Which is the best High Mileage Oil?

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I know Valvoline MaxLife is highly regarded. I don't hear much talk about the Pennzoil High Mileage, even though the Yellow bottle is very popular here. I also don't hear much about the Castrol High Mileage and the SuperTech High Mileage.

1) So, which is the best High Mileage oil if price were not the issue?

2) Which has a stronger additive package and better base stock?

3) Which oil would burn less in a vehicle that consumes a bit of oil? The vehicle in question is a '97 Saturn SL2 w/ 156k miles that gets fed a diet of the factory recommended 5W-30.
 
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Originally Posted By: 02zx9r
there is no best!


Well, how about an answer to questions 2 and 3, 02zx9r?
 
I've used 5W-30 Maxlife quite a bit, I don't have any smoke/consumption issues so I can't give you any info on those but I have noticed my gas mileage is the same as it was with 5W-30 Trop Artic even though the high mileage oils don't have the energy conservation message like the non high mileage oils 5W-30 do.
 
M1 HM - the Best.

MaxLife - second best.

SuperTech HM & Castrol HM - tied for third.

I've used all the above to reduce start-up smoke due to valve guide seals. All do an excellent job - but I noticed ST & Castrol returning to noticeable smoke sooner than M1 and MaxLife.

Present fill is M1 HM 10w40 - 8 months into a 1 yr OCI - only a little over 2k miles though (mostly errand runner). Highly recommend M1 HM.
 
Couldn't tell you, don't use them, don't believe in them. I also don't believe in synthetic-blends. I liked the good old days.

Here you go Mr. Consumer:
Here is our conventional oil, better known as dino, and here is our synthetic oil.

Have a nice day,

From your favorite oil company whoever that is.
 
HM oils claim several benefits. I can only speak to one benefit - and they are not overhyped here - they work GREAT in MY CAR for START-UP smoke and SMOKE AFTER LONG IDLING.

On regular dino, at start-up and after idle my 88 Mazda would put out an embarrassing plume of smoke. I started on HMs soon after MaxLife first came out (been on them since) - all the HMs reduced the smoke to essentially non-existent. When backing up I can still smell it, but can rarely see it.
 
There is Maxlife and Maxlife full synthetic.

I would also lean towards Mobil 1 HM but am currently using Maxlife full Syn.
 
Originally Posted By: ericthepig
M1 HM - the Best.

MaxLife - second best.

SuperTech HM & Castrol HM - tied for third.

I've used all the above to reduce start-up smoke due to valve guide seals. All do an excellent job - but I noticed ST & Castrol returning to noticeable smoke sooner than M1 and MaxLife.

Present fill is M1 HM 10w40 - 8 months into a 1 yr OCI - only a little over 2k miles though (mostly errand runner). Highly recommend M1 HM.


what makes M1 HM the best? Just asking as I never hear about it, only maxlife, so that to me would nean it is better
 
But now marketing has to go and complicate things and have something for everyone. But I do like and use Maxlife and M1 HM in some vehicles. Have never tried the others although I picked up some ST HM 10W-40 to try for one oil burner, a 93 4.6 with valve guide sealing issues.
 
Same here. A healthy well-maintained engine doesn't need "special" oil because it's racking up the mileage.

My Town Car just flew through it's E-test today, 328,850Km on it. Running Mobil 1 0w40 in it, doesn't consume any oil between changes, which are done at 10-12,000Km.
 
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OVERK1LL said:
Same here. A healthy well-maintained engine doesn't need "special" oil because it's racking up the mileage.

Yes, but some vehicles due to their poor engine design burn oil no matter what such as in the case in a lot of Saturns. To slow down consumption, High Mileage oils can provide benefits such as reducing the number of top off's needed.
 
Originally Posted By: 02zx9r


what makes M1 HM the best? Just asking as I never hear about it, only maxlife, so that to me would nean it is better


This is subjective - it's a "my car loves this oil" thing. That is, the response & feel are as near perfect as I can remember on M1 HM. 10 to 15 years ago it ran Amsoil and M1. Then started leaking oil so it went back to dino (fixed the leak 100%). Then it went to HMs after the start-up smoke became embarrassing. M1 HM is synthetic - so it may all be in my head, but it just seems to have better response with M1 HM than the dino HMs. Also, I trust M1 HM for a long OCI - it will be in the crankcase for at least 1 year (perhaps longer) - given that I'll probably do < 4k this year. With dinos I was always getting paranoid at the 6 mo mark given the probable blow-by etc in this old engine.

btw - I've never used the MaxLife blend or synth. Also, note that M1 HM hasn't been on the market that long - thus there's not a lot of data out there yet - but my data is very good so far. Also, M1 HM seemed to go to black in record time for this engine - makes me wonder if it's not doing some cleaning - also makes me wonder if I shouldn't go ahead and get this first fill out of the crankcase at the 1 yr mark.
 
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Best high mileage oil is synthetic. Only Valvoline and Mobil make synthetic high mileage oils (that I am aware of). But many of the other high mileage oils are very good too. Don't get them for high mileage, get them because they are more robust.
 
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