Does it hurt to switch oil brands based on price??

[FastSUV]

Seems to me since I joined BITOG that you all are mostly "bang-4-the-buck" people. I myself am in many ways too. So since you guys are always hunting for bargins, I wondered if changing oil brands or rotating brands at random was bad?

Just as the old Pennzoil "wax" stories, I have also "heard" it is best to pick a brand and run it for the long run unless you decide to swtich and then switch and run the new brand for the long run, but it is bad to constantly change brands.

Now that I have beeen on here, I doubt this old wive's tale, but fill me in if there is anything that can be said about changing oils all the time, and even changing from dino to syn on occaison just to "test" how the engine will run with different brands & kinds of oil.

I would not plan to switch weights much, but that should probably get a mention to so this thread is comprehensive enough.

 

[Max_Wander]

Yes it hurts... the oil company! Now if you feel bad for the CEOs of oil companies and wouldnt dare want them to retire on a piddly 7 figures, you'll do the right thing and keep buying oil from that company.

 

[Drew99GT]

Well, if it's a bad thing to do, it hasn't shown up in the many hundreds of thousands of miles I've done it! It's probably better to stick with one brand, but when I find deals where a quality oil is on sale for a buck a quart, I'm loading the truck up.

 

[Jim 5]

In short, no. As long as the oil used meets the specs required by your car.

 

[demarpaint]

I was always a believer of stick to what works best. When I joined BITOG I started shopping sales and changing brands with my beater. But in reading and learning UOA reports it's best to check an oil after it has been used more than once to get a more accurate reading. So if that's the case, and you do find the best oil for your car, then I would stick with it. For my E-150 and Jeep I plan on sticking with the same brand oil. E-150 will be PP, and as soon as the Mobil 1 comes out of the Jeep I will be changing brands and sticking to it, probably Amsoil for the Jeep.

 

[John_K]

There was some guy in a magazine a while back having driven his car 500000 miles...when they asked about oil, he said he was picky about what he had used. "Has to be on sale" he said. I don't think it matters.

John

 

[SuperDave456]

In my opinion:
The only reason to stick with the same brand/type of oil for multiple OCI's is to get an accurate Oil Analysis.

If you change out quality oil every 4-5000 miles, then there is really no reason to have a UOA. Unless you want to be absolutely sure your car is cool with that oil, and you are curious about how the oil performs over that 4-5000 miles.

However, if you are running a premium synthetic and want to see how far you can streach your OCI. 6000, 7500, 10,000, 15,000 miles and up, depending on your driving type and vehicle. Then you NEED to stick with the same brand and make of oil to get reliable and measureable results. The more performance your car has, the more you should think about a UOA.

One thing that UOA's have taught me is that cheap Dino and Synthetic oils are better than the "3000 miles only" I thought they could handle.

There is a UOA here somewhere where a guy did 9,000 miles on Supertech Synthetic and it looks good. I would never believe him if it wasnt for the UOA.

Myself, I have something like 50 quarts stocked up of stuff I have bought on sale/closeout. Havoline dino and Quaker Torque power full synthetic are the majority of my stockpile.

Right now I am doing Auto RX runs on stuff, but one day I will have some UOA's done. However, I feel that as long as I stick to a 5k run with Dino I am good in my Taurus. My Wife's Xterra has a 3qt sump, and on its 6 cylinder engine I worry about it, so it gets whatever Synthetic I find on sale. The Xterra also does 5k OCI's cause she dosent drive that much in it.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[strombony]

I've heard that there is some amount of merit given to sticking to one brand for various reasons. Maybe all that I've heard is false, but some are under the impression that by sticking with one brand, the additives do their job better vs introducing them to new ones by way of a different brand continually. Any truth to that?

 

[PT1]

Well this is how I see it. I only buy sale oil. I usually look for closeouts on really good brands that are still more than the lower shelf oils like Supertech but you are getting a great oil for a reduced price which equals value in my mind. I have not paid full price for a quart of oil in several years...so why start now? If I can get top grade synthetic oil for less than $3/qt I will buy all I see. It lasts for years if you keep it indoors in your basement. Plus the synthetics will usually be useable in any vehicle.

 

[Mr Nice]

Its foolish to buy a more expensive oil when a less expensive oil can do the same thing.

 

[J_Myler]

I've had my car for two years and i haven't used the same oil twice and it seems to be doing fine

 

[oilboy123]

Your engine is like a high maintenance woman. It will make you pay for being cheap on what you spend on oil.

 

[webfors]

If you don't plan on performing UOAs, then no, it doesn't matter. Switch away

 

[Peter_Pan]

Considering Engine Oil producers change/fine tune their formulations at least every few years to meet new standards I doubt even if you did stick with the same brand/product you would be getting exactly the same thing over the years.

I shop around and buy the best value for the $.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Won`t hurt a thing. I switch oil brands almost every oil change. Keeps me from getting bored :^P Longest run on any brand of oil was probably M1 15W50 silver cap.

 

[bobfather99]

I change brands due to pricing all the time, no problems as of yet...