5w-30 Synthetic High Mileage Oil questions

[Carlostrece]

My 97 Buick Park Ave had an annoying oil leak when I had Valvoline Maxlife Synthetic 5w30 in it. At the time I didn't know where the leak was coming from.

I switched to Maxlife Synthetic Blend 5w30 and it then leaked a lot less, but still dripped a little.

I then discovered it was a valve cover leaking. I had the valve cover gasket replaced. Leak fixed.

Next time I change my oil, I'd like to go back to a synthetic high mileage 5w30 again, but next time I'd like to use a thicker 5w30 high mileage oil. By thicker, I mean thicker than Maxlife synthetic 5w30.

My car has either 105K miles on it. It uses a little oil, but not as much now that the leak is fixed. I think a slightly thicker synthetic high mileage oil would be helpful.

For Comparison
KV100 cSt
Valvoline Maxlife 5w30 Synthetic 10.7
Valvoline Maxlife 5w30 Blend 11
Pennzoil Platinum High Mileage Synthetic 11.4
Pennzoil High Mileage (synthetic blend) 11.7
Quaker State Ultimate Protection 5w30 Synthetic 11.7

I'm not aware of that Quaker State oil product being a HM oil, but it is a good example of a thicker 5w30 synthetic.

Which synthetic HM 5w30 oils are on the thick end of 5w30 HM oils?

Advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

Edited in Later: Athough I want thicker at op temp, I'd like to keep it thin at cold start. So no 10w40.

 

[buster]

Mobil 1 used to be on the high end. They make a 10w40 you could use.

 

[Carlostrece]

Mobil 1 used to be on the high end. They make a 10w40 you could use.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I want thin (like a 5w30) at cold start, but not too thin at op temp. I'm looking for a Goldie Locks solution.

 

[BornSlippy]

M1 EP HM 5W-30 is 11.6

 

[Carlostrece]

M1 EP HM 5W-30 is 11.6

I looked it up on Mobil One's website. It is 10 at KV100. That's thinner than I want, but thanks for trying to be helpful.

https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants...formance-high-mileage-5w-30?bvstate=pg:2/ct:r

 

[Bighorn2500]

Euro 30 weight oils are thicker

 

[OilStainedNapkin]

Why not stick to maxlife blend? I don’t think your 97 Buick will care much

 

[facility1]

look at Valvoline EP high milage 5w-30 may work well for you. a higher cst may not always help, ( consider the add pac ). use a oil that is properly formulated for higher milage engines.

 

[Carlostrece]

Why not stick to maxlife blend? I don’t think your 97 Buick will care much

I think a thicker HM oil will be less likely to leak or burn oil than a thinner HM. So I think a thicker HM would use less oil. I've already found a few thicker HM options. Some thicker HM options are full syn, some are blend.

 

[BornSlippy]

I think a thicker HM oil will be less likely to leak or burn oil. So I think a thicker HM would use less oil. I've already found a few HM options that are thicker. Some thicker HM options are full syn, some are blend.

Why not a euro 5w-40? Most of them shear down pretty quick in the 12ish range. Or even M1 0W-40.

 

[ka9mnx]

M1 Euro 0w-40 or M1 ESP 0w-30.

 

[OilStainedNapkin]

I think a thicker HM oil will be less likely to leak or burn oil than a thinner HM. So I think a thicker HM would use less oil. I've already found a few thicker HM options. Some thicker HM options are full syn, some are blend.

I'm willing to bet maxlife blend 10w30 is plenty thick. And I doubt you'll need the cold start protection of a 5w30 in Oregon

 

[Carlostrece]

I'm willing to bet maxlife blend 10w30 is plenty thick. And I doubt you'll need the cold start protection of a 5w30 in Oregon

Going by spec sheets published by each oil company that I looked at, Maxlife 5w30 Syn is about medium or middle of the pack for viscosity at KV100. It's good oil, but there's also some slightly thicker at KV100 good 5w30 oils out there.

Maxlife Blend 5w30 and 10w30 both are 11 cSt @ KV100
Maxlife Synthetic 5w30 and 10w30 are 10.7 & 10.8 @ KV100.

So Maxlife 5w30 and 10w30 are same viscosity at 100°C (engine op temp). So I'll stay with 5w30 to get faster flow and pressure at cold start (compared to 10w30). I don't need 5w30 for OR or WA winters, but it's beneficial at cold start and not giving up anything at full op temp compared to 10w30.

 

[wlk]

I think a thicker HM oil will be less likely to leak or burn oil than a thinner HM. So I think a thicker HM would use less oil. I've already found a few thicker HM options. Some thicker HM options are full syn, some are blend.

If the blend is leaking less, stop trying to reinvent the wheel and run that.
Red bottle Maxlife, Castrol GTX HM, QS All Mileage and Havoline HM are all great options. Some motors leak/burn more on certain oils vs others, if it leaks less on Maxlife Blend run that.

 

[anndel01]

M1 EP

 

[BornSlippy]

I looked it up on Mobil One's website. It is 10 at KV100. That's thinner than I want, but thanks for trying to be helpful.

https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants...formance-high-mileage-5w-30?bvstate=pg:2/ct:r

Sorry. Was looking at old data sheets.

 

[Carlostrece]

If the blend is leaking less, stop trying to reinvent the wheel and run that.
Red bottle Maxlife, Castrol GTX HM, QS All Mileage and Havoline HM are all great options. Some motors leak/burn more on certain oils vs others, if it leaks less on Maxlife Blend run that.

Maxlife Blend is working well and car leaked a lot less with the Blend. My car seems to like it. Maxlife Syn was thinner and leaked a lot more when I used to use it. This week I had valve cover gasket replaced. That will solve that leak. Hopefully there's no other leaks. We'll see. Still using ML Blend at this time.

However, I think in future I might be able to have even better lubrication from a HM Syn and still not leak if it's a bit thicker than the ML Syn.

So I'm looking at 5w30 HM Syn oils that are thicker than ML Syn.

 

[Carlostrece]

I've narrowed the contenders down to these, which are thicker at KV100 (100C) than Maxlife HM Syn 5w30.

Valvoline Maxlife HM EP 5w30

Pennzoil Platinum HM 5w30

 

[Carlostrece]

M1 EP HM 5W-30 is 11.6

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it and consider it.

 

[Carlostrece]

Euro 30 weight oils are thicker

Are there Euro High Mileage oils?