Does anyone use Hi-Mileage oil?

And what are the +'s of using this type of oil?

does it blow up the Seals or just condition them?

I have been putting off using this type of oil B/C I just think it is marketing ploy.

I would appreciate some input on this.

Also what is the worst and best motor oil (besides Amsol)?

right now I am using castrol 10-30, I heard that Castrol is not really a good oik, BTW im running regular oil not synthetic, see sig about my mileage on the blazer.

Thanks in Advance.
Jim

 

I strongly suggest spending some reading time on BobistheOilGuy.com.

 

Anyone that knows auroras knows that they are a major headache. Especially when it comes to seals and Gaskets. Engines that have been ran on conventional motor oil their entire life are usually mediocre candidates for a synthetic change, due to the cleansing agents in synthetic oil. Many times, over years of wear and tear these gaskets become weak, but the nasty sludge deposits fill the weak areas in the gasket causing the gasket to remain sealed. When switching to a synthetic these added cleaners often times will make these deposits dissapear. Which then leads to unknown leaks popping up. Mind you this is through my personal experience with auroras. It is pretty much a given throughout the aurora family. Gaskets and seals will go bad!

Over at ACNA our most suggested means of transitioning from conventional to synthetic is to start off with a synthetic blend. Much like Valvoline offers in their high mileage line.
This gives you a slower conditioning of seals and as it helps to clean these deposits the seals swell to maintain their proper specs. After a few oil changes using the synthetic blend do we suggest switching to a full blown synthetic like Mobil 1.

I do not claim to be an expert in oil and I do not know how oil works. I know how it affects auroras and thats about it. But I have continued treating the blazer in the same sense I did the aurora and have had no issues whatsoever. I can just speak from personal experience and not a scientific point of view.

 

As far as best and worst engine oils go, I personally feel penzoil is at the bottom of the spectrum with valvoline and Mobil 1 near the top right next to amsoil and royal purple.

Has anyone seen an engine torn down after running penzoil it's entire life? From seing a N* torn down I would NEVER run it in any of my engines.

 

Ok, so if I read this correctly:
Remember, the only difference between a 0W-40 and a 10W-40 is that the 0W-40 thickens less after you turn off your engine. It is still too thick in the morning at startup but not as thick as the 10W-40. Yet, they are still too thick to use until they both warm up to operating temperature at which point they have the save viscosity, around 13 to 14. Remember that the 0W-30, 10W-30 and straight 30 grade oils all have a viscosity of around 10 at normal engine operating temperatures. They all thicken when you turn off your engine. The 10W-30 will thicken the most.

Then I should be using 0W-30 in my blazer?

 

5w30 oil

 

Basically, that's correct, but remember that the numbers are not a 'weight' but a 'grade' and may fall anywhere within the specified SAE viscosity range for that grade. Some brands of oil will fall in at the lower end of the range and some at the upper for any given grade. For most locales, our engines will function well on any 5W30 or 10W30, both being adequate for start-up and operating temperatures. If you live in a very cold climate, 0W30 could work. There are two reasons an engine manufacturor might specify a particular grade of oil - operating pressure being one, but primarily for the extremely negligible difference in mileage a lower viscosity grade might allow which, multiplied times the huge number of vehicles equipped with that engine, would help with their CAFE numbers.

 

Ok, so even with a engine with 163K miles, what are my options?

One of my friends suggested that I use a Hi-Mileage oil for the blazer now, like I said in my original post is that a gimmick or is it the right oil for the blazer now?

Does the hi mileage oil "Condition" the seals or blow them up?

I remember years ago the additives would blow the seal up and in a matter of months the seal would fail due to the expansion.

And I have a slight valve tick at idle, found out that is normal on these engines, I'm due for an oil change soon I've been using castrol since I bought it but found out castrol isn't that good.

I use a A/C delco filter, used to use fram for like 25 years but when I saw the cutaway of those filters I immediatly stopped using them.

Opinions...?

 

Where did you read that Castrol is bad? I love that stuff and have been using it for the past 15-18 years with zero failures.

But on the contrary, (I know I will get some flack for this) but I am not a fan of Valvoline! Partially for the price and the other part is engine tear-down examinations.

Price...
This company buys their oil from the same company that also sells "Store Brands" "Napa, Murry's, Advance" etc... If the oil is the same as store brands, why does Valvoline feel the need to have such a high mark-up?

Engine tear-down...
I worked for Jasper for 3 years I have torn down over 3,000 motors. I have found the 2 worst were Pennzoil and Quaker State. I know alot of people go to the instant oil change and request a particular oil, but they may not receive it and will probably get bulk oil. So it is hard to get accurate oil performance from the typical engine brought in to me.

Once in awhile I get in a truckload of race motors to tear-down. When I would get the sponsored race motors, the racers pit crew stay pretty faithful to the sponsor stuff and you know if the sponsor is giving you free stuff you'll use it!

Now, most of the motors from racers were pretty decent other than blown cranks and spun rod bearings. Sludge was pretty much non-existent in any of them, but the Pennzoil motors were starting to plug up sometimes in as little as 500 miles ...Why would you put Parafin in a motor oil? That's beeswax! That should be in a candle not a motor oil. Who knows, but Pennzoil does it! I love to see the old man in his 60's swearing by his Pennzoil and telling me how great that crap is. Meanwhile his motor is packed full of this sticky black crap that looks like asphalt. Still the old fart swears up and down how great this junk is, because Henry Ford told him so! So where did this handful of $hit come from then? Aliens?

Now to your question... I have had nothing but bad luck with "High Mileage" oils. I have talked with about 40 different people and most of them have had the same complaint. "About 2 weeks after the oil change, my car/truck/motorhome smokes on start-up, it never did that before"

So I took it upon myself and decided to put it to the test. I had a 91 "Ford Probe" with 180,000 miles. That little Mazda 4 cyl never burned a drop of oil and I usually went 5-6,000 miles in between oil changes. I tried Valvoline High Millage and after about a week, I too had a nice puff on start-up. Smoke on start-up means the valve seals are allowing oil to leak past them and drip down the valves (Usually the exhaust valve) and down onto the piston.

So I yanked the head and sure enough the seals were cracked and most were missing. Seems kinda odd to me, I never had an oil burning problem before the use of the "High Mileage" oil. My cousin tried it in his 24v Taurus and had the same problem.

Somewhere I heard along the way, the oil manufactures add kerosene to the oil to soften the seals in the motor? I have no idea how they could do that because kerosene breaks down oil, but that's what I heard. I personally learned my lesson and I stay the hell away from the stuff!

A helpful tip:
If your vehicle smokes/burns oil all the time it's usually bad/broken rings.
If it smokes on start-up, usually bad valve seals.
If it smokes when you let off the gas (or after doing a re-ring) it's the valve guides.

Sorry for the long post...

 

Thanks Trip,
Yeah I have my doubts about the high mileage oil.
You said the store brands like napa are they the same as castrol?
I was looking at the napa stuff today and i'm like is it the same?
My truck has 163K and change, I do my oil changes every 2K miles.
I never ever have the rpm's over 2K, I drive it like a little old lady except on the highway when I go 70 or 80 but I don't beat on it...
Quite truthfully, it's a truck but I treat it like glass....
My first blazer was a 95 and I always used castrol and never had problems. but then I was using fram filters....

So what are your thoughts about store brand oils?

BTW here is a picture of my 1995, 2WD, Blazer.
Thx
Jim