Hyundai 2.7L Valvoline Maxlife mileage?

[mrdctaylor]

Guys, My wife's 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.7L has about 185K miles. It has had a steady diet of Pennzoil Platinum 10W30 over the last few years and M1 before that. I've kept to 6 months/7500 mile OCIs. Recently it has started using a bit of oil--I'd say about a quart in 7500 miles. I'm thinking about switching to Valvoline Maxlife. My questions are: 1) Is this a good idea? Or should I stay with the Pennzoil Platinum and just top up between oil changes? 2) Can I still maintain 6 month/7500 mile OCIs with MaxLife? Thanks in advance!

 

[beast3300]

If it was me I would stay with PP and top it off.

 

[fdcg27]

If this thing is using only a quart in 7.5K after 185K, I'd say that you should run with the one that brung ya. It seems that a quart low coincides nicely with your OCI. No need to top up less than a quart, either. I am a Maxlife user, but this Hyundai doesn't really need it, IMHO.

 

[mrdctaylor]

I'm due for an oil change now. Maybe I'll do it on PP again and just watch the levels closely and really pay attention to how much it uses. Thanks, guys! PS. I'm still curious if 7500 miles is a reasonable OCI on MaxLife.

 

[Nickdfresh]

The OCI is probably fine, but personally I'd cap it at around 5000-6000 miles... You could try Mobil 1 High Mileage and easily go 7500. Or full syn MaxLife...

 

[mrdctaylor]

Hmmm. Didn't even realize they made a full syn MaxLife. I wonder if they carry it in 5 qt jugs at Wally World...

 

[3800Series]

MaxLife is fine at 7500 Iv run 5k with bottom shelf conv. for years without problems. If you can't get a extra 2.5k miles with synthetic something's wrong.

 

[mrdctaylor]

I'd forgotten that M1 makes a HM synthetic oil too. I may look into that as well. It seems to be fairly well-regarded.

 

[Nickdfresh]

Originally Posted By: mrdctaylor

Hmmm. Didn't even realize they made a full syn MaxLife. I wonder if they carry it in 5 qt jugs at Wally World...

Some do, my local one has "limited availability" supposedly.

 

[SLATRON]

I had a '02 optima with 2.7 and car ran great well over 200k. First I would see if Wally has SYN maxlife, if not them get M1 HM. Mine used to consume oil after awhile, but I often did 7-10k oci on fast lube Dino and totally abused that car. Rust is what killed it though, engine & tranny ran good, plus I'm sure it was on the OE ATD

 

[Greasymechtech]

Royalpurple, Mobil1, and Maxlife are available as full synthetic high mileage oils. You can also try a pint of Rislone, CD2 detergent, Lubegard, AutoRX, or Marvel... to see if you can clean up the rings.

 

[mrdctaylor]

I guess I'll try replacing the PCV valve and see if that cuts down on consumption. I've read that a sticky/underperforming PCV valve can lead to that. It couldn't hurt. I'll do that and try one more OCI on PP10W30. If it is still using 1-1.5 quarts in 7500 miles I may go ahead and switch to M1 HM or something along those lines.

 

[salv]

1-1.5 quarts in 7500 miles would be deemed normal by Hyundai for a new vehicle. You have no consumption issues at all. Switching oils will not decrease the amount of oil used in 7500 miles.

 

[mrdctaylor]

Well, it is just that this is the first time it has really used much oil during an OCI. It is a 2003 that I have owned since 2005. I change every 7500 miles. It never goes down much on the stick during the OCI. Time before last it was about 1/2 a quart low I think. This time I replaced a half quart about halfway through and then a full quart about a week ago (~7000 miles). It isn't that consumption is excessive, but it has gone from nil to something significant over the last year.

 

[mrdctaylor]

I changed the PCV valve and I'm about 2000 miles into the OCI and I've got no discernible consumption. I'll continue to monitor and try to post back here as to whether or not this definitely fixed the consumption issue. So far, it looks promising.

 

[wemay]

Originally Posted By: salv

1-1.5 quarts in 7500 miles would be deemed normal by Hyundai for a new vehicle. You have no consumption issues at all. Switching oils will not decrease the amount of oil used in 7500 miles.

+1