Extended drains with HM oil?

[NMBurb02]

The current fill in my Burb is Valvoline NextGen MaxLife, primarily to help with a rear main seal leak. However, in light of the fact that High Mileage oils have higher initial TBNs, does that mean I can run a longer OCI if I am not all that concerned with the engine internals needing additional cleaning? Things look good through the oil filler cap, but haven't removed the valve covers yet.

I was thinking of getting a used oil analysis at about 5,000 miles or when the OLM tells me to change, whichever comes first, or should I save my money and just go ahead with another change with the oil and filter that are already sitting in my garage?

 

[buster]

Tough call without a used oil analysis. MaxLife is supposedly 30% synthetic. MaxLife 5w30 however is now dexos 1 compliant, meaning it's a pretty high quality oil. Valvoline oils perform very well, with the only weakness being TBN retention.

 

[NMBurb02]

If TBN retention is possibly an issue, I'll change this one at 5,000, then get a used oil analysis on the next fill of NextGen MaxLife. Also, the current fill is only the second oil change done on the vehicle since I purchased it with 117,000 miles on it five months ago.

 

[tig1]

Haven't used a Valvo product but I am having my grandson do 10K OCIs in his 02 Toyota V6 with Mobil 1 5w30 High Mileage. Good results with this combo.

 

[LeakySeals]

Different oil, but this info may be useful. Using Mobil 1 High Mileage I'm going 7k to as high as 9k with no change in leaks. Takes a while for seal swell additives to take effect, takes a while for them to wear off. So if the seal swell add pack strength diminishes over time, I don't notice any difference. Having a leaker your probably adding oil which replenishes additive loss, including TBN to some extent.

 

[electrolover]

Perhaps Mobil 1 High Mileage would better suite what you want here.

 

[bigjl]

I have had no oil usage with the Maxlife Diesel 10w40.

Very happy with that, going to pull a sample for UOA.

I don't mind changing early but don't want to leave it too long with the severe service a Taxi sees.

Pity availability is so patchy in the UK, you have to buy it online and the couriers that deliver can be a little lacking in customer service.

 

[LeakySeals]

To clarify, my earlier post was about how High Mileage additive packs perform on extended intervals, not a recommendation for a different oil. Depending whats causing the leak (shrunken seal vs a hole), a High Mileage oil with a Full Synthetic base may make a leak worse. High Mileage seal swellers can't plug holes, use of a thicker conventional or synthetic blend high mileage oil may be a better choice if thats the problem..

 

[NMBurb02]

It's not a Full Syntheticth, so I wouldn't want to run it to 10k.

I'm guessing it's a shrunken seal causing the leak, as the PO didn't use it much in the months leading up to my purchase. All of the seals seemed fine for a few days after purchase, and then it started puking oil, resulting in replacing of the lower intake manifold and oil pan gaskets. The rear main seal is the only leak left ($800 repair job due to need to drop the transmission and transfer case), but it is fairly minor, as total consumption was only 1 quart over the 5k first OCI with Castrol GTX HM.

I switched to NextGen MaxLife due to a MIR making two 5+ quart jugs free, so I have another 6 quarts that I will use for the next change. Might look at switching to MaxLife Full Synthetic for the spring/summer and then back to the NextGen next fall/winter.

 

[KCJeep]

I can't tell for sure whether or not you are considering 5k as an extended OCI. If you are just do it and forget about it. If you're wondering about pushing Maxlife farther, most likely it can but I'd want a used oil analysis if I pushed it much farther so you know what it's doing in your vehicle.

Since many High Mileage oils are synthetic blends and have stouter add packs as well they are good candidates for longer intervals IMO.

 

[fdcg27]

I had a really good UOA with Maxlife Nextgen SN from a 4K run in my old BMW, with low wear metals even with 2.9% fuel dilution.
TBN held up really well.
I'd use the oil 5K minimum.
You could then UOA the 5K run and go from there.
Maxlife seems to be a very stout oil, and may be the best Valvoline offers.
I had a pretty unimpressive 5K UOA of Synpower from our Forester.