Your preference...Maxlife or Castrol high mileage

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Would like to hear others decisions between these 2 oils.

Currently using Maxlife, however I can find Castrol a bit cheaper, but would like to know if others actually see a difference between the 2.
 
Is there a REASON why you NEED an HM oil?
What vehicle?
What use?
What history of the vehicle and condition?
What goals do you have for the vehicle?
What OCI?

Any one who answers with out info like this is not helping you IMO.

Fill us in with more info and the answers will hopefully be intelligent than brand x is "best"...

Take care, Bill

PS: I'm a big believer that HM oils are not needed over normal oils in engines that don't need work. If they do have issues then fix them over masking them with HM oil.. (unless the engine is on its way out to the junk yard.. Been there done that)
 
maxlife is a very good oil, if you need to save money, the castrol might be better. HOWEVER, I do not believe the castrol gtx HM is a semi-syn, the maxlife is.
 
Bill - the only reason I ever started using Maxlife is because my sister was using it in her vehicle and bought a [censored] load of it. I changed the oil in all of our vehicles that day using the Maxlife and have just stuck with it since, making it easier by only having one oil type on hand at that time. We all lived together then, and it was easier just to use one oil.

The 2 vehicles I use it in are in immaculant condition with no engine issues of any kind, they don't use oil, nor do they leak it. I do like the slightly higher viscosity thickness of the HM oil in the Rodeo because it seems that a regular 5w-30 is a tad too thin for this engine, whereas the HM 5w-30 is great for it in terms of the UOA's I've had done on it.

The 2 vehicles are:

1997 Isuzu Rodeo 3.2L V6 with 202k miles

1996 Chrysler caravan 3.8L V6 with 120k miles

The rodeo grew up, persay, on Havoline 10w-30, I only stopped using it because it became next to impossible to find in my area. The caravan was my grandfather's, he took it to numerous oil shops in it's lifetime, so it never had the same oil twice.
 
Originally Posted By: SOHCman
maxlife is a very good oil, if you need to save money, the castrol might be better. HOWEVER, I do not believe the castrol gtx HM is a semi-syn, the maxlife is.



The GTX high mile is a blend in the SN version says it on the bottle.
 
Once you stash runs out sounds like the choice is go back to normal oils.

If the Rodeo likes thicker oil then go with QS HM oil since its $5 cheaper per jug at Wal-Mart and is a good oil.

Between the 2 oils you listed I'd buy neither. (I tried some HM oil (to see if it does anything) in my Daughter's Contour and it did nothing for leaks. Fixed that issue by selling it)

Take care, Bill
 
IMO....they are probably all the same.

Now if you want to use some HM oil, for whatever reason, check out your local Kmart.

While in Orlando, there were plenty of red jugs, in the gallon size, of Valvoline Max Life, HM, Synthetic Blend in the SM on clearance in 5,10w-30 and 10w-40 for $11 a gallon.

This Valvoline ML, HM oil was SM....the really good stuff....with lots of Moly! From what is posted in the VOA and UOA's of ML, HM; the new SN ML oil does not have the great add pack that the SM had.

So you could, if you qualify for the Valvoline program, buy three gallon jugs of ML, HM oil and be entitled to a nice rebate.

You would get a rebate or $15, on your cost of $33, for 3 gallons of Valvoline ML, HM, SM oil on clearance at Kmart. Not a bad deal for some quality HM oil.
 
I really don't like the word "better" as any oil put out there by a major manufacture is going to get the job done without question/concern.

Since they all meet the same specs unless you have a "special" engine that REQUIRES some certain oil (like a Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari or something like that) then I go by price over anything else. If QS HM oil is $5 cheaper than Valvoline Maxlife then I'll go with that.(If I NEED a HM oil)

I was at Wal-Mart yesterday and noticed that normal green bottle Qs has gone up to almost $14 when a year ago its everyday price was $8 for 5 qt jug. Normal Mobil 1 is within a $1 of $30 and PP is over $25.

Glad there is no inflation...
33.gif


I think next week I'm going to buy about 10 jugs of either Mobil 5000/Super/Drive Clean or QS conventional for the shelf. The prices are going up and will continue to.. (until they pass a law outlawing changing oil and bulk sales)

Take care, bill
 
Before prices skyrocketed, i always used Valvoline Maxlife or Supertech HM oil. IMO if you want to go cheaper use the Supetech from Wal-Mart its the cheapest but great oil still. Since yourt cars both are older and have higher miles IMO I would stick with the HM oil. If you really want to go cheap use the regular Supertech oil. Either way you are getting good oil and almost half the price of Maxlife. Quaker state is the next closest to Supertech and alot of times at AZ has a great deal with a filter.
 
In all honesty, I'm not too worried by a few extra dollars here and there, it's just I know Maxlife SN was getting ready to come out, and I can tell you that my rodeo especially seems to like the older oil spec's...this is a concern for me.
 
Anything Castrol is overpriced. Valvoline isnt as expensive and Maxlife is a fan favorite. You could probably just forget about using an HM oil and just use some SuperTech dino juice and drive happy.
 
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