Switching between Amsoil & Redline?

[dailydriver]

Since their base stock molecular structures are radically different (and I'm guessing their add. packs are also), does anyone forsee any problems going from S2K 0w30 (in now) to Redline 10w30 or 5W-40 (this spring/summer change) and then back again next winter to Amsoil Euro 5W-40?? I'm thinking of this because I have 5qts. of Redline D4 that I cannot use, so I was going to exchange it for summer high vis, high HTHS oil and then use the slightly thinner case of Amsoil Euro next winter. Good plan, or once you go Redline, you can never look back (due to chemistry)???

 

[Blake Sobiloff]

Personally, I would not switch back and forth between brands simply because the add packs will always be working to displace whatever was in the previous OCI. Also, your engine probably retains a quart or two, so you're basically mixing the two oils in perpituity. It's fine when they're the same base oil and similar add packs, but it's not optimal when they aren't.

Are you going to cause any harm? No, but it won't be optimal.

 

[OriginHacker21]

Then switching from one brand different to the brand that was already in the engine - one should do a "flush" oil change? - To be optimal?

 

[JohnBrowning]

I agree with Pablo. You should not see any issue at all. Amsoils S2K and S3K formula's have a lot of ester content compared to their other products. I would suspect that you will not see much if any difference other then the fact that the used oil analysis of Amsoil will show higher then normal moly levels if it follows a Redline interval!

 

[Pablo]

This should be no problem at all. They are all mixed base oils. Admittedly Redline has more esters but, but this really wouldn't be a problem. Some folks dump in a qt of Redline into lots of brands of oils with not a lot of problems, so the small left over oil mixing will not cause any weird additive fun, either.

 

[shavenstringer]

Sound like a good plan to me. You shouldn't have any problems switching oils. I have used Redline and then switched back to M1 with no trouble.

 

[Steve S]

What does the oil container say on it?

 

[427Z06]

Do we have any idea how much ester content Amsoil's S2K, S3K formula's actually have?

 

[buster]

I hear people say S2k/3k contain more Esters but no one knows that for sure. Amsoil tech said it's mostly PAO. They do contain some esters but nothing near the amount RL has.

 

[Blake Sobiloff]

OriginHacker21, there is no device I know of that can flush all the old oil completely out of an engine. The only way I know how to do that is to disassemble it. That's not very practical, though.

So, like I said, in practice there isn't going to be any harm in regularly switching. However, if you're looking for an optimal solution you should not switch between brands or product lines once you find an oil that performs well in your application.