High Mileage oils??

[lui]

whats the word on these advertised high mileage engine oils that are now easily available on the shelf?

i hear they help condition seals to prevent leaks? would it be safe to use on newer engine with low mileage?

i also heard that they were as close to a synthetic formulation but still considered regular oil. is there any truth to that? does it even make sense?

and last. is there any difference between quaker state high mileage, valvoline maxlife or any other advertised high mileage engine oil?

I'm sure this might have been covered before but the search on this board isn't very good.

thanks

 

[02zx9r]

use the search function, lots of info on it

i emailed ashland valvoline inquiring about the same thing, response i got was it is perfectly safe to use the max life in new and rebuilt motors, it is just formulated for older motors as it has seal conditioners and extra detergents

 

[coffee]

Well, if you really do not have any major leaks I would just stick with a good dino like Pennzoil as the high mileage oils do not seem to be much more than a thicker oil in the same grade.

 

[ksJoe]

just an fyi...

I don't have any comment on your questions (I was reading out of curiosity), but you can use google to search any site.

Just enter whatever terms you'd like at google, and put this as the last search criteria (remove the quotes) "site:www.bobistheoilguy.com"

It will limit the search results to the given site.

 

[TallPaul]

If you want to be politically incorrect and not have the enviro-starburst oil, then some of the High Mileage oil will be just the ticket. Maxlife is good, I suspect better than the white bottle Valvoline, so no harm running it if you want to.

 

[ez_livin]

Humm...... I'm shocked everyone avoided the Quaker State High Mileage, Don't forget it has the "miracle oil" Slick 50 in it; So it has to be great.

 

[strombony]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul
If you want to be politically incorrect and not have the enviro-starburst oil, then some of the High Mileage oil will be just the ticket. Maxlife is good, I suspect better than the white bottle Valvoline, so no harm running it if you want to.


I was wondering if Maxlife is better than the white bottle Valvoline, does that mean High Mileage Pennzoil is better than Pennzoil conventional?

I was under the impression the High Mileage oils aren't better, just different.

 

[eddiedz]

there is no benefit to using high mileage oil on a new vehicle or even a vehicle with few miles on it.. dont waste the time. after you get over 100,000 miles, then you can maybe think about High Mileage oil and if you do, certainly go with valvoline maxlife high mileage full synthetic (very very hard to find) or valvoline maxlife synthetic blend.

the reason high mileage oil is high mileage is because its thicker then their dino/synthetic counter parts (e.g. maxlife 5w30 is thicker then Valvoline 5w30 conventional and synpower 5w30) .. this thickness helps with older high mileage engines to prevent leaks.. they also have seal conditioners and extra cleaning stuff in it, they also have a higher burn off temp cause vehicles with high mileage tend to burn oil faster so you want to counter attach this with a oil that does not burn off fast..

 

[chevrofreak]

Originally Posted By: eddiedz
valvoline maxlife high mileage full synthetic (very very hard to find)


It's not as hard to find as it used to be. It sits right next to the Valvoline Synpower at both of the local Walmart stores and is the same price.

 

[ARB1977]

I thought about going with Maxlife next summer...PP is great stuff. Currently running PP with 4oz of auto rx.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: strombony
I was under the impression the High Mileage oils aren't better, just different.
Different may be a better way of putting it. At one time (maybe 2 years ago) a respected oil expert here stated something to the effect that Maxlife Blend is what Valvoline All Climate should have been. At that time, Maxlife was more or less a thicker version of AC with extra seal conditioners, extra calcuim (detergency?), and a shot of PAO (12-22%).

Now, with the GF-4 and moving to GF-5, the gap between these two oils quality wise may be narrowed significantly and so "different" may be the best descriptor. I prefer Maxlife for no starburst, merely to get the fuel economy requirement out of the way, which means Maxlife can be thicker and have higher HTHS. I suppose the AC (now called Premium Conventional) could be beefed up by adding quart of 20w50 or 10w40 to the fill of 10w30. But also I like the extra seal conditioners and detergents of Maxlife.

Seems that the transition from the white bottle being called "All Climate" to calling it "Premium Conventional" went along with a significant improvement in the quality of the white bottle Valvoline, again probably the GF-3 to GF-4 transition.

 

[strombony]

Tallpaul, according to the GF-5 standard..all conventional oils will have beefed up seal conditioners in them designed for older vehicles..you can read about that on the GF-5 website. That, and it will still be energy conserving.. I actually prefer the energy conserving rating for my older vehicles because I feel that while they are HM, the clearences are still tight because I take care of my equipment.

 

[chevrofreak]

Originally Posted By: TallPaul
At that time, Maxlife was more or less a thicker version of AC with extra seal conditioners, extra calcuim (detergency?), and a shot of PAO (12-22%).


Is the Maxlife blend formula different now?

 

[TallPaul]

Good Questions. Current MSDS' for Maxlife 10w30 and Premium Conventional 10w30 both say same composition info:

64742-54-7 (80-90%)

No mention of the PAO CAS number on Maxlife, not to say it's not there, just don't know.

I expect Max will have higher HTHS (did a couple years back when I inqiried--some tech will give, others don't have) and maybe has thicker base oil.

Current product data sheets at valvoline.com show that Maxlife Blend, VR1, and Durablend 10w30 all have about 2500 ppm calcium, whereas Premium Conventional 10w30 has 1620 ppm.

VR1 10w30 has 1300 zinc and 1200 phosphorus, vs Max Blend, Durablend, and Premium Conv all having 830 zinc and 760 phosphorus.

If I were stashing now, I probably would go with the VR1 for the extra zddp. Continuing on w.r.t. 10w30s:

Premium Conventional and Durblend have 40c vis around 70, 71 vs Maxlife Blend and VR1 around 75, 77.

Pour is -33 for all but the Maxlife Blend is -39.

CCS at -25C is 5800 for Premium Conv vs 6200 for the other three.

MRV at -30C is 17000 for Maxlife Blend and Durablend, but 20000 for VR1 and 19100 for Prem Conv.

Really don't see any other significant differences. They don't give HTHS and NOACK is reported as <15 for all but Durablend where it says 10, so no comparison there.

 

[chevrofreak]

Maxlife blend sounds like a pretty decent oil. Still pretty reasonably priced at $13 for a 5 quart jug as well.

 

[TallPaul]

Lower pour point and lower MRV combined with higher 40 and 100 C viscosities suggests that Maxlife Blend very well may still have that PAO component, small but effective.