I have read quite a few posts on how many have used the Maxlife Blend and think its a great oil especially at the Walmart pricepoint, however they have aquired suffering gas mileage when using it. My answer to this is why not blend between the viscosity your vehicle requires, and the one below that. Example: My Blazer takes roughly 4.5 qts of 5W30. The Maxlife blends have a cst of 8.8 for 5W20 & 11.5 for 5W30. So if I mix 2.5 qts of 5W20 & 2 qts of the 5W30 I should have a cst of 10.0. This should then help with the mpg loss, no? I just did this in my last oci this weekend and I keep maticulous mpg records so I will report my findings. My mix however was only 1qt 5W20 & 3.5 5W30, so I will have to go through this and the next oci with the 50/50 mix to really report accurate data. Thoughts & opinions are welcome.
Maxlife Blend Mix
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Your calculation is a little off for 10.0, Its almost exactly a 50/50 mix of the 5W20 and 5W30 for 10.0. But yes, there is no reason you cannot do that. Its 9.9. Splitting hairs. I didnt realize it would be that close.
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what you will notice on the bottle is that it's not energy conserving rated. Energy conserving establishes that the particular oil uses friction modifiers to up the milage a bit.
Maxlife not being an energy conserving oil does not use friction modifiers therefore you are going to notice a hit in fuel economy, but thats the cost for better engine protection.
Don't get me wrong, thinning it with 5-20 will help economy...........just maybe not as much as you hope for.
With a cst of 10.0 your gonna be riding a fine line between 20 and 30 weight. Once it shears, you'll essentially be running a 20wt oil, not that it will be a problem.
Maxlife not being an energy conserving oil does not use friction modifiers therefore you are going to notice a hit in fuel economy, but thats the cost for better engine protection.
Don't get me wrong, thinning it with 5-20 will help economy...........just maybe not as much as you hope for.
With a cst of 10.0 your gonna be riding a fine line between 20 and 30 weight. Once it shears, you'll essentially be running a 20wt oil, not that it will be a problem.
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Why use MaxLife at all then? Just use a good blend like Motorcraft if you want a syn blend...
Originally Posted By: JT1
what you will notice on the bottle is that it's not energy conserving rated. Energy conserving establishes that the particular oil uses friction modifiers to up the milage a bit.
Maxlife not being an energy conserving oil does not use friction modifiers therefore you are going to notice a hit in fuel economy, but thats the cost for better engine protection.
Don't get me wrong, thinning it with 5-20 will help economy...........just maybe not as much as you hope for.
With a cst of 10.0 your gonna be riding a fine line between 20 and 30 weight. Once it shears, you'll essentially be running a 20wt oil, not that it will be a problem.
According to Valvoline, they use a very heavy dose of friction modifiers in their MaxLife Blend, even more than used in the regular Synpower.
Friction modifiers are not what determines if an oil is energy conserving or not. You might want to look at the write up on the API web. They also say you may not notice any mileage increase with the use of the energy conserving oils. My 2008 Silverado estimates 19 MPG with 5w30. I am getting just over 22 with 15W-50.
what you will notice on the bottle is that it's not energy conserving rated. Energy conserving establishes that the particular oil uses friction modifiers to up the milage a bit.
Maxlife not being an energy conserving oil does not use friction modifiers therefore you are going to notice a hit in fuel economy, but thats the cost for better engine protection.
Don't get me wrong, thinning it with 5-20 will help economy...........just maybe not as much as you hope for.
With a cst of 10.0 your gonna be riding a fine line between 20 and 30 weight. Once it shears, you'll essentially be running a 20wt oil, not that it will be a problem.
According to Valvoline, they use a very heavy dose of friction modifiers in their MaxLife Blend, even more than used in the regular Synpower.
Friction modifiers are not what determines if an oil is energy conserving or not. You might want to look at the write up on the API web. They also say you may not notice any mileage increase with the use of the energy conserving oils. My 2008 Silverado estimates 19 MPG with 5w30. I am getting just over 22 with 15W-50.
Superbuick96
Site Donor 2025
I use Vav.MLB in my 03 Blazer 4.3, and recorded almost 26mpg highway on a recent long trip. I use the 5w30 blend, if you ask me 26 mpg highway is excellent for a Blazer!
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