The reason I mix oils!

[charbaby]

Long before discovering BITOG, I mixed oils only when I had several straggler qts hanging around. Even longer ago, I mixed oils as a way to keep my beater cars in decent shape when I really had no money to speak of. I'd use any oil I could get just to do oil changes on my 68 LeSabre or 69 Biscayne. For an OCI, I've used as many as 5 different brands of oil each being a different weight(I've made these statements in the past). So, on and off, I've been mixing oils for better than 30 years and never an oil related engine issue.

Fast forward to today, I still mix oils but for a completely different reason. For example: In the 70's, 80's & 90's when I did buy oil, I would buy on sale a case or two of one brand and use it til I needed more oil. As I stated above, I mixed straggler qts(different brands) often but mostly used the same brands at one time til I had more straggler qts. And just to make a note here, I never used synthetic oil ever!

Now, after discovering BITOG(around '04-'05) and the Product Rebate, Sales, Promo section, I have used this to my advantage and while shopping, I look for deals. Today, I have a stash like so many BITOG'ers with so many different brands, weights, syn's and dino's. Now considering that in the past, I never used syn's, I feel that today, having so many oils, that mixing a few qts of syn in with my dino, that Im making my own blend. I'll often mix as many a 3 syn w/2 dino but, usually it's visa-versa. I don't think that Im going all over the map with oils here and Im not trying to outthink the oil engineers and scientist, Im just trying to give my vehicles a consistant blend of what I have in my oil stash and the fact that I would never have used or purchaced synthetics anyway until discovering BITOG. I don't buy syn/blends as I just don't know what % of syn is mixed in nor do I know what the base oil group is or consist of. They don't seem to be any bargan as their too much of an unknown. I must add though that, I'll buy a synblend oil on a closeout shelf if the price is a steel for any oil, but typicaly don't go looking for them. I'll buy a 15W40(cheap) for my old Firebird but usually use 10W30 and I won't buy 20W50 as I just don't have anything that I can use it in unless maybe and only maybe if the 20W50 is next to FREE and/or I can mix it with something like 5W20.

Enough said for now but I'd like others oppinions here! For those who do mix, please give some feedback on what you mix, do you only mix dinos, syns and dinos, weitht/grades? Please chime in Could make for an interesting disscussion.

 

[The_Jeff]

My odd syns I reserve for small garden equipment. Save my dino stragglers for topoffs. Try and make a complete change start out unmixed even if it gets topped off with something different later. Very rarely have the same exaxt oil in two consecutive times, meaning it mixes with the leftovers in the motor.

Beaters I'm flipping, I'm talking $300 cars, get mongrel mixes. I have shelves full of single quarts that need organizing somehow. Even worse I have gallon jugs with about 1/2 quart remaining! My concern in winter is pour point depressants clashing and not working. Probably unfounded.

If I mix I try to keep it "in the family": Formula shell with PP, M1 and superflo.

 

[demarpaint]

I started mixing oil when I started changing brands grabbing oils on sale. Unlike others I feel there can actually be an advantage to mixing oils, and put stray qts to use. While some say, for example, adding something like Redline oil to say 4 qts of a conventional oil dilutes the Red Line and is a waste, my feeling is it enhances the conventional oil. Now I would only do this in a beater that I want to tweak the oil, in my favorite vehicle I would run the 5 qts of Red Line oil. Another thing is many oils come 12 qts to a case. If you have a vehicle that holds 5 qts you'll have 2 qts left over from the case. In my Red Line expample those 2 qts added to a good conventional oil during the winter would make a super blend, especially in one of my less favorite vehicles.

During the winter I would consider mixing PP with Pennzoil Conventional in my beater as well, especially if I had a few stray qts around. Yes the PP is weakened by the Pennzoil Conventional, but the Pennzoil Conventional is improved by the PP, and I'm certain a 50/50 mix is better than any synthetic blend I can buy. Then if I did my homework and shopped for the best deals and rebates it will be cheaper than a blend.

I can go on and on, but IMO in certain applications it is beneficial for me.

I'm wondering if there is any downside to mixing Red Line 0W20 with their 5W20 for a NY winter? LOL

 

[CourierDriver]

In the early 60's, way b 4 the Internet, my Dad had a Western Auto Store, we used 20 wgt in winter and 30wgt in summer, we did not have any engine failures. Thru the years I have mixed oils in lawnmowers only. No problems there either. In my cars, I used Havoline forever, 10w40 and no problems, yep those were the days of the 3k oci. Move forward now, I use Mobil 1 10w30 , 10k oci now. All is well with the 318 v8, 2002 e350 van at 203,000 miles. I'm not a oil junkie, no cases in the basement or filters, just buy it when I need it. I don't have any complaints on any other oils out there, keeping it simple, life is short, oil is a hobby I just read about now for fun on here............

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I've done mixing in the past but MOST of them broke the oil. The only mixes that worked recently was 1qt m1r4t on top of 10w30 synpower fill that wasnt running well, and m1r4t in other mobil synthetics. In dino, 1qt mc5k 10w-40 on top of a fill of too thin 5w30 mc5k worked better in the subaru than any other single fill. What broke oil recently? - putting a pint of castrol syntec 10w-40 on top of too thin syntec 5w30 (a big surprise!) and 1/ qt of some old Havoline 10w40 Sl on a ready-to-dump and spent fill of dealer mobil drive clean. Any mongrel fills using 2 or 3 or more leftover brands never ran smooth in the past. Dont know about wear issues being impacted, but if the engine ran like doggie doo - then out comes the oil. Engines when running well should be almost "electric motor smooth", anything else that induces "odd order vibration harmonics" is wrong and usually sticky rings and indicate bad oiling and varnishing of the upper piston and a broken EP adds. I'd say in conclusion, if you made a mix and gave it a week to sort out the additisation, and its running perceptively well, the fill is probably serviceable. The Modern packs with the 50 - 90 ppm boron are finely balanced to beat ep friction in the valvetrain (per patent info I read) and shouldnt be messsed with.

 

[CourierDriver]

wow,,now thats a lot of data there,,,Im going outside and throw snowballs at the cows..........maybe drink some mmo,,lol

 

[pbm]

Like the OP, I would mix oil brands because of odd quarts left over from buying 12 qt. cases. I used to feel that staying in the same brand family was the best way to mix but I'm not so sure now...If I were to mix Pennzoil Platinum with Pennzoil Conventional or Mobil 1 with Mobil 5000 they can have totally different additive packages which don't mix well despite being from the same manufacturer. It probably would be better to know which brand additive package is used when mixing oils. What do you guys think of this theory?

 

[Cutehumor]

I've been mixing oils since I started changing oil myself in 1997. I haven't lost an engine yet. You mention the good ole days of FAR oil. How am I going to know how good the oil is unless they bring the FAR oil back?