Hey everyone, just wondering what your opinions are. Do you switch to high mileage oil once you hit 100k miles, or do you start earlier/later? Most oils seem to define high mileage as anything over 75,000. What do you guys do?
I’ve been using Valvoline Full Synthetic High Mileage since about 120,000 miles. I change it every 10,000 miles, and I’m at around 320,000 now. I drive a 2019 Explorer 3.5L and rack up about 10,000 miles every six or seven weeks for courier work.
@Sidney
Wow, that’s impressive mileage!
@Sidney
Have you had to replace the water pump yet? We’re getting ours done now on a 2018 3.5L NA with 150k.
Lex said:
@Sidney
Have you had to replace the water pump yet? We’re getting ours done now on a 2018 3.5L NA with 150k.
Nope, never had to replace it. I keep an eye on the coolant level, and I’ve never noticed any loss. The only major repairs I’ve had were replacing the alternator and belt around 150,000 miles, and I’ve changed the spark plugs twice as a precaution. I also replaced the catalytic converters at 160,000 miles.
@Sidney
That’s great to hear. We had a decent coolant leak from the weep hole, so we didn’t want to risk it. How did you know you needed new catalytic converters?
Lex said:
@Sidney
That’s great to hear. We had a decent coolant leak from the weep hole, so we didn’t want to risk it. How did you know you needed new catalytic converters?
The check engine light came on, and the code pointed to the converters.
I switch to Mobil 1 oil and filters after hitting 100,000 miles. Did the same for my 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which had around 250,000 miles on it.
I was told to start using high mileage oil at 70,000 miles.
I’ve always used Mobil 1 or Valvoline Full Synthetic. I feel like the engine runs smoother and quieter. I drive a 2015 Explorer 3.5L with 143,000 miles.
2016 Explorer here with 215,000 miles. Been using synthetic since I bought it with under 15,000 miles.
I don’t use high mileage oil until I notice a small leak. The seal conditioners in HM oil can help slow or stop leaks. Before that, the extra conditioners might accelerate seal wear, so there’s no specific mileage—it depends on the state of your engine seals.
If you don’t have leaks, stick to a fully synthetic oil and keep oil change intervals (OCI) under 5,000 miles. Engines today last longer than when the high mileage oil concept started, so ‘high mileage’ now is more like 150,000 to 200,000 miles.
I’ve got an 09 Explorer Sport Trac with 206,000 miles and use Mobil 1.
I probably won’t switch to high mileage oil until 160,000 miles or so.
I personally use Pennzoil Platinum with a Motorcraft filter and change the oil every 5,000 miles.
I usually go with the cheapest non-synthetic oil, but I recently switched to high mileage synthetic for my '94 Explorer. It’s only at around 130,000 miles, but it’s sitting unused for longer periods now that I don’t daily drive it anymore.