[Shotimes] (OT) Max Life Oil Update

[Ron Porter]

As some may recall, I went to Maxlife oil in my '94, after a lifetime of
Mobil 1 5w-30 (up to the 168K when I bought it).

The background: the car was burning a quart for every 800 miles, with 170K
on the clock. This was measured in-town, as well as on a 1,650-mile trip to
NH and back. There are no drips on this car (crank seals are good), it must
be all the valve seals.

I went to Valvoline Maxlife 10w-30 prior to the Convention. After the
Caravan, Blackhawk, and the dragstrip, I added a quart after 1,000 miles.
Last week, I checked it again with about 1,250 miles since that last quart I
added in Madison. It was "exactly" a quart low.

What was interesting at Blackhawk is that a couple of people told me that I
was blowing a puff of smoke in the 1st session every time that I would get
off the gas. By the last session, one of the people said that the smoking
stopped. Maybe getting the engine really hot helps the oil work better??? 

I have extended the life of a quart by 50%. Now, some of this may be due to
using 10w-30 versus 5w-30, but that difference is probably minimal.

As I have stated in the past, I had slightly better luck on my former '95
using Castrol MaxLife, but that car had leaky crank seals.

Ron Porter