Running heavier oil's in high mileage cars

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What are your thoughts on this? I always thought that once the mileage on a car gets higher (130K-150K) a heavier oil may be better for it. Am I right or is it just personal opinion? TIA!
 
Still running 5w30 in my '89 Olds at 260,000 -- no issues. Heavier oil seems unnecessary to me unless you are having excess consumption issues.
 
Check my sig and the oils I'm using.
The only car we have under 115K is the Forester.
All of the cars are running oils within their original manufacturer's recommendations.
Unless you have high consumption related to wear or bad seals, you don't need a thicker oil.
 
The premise is based on the assumption that the engine has bearing wear resulting in a drop in oil pressure. The heavier oil is to compensate for this, restoring adequate OP.

In reality high mileage does not automatically mean sufficient bearing wear to justify the use of a heavier oil and unless the engine has been abused it's rarely necessary.
 
I do, but only in summer, and only because I always seem to have some cheap HDEO that I got on clearance. Figure the HDEO will clean something out and do some good.
 
Why would you automatically be like "oh no, I just crossed 100k on the ol' beater, better switch from 0w20 to 15w50 because that's what some self educated mechanic did with his car, for some unknown reason" it makes absolutely no sense.

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There's no rule stating you need to run heavier oils as the car ages. And in reality, running a heavier oil is just a band-aid for a bigger symptom like worn seals/bearings/rings/etc.
 
Still running 5w-30 in my Cavalier with 334K+ miles on it and it runs like new. I'm actually considering trying out a 0w-20 or 0w-30 this winter.
 
Back in my "beater" days, I'd use HDEO because it was heavier and it cut oil consumption. If, in rare instances, an older car didn't blow oil, I stuck with 5W-30.
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
The premise is based on the assumption that the engine has bearing wear resulting in a drop in oil pressure. The heavier oil is to compensate for this, restoring adequate OP


I have yet to be convinced that restoring a vehicle to it's original OP by using a heavier oil does anything.
 
Moving the breather off the valve cover, putting a catch can on the pcv valve line, and going to hdeo were all elements in reducing oil consumption in my son's old beater from 1 qt in 50 miles to 1qt in 5-600 miles.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I do, but only in summer, and only because I always seem to have some cheap HDEO that I got on clearance. Figure the HDEO will clean something out and do some good.


I am using it because of eljefino...Would he steer me in the wrong direction?

Plus, using a quart per 500 to 600 miles in my 99SL2. I also put in a bottle of White Shepherd this oil change. Stopped all the valve guide smoke at idle. Years ago I saw UOA's here using heavier weight oils in GM engines and the numbers were good. Most of the oil I have was cheap (thanks to tips at this forum). My car seems to by happy with the Rotella.
 
I put 200K miles on 4.6 [99] Grand Marquis..For the first 80K miles I used 5w30..Then I went to 5w20 [Motorcraft Blend] till 200K miles..It never used a drop of oil..The OCI'S were 5K miles
 
Well even staying within a certain mult-visc grade can give you relatively thick vs. relatively thin oils (e.g. not all "5W-30" oils are the same at OT). MaxLife for example is on the heavier side.
 
I ran out of xW30, the only remaining grades in my stash are 0W20 and 5W20. The E430 recommended oil is M1 0W40, LS400 is 5W30 and 10W30 for S2000, I'll use xW20 in all of them.
 
how heavy are you talking about ? I also heard running heavy oil on HM engine, can short life of oil pump, but over all how heavy oil weight you actually talking about, if it 20w50
 
Originally Posted By: Eddie
I'd stick with the origonal recomendation unless you are having excessive oil consumption like a quart in 1,500 miles.


And it appears Ask Mobil gave the same recommendation.
 
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