High Mileage Engine Oil

[controlnovice]

I tried to do a search for this first, but could not find anything.

I'm not a diy person for changing oil anymore. I have a car with 120k miles on it and when I take it to the service shop (every 5k miles), they always try to sell me the high mileage oil.

Is 120k miles considered high mileage?

Is it worth going to this oil?

I'd like to keep the car for another 120k miles....

This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

 

[evelrod]

1-Is 120k, etc.----NO. Most modern engines should go 200+ with no problems. I see a lot of old beaters with 300, even 400+ on the clocks, still kicking and passing the California smog check!!!

2- Is it worth it? IMO, no. "If it aint broke, don't fix it".

3- No problem, you seem to have a grasp of what it takes.

If you buy your new car, start it on a top grade synthetic and use 15,000 mile or 6 month change intervals---sounds like a plan, albeit a little more expensive, more convienient, though. Just make sure they use top quality filters and oil...stay away from the 'store brand'.

Rod

 

[rmw]

If you are not having to add oil in order to get to your oil change or, if you aren't abnormally low on oil at oil change time, then I would resist the pitch for the high mileage oil.

I drive a Mercury GM with the 4.6L engine and it is the 3rd or 4th of these that I have owned. They all began to drink oil at or around 100K miles. I found that Castrol Hi-mileage oil will get me to the next oil change (at 5K miles) without having to add a drop, where as before I made the switch I was having to add two quarts just to get there with the generic stuff.

I have recommended it to other owners of high mileage Merc's and Crown Vic's and they too have reported much better oil mileage.

rmw

 

[evelrod]

Holy Toledo there rmw---I don't mean to offend but did ya ever consider that ya might be carrying brand loyalty a bit too far? You and I have been here a long time and I normally trust your opinions...but, come on..."3rd or 4th of these that I have owned"! I have been a Ford man myself, for the most part, over the last 50 years and I find it unconscionable that a "lemon" could be perpetuated into a 3rd or 4th generation and equally incredulous that someone would actually continue to buy them!

Rod

 

[rmw]

Rod,

Which brand? The Castrol or the Ford? Oh-the Ford. I guess because I am a convert from half a lifetime of General Motors products that I never saw it as a "lemon" issue.

Gee... Having escaped 700R-4 trannies's and their 5.7L diesel conversions and their uncomfortable seats I thought I was in hogs heaven when I bought my first Ford, and when I discovered these Grand Marquis's.....I had just come out of a Caprice with a 700R-4 that even a brand new one from GM did not cure the problem of the slipping torque converter lock up. (Try telling the computer why it is that the engine RPM and the vehicle speed are at variance with one another when it isn't supposed to be.)

I still prefer rear wheel drive, and the Grand Marquis and/or Crown Vic has a longer wheel base than a Continental, so I go for the ride. I typically put a lot of miles on and like to arrive not feeling like I was run over by the car that brought me.

Until just lately most of my clients had a strong preference for "buy American". Only the paper-makers didn't mind you driving up in a foreign car as long as it was European since lots of their paper-making machinery was from Europe. Other domestic manufacturers would give snide remarks from time to time. That all seems to be changing now what with globalization and such. Most of the car that I am driving was not made in the USA anyway.

I buy these Merc's with the 'performance package' that comes with dual exhaust, a lower speed rear end, a stiffer suspension and some tuning goodies that give a few extra HP. Boy, if I had any teenage sons I couldn't let them drive this car. It runs like a scalded dog and that is important in the neck of the woods where I live where often all the passing lane you are going to have for miles to come to get around a log truck is about the length of the log truck itself. This thing will jump when asked to.

With the lower speed rear end, the real engine mileage when compared to a std model is higher, since it has turned more turns in the same mileage.

So, a little oil consumption was a small price to pay for all those goodies. A lemon? Never thought of it that way.

Maybe if I had started them out on a good synthetic I wouldn't be here now with respect to oil consumption. I'll probably try that on the next one. Reading on the Crown Vic Nuts site last evening, I saw rumblings that Ford wasn't going to continue making the CV/GM, but I didn't independently verify it to my satisfaction. Anyone can say anything on one of these sites as we all know.

The consensus there is that it is valve guides, but if the Castrol gets me to 5K without adding a drop and without being low on the stick, then what the heck.

Don't get me wrong about brand loyalty. My first Ford was a PU with a 6.9L diesel which I added a ATC turbo aftermarket package to. (I left a Chevy PU with a trashed 700R-4 in Colorado to come home and buy the Ford PU.) Then I moved the turbo to a 7.3 idi which is my "other car". The wife drives a Suburban, and a daughter drives a Sonoma at college. So, I still get to have some fun with GM products.

But, in a conversation with my mechanic just a couple of days ago, we both agreed that if we were compelled to buy brand new PU's at this moment, it would have to be a GM with a Duramax what with all Fords problems with the 6.0L and now the 6.6L. I never owned a Dodge, but have owned some 'come aparts' in 18 wheelers. I don't know if Dodge changed their approach lately or not, but when they first started putting the Cummins diesels in PU's, the didn't have a 4 door (which concept they invented) and had the approach that the vehicle was a purely work vehicle made for farmer Brown to go to town in and load up with seed or fertilizer and bring back to the farm, not for someone to drive coast to coast which I did a lot of when I bought the 7.3L which is 4 door.

Anyway, your comment has given me some pause, and I will have to give it due consideration. Lemon, huh? I just never thought of it that way.

rmw

 

[patprimmer]

I agree (once again) with Rod.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. High mileage is VERY RELATIVE.

A big lazy V8 in a small high geared car that only does long interstate trips on major highways in moderate climate and is 99% of the time in top gear, will be almost as new after 100,000 miles whereas a grocery getter that never gets to normal operating temperature, lives in a dust bowl, desert, seaside or very cold area and hardly ever makes top gear will be very worn at 100,000 miles.

Use the manufacturers oil, or if you prefer a synthetic based oil of the manufacturers recommended viscosity, so long as the oil pressure remains within spec and the oil consumption is reasonable.

If the oil pressure goes down or the consumption becomes unacceptable, go up a grade in viscosity with a similar quality oil. If the consumption becomes very high, use K-Mart oil as it is a waste of money burning good synthetic oil.

Regards

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