High mileage stories using dino or synthetic oils

[tig1]

My sons 91 Ranger has 335,000 miles all on M1 10-30 with 10to13,000 mile OCIs. Engine is still very clean and uses no more oil than when new. Engine is still very quite. My 85 Escort diesel went 300,000 miles before body let go on M1 10-30 with 10,000 mile OCIs. My old 90 Tempo last I knew was at 256,000 miles on M1 10-30, 10,000 mile OCIs. A friend has a 99 Silverado with 260,000 miles on M1 10-30 with 15-20,000 mile OCIs.

And many other M1 stories of high mileage engines to numerous to mention.

 

[noi8u]

What a really great thread to read. My 1990 Nissan 240SX that I bought new and did about 15k miles a year until 2007 when it had close to 250,000 miles with Mobil 1 15w50 that I used because it was recommended on the Callaway Corvette Turbo engines with a label. I don't know how many more miles the engine would have gone if I hadn't used the gunk motor flush from that radiator company in north carolina. The 2.4l SOHC 12v 4 was basically a truck engine with 139hp and were known to go 500k miles. I couldn't believe a rod went right through the block pulling onto the highway. My 92 Subaru SVX has almost 180k miles and still runs strong and clean with M1 15w50. I'm tempted to switch to 0w40 or 5w50 from M1 or Redline for the start up protection. The Castrol Syntec Specially Formulated 5w40 also looks like a good deal with a Pure One Filter at Pep Boys.

 

[wander2039]

Dad has over 200k on both his Festiva's. He's had once since 80k and it's had Castrol 10w30 from 80k to 180k had ST 10w30, I think Quaker State before he got it. Internals are heavily varnished gets better gas mileage but doesn't run as good. The other he got from me at about 180k. I used M1 0w30 through 10w30 at 7.5 to 10k intervals. Castrol before I bought it. A little bit of varnish but not bad compared to the other. Runs like a champ. He retires in five or so years so won't see but maybe another 30k a piece.

 

[gmchevroletruck]

would love to hear that, when it happens

 

[gmchevroletruck]

go get a tranny and keep going...we have to know how far it will go lol

 

[gmchevroletruck]

keep me posted if that 2000 5.7 ever dies...curious to see how many miles she'll end up with

another plug for synthetic...i knew the high mileage stories for them had to be out there somewhere...

 

[gmchevroletruck]

missed the part about m1 the first time around....thanks for clearing that up. excellent

 

[gmchevroletruck]

those 360 motors were good...and i'm sure it helped that most of those miles were not cold starts. that's impressive no matter how you look at it. It seems the oil may not be the most important factor (unless Green Drum oil is special, lol)...taxis and buses routinely get high mileage, and use cheap oil. I guess if you want it to last, start it up and never shut it off lol

 

[gmchevroletruck]

good point, great info...and i'm overdue for a tranny service!

 

[gmchevroletruck]

holy toledo! That's a high mileage story...ok, now fix the electrical and see if it gets a million lol...we have to know!! It's in the name of science

I had an 83 Toyo with over 250k on it, sold it so I don't know what happened to it later...Also had a 77 Corolla wagon, rwd, Wisconsin winters rusted the car out from around the engine, no idea how many miles it had, odometer turned over several times I'm sure...Those earlier Yotas were a different breed indeed

 

[gmchevroletruck]

wow...awesome stories! And good info. Question, on car #2, what's a leaking IMG? Sludge seems to be not common with Mobil 1, correct? And...(I'm a newbie)...What's wrong with iron (showing wear, i.e., parts of the engine, in the UOA?), or meaning, the oil itself has high iron content?

 

[gmchevroletruck]

those 85 escort diesels were great engines...we had an 85 mazda 626 2.0 diesel (same exact engine, made by isuzu actually)...ours went to 285k, ran like new and OOPS snapped a timing belt and bang it was gone (yeah, i know, our fault )

Awesome info too...also glad to hear about the 99 Silvy with 260k on m1, as my 02 gets the m1 as well, only it's 5w30 here (thinking about switching - specs look better on their 10w30s). Do you know what engine he has? 4.3, 4.8, 5.3?

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: gmchevroletruck
those 85 escort diesels were great engines...we had an 85 mazda 626 2.0 diesel (same exact engine, made by isuzu actually)...ours went to 285k, ran like new and OOPS snapped a timing belt and bang it was gone (yeah, i know, our fault )

Awesome info too...also glad to hear about the 99 Silvy with 260k on m1, as my 02 gets the m1 as well, only it's 5w30 here (thinking about switching - specs look better on their 10w30s). Do you know what engine he has? 4.3, 4.8, 5.3?


The silverado is the 5.3.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: gmchevroletruck
Ok, can of worms here...

I have been noticing that most of the absolutely insane high mileage stories out there have been on dino oil. I use synthetic, and I'm not alone in that on the forum. I'd like to hear your thoughts on why that is (high mileage stories mostly being dino)
.


Because Dino was a lot more commonly used on cars old enough to accumulate insane mileage? I don't know if these count as "insane" (maybe the >400k 318) but here are my examples:

OK, my '73 318-powered Satellite ran its first 250,000 miles or so on dino, then ran another 200k and counting on synthetic.

My wife's 93 Vision TSi 3.5L (sold last year) ran its entire 257k miles on M1 10w30 synthetic.

'66 Dodge 383- ran its whole 260,000 on dino, was pretty well used-up by then (but still ran smoothly).

'92 Dakota 5.2 Magnum farm truck (dad's) >250k and counting on dino (last 80k or so on MaxLife).

 

[rainman49]

Recently retired my 1988 Ford F150 with the 5.0L after 467,000 miles on mainly Castrol GTX 20w-50, occasionally with a bottle or two of Syntec 5W-50 if I planned to do a lot of boat hauling. Electrical gremlins I couldn't chase down finally forced me to admit that it was time to retire White Lightning. Also, we've got a '94 Suburban with the 350 TBI that has 260,000 miles. It has been fed a combination of Valvoline dino 10w-30 and HDEO 15w-40 with a current fill of Maxlife 10w-40. Still runs like a top.

 

[LexAtlanta]

I had a 1999 Nissan Maxima that I put 180,000 miles on in 6 years. It only ever had synthetic oil in it and I swear it ran better when I sold it then the day I bought it. All I ever did to it was oil changes, spark plug changes and a knock sensor. In hindsight I should have kept it.

I want to buy a diesel Jetta and see how many miles I can put on it. A diesel will run forever with the right care. I saw a class 8 tractor with over 4 million miles on it. It had been rebuilt 4 times since it was new in 1976.

For a gas engine story.......I used to work with a guy that owned a Suburban with the 5.7L and he had 300,000 on it back in 2007. Dino oil only....go figure.

 

[72customdeluxe]

Both of these were my grandpa's vehicles. '97 Z-71 extended cab, Vortec 350. He ran it 330k miles then gave it to my cousin who ran it 20k more and basically gave it away on trade in for a Cobalt she sold a year later. It never burned a drop of oil. The second was his '01-02 1500hd 6.0 4x4. Traded in at 300k miles for a good price (in excellent shape) on his '07 f-250. Didn't burn any oil either. Both engines were not only mega high mileage, but were high-idled for a/c in 100+ degree oil fields every day for hours a day. Used Mobil 1 at manufacturer weight specified...

 

[jstutz]

The issue with the blazer and the sludge that was running M1 is not attrubuted to M1. The intake manifold gasket was seeping antifreeze into the engine which over time built up as sludge. It would have done it with any oil you put in there. I feel like M1 is a great oil and has shown to have great high temp qualities. Over the last few years, there have been many UOAs come back with two to four times the normal wear from the same car runnig many other oils. It is a very common topic and a few searches on BITOG will fill you in on both sides of the argument. One side says the iron level is higher so it must be wearing more. Other side claims that M1 is just holding the iron in the oil instead of letting it lay somewhere. I just feel like i have seen this too many times and i feel like it is from wear. I would rather choose a syn that gets great UOA's and not worry about it. That said, if i had a very harsh enviroment, i would probably use M1.

 

[gmchevroletruck]

very good analysis of that situation...i haven't read all of both sides of it, but that seems like a common sense approach. and I would guess also, that unless you have "high particle count", that you wouldn't necessarily have high wear going on? Or, am I misunderstanding the definition of "particle count" on that?

 

[GMFan]

My dad ran his 1997 Chevy S10 5spd with Wolf's Head 10w30 all its life. He had the I4 2.2L engine (bulletproof GM engine). I have a buddy with a mid 90's Cavalier with the same engine and he's at 220k miles and he takes it to a NAPA place that uses NAPA oil (valvoline). His car runs great.

My dad's truck turned over in the coldest winter mornings without a single issue. Engine ran 150,000 miles until it was t-boned by some girl on a cell phone this past winter.

The valve cover worked itself loose around 125k miles and was spewing oil on the block....was down about 1.5 quarts when we discovered it. We torqued it back down and added oil and it didn't miss a beat.