Conventional oil vs. High Mileage motor oil.

[JamesArthur60]

My '99 Honda has 141,000+ miles. I use Valvoline 5W-30 (per manual) conventional oil during oil changes. The guy tries to sell me the upgrade Valvoline High Mileage blend designed for vehicles over 100,000 miles. It's an additional $15.00. Is there a significant difference? Any thoughts, experience? Oh, the engine (6 cylinder) runs great, no leaks and no oil burning.

 

[dennis40x]

In my experience 247,000 miles per manufacture specified oil change intervals standard 5w-30 (Chevy 1500 series 4WD 6 cylinder).

 

[conn ak]

My 1992 Toyota Corolla has 288,000+ miles on conventional 10W30 every 3000 miles. Just passed emissions testing. When I change my oil, there's always a guy behind the counter recommending "$pecial" high mileage oil. I always tell them no as I don't want to exceed the book value of the car on a single oil change. I've owned two Corollas in the last 22 years.The 1980 had 272,000 miles on it when it started drinking antifreeze. Keep changing the oil and you minimize the chances of engine failure. Of course...the bodies on Toyotas slowly rust away. A friend of mine put Slick 50 in his high mileage vehicle and the gaskets began to leak.

 

[dmar]

My '99 Honda has 141,000+ miles. I use Valvoline 5W-30 (per manual) conventional oil during oil changes. The guy tries to sell me the upgrade Valvoline High Mileage blend designed for vehicles over 100,000 miles. It's an additional $15.00. Is there a significant difference? Any thoughts, experience? Oh, the engine (6 cylinder) runs great, no leaks and no oil burning.

I believe the 'significant' difference is the extra $15.00... I'm sure there is some slight difference in % of the additive formulation, but not real sure if it would ever matter. Synthetic oil holds up better than conventional oil, but again, if you are good about changing it every 3k, it's probably not very important either... Just my 2 cents.

 

[venomballistics]

just use a can of good old battle proven road rage tested STP oil treatment for the same or even better effect

 

[cowboy117]

My advise would be,use the oil you've been using,or,as they say,if it ain't broke,don't fix it.

 

[snowman]

My '91 Civic at 247,000 continues to go strong on conventional 5w-30, as always. I would tell the guy to put his special expensive concoction back on the rack and leave me be.

Andy

 

[FirebirdV8]

I have a 2000 Toyota Camry with 191,000 miles and use conventional oil. Not only does it get tree huggers mad at me, but my car has run just fine, I don't see a need to see if my gaskets can take synthetic or other blends or if they will just leak.

 

[n4zov]

When it comes to vehicle servicing, I follow the manufacturer's recommendations as closely as possible. They design, manufacture, and warranty the engine, so I figure they know considerably more about their products than anybody else. That especially applies to "miracle" additives, oils, and add on do-hickeys. In 50+ years of driving I have never had an engine failure or oil related problem.

 

[truckemup97]

It was explained to me that a "high mileage" oil was simply a little thicker than the regular oil. If that's what you want, move to a 10W-40 for the same price. My 190k Mercury Sable uses regular old 10W-30 just like it has for the last 13 years. And if it makes any difference, my Detroit Diesel was using 15W-40 factory recommended oil when it dropped a valve (not an oil related failure) at 990k miles. Yes, that's just short of one million miles without a "special" oil.

 

[goldenlight]

My brother owns a 1995 Geo Prism with over 240,000 miles on it. It has a Toyota engine, BTW.

Conventional (regular) motor oil every 3 to 5000 miles. He has no plans to switch to 'high mileage' (high dollar) motor oil. He is changing the oil closer to 3000 now that he does less straight freeway driving.

I have heard the the additives are supposed to 'soften' the gaskets.

That sounds like a very BAD idea to me. Gaskets are supposed to keep the oil in, and the antifreeze out. How can 'softer' gaskets do that?

As has been said: 'if it isn't broken, don't "fix it".

 

[Evil One]

I generally run Rotella in my higher mile... or beat on hard... vehicles.
Designed to protect the hardest working engines around, so it should be fine in my Ramcharger.


Jim

 

[JamesArthur60]

Thanks everyone. I'm staying with the conventional oil.

 

[tomf52]

1985 Ford Ranger with 385000 mi. Nothing but Castrol 10-30 every 3000 mi. No engine problems at all and still not using oil when I sold it.

 

[Jaxinc]

Got 160k on the engine of my 90 300zx Z32 and still use 10w-30, only thing is I swapped to full synthetic.
However I have 150k on my Jeep and use 5w30, course it's an utter pos compared to my Nissan... Thing isnt sending oil properly anymore.

 

[GRIZZLYBEAR]

I use conventional motor oil in all my vehicles. My last three Chevy Trucks

1. 1999 3500 with 454 V-8 256,000 + miles no oil related problems or oil burning or oil leaks when traded.

2. 2004 2500 with 8.1 Liter V-8 205,000 + miles, no oil related problems same as above.

3. 1990 3/4 Ton Suburban 454 V-8 464,000 + miles no oil related problems, at about 300,000 it stated using a quart of oil between oil changes. Had no problems with this motor other than normal wear items. Never had a valve job, no timing chain replacement, only thing that wore out other than starters, water pumps, fuel pumps, was a distributor.

All the above Chevys had their oil changes at 3,000 miles with Valvoline Motor oil. On all the above engines after 200,00 I went thicker oil. eg moved from 5-30 to 10-30.

grizz

 

[Snapping Twig]

I broke my van in with Quaker State 10 - 30 every 2 ~ 3k, but after the 100k mark I switched to 5 - 30 full synthetic.

201,000 miles on my 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan and it's running like a top.

The 3.3L V6 has to be one of the best engines Dodge ever made, and I'm including the slant six and the 360 V8.