Using different oils each time

[Spetz]

I've heard people say to stick to one oil.

Just wondering whether it's ok to use different oil types each oil change, on the assumption that they are fully synthetic and of the correct viscosity?
Basically, is it ok to buy what is on special each time, or should one oil be used?

 

[racer12306]

I think if you are trying to squeak every last mile out of an OCI, then you should pick an oil and stick with it.

If you aren't going crazy with the OCI it doesn't really matter. There are plenty of people that use whatever oil is on sale when their change is due.

 

[Eddie]

I'm of the idea that is best to pick one oil and stick with it unless a special reason arises. Frequently you hear people complaining about oil consumption which switching for an oil change or two. That indicated to me that wear patterns have changed. However; many people are always changing without any issues. I just pick one oil(PP)because that is what I believe gives me the best option for no problems. Ed

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I was trying to stick with QSUD on the forester and honda , it was great but still not clean enough ( showing stick timing chain tensioner on the Subie and inconsistent cylinder balance on the Honda. So I went to the VSP 2 changes ago, but now I see batch to batch variation in quality. So back to ?? Next Maybe 5w20 Pennzoil Ultra. I dint care about 0w "requirement".

 

[pbm]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
I was trying to stick with QSUD on the forester and honda , it was great but still not clean enough ( showing stick timing chain tensioner on the Subie and inconsistent cylinder balance on the Honda. So I went to the VSP 2 changes ago, but now I see batch to batch variation in quality. So back to ?? Next Maybe 5w20 Pennzoil Ultra. I dint care about 0w "requirement".


AG...What kind of "batch to batch variation in quality" are you seeing with Valvoline Synpower.?

 

[Hyde244]

Originally Posted By: Spetz
I've heard people say to stick to one oil.

Just wondering whether it's ok to use different oil types each oil change, on the assumption that they are fully synthetic and of the correct viscosity?
Basically, is it ok to buy what is on special each time, or should one oil be used?
Of course it is ok to switch oils every time, especially when considering what is on sale.

From my own anecdotal experience, I will flip between Castrol Edge, Pennzoil Platinum, and Pennzoil Ultra in my stash as I was able to buy each jug for $14 or less. That puts me $11 ahead of another person using dedicated M1 at $25 at each oil change.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: Spetz
I've heard people say to stick to one oil.

Just wondering whether it's ok to use different oil types each oil change, on the assumption that they are fully synthetic and of the correct viscosity?
Basically, is it ok to buy what is on special each time, or should one oil be used?



I've almost never run the same oil back to back and I've never had an oil related issue and every single engine I own is spotless inside. Not even a later of varnish.
I believe that using different brands at each oil change with keep an engine cleaner because of the different chemistries in action.
I can definitely understand the reasons for sticking with the same oil ever oil change however I have seen with my own eyes my engines are clean when alternating brands and grades,and my stash is acquired when the jugs are on special,so my wallet basically chooses what oil is being used at oil change time.
All my vehicles run into astronomical mileages because I rarely sell my vehicles once purchased and up until now alternating brands hasn't cost me any engines,they all get up to and pass 300k with ease,and aren't consuming nor burning any oil yet.
So I must be doing something right.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: Spetz
I've heard people say to stick to one oil.

Just wondering whether it's ok to use different oil types each oil change, on the assumption that they are fully synthetic and of the correct viscosity?
Basically, is it ok to buy what is on special each time, or should one oil be used?


Why???

 

[Rand]

arco after posts like this I find it hard to take you seriously.

Are you sure the VCM sticking isnt open loop operation and your WOT blasts on cold engine you use to fix the "sticking VCM" havent created the engine noise.. I mean look at your track record on engines. with all this stuff happening to you.. you seem to have the worst luck even on engines not making it to 100k.


What does motor oil have to do with cylinder balance?

What is STICK timing chain tensioner? Its hydraulic any oil is going to work the same

I have the same engine. It clanks for 3 seconds on cold start and 1sec on hot restart.

What exactly does the sticking do.. and how can you tell thats whats going on?

how exactly can you tell differences between batches with your butt dyno? I doubt they can with million dollar equipment at a lab somewhere.


Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
I was trying to stick with QSUD on the forester and honda , it was great but still not clean enough ( showing stick timing chain tensioner on the Subie and inconsistent cylinder balance on the Honda. So I went to the VSP 2 changes ago, but now I see batch to batch variation in quality. So back to ?? Next Maybe 5w20 Pennzoil Ultra. I dint care about 0w "requirement".




What residue exactly are you seeing form MG oils?
you dont think the engineers at oil companies would find this too?

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Just a Quality LL synthetic will do the job. Better than 15w40 Fleet oil. STay away from Mg compound dps. Nasty residue.


What the heck is dps in that quote?
I'd say you were trolling but maybe there is a better explanation?

 

[Hollow]

Except when I load up on a good sale, I pretty much run a different oil each time, based up sales.

At 135,000 my Subaru has seen:
Castrol conventional
Valvoline conventional and blend
Mobil conventional
Pennzoil conventional and synthetic
Quaker State conventional and synthetic
G-Oil synthetic

No oil related issues to report. I prefer SOPUS products and have stocked up on their sales lately.

 

[330indy]

I asked a BMW CCA tech (Mike Miller) and he stated that additive packages mix and create less than optimum results between different brands of oil. That is one reason to not mix oils together in a given OCI.

Not sure about a drain and fill / change to another brand. It is hard to get every bit of the old oil out at an oil change.

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: 330indy
I asked a BMW CCA tech (Mike Miller) and he stated that additive packages mix and create less than optimum results between different brands of oil. That is one reason to not mix oils together in a given OCI.

That's his opinion but it has no basis in fact.
Oils brands have varying spec's, with some more impressive than others. So if you stick with an oil brand with the least impressive spec's how is that optimum? And would it not be better to add oil that has the most impressive spec's to the less impressive oil to improve it? I think so.

Does BMW say to stick to one LL-01 authorized oil and use nothing else? No. In fact you can run a different LL-01 oil for every oil change or even mix different LL-01 oils of different brands.
And that applies to every auto manufacture as long as the oils you are mixing meet their spec's.

 

[edhackett]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Originally Posted By: 330indy
I asked a BMW CCA tech (Mike Miller) and he stated that additive packages mix and create less than optimum results between different brands of oil. That is one reason to not mix oils together in a given OCI.

That's his opinion but it has no basis in fact.
Oils brands have varying spec's, with some more impressive than others. So if you stick with an oil brand with the least impressive spec's how is that optimum? And would it not be better to add oil that has the most impressive spec's to the less impressive oil to improve it? I think so.


It's not always true. An example being that if you mix an oil with 60 ppm tri-nuclear moly(50 ppm to be effective) 1:1 with an oil without moly to "improve" the other oil you end up with 30 ppm moly. You didn't improve the other oil, you lost the benefit of the moly completely.

Ed

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted By: Rand
arco after posts like this I find it hard to take you seriously.

Are you sure the VCM sticking isnt open loop operation and your WOT blasts on cold engine you use to fix the "sticking VCM" havent created the engine noise.. I mean look at your track record on engines. with all this stuff happening to you.. you seem to have the worst luck even on engines not making it to 100k.


What does motor oil have to do with cylinder balance?

What is STICK timing chain tensioner? Its hydraulic any oil is going to work the same

I have the same engine. It clanks for 3 seconds on cold start and 1sec on hot restart.

What exactly does the sticking do.. and how can you tell thats whats going on?

how exactly can you tell differences between batches with your butt dyno? I doubt they can with million dollar equipment at a lab somewhere.


Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
I was trying to stick with QSUD on the forester and honda , it was great but still not clean enough ( showing stick timing chain tensioner on the Subie and inconsistent cylinder balance on the Honda. So I went to the VSP 2 changes ago, but now I see batch to batch variation in quality. So back to ?? Next Maybe 5w20 Pennzoil Ultra. I dint care about 0w "requirement".




What residue exactly are you seeing form MG oils?
you dont think the engineers at oil companies would find this too?

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Just a Quality LL synthetic will do the job. Better than 15w40 Fleet oil. STay away from Mg compound dps. Nasty residue.


What the heck is dps in that quote?
I'd say you were trolling but maybe there is a better explanation?
Motor oil that tend to varnish rings (stick ring set) will affect cyl-cyl POWER balance. Hard metal compound dp (MgXx)will leave hot spot residue in the CC that may cause autoignition.Ive come to accept that the cold knock of a few seconds on the forester is due to the oil filter being emptied overnight. Longer duration noise Ill chalk up to stuck tensioners due to varnishing . The second batch of VSP didnt allow a smooth running engine as nicely as the first batch - Both cars. Soory, I have only a few seconds to type a response at work so my posts are not edited for clarity or read-ability.

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Originally Posted By: Rand
arco after posts like this I find it hard to take you seriously.

Are you sure the VCM sticking isnt open loop operation and your WOT blasts on cold engine you use to fix the "sticking VCM" havent created the engine noise.. I mean look at your track record on engines. with all this stuff happening to you.. you seem to have the worst luck even on engines not making it to 100k.


What does motor oil have to do with cylinder balance?

What is STICK timing chain tensioner? Its hydraulic any oil is going to work the same

I have the same engine. It clanks for 3 seconds on cold start and 1sec on hot restart.

What exactly does the sticking do.. and how can you tell thats whats going on?

how exactly can you tell differences between batches with your butt dyno? I doubt they can with million dollar equipment at a lab somewhere.


Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
I was trying to stick with QSUD on the forester and honda , it was great but still not clean enough ( showing stick timing chain tensioner on the Subie and inconsistent cylinder balance on the Honda. So I went to the VSP 2 changes ago, but now I see batch to batch variation in quality. So back to ?? Next Maybe 5w20 Pennzoil Ultra. I dint care about 0w "requirement".




What residue exactly are you seeing form MG oils?
you dont think the engineers at oil companies would find this too?

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Just a Quality LL synthetic will do the job. Better than 15w40 Fleet oil. STay away from Mg compound dps. Nasty residue.


What the heck is dps in that quote?
I'd say you were trolling but maybe there is a better explanation?
Motor oil that tend to varnish rings (stick ring set) will affect cyl-cyl POWER balance. Hard metal compound dp (MgXx)will leave hot spot residue in the CC that may cause autoignition.Ive come to accept that the cold knock of a few seconds on the forester is due to the oil filter being emptied overnight. Longer duration noise Ill chalk up to stuck tensioners due to varnishing . The second batch of VSP didnt allow a smooth running engine as nicely as the first batch - Both cars. Soory, I have only a few seconds to type a response at work so my posts are not edited for clarity or read-ability.


Do you mind tearing down either engine to verify your hypothesis?

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Yes.
If it isnt gasoline related(dirty FI) or a lossy spark, varnished rings are next on the list. If running an oil ,cylinder power balance is consitently off - i'll chalk it up to the oil by deductive reasoning if when trying a different brand "fixes" the issue. No need for teardown. Ive Seen varnised and stuck ring on many engine teardowns through the years. Sometimes it was unavoidable due to poor break-in at the start.

but Ive been tricked by leaky a LIM in the past.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: 330indy
I asked a BMW CCA tech (Mike Miller) and he stated that additive packages mix and create less than optimum results between different brands of oil. That is one reason to not mix oils together in a given OCI.

Not sure about a drain and fill / change to another brand. It is hard to get every bit of the old oil out at an oil change.



Yet every used oil analysis we have here at bitog where a frankenbrew of various oils was used were great as far as wear metals and beat the universal averages.
So if mixing oils is so bad the data bitog has acquired to the contrary must be anomalous,every one of them.

I've found in my experience that great mechanics know very little about oil,and they seem able to misinform everyone they talk to because people think they should know about oil,which they don't.
I know some great mechanics that can fix anything with moving parts however even the greenest bitog newb is more informed about oil and the chemistry involved then these gifted mechanics are.
Good mechanics aren't chemists or chemical engineers therefore unless they actually dig for info they will know very little about oil.

 

[GaleHawkins]

I think at one point years ago perhaps additive packs of different brands may have conflicted.

Any maker that put out the same API/weight specs as others and the additives fought with add packs of other brands would discover they had sales/legal issues.

It would be interesting to read where any lab had found a chemical issue with mixing motor oil with equal API specs from different makers.

 

[bchannell]

With no scientific data to back it up, I just find it hard to believe that the minor amount of oil left over on each oil change, that it would cause any sort of chemical imbalance problems. I mean look at things like OPE that get steady diets of all kinds of different oils, from junk to wonder juice and they all run forever. Cars are a much more pleasant environment and oil leads a much better life in them. As long as you stick with a quality major brand I just can't imagine you'd tell a whole lot of difference. I know there are those who can tell by the seat of their pants, but I'm not one of them.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Only thing I can tell is maybe different engines "seem" to run soother on certain oils. I put GTX in my gf's Mustang last weekend,and Valvoline seems to definitely feel a little smoother. The GTX feels kind've sluggish in her car. Maybe the Valvoline is slightly thinnner?