djeddieo

I've mentioned before that this car had been an "extra" for a long time: purchased for my daughter before she left for college, it stayed parked at the summer house and basically went only to the beach on summer weekends. With the crazy snow last year I made it my "winter car" as well as "beach wagon", and I admit I've been a little slow to pay attention to the many issues that come up using a 175,000 miles + car as a daily driver. I had been doing the oil changes every 3000 miles or less, as it previously wasn't going far, but this winter I've been driving it daily since January, sometimes 100+ miles in a day. The other day the oil light flickered - didn't come back on - and I nearly forgot to check the oil "just in case." Turns out I was down 3+ quarts!! While I'm amazed that the car was even operable with so little oil in it, I wish that "idiot light" had come on sooner and stayed lit! I see no leaks in the driveway, so I assume it's burning the oil (big white puff on every cold start, BTW).

I plan to start checking the oil at every fill-up, and I hope that turns out to be TOO frequent.

Wish me luck!!

matts6887

yes mine is well well over 100,000. Its now at 151,000 and change. But!! I have not had any oil leaks yet thankfully and I hope u are right and that i dont have them. Now when it comes to tackling this myself; Im not sure whether or not i will attempt this as it sounds like it MIGHT(but then again might not be) too much. But then again to have a shop do this is gonna be $$$$! (which I dont have to spare at present time as Im on fixed income). Ugh; what to do; what to do.

JAB

Take my advice: I am an experienced DIYer. I replaced the valve cover gaskets and spark plugs, front and rear, and the rear valve cover. Front are a piece of cake. I will never do the rear again. PITA. Let the dealer do it.

matts6887

Well yea; I kinda figured the front one is not too bad but for the rear one; for that; I mean i dont wanna have to spend $$$$$ to get the rear one done but I might not have a choice if its such a royal PITA.to get everything undone and then once finished; get everything put back together.

hsmac

hey guys mobil 1 and pennzoil both having rebates right now and they're roughly the same price. is either one better or does it not matter?

thaeleelyr

+1 on the fronts. It's pretty easy to get to and is a good place to start if you want to do it to get an idea of the difficulty. I did both fronts and backs, and while a lot of parts have to come off, it isn't impossible for a DIYer.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Do you have a link to the Pennzoil rebate?

Either one is fine. In this case, I would get both and save one for next time. This is how I stock up on motor oil.

hsmac

pennzoil (up to 48 quarts, exp. 12/16)
http://www.pennzoil.com/promotions-national-rebate/

mobil 1: (up to 10 quarts, exp. 5/16)
https://apfco.net/secure/R8235W/Home/Entry

autozone has a special for 5 qt. mobil1 synthetic and filter for $34 so I jumped on that for $19 after rebate. alternatively amazon and walmart have the 5 qts. for $25 or less or you could try price matching to them.

hsmac

so high mileage only conditions the seals and does nothing else? i.e. if one were to replace with new seals then he should just use the regular synthetic? supposedly my car is leaking oil but there are no puddles beneath my car. if i use high mileage will i no longer need to replace the seals/gaskets?

matts6887

If you use high mileage oil it will swell the seals to help avoid oil leaks. If you replace the gaskets i would still use high mileage oil to keep the new seals from shrinking etc. yes it is more $ but in the long run you probably will be better off. Just my 2 cents here.

thaeleelyr

Not to be contrary, but this seems a waste of money to me. If someone replaces their seals, they don't need conditioning to swell and they probably won't need it for quite some time, maybe even for the remainder of the vehicle's usable life. I think someone can get away with using regular synthetic for a number of years after a seal replacement. The question would be, when do aftermarket seals begin to fail to the point that a high-mileage oil would be of benefit?

fastnoypi

According to this article siting the folks at Valvoline , approximately 75k+ miles is a good time use high milage oil http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2...e-oil-car.html

Mobil says the same thing https://mobiloil.com/en/article/car-...eage-motor-oil

matts6887

It isnt necessairily a waste of $. Especially if like most of the owners of the rx on here you have more than 75,000 miles; then it probably is a good idea to use high mileage oil because as i already mentioned it keeps the seals "in tact" so to speak. I dont think it would last the remainder of the vehicle's life; espeically if the vehicle gets put under "heavy stress usage"; where it possibly could shorten the life of the gaskets and/or other seals. Now; if however you do replace the gaskets(like valve cover gaskets, etc) then initially u might be able to get away with running regular oil or synthetic(if you really choose to spend that kinda extra $ on oil changes) for another 75,000 miles at which point u may have to switch to high mileage oil.

hsmac

thought some of you may be interested in this article comparing oil filters:

http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/en...arison-fodder/

hsmac

here the price is the same so almost a no brainer.