Im not worried if I have Quakerstate at one oil change and Pennzoil at the next. I dont even care if I use up 0.5 qt Castrol before pouring in 4 quarts of Pennzoil. I sometimes try to use up my dino stores by watering down MC 5w30 blend with formula shell 5w30. On my old beater I put 0.5 qt Mobil 1 leftover from my lawnmower and 3 quarts Exxon Superflo. Does it really matter?
Who just mixes oils and doesnt care?
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"Mixing brands is not the best practice because the additive systems in each may be different and when mixed may not function as efficiently as desired. However, no serious problems will occur if you must add a different brand of equivalent quality between oil changes."
http://www.citgo.com/Products/LubesOils/CITGOBrand/PassengerCar/MythsAboutEngineOils.jsp
http://www.citgo.com/Products/LubesOils/CITGOBrand/PassengerCar/MythsAboutEngineOils.jsp
for a while there i was running about a dozen different brands of oil in my car.
every time i have an empty oil bottle i let it drip into a glass jar for a couple days to get every last drop. after 6 months of oil changes on 6 cars and trucks i service i normally have about a gallon of oil and i use this mixed jar of oil for which ever car is next for the oil change.
it doesnt seem to hurt anything.
every time i have an empty oil bottle i let it drip into a glass jar for a couple days to get every last drop. after 6 months of oil changes on 6 cars and trucks i service i normally have about a gallon of oil and i use this mixed jar of oil for which ever car is next for the oil change.
it doesnt seem to hurt anything.
Not a problem one bit.
Some day when (God willing) I get my corvette it'll be drinking nothing but Mobil 1 but for my Sunfire right now ANY oil is fine by me
Some day when (God willing) I get my corvette it'll be drinking nothing but Mobil 1 but for my Sunfire right now ANY oil is fine by me
Your engine will most likely last 300,000+ miles with 3K-5K changes with any factory approved dino, mix or synthetic.
IMO, most people use cheap dino oil and mixes. And most people abuse their cars with extended OCIs. Then they say all dino oils suck. Dino gets a bad rap. If you're doing 3K changes, almost any oil will do.
I use expensive synthetics because I love the way my truck idles smooth as silk. Also, cold starts are very easy and quiet. And a spotless internals are nice, as well. A lot of dinos/blends/mixes cannot provide this.
IMO, most people use cheap dino oil and mixes. And most people abuse their cars with extended OCIs. Then they say all dino oils suck. Dino gets a bad rap. If you're doing 3K changes, almost any oil will do.
I use expensive synthetics because I love the way my truck idles smooth as silk. Also, cold starts are very easy and quiet. And a spotless internals are nice, as well. A lot of dinos/blends/mixes cannot provide this.
Don't care either. Just mixed GC with Pennzoil. I hope the elves don't pummell me to death.
Of course this was more accidental as my back hurt too much to change the filter on my little Saturn. Nonetheless, the purity of GC was compromised by the Pennzoil
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Of course this was more accidental as my back hurt too much to change the filter on my little Saturn. Nonetheless, the purity of GC was compromised by the Pennzoil
nope it doesn't matter at all. however, I do keep all the same brand of oil in an oil change but if I have four different brands of oil that is one quart of each..I wouldn't have any problem mixing all four to use up for an oil change. Right now, I have two quarts of 5w30 castrol syntec blend and 2 quarts of 10w30 castrol syntec blend I'm going to mix in an oil change next year.
I have often used up a stragler quart at an oil change or partial quart for topping off. I highly doubt that this causes any serious problems with modern oils.
Recently I changed the oil in a friend's car for them and needed 5W-30. The only 5W-30 I had on hand was four quarts of Chevron Supreme and one quart of Mobil-1 SuperSyn ... so that is what I used. Certainly the quart of SuperSyn is not going to hurt anything, and might do some good.
I also have three stragler quarts of the old Mobil-1 TriSyn which are going to get mixed with two quarts of something else the next time our minivan is ready for it's oil change (for which I am waiting for the GM oil life monitor to say it is time). As a complete aside, I plan to get a UOA mostly to check up on the oil life monitor's indication.
Not to worry.
John
Recently I changed the oil in a friend's car for them and needed 5W-30. The only 5W-30 I had on hand was four quarts of Chevron Supreme and one quart of Mobil-1 SuperSyn ... so that is what I used. Certainly the quart of SuperSyn is not going to hurt anything, and might do some good.
I also have three stragler quarts of the old Mobil-1 TriSyn which are going to get mixed with two quarts of something else the next time our minivan is ready for it's oil change (for which I am waiting for the GM oil life monitor to say it is time). As a complete aside, I plan to get a UOA mostly to check up on the oil life monitor's indication.
Not to worry.
John
This is the biggest balloney af all times! Citgo wants you to fill up and add make-up oil of Citgo brand name only.
No such thing as additive clash or the like.....as Citgo implies here.
When is this myth going to die???
As for the original question......I mix happy if I have leftovers. I sleep like a baby at night!
I've been on a mixing streak with Mobil Drive Clean 5w-30 GF-4. I blended it thicker with a quart of Mobil 1 15w-50 and then when I needed positive cold-cranking, I blended it with a gallon of 5w-40 Shell Rotella T Synth. Gosh, Mobil and Shell in the same crankcase! I think oils are pretty much compatible. It really comes down to personal belief if the intentional blend is for the better, noone is going to convince them otherwise.
With the Mobil DCO looking like a strong base oil combined with a modest add pack, could it be a universal topping/blending oil? The other oils I added are even better base oil and over-additized to fortify the thin Drive Clean. My two mixes come in under $2/q and seem to work great.
This calc helps you hit a target visc.
http://www.shellglobalsolutions.com/base_oils/toolbox/toolbox.htm
I must also confess, I topped off GC with dino at the end of an oci.
This calc helps you hit a target visc.
http://www.shellglobalsolutions.com/base_oils/toolbox/toolbox.htm
I must also confess, I topped off GC with dino at the end of an oci.
The fun thing about mixing is you can try to make stuff you can't buy, like mixing one quart straight 30 with 4 quarts 10w30. I think that might just get you a 15w30. My last load was 5 qts 10w40 and one quart straight 40. Maybe a 15w40 or at least leaning in that direction. Ran fine, but don't thicken the oil in winter.
Lately I've mixed Mobil DC GF-4 5w-30 with Delvac 1300 15w-40 (which is really a heavy 10w-40) to make a 8w-35. I think this will be more shear stable than an off-the-shelf 10w-40.
"This is the biggest balloney af all times! Citgo wants you to fill up and add make-up oil of Citgo brand name only. No such thing as additive clash or the like.....as Citgo implies here. When is this myth going to die???"
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"It is certainly true that there are additive technologies and synthetics combinations available that could cause incompatibilities," Miller says. "But Shell does not use them, and I know that if that ever changed, we would be sure to keep everyone very well informed." At the same time, it's important to understand just what constitutes incompatibility. "Incompatibility of engine oils refers to observations such as additive dropout, or changes in fundamental oil performance that's not what one might expect from mixing two different oils together," Miller says. "But naturally, if you mix oils with different characteristics, you're actually blending those characteristics - you've changed some of the features of the oil." http://www.shell.ca/code/motoring/encyclopedia/motoroil/synthetic_oils.html
"The oil industry only runs a few lab tests to make sure additives are compatible when different brands are mixed. However, no engine tests are run. Nor are tests done to account for all possible oil brand combinations...If you mix two brands, you may get the worst of both worlds, instead of the best."
http://www.rotella.com/qa/answerresult.php?rowid=25
"It is always advisable to not mix motor oils, however, different viscosity grades of the same motor oil are compatible." http://www.chevron.com/prodserv/nafl/auto/content/faq.shtm
[ December 15, 2004, 01:27 AM: Message edited by: TC ]
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"It is certainly true that there are additive technologies and synthetics combinations available that could cause incompatibilities," Miller says. "But Shell does not use them, and I know that if that ever changed, we would be sure to keep everyone very well informed." At the same time, it's important to understand just what constitutes incompatibility. "Incompatibility of engine oils refers to observations such as additive dropout, or changes in fundamental oil performance that's not what one might expect from mixing two different oils together," Miller says. "But naturally, if you mix oils with different characteristics, you're actually blending those characteristics - you've changed some of the features of the oil." http://www.shell.ca/code/motoring/encyclopedia/motoroil/synthetic_oils.html
"The oil industry only runs a few lab tests to make sure additives are compatible when different brands are mixed. However, no engine tests are run. Nor are tests done to account for all possible oil brand combinations...If you mix two brands, you may get the worst of both worlds, instead of the best."
http://www.rotella.com/qa/answerresult.php?rowid=25
"It is always advisable to not mix motor oils, however, different viscosity grades of the same motor oil are compatible." http://www.chevron.com/prodserv/nafl/auto/content/faq.shtm
[ December 15, 2004, 01:27 AM: Message edited by: TC ]
72sub, I like your style, would love to see a pic of that sub.
Yup. Makes perfect sense. All the oil companies do is mix different base oil viscosities to get their product. So why not mix a little more.
I just did an oil change 2 days ago consisting of the following mix:
-2L Amsoil S2K 0w30
-1/2L M1 5w30
-1L Co-op Sonic Silver 5w30(dino)
-1L Esso XD3 0w30
-and a partridge in a pear tree!
I don't normally do this but I just wanted to get rid of all the leftovers I had laying around. I'm not concerned about it but I'll shorten the OCI a bit from the usual 15,000km. A UOA would be interesting but I probably wont do it.
-2L Amsoil S2K 0w30
-1/2L M1 5w30
-1L Co-op Sonic Silver 5w30(dino)
-1L Esso XD3 0w30
-and a partridge in a pear tree!
I don't normally do this but I just wanted to get rid of all the leftovers I had laying around. I'm not concerned about it but I'll shorten the OCI a bit from the usual 15,000km. A UOA would be interesting but I probably wont do it.
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