What purpose do high mileage oils serve?

[ziggy]

Ive read alo about high mileage oils here, and many dont seem to hik to highly about them. What good do, they really serve then? It seems too me, high mileage oils, are oils ath are VERY close to 40 weight oils. Yet, they all advertise, to use it over 75,000 miles. What gives?

 

[charbaby]

Well, Im probably going to mention some things that you already know but, let me shed some light on High Mileage Oils if I can.

1)Like you said, most are very close to a higher cST weight than regular motor oils so, if your engine is burning/leaking a little bit of oil between changes, this might help to slow down the burning/leaking.

2)The reason that the oil companies specify to use High Mileage oils at over 75,000 miles is because most(not all) factory warrantes are over by that mileage.

3)Not only are most of the High Mileage oils at a higher cST than regular motor oil,(to help slow burning/leaking), they also have in them some seal swellers that are supposed to expand gasket material so oil may stop or slow down the leaking from the gasket area.

4)They may or may not have to meet the current standard for "Energy Conserving Motor Oil" by the API and their ZINC/PHOS level generally has not decreased(below 1000 ppm) to meet the current standards. Too much ZINC is said to be the cause of Catalitic Converter failure in vehicles with engines that experience "Blow By"(oil leaking past the piston rings).

5)Good marketing by the oil companies. To sell the old SL GF-3 type motor oil at double the price. Although there is probably a little more to it than that, you get the idea.

Others may chime in with more good information.

 

[TallPaul]

In the case of Maxlife, not thicker than regular oil (unless you get the synthetic Maxlife). Now I do suspect that Maxlife base oil is thicker than that of regular oil and this is at least supported by the higher HT/HS of Maxlife vs Durablend and All Climate. Maxlife SM has the lower SM zddp level, but is made up for sort of by addition of about 300 ppm moly.

Maxlife may have seal swellers, but they are well balanced with other components for seal conditioning, not swell.

Valvoline studied real high mileage engines (tore them apart) to see what the typical problems were and designed the oil to address these problems: See Valvoline Letter Linked.

Maxlife has performed well in my vehicles.

 

[hominid7]

I may be wrong, but i was under the impression that oil formulations were changed in an effort to reduce the amount of phosphourus in oils in an attempt to prolong the life of emission equipment on cars. The high mileage oils are the 'old formulations' with added seal swellers. Perhaps this is why the 'high mileage' oils do not meet the starburst requirements?

 

[hominid7]

Edit: I just re-read CharBaby's post. I agree!

 

[Drew99GT]

Pretty much all the High Mileage oils meet the GF-4 phosphorus limit, even though they are not specifically GF-4/energy conserving and only SM. SM in and of itself, does not limit phosphorus.

For instance, Maxlife says: "Meets engine and emission system protection requirements of ILSAC GF-4" and has maximum phosphorus listed at 830 ppm on the data sheet.

 

[Mokanic]

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Ive read alo about high mileage oils here, and many dont seem to hik to highly about them. What good do, they really serve then? It seems too me, high mileage oils, are oils ath are VERY close to 40 weight oils. Yet, they all advertise, to use it over 75,000 miles. What gives?

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Don't you think marketing aimed at the lady or gentleman who has a car with high mileage coupled with their limited mechanical knowledge would be a reason for "high mileage" oils?

 

[B00SS]

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Don't you think marketing aimed at the lady or gentleman who has a car with high mileage coupled with their limited mechanical knowledge would be a reason for "high mileage" oils?

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You say "limited mechanical knowledge." I'm confused. If they do contain "seal swellers" as mentioned before, a lack of mechanical knowledge may not be necessary.

 

[Mokanic]

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Don't you think marketing aimed at the lady or gentleman who has a car with high mileage coupled with their limited mechanical knowledge would be a reason for "high mileage" oils?

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You say "limited mechanical knowledge." I'm confused. If they do contain "seal swellers" as mentioned before, a lack of mechanical knowledge may not be necessary.

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Yes, I suppose many of these oils do have seal swelling agents but most of the late model cars that I see in my shop are still like new at what these oils consider high mileage. I question the need at all for these swelling agents becouse most 1990-up imports I deal with are pretty solid engines up to 300K.
I was in no way implying that the average customer for these oils were stupid. I simply think the marketing that implies that your engine NEEDS these oils once they hit 75K MILES is wrong and is probably playing on the fears of someone who is not as informed about oils & such as the average BITOG person may be.
We hear success stories on here all the time of various engines with over 200K that use no oil and leak no oil and have never used any kind of "high mileage oil". I'm not saying the oils are not somewhat different than regular oils;I'm questioning the need of these swellers in well designed engines.

 

[BigAl]

I read an interview with a Valvoline/Ashland person in Lubes 'n' Greases magazine when Maxlife was introduced, the first High Mileage oil. He basically said that there wasn't enough profit margin in commodity motor oil, so they invented a new category to be sold at a premium price. That's not to say that it isn't a premium formulation, just that it was created mainly to make them more money.

 

[Mokanic]

I think you are correct.

 

[TallPaul]

They only contain seal swellers as part of a balanced seal conditioning additive. Nothing wrong with that. Seals do age and get hard.

 

[Merkava_4]

You can make your own high mileage oil like this:

Take 60% of your car's recommended grade and add 40% of the next grade up. For example: if your car's Mfg says 10w30, mix 60% of that with 40% of 10W-40. That puts you at about 12 cSt @100C; which is what a high mileage 10w30 would be.

On a 5 quart fill, that would be:

60% = 3 quarts
40% = 2 quarts

 

[Doc8404]

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You can make your own high mileage oil like this:

Take 60% of your car's recommended grade and add 40% of the next grade up. For example: if your car's Mfg says 10w30, mix 60% of that with 40% of 10W-40. That puts you at about 12 cSt @100C; which is what a high mileage 10w30 would be.

On a 5 quart fill, that would be:

60% = 3 quarts
40% = 2 quarts

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but then there are no sealants/conditioners/swellers

 

[BigAl]

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but then there are no sealants/conditioners/swellers

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All fully formulated motor oils have seal conditioners, but maybe less of them, or less aggressive ones.

Remember, "seal conditioners" soften and swell seals by chemical attack. Once the seals have worn in swollen, if you let them shrink back to their previous size by using a less aggressive formulation, they will leak even worse. At that point your seals have become chemically dependent.

 

[glenncof]

Retailers must go crazy... all the weights, dino/blend/synth, HM , SUV, BRANDS... how many permutations can they handle ? They have a shelf space limit so maybe it the vast selection hurts availablity.

For me, 75K means it's definitely past break-in

 

[Merkava_4]

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but then there are no sealants/conditioners/swellers

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You're right, but it would work for someone that just wanted a little thicker oil without having to go to the next grade.

 

[deven]

I always chuckle going past the valvoline high mileage "over 75,000 miles" oils. 75,000 miles in this day and age vehicles is NOT high mileage! Its just getting broken in......

 

[Drew99GT]

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At that point your seals have become chemically dependent.

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Seals that get high on Maxlife and then develop a tolerance. Addiction to Maxlife!!! That's hilarious, but likely true as some others have pointed out with seal swellers.

 

[TallPaul]

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I always chuckle going past the valvoline high mileage "over 75,000 miles" oils. 75,000 miles in this day and age vehicles is NOT high mileage! Its just getting broken in......

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True, maybe should have said "for over 150,000 miles," but then their customer base would be too small. Anyway the stuff is for any car, new or used. It's just better oil IMO.

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At that point your seals have become chemically dependent.

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Seals that get high on Maxlife and then develop a tolerance. Addiction to Maxlife!!! That's hilarious, but likely true as some others have pointed out with seal swellers.

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Maybe I am high on Maxlife?