1qt high ester oil (GC,RL) + 4qt dino = what?

[Ross]

I am must curious if 1 qt of a high ester synthetic such as RL or GC, plus 4 quarts of dino, would that give me something similar to "castrol startup oil" or a semisynthetic oil.

Would the 1 quart of ester based oil mix well with dino?

I have a few cars that only see minimal use each year and I would rather not use a full synthetic, but would like to use something with some esters in it.

What do you thinkg

 

[pitzel]

Esters are generally hydroscopic (absorb water). I think you might be served better by a HDEO.

 

[nel]

Give it a try. Some people have had good results with a blend that included Redline.
Havoline/Redline UOA
Redline/Motorcraft UOA

Sometimes, you get unanticipated consequences. In my case, I mixed 1 qt. Redline with 6 qts. of Castrol Syntec 10W40 in my wife's '97 BMW 328i. The UOA results were good, but the oil darkened so much so quickly that I changed the oil out early--concerned that something was wrong. Redline/Syntec 10W40 UOA

Having said this, I'm currently running on 3 qt. Syntec Blend/1.5 qt. GC in my truck and we'll see how that turns out in another 2 months or so.

 

[TallPaul]

I think nel's darkening oil blend may have been a cleaning effect from the ester.

Ester may be hydroscopic, but I think Redline is balanced with the appropriate additives to prevent problems from any hydroscopic tendency of the base oil.

 

[Thatwouldbegreat]

This idea of mixing Redline and a decent conventional oil seems like the best way to make a 'Synthetic Blend'.

If the car is not valuable enough to deserve Redline , or driven hard enough to need Redline...then Redline may be a great brew for daily drivers.

I'm trying:

-Redline 10W-40 and VSOT/ LC20/ FP60 in a BMW 325es

-Mobil 1 0W-20 and VSOT/ LC20/ FP60 in a 2004 Honda Element

-Mobil 1 EP 5w30 and VSOT/ LC20/ FP60 in two 2005 Subaru Outbacks

Perhaps I'll try:

-Mobil 1 0W-20 with a quart of Redline 5W-20 and VSOT/ LC20/ FP60 in the 2004 Honda Element

-Mobil 1 EP 5w30 with a quart of Redline 5w30 and VSOT/ LC20/ FP60 in one of the 2005 Subaru Outbacks

-Trop Artic 5w30 with a quart of Redline 5w30 and VSOT/ LC20/ FP60 in a 1996 Chevy Corsica after I finish the Auto-RX treatment

-Trop Artic 10W-30 with a quart of Redline 10W-30 and VSOT/ LC20/ FP60 in an 1996 Subaru Legacy after I finish the Auto-RX treatment

-And Chevron Delo 15w40 with a quart of Redline 15w40 and VSOT/ LC20/ FP60 in a 2005 Chevy Silverado Duramax

Obviously , I drank the BITOG Kool-Aid. But what do you guys think of these experiments?

 

[427Z06]

TallPaul, I think someone just took the "BlendMeister" title away from you.

 

[TallPaul]

Wait a minute. Here is what I have in my wife's Aerostar right now:

Initial fill of NAPA Synthetic (3.5 qts 10w30 and 0.5 qt 15w40) mixed with half a quart Redline 10w40. But where it really gets interesting is the top up as this van uses a quart about every 1300 miles. Top up went like this:
1 quart NAPA Synthetic with a couple oz Synpower Oil Treatment mixed in
1 quart Synpower 5w40
8 oz Durablend 10w40
8 oz Schaeffer 132 Moly EP Oil Treatment
8 oz Pennzoil Synthetic SL 5w30
Since my records show 3 qts and 10 oz of topping up, there is 18 ounces unaccounted for in this list. Oh yeah, a couple ounces lawnmower oil that would not fit in the mower. A couple ounces Citgo Ultralife 10w30, and a few ounces of empty oil bottle drippings were also added.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Why not just get Startup/Syntec Blend or Clean 7500? I'm totally befuddled by the affinity for home brews.

 

[Thatwouldbegreat]

quote:

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Originally posted by Audi Junkie:
Why not just get Startup/Syntec Blend or Clean 7500? I'm totally befuddled by the affinity for home brews.

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That's how I felt.

But once I experienced the difference that adding VSOT/LC20/FP60 made... then I stopped buying into 'don't disturb the carefully balanced oil basestock and additive formulation'.

 

[JohnBrowning]

GC would not be consider a high ester content oil. It has some ester content but it is not a major poprtion of the base stock as I understand it. Redline,Motul,Fuchs Titan, Neo,Synergen all have large portions of their stock as ester content with some of them haveiong 50%-100% ester content depending on wich formula you are talking about.

 

[fred0803]

Hygroscopic not hydroscopic. Remember your chemistry?

 

[Steelhead]

poor Aero, crankcase belly ache from oil curds

 

[fuel tanker man]

It does appear that a quart of Redline in some decent dino oil seems to work very well. The only thing is that we really don't have much (in any) evidence that the dinos wouldn't have done just as well on their own.

Dan

 

[goodvibes]

I believe that Redline uses mostly or all more expensive Polyesters with PAO which are not very Hygroscopic. Most other ester base oils have a high diester content whch easily absorb moisture.

 

[TallPaul]

quote:

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Originally posted by fuel tanker man:
It does appear that a quart of Redline in some decent dino oil seems to work very well.

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And I believe has some cleaning effect to remove deposits from the engine.