High Mileage Oils & Seal Conditioners

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: buster
The XOM guy that knew a bit about the TGMO 0w20 uses High Mileage oils after 50k miles for his cars.
Quote:

That makes absolutely no to me.
You're going form a very light 20wt oil to a low VI heavy 30wt at best just to deal with some potential oil seepage? That's crazy IMO.
I have some seepage from the oil pain gasket on my Caterham and I wouldn't dream of running a vastly heavier oil than what I'm currently using to deal with it. In fact I won't even bother trying a seal swell agent as small leaks I don't consider enough of an issue to try an rectify by doctoring my oil.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: Donald
What about the seal swelling additives? Who wants those if not needed!


Seals will shrink as they get older. They will also lose their pliability which equals conformability. The seal
swellers are not making the seals larger than their original size. They are trying to counteract shrinkage.

 

[buster]

Quote:
The additional seal swell agents can in theory can shorten the life of an oil seal.


That's not true as per XOM and Valvoline's testing. That is why they say you can use them in new cars.

From the latest MaxLife PDS: "MaxLife provides performance benefits for high mileage, new and rebuilt engines."

 

[buster]

**I'm not suggesting you NEED a HM or that they are a magical cure for high mileage engines. However, it is a well established fact that over time, due to the heat/cooling cycle of an engine over time, engine seals do become weaker and deteriorate.

Using a good synthetic should keep seals perfectly fine, including most SN/GF-5 oils. This does not mean though that High Mileage oils don't work or don't have a place. Numerous people have noticed these oils to stop oil seal leaks.

In addition, using a high mileage oil as a preventative measure is not a bad idea and as stated by XOM and Ashland, the added level of seal conditioners don't have any negative effects.

I look at MaxLife as a boosted conventional oil with higher detergent levels, anti wear additives and more seal conditioners.

 

[Turk]

I have been using Maxlife on my Wife's Camry for 2 years and the rear seal has been leaking some, but not too much.

Tried Defy and in the beginning, it looked like the the leak was less. But now with 2k on the Defy, it's leaking more.

So, I added a bottle of CD2 Engine stop leak. So far that looks like it helped, but it's too early to tell.

When I get 4k on the Defy, I'll put in Maklife Full Syn.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: buster
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Would you guys use High Mileage oil in a 10-year-old 530i with 80K miles? It drips a tiny bit of oil, from the rear main seal probably.



Definitely. My brother had a rear main seal leak in his Toyota and M1 High Mileage stopped it. Many people have had leaks stopped by using High Mileage oils. Defintely worth a shot QP.



If it's a small leak it might help, but the gusher of a rear main seal leak in my Dad's truck didn't slow down with any High Mileage oil.

My mom's Impala now has a rear main weap (every GM car they've ever bought has) and all it's every had is Napa synthetic 5w30 (made by Valvoline). I might switch to Maxlife and see what happens. Maxlife definitely lowers the oil consumption in my Toyota.

 

[RF Overlord]

I want to know how they came up with the 75,000 mile figure.

My ex-wife's Mercury Marauder has 163,000 miles (bought used at 85,000), the last 80,000 have been with MC 5W-20 at first, then Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 and it neither leaks nor burns any unusual amount...under a quart in 5,000 miles. The motor has some general grime on it because it's her daily driver winter and summer, but I doubt an High Mileage oil would do anything.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Would you guys use High Mileage oil in a 10-year-old 530i with 80K miles? It drips a tiny bit of oil, from the rear main seal probably.


I would. MaxLife 10w-40 would probably be a nice fit. It would have been worth considering with my old Audi (it only leaked at the valve cover gasket, which I replaced anyhow), considering that MaxLife can usually be had at a decent price here. The only problem is that I've never seen MaxLife 10w-40 on our shelves here, so I never had the opportunity to try it.

 

[thomasew]

I have a 05 Dodge Stratus with 129000 miles on it. It has had 3-4K oil changes since it was new. It isn't leaking oil, and has very little consumption. I am wondering if I should bother to start a high mileage oil such as Valovoline, or just keep using the regular stuff?

 

[buster]

It can't hurt and only help IMO. You may never need a High Mileage oil, it really depends.

High Mileage oils are essentially boosted conventional/blends for those that don't want to use a full synthetic.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: buster
High Mileage oils are essentially boosted conventional/blends for those that don't want to use a full synthetic.

Isn't M1 High Mileage synthetic though?

 

[buster]

True, yes Mobil 1 High Mileage is synthetic. MaxLife also comes in a Full Syn. I shouldnt' have said that, its' not accurate.

 

[Danh]

I'm trying MaxLife to reduce/eliminate a timing chain cover oil leak on a Ford 3.0 Duratec (incredibly expensive to fix the "right" way).

I thought this was worth a try, but the service guys tell me the factory doesn't use a traditional gasket in this area, but a liquid RTV sealant instead. Do "seal swellers" in High Mileage oils work on RTV? I can sort-of visualize how they could swell a cork or rubber gasket, but not sure about these.

Thanks.

 

[Tempest]

Quote:
Do "seal swellers" in High Mileage oils work on RTV?

Not that I am aware of.

 

[Mauro]

I can see these seal conditioners only working on paper gaskets not on rubber gaskets (or rubber coated steel gaskets). I've been using Castrol GTX HM in my 88 5.0 Mustang for many years and the main reason is that 5W30 in the HM is a little thicker then non HM 5W30 (little better oil pressure). The only areas that I have paper gaskets are the lower intake manifold and the timing chain cover. Oil pan, valve covers and main seals are all rubber. I have 100K miles on my stock engine.

 

[caravanmike]

Originally Posted By: Mauro
I can see these seal conditioners only working on paper gaskets not on rubber gaskets (or rubber coated steel gaskets).

i can't see this being true because High Mileage oils work on rear mains and i don't know of any paper rear mains? mike

 

[skyship]

There is no need to use a special High Mileage oil as you will do just as well with a good quality oil plus a can of stop leak, as that is in effect what you get with an High Mileage oil.
If higher viscosity oils are approved for your engine type, then changing from say 5w30 to a 5w40 will reduce some types of leak.

 

[buster]

Originally Posted By: skyship
There is no need to use a special High Mileage oil as you will do just as well with a good quality oil plus a can of stop leak, as that is in effect what you get with an High Mileage oil.
If higher viscosity oils are approved for your engine type, then changing from say 5w30 to a 5w40 will reduce some types of leak.


Not true. Testing has shown those stop leak additives to have excessive seal swell additives. You're better off using a higher detergent motor oil with a bit more seal conditioners that were tested.

 

[skyship]

Stop leak additives do vary from one company to another and the only one I would recommend if you have to use an additive is Liqui Moly.
Do you have a link to the test report you mention on different stop leaks??

Originally Posted By: buster
Originally Posted By: skyship
There is no need to use a special High Mileage oil as you will do just as well with a good quality oil plus a can of stop leak, as that is in effect what you get with an High Mileage oil.
If higher viscosity oils are approved for your engine type, then changing from say 5w30 to a 5w40 will reduce some types of leak.


Not true. Testing has shown those stop leak additives to have excessive seal swell additives. You're better off using a higher detergent motor oil with a bit more seal conditioners that were tested.

 

[Garak]

I would suggest that LM's stop leak product would be comparatively rare on North American shelves, as opposed to your shelves. The stop leak products commonly seen on our shelves tend to be motor honey plus whatever else they think helps.