NOW what do I do?

[axjohn]

I'm a notoriously happy user of FP60 and LC. But, I've also purchased VSOT and SX-Up. I have a stash of GC (4 cases), TropArtic 10-30, Havoline, Chrevron Supreme and various grades of Mobil 1 (0-40, 0-30, 5-40, etc.). Last time I counted (and before I bought the latest case of CS), I had about 100 quarts or so of oil.

My dilemma? I only have one car. So the questions are:

1. Which oils would benefit from which additive? I suspect from previous posts that GC won't need anything, and that Mobil 1 will need EVERYTHING.
2. Can the additives be mixed (eg, LC and VSOT, LC and SX-UP, VSOT and SX-UP)?

And yes, this is a serious question. Short of buying another car or two, I have to figure out how to use all of the additives judiciosly.

TIA

BTW, this could theoretically be included in some sort of FAQ

 

[axjohn]

is there no one who has a suggestion for which oils I should use which additives in? And which of the above mentioned oils i don't need to additize?

 

[uconn1150]

Quite honestly, you already have really good oils. Of course, you can use the LC in any of them. What type of engine do you have and what is its condition?

 

[04SpecV]

I'm not sure why you bought all that stuff if you didn't have a specific need for it in the first place..

Do you have any baseline UOAs of the car you want to use these products in?


Who says mobil1 needs "Everything" anyways?

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

Hey Ax!

Sounds like "Compulsive Purchase-itus"!

Kidding, of course. How long have you been building your stash? You didn't say, but what's your earliest grade?

Seriously, though, even if you change every 3 months regardless of miles on the car, that's a 5 year supply. Aren't the upgrades to modern oils (SF to SG to SH to SJ to SL and now to SM) leaving you in a position to always have an outdated stash?

If you wanted my two cents worth (maybe not), I just changed out to Havoline SM 5W-30, 5 OZ of VSOT and an OEM filter from my dealer. I was looking for a low-cost alternative to M-1, and all is quite well. Motor is smooth, the low-temp knoch at startup is gone, the oil was 1.50/qt, and, I hope, the Havoline is a decent-enough dino to run for 3 or 4 thousand miles without sludging.

O4's remark, :Who says mobil1 needs "Everything" anyways?" isn't a bad point. I've run Mobil 1 in this motor for 165,000 miles (3-4 thousand mile OCI) with no additives for 8 years and it's like new inside, no varnish, no visible wear to the lobes, and the thing might use a quart every 3000 miles if the whole 3 or 4K is high speed highway driving. Until the last two OCI's (when I ran into the BITOG gang) that was all Frams with a few exceptions. Might be I shouldn't tamper with what has worked. It would be nice to put a stop to the $30.00 oil change, though.

Got any Havoline in your stash, or some VSOT ya wanna sell, Ax?

 

[axjohn]

Thanks for the replies.
Nope, not worried about out of date oil. I have both SL and SM, so I'll not have a problem since I won't be purchasing any "new" vehicles, only 'new to me' cars, 2000-2005s over the next couple of years. Keeping my 1995 Saab 900, and plan to buy a small truck and a 'nice' luxo-type car in the next 2 to 3 years. That will give me three vehicles to maintain.

Plus I have several brothers and sisters that I might be able to change oil for. So, the oil probably won't last more than 3 years.

I drive about 20k/yr and I don't do really extended drains--5k period. I live in a relatively hostile SoCal environment (the Inland Empire) where it gets EXTREMELY HOT, and sometimes gets below freezing.

And since I got all of the oil at discount prices, it's a small price to pay for my 'hobby'.

Of course, I'm not going to buy any more oil , except for some of the really good deal Penz Platinum.

Then I can move on to another hobby/obsession!

I just wanted to make sure to optimize which additives in which oils.

BTW, can Lube Control be used at the same time as the VSOT or SX-up?

 

[axjohn]

Plus, who can resist a GREAT DEAL?

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

See the items for sale section, you will get a lot of takers.

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

Me, I'd take it one additive at a time. Dunno if it would HURT anything to run multiple additives, but if the experiments are to be run, I'd not want to mess up the "control" by adding more than the one additive, or even by using a different motor oil/filter while testing additives. Any change in the chain affects the outcome, not necessarily the different additive. I might even want to do a single short OCI with cheapo dino in between tests in order to "flush" the remnants of the last additive tried. Problem is, how to determine the "best" additive if you add two at once? And, if something does go hinky, which do you blame?

I know nothing of the chemistry of this stuff, understand, but if the goal is to identify the best additive for your situation, it makes sense to me to run each unto itself with the same motor oils, filters and do UOA, and really make a constructive exercise out of it.

But that's just me...

Am I right about any of this, you tester-types?

 

[glennc]

Okay, here's what I would do, all opinion based on a little bit of dangerous knowledge, speculation, and conjecture.

I'd mix the synthetic oils with the dinos to make a blend of the appropriate grade for each oil change. Depending on the amount of synth/dino you have, I would either do a 50/50 mix, or just put in a quart of synth at each change. If you're doing 50/50 I'd consider doing a quart of GC and a quart of M1 each time, since that would give you a good dose of esters in each oil change from the GC and presumably a heavy dose of all the advantages of synths.

For additives, I'd separate them into various types. VSOT and (I think, but I don't know this one so well) SX-Up are extreme-pressure and anti-wear fortifiers, so I'd add a dose of one or the other to each oil change, keeping in mind the viscosity alteration that will result. LC if I'm not mistaken is different, it keeps the oil fresh by adding anti-oxidants and possibly other additives that are consumed as the oil ages, making the oil last longer. I'd go ahead and add it as recommended along with the VSOT/SX-Up. FP is totally different, it goes in the fuel, so I'd use it regardless of what I was doing to the oil.

I don't know how much these various things will help - it sounds like you'll have a pretty good case of total oil overkill, but I don't think it can hurt anything. You'll have high ppm values of various anti-wear compounds, high anti-oxidant content (and whatever else LC does - hard to get a good answer on that), and you'll affect the viscosity of the mix somewhat - but in the end you'll have a good base oil blend with an odd-but-capable mix of additives, and I'd bet money it would work just fine.

Do some UOAs in the name of science, though, if you do something like this.

- Glenn

 

[axjohn]

Thanks, all!
Glennc, I used to live in Boulder; chances are we passed each other on the highway.

Here's my plan.
GC with and without LC, a little VSOT, and/or a little SX-up; won't mix one quart of it with anything.

I'll probably use more of the VSOT/SX-up in the Mobil blends, to beef up viscosity. Plus some LC.

Will use the "cheap" Chevron Supreme for Auto-RX and rinse cycles--at $.49/quart, can't beat it.

Will use the Havoline after the AutoRX rinses just to help seal reconditioning etc before swithching to the "full synthetics".

Will run the Trop-Artic in the same way I run the Mobil products.

My main point of this question was to generate a discussion about which oils can benefit most by the products available from site sponsors and others; maybe begin a discussion that could lead to an FAQ-type generality i.e., "in general, when using this oil, you might consider adding...." then work from there with UOA. At the cost of 1 used oil analyis I could just change the oil and filter in my car (4 quart sump plus 1 filter with CS = approx $4 oil change; with Trop Artic and Hav, about $6, with the Mobil SYNTHETIC products from$7.50 to $13. The most expensive change, of course, would be 4 quarts of GC plus filter, about $25. All approximations are without the cost of VSOT, SX-up, LC and FP60 factored in.

Maybe I'll have to become a 2006 site sponsor to make up for asking such a ______ question!!!

 

[m2200b]

There ought to be a support group section - "Oil Buyers Anayomous". That way chances of growing that stash to 200 would be less.

 

[tdimaniac]

my oba intro: my name is dave, i joined bitog in june and i now have 120 qts of oil in my garage. (well, to be totally truthful i actually moved some of it to a hard to access storage place under my bathroom sink).

 

[wiswind]

Unless you have one of those efficiency apartments where you sit on the toilet...and stir the soup on the stove.... You need therapy if you are storing motor oil under the bathroom sink.....