"High Mileage" Oil? Worth anything?

[Acuta73]

The Ford is over 100k, sadly more than the actual mileage on the D50 (which is 17 years older).

Was wondering if these "high mileage" oils were just a gimmick or actually had some benefit.

[camoit]

My thought on them oils are, you can only rub on somthing so long before it blows. I'm a firm believer in Dello 400, or Rotella. But stay away from Dello 400-LE. It does not have the ash to seal as well as the standard Dello. I know what your saying, Camoit, thats a semi truck oil for diesels. Well if it can hold up to what I put it through every day you know it's good. The truck has 1,560,000 and is still ruining just fine. Once the engine gets a crap load of miles on it the blow by is main problem. That will contaminate the oil faster then the viscosity will break down from pressures and heat. It will suspend more solids then other oils. Of course the build truck will start out on the expensive stuff. But will get converted over soon enough. Now it's running break in oil. But there is only 4 hours on it.

[LSR Mike]

Not for me, I tend to blow the motor before the standard 3,000 Mile first oil change. Hell, I only got 12 miles out of one of them; but I got a Bonneville Record with it!

[recian]

I've heard people say it works but to modify the oil any makes it synthetic since it'll have addatives. The engine determines how long the oil will last. It lasts longer on a new engine with tight clearances and clean galleys than an older engine. In my opinion I wouldn't mess with it. Besides you've got a ford with 100k. It won't last much longer anyway :p If you want to spend the money for a better oil you could go synthetic with royal purple or mobil1.

[LSR Mike]

Besides you've got a ford with 100k. It won't last much longer anyway :p .

New part in the hair!

In all Honesty, Use a Synthetic, or change the regular stuff at the normal interval, after all they use Mobil 1 in Jet Engines... should tell ya something.

[Fordubishi]

Just step up the grade of oil next oil change. If the engine calls for 5w30 then switch up to 10w30 the oil will be a little thicker and will stick to the worn parts better.

[recian]

Just step up the grade of oil next oil change. If the engine calls for 5w30 then switch up to 10w30 the oil will be a little thicker and will stick to the worn parts better.

That's what I usually do with higher mileage stuff if I don't know it's history. Hasn't let me down yet. Just find a good quality brand oil and filter that works and change it at 3000 and you won't have any issues.

[camoit]

Not for me, I tend to blow the motor before the standard 3,000 Mile first oil change. Hell, I only got 12 miles out of one of them; but I got a Bonneville Record with it!


You want more power? Then leave the oil out. You get another 5 HP, but for a limited time.

[LSR Mike]

Remember STP? add a can to the Smoker the day you put the For Sale sign On it!

[pennyman1]

Run restore in it instead - it fills the scratches with csl - suspended copper, silver and lead. I have used it for years in old tired engines and it will restore compression if the rings aren't totally gone. Never liked Mobil 1 - tried it in Geronimo when it first came out - he burned it off at 750 miles to the quart, stopped using it, he does not burn oil to this day. Their other synthetics I have no problem with. I have also seen high mileage engine hemorrage when switched over to synthetic oils.

[LSR Mike]

Synthetics are no good for worn engines, I remember when Castrol first came out with theirs, it leaked out of the cans on the shelf. Hence the shift to Plastic bottles.

[Natureboy]

One of the additives in "high mileage" oils is supposed to keep crank and other seals from hardening, or restore them a little if already hard to help control leak seals. If you haven't run a synthetic oil to this point it won't really make a difference, other than not degrading as easily as traditional oil, and it will leak more! Like LSR Mike says, it is designed to flow and react differently to pressure so it can find new leaks for your entertainment. I've used the normal non-synthetic Rotella for years and it is great oil, as is Dello. It's used in diesels but runs fine in gas engines. It was originally formulated to have more sulfur compounds that reduced metal wear to near zero! Shell has an online club for truckers that use Rotella with more than a million miles on their engines, some with 2 million. Even WalMart's house brand oil is "good enough" if changed frequently. Worst culprit for poor engine maintenance is not changing the oil often enough-carbon builds up and sludge results.