high mileage oils

[Joseph Munzenrider]

I have a '97 SC2 with about 93,000 miles on it, and I've been religiously
changing the oil every 3,000 miles, and up till now I've only used standard
10-30 in the summer, and 5-30 in the winter, per the owner's manual
instructions.

My question to the group is, does anyone have an opinion about the
high-mileage oils, like valvoline's Maxlife or penzoil's high mileage oil?
If I start shelling out the extra money, however much it is, for the fancier
oils, like those, or a synthetic, am I likely to see a long-term pay off
from it? Do they actually work like the wonder lubricants they claim, or
are they not really worth it?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

thanks,
joe

 

[Kelly]

I can't say anything about long life oils, but I do use Synthetic, and I
find it runs cooler, quieter, and needs little or no top-ups due to oil
burning.

 

[Victor DiMichina]

Joseph Munzenrider wrote:

Any advice would be much appreciated.

thanks,
joe

I would stick with what you've been using. The max life oils--from what
I've heard--have additives that swell seals in order to stop leaks.

 

[Robert Hancock]

As for the high-mileage oils, if you're not leaking oil or burning oil
excessively, they're not going to do anything for you.

As far as synthetics go, they will give you a bit more engine protection,
especially in extreme heat or cold conditions. Whether or not it's worth it
is basically up to you, depending on the conditions you use your vehicle in.
Myself, I'm running Mobil 1 synthetic in my Ion..

 

[Joseph Munzenrider]

As for the high-mileage oils, if you're not leaking oil or burning oil
excessively, they're not going to do anything for you.

I know this question has been brought up before to some level of contention,
but I'll ask it here for the sake of context... what would you consider
"excessive" oil loss, either leaking or burning? My last oil change, at
93,300 miles (about 3200 miles after the previous change), I was down about
a quart and a half. My fault it got that low, I have a bad habit of not
checking the dip stick as often as I should, but that aside, would a little
under a quart and a half loss between oil changes at 93,000+ miles seem
excessive, and worth the extra protection from fancier oils?

joe

 

[Robert Hancock]

1.5 quarts in 3200 miles is not really that high. As long as you check the
oil level regularly, that level of oil consumption shouldn't be causing
problems.

The high-mileage oils seem more aimed at stopping oil leaks than oil
consumption, anyway. If you had leaking valve stem seals it might help with
oil consumption through that route, but I don't think valve seals are a
common problem on the Saturn engines from what I've heard.

One of the ways in which the high-mileage oils (apparently) try to reduce
oil consumption, besides the seal-swell additives, is by increasing the
viscosity to the thick side of what's allowable for the specified grade,
which might reduce engine protection at cold startup, for example..

 

[_omit_this_MStanczak]

The high-mileage oils seem more aimed at stopping oil leaks than oil
consumption, anyway. If you had leaking valve stem seals it might help with
oil consumption through that route, but I don't think valve seals are a
common problem on the Saturn engines from what I've heard.

One of the ways in which the high-mileage oils (apparently) try to reduce
oil consumption, besides the seal-swell additives, is by increasing the
viscosity to the thick side of what's allowable for the specified grade,
which might reduce engine protection at cold startup, for example..

Now, I do not pretend to know how these oils do work, but I used
to burn about a quart of quality oil every tankfull, i.e. about every
400 miles. After switching to Vavoline MaxLife 5W-30 ($2.00+ vs.
$1.70+ for the other oil(s)) at the recommendation of a friend who
hangs around with a hotrodder crowd, I'm down to 2 quarts every oil
change (~3000 miles).
That's a *significant* improvement, but also the gas milage stayed
the same (31+ mpg), and the engine actually sounds "softer"/quieter on
starts, and in running. I too, because it all sounds too good to be
true, would like to hear what's/where's the down side (because to me
it certainly is not the cost... around here even the cheepest no-name
oils go for $1.20+)
As to your point above, Robert, even if it is so, I'm sure a 5W-30
at it's "thickest" is better/safer for the engine than a 10W-30 (or
even a 10W-40 that some posters report using) ever could be, so where
*is* the down side?

/Mariusz

 

[Robert Hancock]

In this case, I don't think there's really much of a downside, other than
perhaps the little bit of extra cost for the oil. (I didn't know they
actually made MaxLife in a 5W30 - when I tried it in my old Sunfire they
only had 10W30. Didn't keep using it because it wasn't using oil anyway, and
it didn't do anything to quiet the piston slap noise in that engine like I
hoped it might.)

Likely the reason for the lower oil consumption in this case was the higher
detergent/cleaning agent levels in the oil - from what I hear, rings getting
stuck with deposits or carbon seems to be a common cause of high oil
consumption on the Saturn engines. Some people have tried treatments
involving pouring Marvel Mystery Oil, Seafoam, Top Engine Cleaner, etc. into
the cylinders and letting it soak in overnight, with apparently good results
on engines that were using a lot of oil..