CARCHEX spokesperson Pat Goss, from PBS series MotorWeek and Goss’ Garage, answers fan question about high-mileage oil for your car.

Does Your Car Need High-Mileage Oil?

Although high mileage oils are very very good at what they do, I don’t recommend using them until you have a problem. Well the reason for that is that on various parts inside the engine we have internal seals that are bathed in oil. And one of the differences between the high mileage oil and the conventional oil is that it has more swellers, chemicals that expand these seals to make them tight. Well, if you have an oil consumption problem or something the high mileage oil might fix it but, if you use it at a just a blank mileage like 75,000 miles what’s going to happen is your probably going to be committed to using it for the rest of the life of the vehicle because the seals will be worn in to just swelled up expanded condition what you might have to do, you might have to use a high mileage synthetic in order to avoid consuming large amounts of oil.