Best High Mileage Oil

[farmboy]

hey guys i have a '96 Chevy Z71 w/ the 5.7 vortec. it has 170,000 miles on her. it has been fed Valvoline 10w30 conventional for most all its life. recently it has developed a leak from one of the seals, i cant yet tell where exactly however. i thought i would try using Valvoline Maxlife 10w30 because of the seal conditioners. however, it seems to have actually gotten worse!!

what should i do?? the last oil change i put a quart of Lucas Oil Stabilizer in w/ the maxlife, but hasnt really made a difference. should i go back to conventional (has the syn blend maxlife made the leak worse??), should i use Lucas stop leak? or continue to run the maxlife or maxlife/Lucas oil stabilizer mix? any input is welcome! thank you so much!

 

[simple_gifts]

http://www.auto-rx.com/pages/sealleak.htm

This is a well regarded product.

 

[farmboy]

the article also says not to use synthetics. does that include blends? should i return to using conventional. it seems as if the maxlife made the leak worse, is why i ask. and if so, would it be benficial to step up to a 10w40 or 15w40??

 

[AzFireGuy79]

It says not to use group IV or V synthetics. Something like Pennzoil Platinum which is a Group III is actually very well suited for this treatment. And if you dont care then conventional will do very well for you as well. As far as increasing viscosity, you will not see a change in a leak like you are desribing. I would recommend trying Auto-RX for the leak. Follow theinstructions to the Tee. If it does not help then run a high mileage oil of your choice. And for the love of god please refrain from using Lucas oil stabalizer! Keep us posted.

 

[farmboy]

i see. thank you so much for your input! can i buy autorx in a retail store??

... lol it seems as if noone likes Lucas products! i like their fuel additives which is why i decided to try the oil stabilizer. but i havnt noticed a difference so i think ill take your advise and ditch it!

 

[farmboy]

also, what do u all make of this leak getting worse with the maxlife??

am i out of my mind or could the syn blend maxlife truly have made it worse? thanks!

 

[ZZman]

The seal may actually be damaged in which case you might have to either replace it or put up with the oil leak.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Out of all of the applications I've used MaxLife in, it has fully stopped the leak. That was in a 1994 Pontiac Firebird Formula V8 (5.7 LT1) and a 3.1 Chevy Malibu. We sold the Firebird eventually and didn't bother replacing the seal, and we eventually fixed the seal on the Malibu (turned out to be the oil pan gasket). As for it getting worse, I have a feeling the seal is pretty damaged.

 

[farmboy]

so lucas stop leak is a bad product to try??

 

[Virtuoso]

I would continue to run plain MaxLife and see what happens. The best fix though is a new seal of course. Unfortunatly the ones that leak are usually the hardest to get to..

 

[buster]

Quote:
Question:
Any Plans to Produce Mobil 1 High Mileage 5w30?
Does Mobil 1 have any plans to produce a high mileage 5w30 oil instead of the 10w30 already produced?
-- Russell Lee, Oklahoma City, OK

Answer:
We are evaluating that possibility, stay tuned.

 

[nuskool]

Auto Rx is only available through the website. But shipping is very fast. With 170k I would consider 2 full treatments. Depending on how much you drive, this takes time if you do it per instructions. But as stated, this is a highly regarded product.