Switch to High Mileage?

[jayro]

So I did a search and didn't find what I was looking for. I have a '94 mtx with 171K on it. Doesn't smoke or anything. It goes through a little under a quart of oil every 3k. It has been run with Castrol GTX 5w-30 it's whole life. I was wondering if I should switch to Castrol High Mileage? I guess I was just wondering what the major difference is? I auto-x so my car sees high RPMs on a regular basis. Thoughts?

Jeremy

 

[38SHO]

it sounds like what you have been using has been working alright for you for the past 160k miles.......

I would continue to use it



fwiw, I put about a quart of oil into my car every 250 miles on average since my last oil change haha.......

 

[rubydist]

+1 I'd keep using the GTX 5w30

 

[TYSHO]

That's pretty normal. I lose about that much with new seals and hard driving.

 

[1993MTXSHO]

it sounds like what you have been using has been working alright for you for the past 160k miles.......

I would continue to use it



fwiw, I put about a quart of oil into my car every 250 miles on average since my last oil change haha.......

Sounds like me, I go through 12 qts every 3k miles, I no longer change oil, just filters every 3k miles

 

[RonPorter]

Personally, I've gone to 10W-30 on all of my vehicles with over 100K to help out with the extra clearance from wear. 5W-30 and 5W-20 on the newer vehicles are to help EPA numbers.

Sounds like you don't need High Mileage oil. I had two SHOs that needed it. My '95 had leaky crank seals, and it helped. My '94 had dried up valve seals, and it helped more there. A couple of us tested out various High Mileage oils on SHOs years ago. Castrol appeared to be the best, followed by Valvoline. Quaker State was useless.

OTOH, on my work truck with 170K miles, I went with a sealer-swell additive to my regular oil, rather than paying the (now) high price for High Mileage oil (it used to be only about $.50/qt higher). IMHO that's the cheaper way to go if you need it, as the HM oils only have more seal-swelling additive.

 

[jayro]

I'll just stick with 5w-30 GTX. If my oil consuptions starts to go up I may start using the high mileage.

Jeremy

 

[Vnuk1]

I use the Napa 10W-30 Higher Mileage motor oil and has helped alot with oil consumption and leaking has been brought to a halt, no more drip drip.

 

[HazMatt]

I have a leak somewhere and oil leaks out and burns from my engine. When I come to stop lights, smoke pours out from under my car and hood if the temperature of the engine is over the middle mark between H and C.

Consider yourself lucky

 

[sholover719]

sounds just like mine hazmatt, sounds like its about time for a front 60k for you as well as myself.. only when i last changed my oil i used mobile one 15w 50 i do believe and sense then its not leaking as bad or smoking from under the hood as bad plus it seems to be helping my oil pressure

 

[Marccus]

'89 w/440K

I run Castrol 10W-30 High Mileage and have been since it came out or noticed it on the market!

Since I live in California (and up until 3 years ago, Southern California, now San Francisco area) and used to visit the desert a lot, I've been running 10W-30 not 5W-30.

If I move back east to Boston (which may happen soon), I'd run 5W-30 in the winter and 10W-30 (50F and above) in the summer.

Valve job about 60K ago.

I consume about 1 quart every 3,000 miles.

Plugs look OK - they don't look fouled with oil.

But I'm having a hard cold start problem and need to check the compression. Some have suggested that oil is leaking past the rings causing a loss of buildup of compression when cold starting. Once the engine gets past the hard start phase it runs fine. But if I leave it for more than four to six hours the hard start problem returns. So it is assumed that once the engine is warm and the metal expands, the rings will seal tighter. A cold causes too much of a gap between the rings and the cylinder walls - perhaps.

I don't get any oil in the wells, so the seals seam to be in better shape with the high mileage oil (as advertised).

Your "mileage" (no pun intended), however, may vary with the High Mileage Castrol.

 

[SHOtime2511]

id use high mileage.
it has more additives that will assist in oil leakage and burnoff.

 

[gsilva]

Sludge stops oil leaks.

 

[38SHO]

id use high mileage.
it has more additives that will assist in oil leakage and burnoff.

I don't believe in this, I believe in replacing the bad component thats leaking oil in the first place........

unless of course its your own piston rings........ then well....



most seals are dirt cheap, in fact you could just replace the bad leaking seal for probably the extra price that high mileage oil just cost you in one oil change..........


pretty much everything but the rear main is easily replaced, even the crank and cam seals aren't THAT hard.... slightly time consuming but not rocket science....

back on topic

right now I'm running Valvoline 20w-50 VR1 Racing oil........ it has some extra protection for the valvetrain....... Might switch over to the synthetic racing oil depending on how expensive it is...... I might switch over to the Valvoline Racing Synthetic 10w-30 for winter time, they also offer a 20w-50 in their racing synthetic lineup...

 

[gsilva]

I don't believe in this, I believe in replacing the bad component thats leaking oil in the first place........

unless of course its your own piston rings........ then well....



most seals are dirt cheap, in fact you could just replace the bad leaking seal for probably the extra price that high mileage oil just cost you in one oil change..........


pretty much everything but the rear main is easily replaced, even the crank and cam seals aren't THAT hard.... slightly time consuming but not rocket science....

back on topic

right now I'm running Valvoline 20w-50 VR1 Racing oil........ it has some extra protection for the valvetrain....... Might switch over to the synthetic racing oil depending on what they have to offer in the racing line......... and how expensive it is......


during the colder parts of the year I might switch over to 10-30 or 5-30, I usually use Vavoline Synthetic at that point for when the temps hover around 40 degrees in the morning for my start-ups

I also believe in changing bad seals and gaskets that leak. Have you ever seen a pan or valve cover gasket thats been in there for 15 or 20 or more years? How can any additive rejuvenate those hardened gaskets.

 

[38SHO]

I don't like rigging stuff up like that. I try hard to fix my car right

I've been working for almost two years now fixing rigs from my car's PO

 

[zblackbeast]

Well.. id love to just be able to replace eveything as it breaks like all my leaky seals, but i dont have the time or the money right now to be tearing the front part of my motor off.. When i can finally do a 60k or get a new motor i will replace the seals... Untill then i need to "rig" it somehow.
What do you all use for additives? I use high millage, but when i floor it you can still see and smell the oil drippn on the y pipe!

 

[SHOtime2511]

my Civic for example has 205K miles.With standard GTX it will burn off about half a qt between oil changes usually in the last 500 miles before the oil change,with GTX high mileage it won't use any.
the SHO gets high mileage and it wont burn or leak a drop either,although the engine has only around 60K on it.

 

[gsilva]

You want High Mileage, A Ford van (4.0L) went over 1 million miles without any special high mileage oil. It used Amsoil 0W-30.

 

[itwonder]

The main difference is high mileage oil has more seal conditioner additives, which cause old seals to soften and swell slightly, sealing leaks and avoiding potential ones. If oil consumption is good, I would not switch to it.