Any Harm in Switching Oil Brands?

[Gebo]

Originally Posted by LotI
I know the podcast...Lewis can be very opinionated and is set in his ways.

The only way to find find out if it happens in your car is to try it.


I have learned so much from his podcasts. He's all in for mobil oil, ain't he?
He has saved me a bunch of money on repairs. He is very opinionated
and I like that. I don't always agree with him but I know where he stands.
He has helped me with mechanic advice several times via email.

I'm not sure I agree with him in this "staying with one oil" and that is why I have made this
post.

I am interested in learning why it sometimes seems to happen.

 

[Dak27]

I've never had a single problem switching brands in any of the vehicles I've owned since the early 80's. I've only used big name brands and did my oil changes as per the recommendations in the owner's manuals.


I bought my first Semi Truck in 2015. And I heard a few other Truckers advise against switching brands, (Unless you were changing over to Rotella T!

) . So I was a bit hesitant to switch brands at first, but I've since switched brands 4 or 5 times, and other than a very slight change in consumption, -and we're talking about an extra 1/2 gallon or so over 15,000 miles, looking at the UOAs I've ran, there's very little to no difference in performance between brands.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted by Gebo

...
The only other BIG issue and I'm having it now is going from a Ti EP addpack to and oil that has the classic infinium Boron, Moly. The engine runs really coarse and noisy for like 1500 miles. then if will calm down. I really think these two packages are not compatible...

/quote]

ARCOgraphite, would you explain with a little more detail? You can PM if that works better for you.

Thanks!

That about all the detail I have

Sorry. I don't know the mechanism, but there is SOMETHING odd going on there

I would question someone from lubrizol or oronite or infinium.

They make the detergent and AW/ED packages, they might know.

Or Not.

A lot of times WE are the beta testers and the lab rats.

 

[Gebo]

ARCOgraphite,

I wasn't clear.

I meant what is Ti EP addpack? And if you can tell me, what oil did you change from and to?

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted by KGMtech
This is mostly BS. Change your oil brand every time and I wouldn't expect the engine to care one bit, assuming the oil changes all fit into the proper interval and include filter changes too.

The fallacy in your statement is you are one of hundreds of millions of car owners.

 

[DGXR]

The only thing I can think of to cause this relates to tribology. Every modern motor oil formula is designed to deposit a very thin protective layer on the contact surfaces of metal parts. This layer is intended to protect engine parts in the event of starvation, cold starts, failure of the liquid oil film, etc. When the oil brand is changed, the protective layer created by the previous formulation wears away while a new layer is created by the new oil brand formulation. I might be missing a few things but that's the basic idea. Could lead to increased oil consumption for a brief period as described by Marco620. This is why many experts recommend that you find a brand/viscosity that works for you and stick with it as much as possible. OTOH, many people switch brands constantly (e.g. running whatever is on sale that meets the spec) without any issues, for hundreds of thousands of miles. Personally, I would not switch brands willy-nilly. In the big picture it's probably nothing to worry about as long as you keep up with regular maintenance.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted by Gebo
ARCOgraphite,

I wasn't clear.

I meant what is Ti EP addpack? And if you can tell me, what oil did you change from and to?


That the oils formulated with TItanium compounds. Ep = extreme pressure anti wear during boundary lubrication like breaking through the oil film and rubbing, scraping.

Use to be Kendall, then Castrol Edge Now many use it.

May have been kendall to Mobil Clean and Castrol to Valvoline.

Now I cant recall!

 

[Railrust]

Originally Posted by 2015_PSD
The military does it all the time based upon who wins the contract and they run their vehicles harder than any of us ever will. With modern oils, there seems to be less and less differentiation between brands simply due to the certifications and specifications. I tend to run the same brand, but that is just me, switching will not cause oil consumption or leaks due to the switch, so do what makes you happy.

I think you hit the nail on the head, these oils all seem pretty similar nowadays due to the certification requirements right now.

 

[tiger862]

Once I find something that works in a certain vehicle I tend to stay with it.

 

[WylieCoyote]

I first noticed some possible brand-switch-related consumption on my '86 Civic Si (bought with 45,000 miles on it) when I switched it to Castrol GTX from whatever the dealership had been putting in it. It stopped after a few OCI, but was using an alarming amount of oil for a while.

But now that I'm thinking about it, this may be why my '15 Canyon consumes so much oil. It's been on a 5,000 miles OCI since new, and has periodically used enough oil to show "low" on the dipstick before the next OCI. I had been rotating it between PP and M1 5W-30. I've recently switched over to Castrol 5W-40 to see if it will slow down, but it's still consuming.

Maybe I'll just sit still with Castrol for a few OCI & see if it stops. Can't think of a logical reason why brand switching would cause consumption, but it may be worth a look.

 

[Gebo]

Originally Posted by WylieCoyote
I first noticed some possible brand-switch-related consumption on my '86 Civic Si (bought with 45,000 miles on it) when I switched it to Castrol GTX from whatever the dealership had been putting in it. It stopped after a few OCI, but was using an alarming amount of oil for a while.

But now that I'm thinking about it, this may be why my '15 Canyon consumes so much oil. It's been on a 5,000 miles OCI since new, and has periodically used enough oil to show "low" on the dipstick before the next OCI. I had been rotating it between PP and M1 5W-30. I've recently switched over to Castrol 5W-40 to see if it will slow down, but it's still consuming.

Maybe I'll just sit still with Castrol for a few OCI & see if it stops. Can't think of a logical reason why brand switching would cause consumption, but it may be worth a look.


That's a great idea. Let me know what you find out.

 

[dcd]

I'm a big fan of the podcast you mentioned. Louis and Brian both seem to be very knowledgeable and they don't accept outside advertisements. Only advertisements are for their own shop.

I will say though that I have had the same question about switching brands. I've been guilty of doing that, as it is hard to pass up a sale sometimes. I think I will try to pick something and stick with it. It would be nice if there was more info on which additive packs are incompatible and which brands use which.