Franken-oil from 5qt jug leftovers

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Ive been buying 5qt jugs of oil for my truck since I've owned it. The capacity is 4.5qts leaving me a half quart after each oil change. It was on a steady diet of penz hm for a while and I've got about 2.5 quarts of that sitting on my shelf. My last oil change the store was out of my usual oil so I opted for some pyb instead; so there's another half quart. On a recent road trip I forgot to bring along my leftovers, just in case I needed it, so I picked up a quart of the unbeatably cheap mobil super 5000 to bring along. Just this last weekend I switched to ML to see I'd it helps with a barely noticeable leak I've been having that the penz hm didn't seem to help; there's another half quart.
Now I've got 4.5 quarts of 'leftovers' sitting unused in my shop that I'd really rather not waste. Would making a 'franken-oil' of sorts out of those 4 different oils be a kosher thing to do? All my truck has ever used has been 5w-30 and that's what my leftovers all are.
I think from now on I'm going to pour the half quart I won't be needing into the filler neck with the drain plug out just to flush things out and eliminate my issue of having a little extra oil. Unless it's wise to use oil that's been just sitting on a shelf for a couple years, then itll be like a 'buy 5 oil changes get the 6th for the price of a puro classic' type deal lol
If you haven't gathered already, no oil is burned between changes and a negligible amount is leaked, not even enough to require topping it up.
Opinions?
 
When you change oil just use the old jug until its gone then the new one until it's full.

That way you're always in fresh stock and never more than two brands mixed.
 
I'm sure it will work fine. Not optimal, but not going to cause any serious issues. API-licensed oils must be mixable with others.
 
I'd have no problem using the leftovers especially if my vehicle is out of warranty.
 
Originally Posted By: Brybo86
what is your oci?

I keep it at a 3000 mile oci, I do a fair amount of city driving and have yet to do a uoa, so keeping it conservative for the time being
 
Originally Posted By: nitehawk55
2002 chev with 140K?....use it and sleep well , you won't hurt it .


thumbsup2.gif
 
i'm one OCI away from being in almost the same situation.
both vehicles in my sig have 4.5qt cap.
neon calls for 5w20, vibe 5w30.
I currently have 4qts of frankenbrew.
mixture of pyb,formula shell, MS5k, Meijer Conv.(Warren Unilube),maxlife, nextgen maxlife, nextgen Conv.,& Eco-power Syn Blend, in both 5w20& 5w30 mixed together.(with a few overlaps in brands between the weights)

heavily considering sending some in for a VOA before using, just for the "fun" of it.

btw:
Both cars, 6mo/5,000 mi which ever is first
Neon Currently 83k mi( daily short trips - 5 mi each way to/from work)
Vibe currently 166k mi( lives its life in the city traffic of Columbus, Ohio.
 
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It sounds like I should be alright to give my hodge podge of oil a run. After all I can always drain it if I don't like it.

Originally Posted By: earlyre
i'm one OCI away from being in almost the same situation.
both vehicles in my sig have 4.5qt cap.
neon calls for 5w20, vibe 5w30.
I currently have 4qts of frankenbrew.
mixture of pyb,formula shell, MS5k, Meijer Conv.(Warren Unilube),maxlife, nextgen maxlife, nextgen Conv.,& Eco-power Syn Blend, in both 5w20& 5w30 mixed together.(with a few overlaps in brands between the weights)

heavily considering sending some in for a VOA before using, just for the "fun" of it

That'd be an interesting voa
 
Heck, I have a jug like that and besides oil of many different weights, it has MMO, gear oil, and ATF bottle last drops. I run it in my lawnmower, snowblower, and top off oil for all the beaters. Not one has died, complained, or even noticed.
 
How bad is the traffic in Columubus ohio? Funny, I never considered that as a heavily congested area. How many hours does it take end to end in the rush hours? I'm just trying to compare it to here. From the Nj border to the East end of Queens (the Eastern border of NYC) is approximately 2-2 1/2 hours in the rush, but that is almost 30 miles.
 
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nowhere near NY/NJ levels.
"Rush Hour" tends to be 30-45 minutes.

Columbus is one of those towns that outside of rush hour, you can get from one end to the other in about 30min, regardless of your route.
it's a friends car, i just keep the oil changed so that it gets done(his last car, never had an oil/filter change, as it leaked just enough he was adding a qt every week/week and a half.)

for a year or so, he was delivering Pizza's in it, averaging, 70-100mi a day.
now, not as many miles.
 
See my signature below, nothing wrong with mixing. I saved a 5qt jug just for this purpose. It's got almost 2qts in it, mixture of 5w20, 5w30 and maybe a little 10w30. I'll probably end up topping it off with some of the older oil in my stash and run it for a 6 month OCI.
 
If it was my vehicle, I'd put 5 quarts in it every OC.

A half quart over isn't going to hurt anything. No problem. That way you don't have half a quart left over in a 5 quart container.
 
I have never believed that mixing oil is optimal nor, have I ever tried to out think the oil engineers. But, as long as the oils are for automobile engines, there's no problems!

I am a mixer from waaaaay back! I've been mixing oils for over 40 years and never had an oil related engine problem. If I could find all of my old posts pertaining to this subject, I'd link'em here.

Back in the those days, I mixed out of necessity due to lack of proper funds. So, I'd mix any 5 qts that I could get cheap. Often these were 5 different brands all being different weights(just to keep the ol'beater going).

Today, I don't mix nearly as much but when I do, it's usually 2 qts syn w/ 3 qts dino(all oils held in high regard here @ BITOG). And mainly due to having quiet a nice stash of oil that I purchaced on the cheap due to one or more of the following...sales/rebates/closeouts/discontinued. And often myself having several orphan quarts. But, I still buy the current certification at that time(e.g.,API SN/GF-5)

If you can safely install an oversized filter(I've done this too with several vehicles over the years) this may/would allow that extra 1/2 qt of oil, this would also be up for consideration. Otherwise, mix away! One OCI on mixed oil every 2 years won't hurt a thing
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Originally Posted By: Phishin
If it was my vehicle, I'd put 5 quarts in it every OC.

A half quart over isn't going to hurt anything. No problem. That way you don't have half a quart left over in a 5 quart container.


If I wasn't going to need it for my mower or other OPE, this is exactly what I'd do with the oil...
 
When I was a kid we made an 'oil can tree' out of sheet metal and welding rods. This sat in the oil change bay at the Texaco I worked in. As we finished we would prop the cans (that's right-cans!) on the tree to drain into a gallon jug.

My oil thirsty car then was a Triumph TR-4 that fouled plugs it burnt so much oil. Myself and others used this method for decades.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
When I was a kid we made an 'oil can tree' out of sheet metal and welding rods. This sat in the oil change bay at the Texaco I worked in. As we finished we would prop the cans (that's right-cans!) on the tree to drain into a gallon jug.

My oil thirsty car then was a Triumph TR-4 that fouled plugs it burnt so much oil. Myself and others used this method for decades.


We used a section of a gutter. Ran it off the work bench tilted slightly and let the oil from the so called "empties" collect into a gallon bottle via a funnel. It was amazing how much oil would collect in cans and bottles, that would otherwise end up in the garbage. Nothing went to waste.
 
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