually do. Even the SL rated Royal Purple wasn't that high in zinc/phosphorous. The only HM type that jumps out and claims to have more is Defy, but we haven't seen any real data on it.

I would also suggest that some of the oils we bought in the SL and earlier days weren't as high in ZDDP as we like to believe - call it the Good Old Days phenomenon. I've always said that if one wants more ZDDP, the most cost effective way to get it is to use HDEO. At least the zinc contents on those are routinely published.