regular oil/"high-mileage" oil? wutz the difference?

[MCeez02Si]

Just wondering what separates the two. Does it just have to do with more additives? This morning I heard a advertisement on the radio for a special on Penzoil oil at 1.49/qt. and the "high-mileage" oil for 1.95/qt.

[JSIR]

those high mileage oils are primarily designed to reduce oil consumption and have additives to accomplish that. The oils have a slightly thicker viscosisty for a given weight, they contain additives to swell seals, and they seem to run a bit cleaner for some reason. I use the Castrol version on my winter beater and my oil consumption has decreased by 50%, quite impressed with the oil, but I wouldn't use it on a newer engine as it isn't necessary and they cost a bit more than regular oil.

[MCeez02Si]

Thanks for the info. I did my first oil change last week @ 3850 miles with Castrol GTX 5W-20W thanks to all the info. on this board. I don't know much about oil, but the test that was done showing the high Moly count convinced me enough to start using it. Have driven about 300 miles with the new oil and the engine feels smoother.

[JSIR]

that's a very good oil, should work well. When the new mobil1 0w-20 is released that should be the trend setter among 20 weight oils. The specs on it make it one of the best 20 weight oils that you can buy over the counter. A good synthetic with moly additives at a decent price. It should be out any time now, in the US. Honda's 5w-20 oil is also starting to test out as being pretty decent, the one that comes in the bottles, not the dealer bulk stuff. They too are using decent doses of moly additive from the reports we have seen.

[Surprise]

M1 0w-20 should be in the stores by March:D As soon as I see a bottle it will be in my ride.

[MCeez02Si]

I'm here in S. Calif. and purchased 2 qts. of Honda oil from a local dealership, Sierra Honda in Monrovia. Ended up using barely 1 qt. during break-in. Anyways, for those who care, the Honda oil was manufactured by Exxon.

[soniccar]

Honda changes oil and filter suppliers from time-to-time. I am sitting here with 12 oil filters for the EP I bought from the same dealer... 5 are Fram, 4 are Filtech, and 3 have 4 different languages, none of which is English.

Castrol is the best conventional oil, period. The oils in Pennsylvania, ie. Quaker State and Pennzoil are noted for the parrafin based additives that harden up into a hard wax in the oil pan. Valvoline oil is good, too, and even smells 'earthy'.

The key is changing your oil regularly. Although I am concerned with how the synthetic oils eat up the valve stem seals over time, I use synthetic because I consistently get better mileage. I have had one car run 30 miles without oil because a K&N Oil filter failed around the seal and that was Mobil 1. The car now has 170k miles (CRX Si, of course). I think the debate can continue, but the Castrol GTX, Mobil 1 Synthetic, and Castrol Syntec are hard to beat. Especially when Wal-mart has Mobil 1 5w30 on sale for $3.93 per quart and Castrol GTX for $1.19 per quart. You can get more expensive oils, but it's simply not worth it. Remember that a Honda dealership is going to use whatever oil they get cheap and buy it in 55 gallon drums. I can tell you from experience that Honda has good oil filters, name brand but made at better standards, excellent MTF and ATF (the Z1 is the best I have ever seen), and the best antifreeze. You would do better using Castrol LMA for your brake fluid.