a different top up oil was used

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My Subaru was leaking oil due to a bad gasket and I only had 1L of the CORRECT top up oil (castrol edge 0w-40) available. I had to add additional 0.25L of different oil; castrol edge 5w-30 w/titanium to bring it up to level. I rathered more of wrong oil rather than driving with low oil to my mechanic. However when I got to my mechanic, he didn't have the right size gasket in stock. So I had to drive back home and drive back there again another day for oil change. So overall I drove about 150km with this mix of fluids. Does driving with 0.25L of wrong oil in your engine hurt anything? What if I drove a lot longer than 150km. Thanks
 
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I would sell your car now before it blows up! No don't worry you can do that for the rest of the cars life and it will have no ill effect.
 
mixing different grade multivisc motor oil isn't gonna matter, for so long as they are of similar API certification and close grade (makes them compatible), and your need to top up the oil to full is what really matters.

I'd rather mix (which I do all the time) n match different multivisc oils than risk of running it low.

Q.
 
No worries. It's a fairly insignificant amount and will cause no damage. I believe most Subaru's in the U.S. call for 5W-30 and 5W-20 whilst having the same engine as yours. Drive the entire OCI (Oil Change Interval) without worry.
 
I've seen some User Oil Analyses UOAs with a frankenbrew of 3 or 4 kind of oils and there never was a problem. Do try to stay with the same brand of oil if you can, which you did already. No problem at all!!!
 
Originally Posted By: cmhj
People worry too much
Originally Posted By: Doog
Frankenblends are great...keep doing it
Originally Posted By: Spartuss
No worries. It's a fairly insignificant amount and will cause no damage. I believe most Subaru's in the U.S. call for 5W-30 and 5W-20 whilst having the same engine as yours. Drive the entire OCI (Oil Change Interval) without worry.
Originally Posted By: Quest
mixing different grade multivisc motor oil isn't gonna matter, for so long as they are of similar API certification and close grade (makes them compatible), and your need to top up the oil to full is what really matters.

I'd rather mix (which I do all the time) n match different multivisc oils than risk of running it low.

Q.
Originally Posted By: Brybo86
I'm going with perfectly fine. Any oil is better than no oil.
Originally Posted By: fredfactory
I've seen some User Oil Analyses UOAs with a frankenbrew of 3 or 4 kind of oils and there never was a problem. Do try to stay with the same brand of oil if you can, which you did already. No problem at all!!!


Thanks for the replies. I feel better now.
 
Originally Posted By: pickler
My Subaru was leaking oil due to a bad gasket and I only had 1L of the CORRECT top up oil (castrol edge 0w-40) available. I had to add additional 0.25L of different oil; castrol edge 5w-30 w/titanium to bring it up to level. I rathered more of wrong oil rather than driving with low oil to my mechanic. However when I got to my mechanic, he didn't have the right size gasket in stock. So I had to drive back home and drive back there again another day for oil change. So overall I drove about 150km with this mix of fluids. Does driving with 0.25L of wrong oil in your engine hurt anything? What if I drove a lot longer than 150km. Thanks

Which level ? Add or full ?

You don't need to have the oil level at full mark when you are going to change it within few hundreds miles. Just keep it at or above min.

All oils of the same specs such as API SN are compatible with all others, no worry about 1/4-1/2 quarts top off.
 
my car leaks badly and i always top off with the cheapest oil possible, in 6 months time i will have topped off with 7 different brands and weights of oil
 
I top up with whatever is open in the shed, the exception being 15W40 into the Focus. The Tracker has had everything into it from 5W20(in winter) to 20W50(summer). Usually the top up is late in the OCI anyways, so I figure it won't be in there long anyways.
 
What gasket was leaking?
Surely not a head gasket, since your mech would have scheduled that work and have had all parts on hand.
It also wouldn't have been a while-you-wait job.
Was this just a valve cover gasket?
Anyway, no harm at all in using a different flavor of Castrol for the 1/4 liter.
A hint for the future is that you should maintain the oil between the fill and add lines on the dipstick.
IOW, there was no need to add the 1/4 liter you seem to be worried about.
After all, the engine was fine 1.25 liters low, as almost any engine would be.
Only an OPE might suffer for being a quarter liter or quart low.
 
Originally Posted By: pickler
My Subaru was leaking oil due to a bad gasket and I only had 1L of the CORRECT top up oil (castrol edge 0w-40) available. I had to add additional 0.25L of different oil; castrol edge 5w-30 w/titanium to bring it up to level. I rathered more of wrong oil rather than driving with low oil to my mechanic. However when I got to my mechanic, he didn't have the right size gasket in stock. So I had to drive back home and drive back there again another day for oil change. So overall I drove about 150km with this mix of fluids. Does driving with 0.25L of wrong oil in your engine hurt anything? What if I drove a lot longer than 150km. Thanks
It's not April 1st yet is it?
 
One of my college buddies ran an a 283 Chevy with three quarts of his old man's outboard oil for at least 6 months. These were the days.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: pickler
My Subaru was leaking oil due to a bad gasket and I only had 1L of the CORRECT top up oil (castrol edge 0w-40) available. I had to add additional 0.25L of different oil; castrol edge 5w-30 w/titanium to bring it up to level. I rathered more of wrong oil rather than driving with low oil to my mechanic. However when I got to my mechanic, he didn't have the right size gasket in stock. So I had to drive back home and drive back there again another day for oil change. So overall I drove about 150km with this mix of fluids. Does driving with 0.25L of wrong oil in your engine hurt anything? What if I drove a lot longer than 150km. Thanks



From now on, anything that goes wrong with that vehicle will be blamed on the top up oil.

Radio stop working? It was the oil's fault.

New door ding on the driver's door? It was the oil's fault.

More traffic on your way to work than normal? It's the oil's fault.

Your engine won't even notice the difference, but you should still blame the oil for everything.
 
Actually it makes sense to put in make-up oil as the cheapest conventional oil you can find, even if you put in a synthetic originally since it doesn't have as far to go before the next oil change.
 
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