Owner of 2001 Sport Trac with 99,000 miles. I'm taking a 1500 mile round trip from South Florida to Marietta GA. Would using Castrol High mileage oil be OK for that trip?

 

a high quality oil would be fine. Castrol makes the "high mileage" and a "conventional" motor oil for a good price. I see no difference in using either. Its your choice. The viscosity is as much important as the oil type. Look at the 5w-30 or similar listing on the filler cap and go with that.

 

99k miles is hardly high mileage. All of my cars/trucks have over 100k miles and I only run conventional oil. I ran conventional oil in my '91 Ranger up until I got rid of it with 170k on the clock. My '98 Explorer has 166k and my '97 Aerostar has 138k. No oil consumption between changes. I do use what I consider a quality oil. I've had heads, valve covers and intakes off most of my cars/trucks and never seen anything to indicate that there are issues related to the oil I use.

Some of the high mileage oils have additives to encourage seal swell. If you don't have seal leakage, I wouldn't use them. That's just my opinion based on the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy.

 

There are so many oils to choose from. Would conventional Castrol GTX or Motorcraft oils be good quality oil?

 

I would say so. I put Castrol GTX synthetic blend in my dad's 2005 Explorer and Motorcraft synthetic blend in my Mustang GT. My Explorer's been getting Mobil 1 high mileage synthetic since that's what the previous owner had been using as of late. My Explorer has 329,000 miles on it now.

 

I have a 2001 Sport Trac that runs well with GTX oil. Maybe next OCI i'll give motorcraft oil a run.

 

Motorcraft is all my Mustang's seen...it's a 2003 with 168,000 miles on it. Motorcraft oil and filter.

 

Does your Mustang have the 4.0 SOHC engine? I have the 4.0 in my Sport Trac, i have used synthetic oil on occasions but that engine seem to work better with dino oil.

 

No, my Mustang is the GT with the 4.6L V8. It's takes the thinner 5W20 oil. Both my Explorer and my dad's Explorer are the 4.0L with the only exception being his has the Flex-Fuel capability.

 

The 4.6L is a good engine, and 5W20 oil is what Ford recommends. I your Explorer a 4.0 SOHC or OHV engine?

 

It's the SOHC 4.0L.

The GT has held up quite well...168,000 miles later and still running strong. The "major" repairs I've done are the intake manifold, clutch, and just changed the radiator. The engine still runs like it did on day 1.

 

Sounds like you have a nice engine in your GT. Keep doing what you are doing and you will have a good car for a long time. My 4.0 developed an oil leak awhile back. It runs great, doesn't burn oil just have a minor leak. Probably caused by using synthetics. Anyway i'll be switching to Motorcraft pretty soon.

 

Yeah, the GT has served me pretty well. I bought it new in 2003 and it was my daily driver up until this past fall when I picked the Explorer up. It's always gotten it's maintenance and I'm just gonna stay the course with that.

I plan on doing the same with the Explorer and hopefully that'll last me quite some time as well. I just need to get the front brakes taken care of soon.

 

I'll bet with that 4.6L engine that GT should get up and go. What a Sporty ride you have there!

 

Yeah, she'll scoot, that's for sure. It's no Coyote 5.0, but for what it is, it's quite nice.