Any issues with a home-made oil mix?

[jasno999]

I have some leaky seals on my 1998 Subaru Forester. I think it is the valve cover gasket but at this point it could be some leakage at the main seal- just don't know.

Long story short this started in the summer and I used some of the additives that helps reduce leaks and prevents blow-by. Since then I have been using cheap conventional oil from Walmart. Recently the leakage has gotten a bit worse.

So now I am thinking about doign a new mix. Half synthetic, half conventional with the additive that helps reduce leakage and blow-by.

I was going to mix the following:

- 1 qt. Amsoil 0W30
- 1 qt. Mobil 1 Synthetic 0W40
- 1 qt. Mobil 1 Synthetic 0W20
- 1 qt conventional pennzoil 5W30
- 0.4-0.8 qt additive.


Would this mix cause any issues?

 

[hate2work]

Frankenmix lives

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Don't mix it, blend it.

 

[drivewaytech]

Are you creating this mix to use up leftover quarts of oil, or do you think that this mix will help repair a bad gasket? I have no idea if this mix would be harmful or beneficial to your motor, but I would try a quality high mileage oil such as Maxlife before anything else. Other remedies are oil dry where you park the car or a local mechanic.

 

[sicko]

How sure are you about the source of this leak? The '98 Subaru Forester is known for having head gasket issues develop. If this is the case then you might be able to get Subaru of America to help you with the matter as long as you followed their recall and recommendations (basically using the Subaru conditioner in the coolant). As long as you followed that they extended the HG warranty, however I don't remember how far they extended it (10 years, 1xx,xxx miles?). The vehicle is over 10 years old now so they may or may not still respect the HG warranty, but if the HG is in fact the problem then it's worth at least looking into

-sicko

 

[StevieC]

Nope... My dad who has a van with over 300,000KM on it running with no oil burning does this sort of stuff all the time. Collects whatever he can find and puts it in... Sleep Easy

 

[Dave Hess]

How about just replacing the old leaky seals/gasket with new ones ?

 

[FrankN4]

I called one of the oil companies concerning an idea I had about blending to get a custom viscosity and HTHS. They told me it was OK to blend oils within the same group but different viscosity's to get a custom viscosity. They said there could be problems with blending oils of different groups, especially blending gp III and gp IV. When I asked why they answered it was because of "chemistry conflicts." I am not sure what chemistry conflicts means but there is an old thread somewhere where it is mentioned that some gp IV oils use a gp III as carrier for the add package. I suppose that could be upset.

 

[jldcol]

Why the 1 quart of dino in this mix? Do you need it for that additive, for solvancy, or some other reason? 0w oils I think are better than group 3, (can you make 0w oils out of group 3?), so that dino quart really lowers the average here. Didn't mention additive, intentional?,so can't comment on relation to oil mix. I also wonder if this is a left over frankenmix or something more purposeful that you are going for.

 

[Pablo]

Sounds irrational.

Q: Why do they call it mobile?

A: Because it's always on the road!

(that was humor)

 

[FrankN4]

Originally Posted By: jldcol
Why the 1 quart of dino in this mix? Do you need it for that additive, for solvancy, or some other reason? 0w oils I think are better than group 3, (can you make 0w oils out of group 3?), so that dino quart really lowers the average here. Didn't mention additive, intentional?,so can't comment on relation to oil mix. I also wonder if this is a left over frankenmix or something more purposeful that you are going for.


Valvoline and Pennzoil have 0W oils in their Synpower and Platinum line and they are assumed/accused/believed/reported/thought to be group III.

 

[jldcol]

I thought as a rule of thumb that 0w oils would have to be at least group 4, so I guess some thumbs are thinner than others. I thought SM 10w oils would be all group2/2+ and the 5w oils likely group3, at least mostly. If it's the case for just the 2 mentioned then maybe my thumb is batting about 80%, if pen oil is indicator of all SOPUS then maybe only 65% right.

 

[FrankN4]

I believe all the oil companies that make conventional(gp II) oils have a conventional 5W-20 and 5w30. I think most of the gp III folk have the 0W oils. I notice that Amsoil does not have a 0W in their XL(gp III) line.

When in doubt you can go to a brand web and look under conventional, semi or blends, and synthetic.

 

[PT1]

go to walmart and get some maxlife syn blend

 

[jasno999]

Awsome I will let you guys know how it turns out.

 

[jasno999]

Valvoline 5W20 is like water coming out of the bottle. IT was amazing.

 

[OMCWankel]

I agree with StevieC on this, just do it and sleep easy!

Us Mixologists are a misunderstood breed here on BITOG!