Originally Posted By: hate2work
Actually, I've read on this forum many times that it's really not a good idea to mix oils, mostly because the additive packs are usually different.
There are a lot of posts on BITOG about not mixing oils but, much like Fram "failures" (among other hypotheticals), there isn't one report here in over 1,317,350 postings of an engine failure or documented damage from mixing different oils. Granted, stick w/the correct recommendation for weight and rating (SM, etc.); but the "additive clash" issue is really a non-issue (again, nobody here seems to ever experience this "problem" in real-world applications). And...even in the 1/1,000,000th of a chance (that's probably too conservative) that mixing oils is damaging your engine...you'll most likely trade, sell or total your vehicle far before it's of any relevancy.
But then, this is BITOG and you wouldn't be a good forum member if you didn't possess a bit of O.C. disorder. It seems that the lack of engine failures among our vehicles forces us to propose, theorize and worry about things that almost never happen. Orange can failures, Fram "Sure Drains" getting caught on curbs, PureOne paint flaking, M1 chicanery...it's all just a lot of worry over naught. And yet such worry seems to reinvent threads over and over again...how many times have we seen a "M1=Bad" thread? Or the orange can thread? Or the Amsoil better than/worse than/pyramid scheme thread(s)? Pretty much everything here has been said before...and before...and before. [Personally, I'm sort of praying for the day a new API rated oil is introduced...just so there will be some new blood around here.]
But until then, I think (and this is just me...not dogma by any means) the only thing I think many people really need to glean from BITOG is that you should:
1) Buy major name oil in the right weight/rating at the cheapest price you can find it;
2) But major name oil filters in the right size/rating for the cheapest price you can find them;
3) Change your dino oil every 4-5K, but keep an eye on comparable UOA's & tailor changes to your style of driving & environmental conditions;
4) Use the abundance of time you save by not reading every hypothetical thread on your family, exercise, yardwork, hobbies, etc.
Okay, so now I guess I'm in trouble, but that's okay...I probably won't read the critical responses anyway (have real-world stuff to do). And that said, mix those different branded oils to your heart's content: YOUR ENGINE WILL NOT EXPLODE, THE SUN WILL RISE AGAIN TOMORROW & YOU WILL BE PERFECTLY FINE!
