high mileage oils

I can't say anything about long life oils, but I do use Synthetic, and I find it runs cooler, quieter, and needs little or no top-ups due to oil burning.

I would stick with what you've been using. The max life oils--from what I've heard--have additives that swell seals in order to stop leaks.

As for the high-mileage oils, if you're not leaking oil or burning oil excessively, they're not going to do anything for you.

As far as synthetics go, they will give you a bit more engine protection, especially in extreme heat or cold conditions. Whether or not it's worth it is basically up to you, depending on the conditions you use your vehicle in. Myself, I'm running Mobil 1 synthetic in my Ion..

I know this question has been brought up before to some level of contention, but I'll ask it here for the sake of context... what would you consider "excessive" oil loss, either leaking or burning? My last oil change, at

93,300 miles (about 3200 miles after the previous change), I was down about a quart and a half. My fault it got that low, I have a bad habit of not checking the dip stick as often as I should, but that aside, would a little under a quart and a half loss between oil changes at 93,000+ miles seem excessive, and worth the extra protection from fancier oils?

joe

1.5 quarts in 3200 miles is not really that high. As long as you check the oil level regularly, that level of oil consumption shouldn't be causing problems.

The high-mileage oils seem more aimed at stopping oil leaks than oil consumption, anyway. If you had leaking valve stem seals it might help with oil consumption through that route, but I don't think valve seals are a common problem on the Saturn engines from what I've heard.

One of the ways in which the high-mileage oils (apparently) try to reduce oil consumption, besides the seal-swell additives, is by increasing the viscosity to the thick side of what's allowable for the specified grade, which might reduce engine protection at cold startup, for example..

Now, I do not pretend to know how these oils do work, but I used to burn about a quart of quality oil every tankfull, i.e. about every

400 miles. After switching to Vavoline MaxLife 5W-30 ($2.00+ vs. $1.70+ for the other oil(s)) at the recommendation of a friend who hangs around with a hotrodder crowd, I'm down to 2 quarts every oil change (~3000 miles). That's a *significant* improvement, but also the gas milage stayed the same (31+ mpg), and the engine actually sounds "softer"/quieter on starts, and in running. I too, because it all sounds too good to be true, would like to hear what's/where's the down side (because to me it certainly is not the cost... around here even the cheepest no-name oils go for $1.20+) As to your point above, Robert, even if it is so, I'm sure a 5W-30 at it's "thickest" is better/safer for the engine than a 10W-30 (or even a 10W-40 that some posters report using) ever could be, so where *is* the down side?

/Mariusz

In this case, I don't think there's really much of a downside, other than perhaps the little bit of extra cost for the oil. (I didn't know they actually made MaxLife in a 5W30 - when I tried it in my old Sunfire they only had 10W30. Didn't keep using it because it wasn't using oil anyway, and it didn't do anything to quiet the piston slap noise in that engine like I hoped it might.)

Likely the reason for the lower oil consumption in this case was the higher detergent/cleaning agent levels in the oil - from what I hear, rings getting stuck with deposits or carbon seems to be a common cause of high oil consumption on the Saturn engines. Some people have tried treatments involving pouring Marvel Mystery Oil, Seafoam, Top Engine Cleaner, etc. into the cylinders and letting it soak in overnight, with apparently good results on engines that were using a lot of oil..