The only advise I will give is don’t waste your money on a synthetic blend oil. There have been test showing that there is as little as 10 percent synthetic in the synthetic blend oils. and for a little bit more you can buy full synthetic oil.
Tester
1 Like
I’m always cautious about articles like that, wondering if they were written by AI.
There are lots of sites that provide tips for how to determine if an article was written by AI. It’s not easy to determine.
One of the common ways that is often suggested is to check the author’s background. The author in that article, Jason, states the following on his website:
I am not a licensed mechanic or automotive expert. All repairs, modifications or advice should only be undertaken by a qualified professional. I take no responsibility for any issues that may arise from attempting repairs or tweaks without proper training or certification.
Given the technical content of his articles, especially from someone who states he isn’t an automotive expert, and given how many articles he’s written in a short period of time, and given they’re all recent, (in the age of easy AI everywhere), I’m suspicious that he simply asked an AI tool to write the articles for him.
3 Likes
Me? I am not smart enough to get into the AI conversation, but I do know that I have been using High Mileage oil in every vehicle 75K and up, that I’ve taken care of since at least 2004 and put many HARD miles on them, I am not like most on here and think that keeping the engine under 2,800 rpms (just a guess) is the best thing for them, I routinely floor then and red line them, although not nearly as much with the new truck, but mainly due to the puppy in the back seat and I just don’t drive much anymore, but when I hit the open road I still stretch her legs, and yes I floor it and hold it…anyway as well as I recommended it to every customer NOT running full syn for 17 years and never heard of nor had any oil related issues from using high mileage oil, As well as I still run it in 4 vehicles, 3 of which have had for at least 20 years and the other for 10 years… Besides, if it cost the company a few engines then we all would have heard about it and have to go through a stupid learning module on what vehicles/engines could and could not use it…
2 Likes
No dispute the best way to get a car fixed is to take it to a dealership shop. But then should all of us self-taught knucklehead diyers stop visiting here at CarTalk.com?
George_San_Jose1 wrote:
George:
That quote was from the author of the article in the link, where states he has no responsibility for what he writes or qualifications.
Feel free to interpret it the way you want to.
I’m not going to speak for him.
1 Like
Is the HMileage oil slightly thicker?
I asked AI, it says “0W-20 engine oil is thinner than 0W-20 high mileage engine oil is generally true. High mileage oils are typically formulated to be slightly thicker to provide better protection for older engines with more wear.”
I’m NOT an oil expert. So perhaps I should just not say anything…
But, no. Those numbers (the zero and the 20) are the viscosities - essentially the “thickness.” Viscosity is about how well the stuff flows. I started to write up an explanation, but then figured there are probably 1,000 web sites that do it. Here’s one. (click)
0W-20 means 0W-20. As @VDCdriver noted, the “high mileage” designation is mostly about additives to help with seals. There may be other things too, but if it was about higher viscosity (thicker) then the numbers would have to change - from like 0W-20 to 5W-30 or something.
AI is neither “artificial” nor “intelligent.” It’s just programs crunching numbers. There’s an old saying in computer programming circles - “garbage in, garbage out” (GIGO). A lot this “AI Overview” crap that now pops up on all of my Google searches is just that. Crap. You start with lots of really bad info on the internet from sources that don’t know crap. And you get crap.
3 Likes
For some insight on the “intelligence” of AI, consider the case of the kid who asked a question about his relationship with his strict parents. One of the options given to him was to kill his parents. It’s just as wrong about oil as it is about family relationships.
I have asked ChatGPT AI to write a 300 word article about an historic automotive subject 4 times. Each time it was well written… but wrong!
It is getting better each time but not there yet.
As a side note, DuckDuckGo has an AI search feature that works pretty well with more modern era questions.
AI will use the massive amounts of data that it gathers to understand, summarize, predict and generate new content.
It does not proof read the data it gathers.
Just think of all the incorrect posts made to a site like this. AI tools will feed those wrong posts into the generated data it creates. Fortunately it’s a tiny contribution. But that’s how those wrong AI results happen.
1 Like
As a retired Software Engineer Architect with over 45 years of experience - AI is a hell of a lot more then crunching numbers. AI can and does answer extremely complected subjects correctly. It really depends on the source material it has to pull from. The second part “Garbage in, garbage out” is 100% accurate. If AI system is only pulling from a limited source of material, then it may not give an accurate answer.
AI is the future and it’s getting better and better all the time. AI isn’t anything new. It’s been around for decades. I took a class in AI in college back in the early 70’s with a language called LISP (List Processing). For decades LISP was the language used mostly in AI. Python is the language of choice these days. Alan Turning defined the Turning Test in 1950 to test if a computer can think.
My first language was LISP. I’ll never forget cons, cdr, and car operations.
Digital Equipment Corp made a big AI push in the 80s. It’s the compute power of today’s GPUs that have really enabled AI to take off and be usable. And it keeps getting better.
Only SOME diyers should stop visiting here at CarTalk.com
I know this will be flagged
But some good people will hopefully read it and appreciate it before then 
1 Like
Back to the point, the additives makes it thicker but viscosity does not change. I did not post the entire answer from AI. Of course AI depended on stuff online. It did give references but the few I looked didn’t say the AI answer.
Back to the point, perhaps the mechanics can say if they found them to be thicker?
That’s like saying something is heavier but the weight didn’t change. AI spouted nonsense, it’s that simple. Do not depend on AI articles for this kind of stuff, you can find out the actual effect of ‘high milage’ oils from the manufacturers and sites like bobistheoilguy. Any source that says they’re ‘thicker but the same viscosity rating’ is obviously wrong.
2 Likes
+1
Someone who believes that thicker oil doesn’t have a different viscosity is likely to believe that a pound of lead weighs more than a pound of feathers. It’s the same type of “reasoning”.
1 Like
Now 38 posts when all that is needed is to use the oil the owners manual calls for and change it at the recommended miles or time .
3 Likes