Frankenbrews - Dos and Don'ts?

[Triton_330]

Okay, so, I see that alot of people on here seem to be comfortable with throwing leftovers into a jug and when it fills up they'll use it in an older car. Obviously, it is okay to do this, but with assumed exceptions - and here is where I ask, what are those exceptions?

It's okay to mix oils of different weights, but some say to try to keep the same brand, and yet others I've seen say that you can mix the same weight between different brands. Again, IMO, I don't see what would be wrong with mixing both weights and brands, seeing though, that it's going in an older car. Has anyone anything to say about "additive clash" and whatnot? Or is that just not true?

And, one more thing. On another level, what about mixing synthetics of one brand with conventionals of another? Would, say, RP not mix with, say, PYB? Or M1 with QSGB?

 

[volk06]

Mix away. Mix any brand with any weight and you'll be alright. Most oils today are fully compatible with each other. Others will say don't play the chemist but I've never seen or heard of an engine dying from a frankenbrew.

 

[Lead Shoes]

Technically you should be able to blend any SN oil with another SN and be ok, IIRC (correct me if I'm wrong) but part of the SN cert is compatibility with other "like" oils.

I drove a civic that burnt a quart every 800 miles for 15k and I added whatever dino/syn quart I had left over in my stash with no problems, I also mixed 40 and 20 weights together as well as some 30 just because.

 

[daves87rs]

Never heard of a car going on it yet....

 

[dparm]

API requires that any approved oil must be miscible with another, but that doesn't make it optimal.

I only mix when it's the same chemistry (i.e. the same manufacturer and same line of oil).

 

[toneydoc]

There are thousands of people who stop by auto part stores every day and have some employee pick out a quart or two of oil and add it to there cars. It never hurts a thing most likely. At least they are not running them low and causing some damage.

My frankenbrew jug usually goes into my mowers. They are air cooled and get oil changed yearly with leftover oil.

The oils of today are compatible among brands and weights. Just look at the syn blends that are available and quite a few people mix their own on this forum.

 

[Subdued]

I keep a jug of frankenoil for the specific purpose of topping off my oil burning Chrysler 3.8.

I goes like this:

Change oil in Yaris with 3.9Qt out of 5 Qt jug. Add remenants into Frankenoil container. Top off piece-of-excrement T&C with frankenoil.

I put so many miles on the Yaris and so little on the van that I'm at the point of total equilibrium.

 

[dave1251]

Do's mix any API certified PCMO.

Dont's do not mix any thing into your brew such as ATF.

 

[slo town]

Originally Posted By: dparm
API requires that any approved oil must be miscible with another, but that doesn't make it optimal.

I only mix when it's the same chemistry (i.e. the same manufacturer and same line of oil).


This.

 

[fdcg27]

The optimal method would be to use oils with similar add packs.
SOPUS + M1 would be okay by this standard, while M1 or SOPUS + Valvoline would not be.
I don't think that basestocks matter, since they're a blend anyway.
Add packs may not matter either, since there are at least a few UOAs in that section of mixes of the most dissimilar oils you could imagine that look okay.
I don't mix as a matter of practice, but if I had a number of odd quarts laying around that exceeded what I could reasonably need for the OPEs or that were of grades unsuited to them, I'd probably just mix them and run them for an OCI in one of the older cars.

 

[CATERHAM]

Mix away, all motor oils with the exception of one or two race oils are totally miscible without issue.
That said I like to at least keep oils of the same grade together so I know what approximate viscosity I'm adding or using in an engine. I'll mix different grades only just prior to adding the oil to an engine.

 

[skellyman]

Originally Posted By: dave1251
Do's mix any API certified PCMO.

Dont's do not mix any thing into your brew such as ATF.



Odd , you posted in another thread NOT to mix oils ? So which is it ?

 

[outdoorsman310]

i put just about any kind of oil in my mazda b2200 last summer. 10-30, 10-40, 15-40, 5-30, maybe 5-20, oil stabilizer stuff, and sae30. the engine went out. it had just about no compression. it failed from the previous owners attemted rebuild.
I would not recommend mixing them and do not recommend going out of the manufacturers viscosity rating no matter how many miles are on it. i think its ok to mix to get out of a jam and i would probably run a quart of other stuff if i had nothing else but dont like dong it.

 

[Triton_330]

Originally Posted By: outdoorsman310
i put just about any kind of oil in my mazda b2200 last summer. 10-30, 10-40, 15-40, 5-30, maybe 5-20, oil stabilizer stuff, and sae30. the engine went out. it had just about no compression. it failed from the previous owners attemted rebuild.
I would not recommend mixing them and do not recommend going out of the manufacturers viscosity rating no matter how many miles are on it. i think its ok to mix to get out of a jam and i would probably run a quart of other stuff if i had nothing else but dont like dong it.


Well, considering it failed due to the bad rebuild, I'd say oil had nothing to do with it.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: Triton_330
Okay, so, I see that alot of people on here seem to be comfortable with throwing leftovers into a jug and when it fills up they'll use it in an older car. Obviously, it is okay to do this, but with assumed exceptions - and here is where I ask, what are those exceptions?

It's okay to mix oils of different weights, but some say to try to keep the same brand, and yet others I've seen say that you can mix the same weight between different brands. Again, IMO, I don't see what would be wrong with mixing both weights and brands, seeing though, that it's going in an older car. Has anyone anything to say about "additive clash" and whatnot? Or is that just not true?

And, one more thing. On another level, what about mixing synthetics of one brand with conventionals of another? Would, say, RP not mix with, say, PYB? Or M1 with QSGB?



Additive clash is an invented phenomenon and doesn't actually exist.
In order for an oil to be API approved it has to be mix able with every other API approved oil.
And mixing between brands and grades may not be optimal however it's not going to hurt anything.
In fact the best wear numbers I ever saw on a used oil analysis we from running a frankenbrew of 4+ brands and grades.
So mix away. No harm done.

 

[virginoil]

Originally Posted By: SLO_Town
Originally Posted By: dparm
API requires that any approved oil must be miscible with another, but that doesn't make it optimal.

I only mix when it's the same chemistry (i.e. the same manufacturer and same line of oil).


This.


Most intelligent comments in the thread IMO

 

[A_Harman]

If you are trying to clean out partial quarts of different brands and viscosities, and they are all API certified oils, it's OK to do a frankenblend for an isolated OCI.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Mix away, all motor oils with the exception of one or two race oils are totally miscible without issue.

That's correct, but mixing still gives me the willies.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
If you are trying to clean out partial quarts of different brands and viscosities, and they are all API certified oils, it's OK to do a frankenblend for an isolated OCI.


I agree. I used Frankenbrews a few times over the years in beaters, w/o issue. It's a great way to get rid of widow and orphan qts. or partially filled bottles of oil.

 

[Hootbro]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint

I agree. I used Frankenbrews a few times over the years in beaters, w/o issue. It's a great way to get rid of widow and orphan qts. or partially filled bottles of oil.


+1

I do the same thing. I ether use the mixed brew in my OPE or throw it in the next vehicle oil change when I have a full quart saved up.