Looking for Testimonials Re: HM Oil

[YukonRog]

Hope this is the right section to post this. I'm curious to find out what everyone's response is to this question:
Are High Mileage Oils worth it? Or Hype?
I know, another oil thread. But like everyone else I've read about, there is no definitive answer! You Google the question and you get 66,000 opinions. Does anyone have experience with this? My Yukon started out running on Quaker State 5w30 for years. Then I heard Quaker State was bad and switched to Mobile 1 synthetic after 100,000 miles. Then last year I put in the Mobil 1 HM. Seemed to use about 1/4 qt between changes. My question is should I continue with it now? Or would switching back be of any benefit? Or does it just not matter? It just hit 200,000 miles. Not dripping on the driveway but a little oily by the oil cooler bypass. Otherwise runs great. So confused. And it's on sale right now.... LOL!

 

[swathdiver]

I'm not a fan. Specs wise, Quaker State is "better" than plain Mobil One. But every motor is a little bit different and responds differently so as the saying goes, what works best for yours may not be the best for mine.

 

[YukonRog]

And obviously I can't believe anything I read. My old man swore by Quaker State and that's where I continued with it. Until I read it was junk somewhere. And believed it. I run Mobil 1 in my bike as do several others I know so I thought it would also be good for the car. But now, I'm just confused.

 

[YukonRog]

Okay, so I'm always getting in trouble for Googling stuff. Funny how research paid the bills in my career but now my wife is the boss. LOL!

Not that I believe everything I read but after hours of research it's about even on the yes's vs the no's on using the HM stuff.

So, here's my question: Now that I've apparently "swelled" everything with the HM additives, can I go back to a non HM oil without those additives?

 

[Mudsport96]

Well from personal use and experience.
06 Silverado almost to 410k miles never had high mileage oil just regular valvoline and then oriellys oil 5w30 most its life and 10w30 now in winter and 10w40 in the summer
95 ford 302 320k miles for the last 200k basically whatever oil was on sale from straight 30, 10w30, 10w40, straight 40 to 20w50.
High mileage oil in my OPINION no empirical evidence is a scam.
Valve cover leaks? Fix it
Pan gasket leaks? Fix it.

 

[B-train]

Agreed. Just get a good brand you like and stick with that. I've tried the HM oil in the past and saw NO benefit whatsoever. I stick with a good generic brand now that meets the OEM spec and have had great luck. As long as whatever you are running is CLEAN, then that's really all a motor cares about.

I know we like to assign them feelings, but they really don't give a flying rats behind on the brand, snake additives, etc. Just clean, wet, and slippery is needed.....

 

[corvette744]

Agreed. Just get a good brand you like and stick with that. I've tried the HM oil in the past and saw NO benefit whatsoever. I stick with a good generic brand now that meets the OEM spec and have had great luck. As long as whatever you are running is CLEAN, then that's really all a motor cares about.

I know we like to assign them feelings, but they really don't give a flying rats behind on the brand, snake additives, etc. Just clean, wet, and slippery is needed.....

Clean yes let me ask a question if you were running regular oil and it got dirty a 4000 miles.Then you put in Your choice of high mileage oil and it was dirty at 4000 miles would you ocntinue to drive it to 8-10000 miles because it says its high mileage.Oil should be changed because its dirty in my mind.I change my mobil 1 synthetic non high mileage every 4000 but start looking at it around 3000 and would have no problem changing it then if it was dirty.Just my 2 cents.

 

[YukonRog]

Clean yes let me ask a question if you were running regular oil and it got dirty a 4000 miles.Then you put in Your choice of high mileage oil and it was dirty at 4000 miles would you ocntinue to drive it to 8-10000 miles because it says its high mileage.Oil should be changed because its dirty in my mind.I change my mobil 1 synthetic non high mileage every 4000 but start looking at it around 3000 and would have no problem changing it then if it was dirty.Just my 2 cents.

To answer your question, no I don't believe it should be used longer because it say High Mileage. I'm very maintenance conscious regarding oil and usually only go 4000 miles. The "Change Oil" warning comes on then. In between times I check the level and condition at least once a month. My question was regarding the additives in High Mileage oils. Wondering if after swelling the gaskets and seals if it would hurt to go back to a non HM oil. Some readings had said once you start, you need to continue....

 

[B-train]

High mileage refers to the age of/miles on the engine, not longer change intervals. It's supposedly designed with different additives for seals, etc. But reviews seem mixed. Just a gimmick to charge more. IMO

I've seen different oils get dirtier sooner than other, but as a rule I go 5k in between changes. Also, the type of driving makes a difference on how soon the oil gets dirty as well in my experience.

Good, long road trips = stays cleaner longer
Short trips, beboppping around gets dirty sooner.

 

[YukonRog]

High mileage refers to the age of/miles on the engine, not longer change intervals. It's supposedly designed with different additives for seals, etc. But reviews seem mixed. Just a gimmick to charge more. IMO

I've seen different oils get dirtier sooner than other, but as a rule I go 5k in between changes. Also, the type of driving makes a difference on how soon the oil gets dirty as well in my experience.

Good, long road trips = stays cleaner longer
Short trips, beboppping around gets dirty sooner.

But there are "swelling" additives in it. Gimmick or not, I think the additives do something.

 

[B-train]

How much CAN they swell them? I have a rear main seal leak I'd like to fix! LOL

 

[YukonRog]

How much CAN they swell them? I have a rear main seal leak I'd like to fix! LOL

Well some say they actually work. That's the main reason I used it. I had a slight leak that it actually seemed to help. Rear Mains can be really bad news though.

 

[corvette744]

High mileage refers to the age of/miles on the engine, not longer change intervals. It's supposedly designed with different additives for seals, etc. But reviews seem mixed. Just a gimmick to charge more. IMO

I've seen different oils get dirtier sooner than other, but as a rule I go 5k in between changes. Also, the type of driving makes a difference on how soon the oil gets dirty as well in my experience.

Good, long road trips = stays cleaner longer
Short trips, beboppping around gets dirty sooner.

Ok so extended performance oil then-supposed to be good for 20,000 miles would love to see that come out of the oil pan at 20k

 

[B-train]

Agreed. I don't buy into that because it all comes down to filtration. Oil doesn't actually wear out, it gets dirty. If you had a centrifugal filter installed, you could run oil almost indefinitely with an additive top off occasionally

 

[nick0789]

Just some additional info for anyone that may be reading this thread in the future, and who enjoy even more conflicting reading material:

Project Farm did a demo on whether HM oils were "better" than regular oils.

While his experimental designs are somewhat robust, he is unable to simulate "true" laboratory conditions so take it with a grain of salt. My tahoe had oil changes done at the dealership up until I bought it, where I continued to do so for a couple years before just doing it myself (before anyone jumps on this train, yes I know that GM approved of them but I just couldn't trust the E core oil filters for some reason and wanted metal cores ... plus I enjoy doing the maintenance myself). I have always used Mobil 1 (10W-30) but am considering going to the HM package at my next LOF interval.

 

[Alex_M]

As I understand it - no personal evidence to back this up, take it for what you will - is that the swelling agents are a bit of a double edged sword. If you already have a leak, they might be worth a shot. That said, you want to commit to them. If you have no leaks and us a HM oil then it can theoretically cause leaks if you switch back to non-HM oil because, as the theory goes, the HM oil will try to swell the seal and then the standard oil will not have the swelling agents and the seal will shrink, causing or worsening leaks.

Personally I just buy a good quality oil. I like heavy equipment oils such as Rotella and Mobil Delvac - my thought process is that the trucking industry does millions of miles per truck. Their cost/benefit for using quality oil is a lot more extreme (and more organized/researched) than that for private applications. There are only really 3 or 4 big players in the "commercial grade" game vs 20 or so in the "private grade" game, lot more marketing involved for private use oils.

Synthetic vs conventional - I personally don't really care. I change it every 5k miles either way. I do not use additives, additive packages are very carefully formulated and you're likely to do more harm than good (ie. decreasing surface tension or altering viscosity). I use oil filters I trust - Mobil1, Wix, Napa Gold (Wix). Sometimes I'll use AC Delco *without* the "e" part number (ex. PF63e vs PF63). Hell, I forget what the "e" even notates, but I know it is the more economy filter and whatever it is I didn't like it 3-4 years ago when I learned.

¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

My preferred was a Rotella gas truck oil with a Napa Gold filter. Seemed like a good balance between economy and quality. Unfortunately the Rotella GT seems to have dried up when everything got hard to find during the pandemic. For a long time I used Rotella T4/T5 10w30/10w40 or Rotella T6 5w40 depending on availability, weather, which vehicle was putting it in. The T4 was my preferred due to cost; unfortunately the T4 in the lighter weights has gotten hard to find, and the T6 has gotten very expensive.

So, with all that in mind - my current route is to either order thru WalMart.com, or to just buy Valvoline conventional. $20 for 5qts and as far as gas engine/private market oils are concerned the Valvoline tests out pretty well in terms of film strength, detergents, and sludging (or lack there-of).

One final thought - Yes, in terms of "base" oils, no one oil wears out quicker than another. However the science of additives and the distinction between synthetic and conventional makes a big difference in how an oil deals with heat. The oil does not mechanically wear out, but interacting with heat will cause the oil to burn which can cause sludging and effect the oils film strength.

 

[YukonRog]

Now the use of which filter to use opens a whole new can of worms. Do you use the new "e" type plastic filters? My guess is the main reason GM/AC Delco is recommending them as backwards compatible and using them on new vehicles has something to do with Environmental save the planet pressure. And a new contract. Also, does anyone use the PF 63 in place of the PF 46? Is that the longer version for these 5.3's? And if so, is it really beneficial? I can only imagine more filtration can only be better right?

 

[SnowDrifter]

Idk I think high mileage oils are kinda dumb. If you have a leak, fix it. The seal is past it's service life and trying to throw a bunch of swelling additives in there is just going to make you a slave to that specific oil.

I run castrol euro 0w40 in mine. Motor likes it, lab tests back it.

Realistically, filter > oil. The best oil will do no good if there's junk floating around in it. Get a good filter, change often, and don't over think it. These engines don't have much in the way of oil related issues or anything that's going to be abnormally "hard" on your fluids (gdi, turbo)

 

[Alex_M]

Now the use of which filter to use opens a whole new can of worms. Do you use the new "e" type plastic filters? My guess is the main reason GM/AC Delco is recommending them as backwards compatible and using them on new vehicles has something to do with Environmental save the planet pressure. And a new contract. Also, does anyone use the PF 63 in place of the PF 46? Is that the longer version for these 5.3's? And if so, is it really beneficial? I can only imagine more filtration can only be better right?

I personally do not unless my alternative is a Fram. I usually keep a few of the filters I like on the shelf though. I think it's more of a cheaper production thing, they make more off of them because they're cheaper to produce.

As for the taller filter, that's all I use. You won't get any extra filtering out of it, but you will have greater filter area. This will allow more free fluid passage, especially in the (hopefully very rare) case that your filter gets packed with particulates. Plus you get an extra half a quart or so of fluid capacity, which is a bonus, and it's easier to get the filter on and off. To me it's one of those "why not?" questions.

I had to look at my stock to tell, but the following filters are the ones I use:

AC Delco PF61
Wix 51522 or Napa Gold 1522.
Mobil 1 M1-206A

My '07 has a different thread than my '99-02 vehicles. I'm not positive what year that change happened, but it uses the following:

AC Delco PF63
Wix 57502 or Napa Gold 1522
Mobil 1 M1-212

If you have a leak, fix it.

That's a great sentiment, but not every vehicle is worth the effort.

 

[YukonRog]

I personally do not unless my alternative is a Fram. I usually keep a few of the filters I like on the shelf though. I think it's more of a cheaper production thing, they make more off of them because they're cheaper to produce.

As for the taller filter, that's all I use. You won't get any extra filtering out of it, but you will have greater filter area. This will allow more free fluid passage, especially in the (hopefully very rare) case that your filter gets packed with particulates. Plus you get an extra half a quart or so of fluid capacity, which is a bonus, and it's easier to get the filter on and off. To me it's one of those "why not?" questions.

I had to look at my stock to tell, but the following filters are the ones I use:

AC Delco PF61
Wix 51522 or Napa Gold 1522.
Mobil 1 M1-206A

My '07 has a different thread than my '99-02 vehicles. I'm not positive what year that change happened, but it uses the following:

AC Delco PF63
Wix 57502 or Napa Gold 1522
Mobil 1 M1-212



That's a great sentiment, but not every vehicle is worth the effort.

Thanks Alex, that's good information and pretty much the same thoughts on the larger filter. I use the larger filter on my 30 yr old Harley Dyna LowRider for the same reason, "why not". I watched some videos on the deconstruction of the AC Delco "e" type filters and they really don't seem bad. The nylon cage inside is supposed to be stronger than metal. However the non metal end caps seem suspicious. As for the Fram filters, they have a bad reputation now are referred to as the "orange can of death!" Which seems funny to me because before they got this bad reputation that's all I used. I ran one from day one on a '97 Ram 1500 289ci and at 220,000 miles I sold it still running like new just 2 years ago. Do you or anyone reading this know where I can find a good filter application and cross reference chart? Seems when I enter one that I believe is supposed to fit into Amazon I get the "does not fit" warning.