Whats the best brand oil to purchase for a high mileage vehicle?

Question

I have a car with 129,000 miles on it and have always used just Valvoline oil at the oil change shops. Now I'm thinking it may be wise to spend more money for a better quality brand oil. What would be the best quality oil brand for a high mileage vehicle? Thanks!

Answer 1

It Depends, If your engine isn't using oil now then I would keep using what I've always used. If it's starting to use oil then keep using valvoline, but switch to a non-synthetic heaver weight. Like 20w-50, and start adding a bottle of STP oil treatment.

Answer 2

Country boy is right valvoline is awesome, and hes also right on the fact that high mileage motor oils only protect against leaks but some do reduce engine friction. Maxlife from valvoline re-conditions shrunken or dry rotting gaskets and thats what helps prevent the leaks, and in has a lot better wear protection than conventional because it is a synthetic blend. Synthetics are man formulated to be superior in wear protection and cooler running engine tempratures than conventional Just do me a favor and dont use castrol syntec, they say that it is a synthetic yet its has no synthetic molecules in it and uses the same base stock package as valvolines conventional.

Answer 3

Actually Valvoline is one of the better oils out there. There are only a few that I'd say were equal. Havoline Deposit Shield, Kendall, Quaker State and the only Pennsylvania oil left, Brad Penn. I would not bother with high mileage oil if your car has no leaks. That's all it does, help reduce very small leaks. It does not provide any better actual  lubrication. Another oil company come-on these days is partial synthetic oil. You'll notice none of these companies actually tells the customer the actual percentage of synthetic oil that's in the can.

If your car has no leaks and you live in a northern climate you may consider a full synthetic oil. It pours at lower temperatures than a similar viscosity regular oil. It also has better detergent additives, the EP (extreme pressure) rating is higher, it evaporates at a higher temperature, and the flash to fire point is higher. Stick to the viscosity suggested in you handbook. Low viscosity oil cools mere efficiently because the oil pump forces a higher volume through the oil galleries. Believe it or not your motor makes more power with light oil as the oil pump does not have to work as hard. You may pick up a bit of mileage improvement.

Mobil1, Valvoline, Havoline, Kendall and Quaker State are all very good brands. I wouldn't touch Castrol oil if it was the last brand on the shelf. Their carnival style adds on television prove absolutely nothing. If you listen carefully they do a very shady non-scientific test comparing their synthetic oil against the leading brand REGULAR OIL. Here's just my opinion. If Castrol is so great, why aren't they the leading brand of motor oil.

I recently replaced an oil pan on a guy's old winter beater Taurus. It had 148,000 miles on the odometer. The old rusty (from the outside in) oil pan was clean a a whistle. Inside the motor had no signs of gum sludge or varnish. He always had the oil changed between 3,000 - 3,500 miles. He's an all time cheap scate and bousces between Regular Mobil 5000 oil and Quaker State. He always uses Motorcraft oil filters (made by Purolator).

I guess it's up to you. The important thing to remenber is not to cheat on mileage, dump in additives or use some thick molasses viscosity.

Answer 4

Castrol for engines with over 85000 miles you can find it at Wallmarts

Answer 5

Mobil one is the best you can buy ,they have a  real good high mileage oil for older vehicles,but really you don't have high miles ,i get them in the shop with over 200 thousand on them and their still running 5-w-30 in them and still not using any oil so your doing real good on mileage,but if i wanted the engine to last as long as possible id use a good oil and Mobil one is about the best money can buy these days,good luck.

Answer 6

hmm i know one of the best motor oils race cars use is called Redline motor oil but its preety expensive..im not sure if the miles really effect the cars oil but 129k miles isnt much but yea Redline motor oil is preety good but expensive.