Stick with an engine oil brand?

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Hi, i've heard that is not a good practice to change brand in oil changes, its better to stick with a brand in the long term? Since additives and detergents are differents in every brand, or its ok to change brand every once in a while as long as you put the right viscosity for your car?

Thanks
 
I've never used just one oil forever. Changing oil for over 40 years I have never had any bad things happen. Engines have always been very clean either looking down oil fill or when i have pulled the valves covers.
 
What you have heard is not correct. It's perfectly fine to change brands from oil change to oil change. In fact, technically, it's even fine to mix different brands and weights together in the same oil change, although if you mix oils with substantially different add packs, you may find that they 'compete' with each other to some degree.

I change my oil roughly every 7,500 miles, which for me works out to roughly every 3 to 3.5 months. I have a stash of all different brands and weights of oil, and I rarely use the same stuff from one change to the other. In fact, I even sometimes mix two different brands in a single oil change, depending on what I have.. although I do try to use oils with similar add packs when I do this. Many people on here do similar, and you'll occasionally see people posting their 'frankenbrew' UOA results showing good wear numbers.

Switch away, if you want.
 
I've thought about deliberately switching brands in my '99. It has some varnish. Might the different oils react in different ways and slowly strip off the varnish? Dunno.

But if it was a real problem, we'd have proof plenty that it was an issue. We'd have stickers under the hood "use only Havoline!" or somesuch. We'd hear stories about so and so who bought a car and then had a motor problem right after an oil change (or in short order). Instead I'd wager the odds are very good that every used car changed oil brands every time it changed hands--and most of them motor on just fine.
 
Oil brands change formula over time in any case
so it is fine to change brands or even from conventional
to blend to synthetic or back again.

Most brands use similar additives though amounts
vary.

My 2¢
 
I believe in picking a quality brand oil and sticking with it throughout my time with the engine. There are many instances posted on this site where when using a different brand, that oil consumption increases for the first oil change. That suggests that the difference in oil properties is causing a mini break-in. That is good enough reason for me to stick with one oil unless it is causing some issues. Ed
 
Brands change formula all the time. Different brand of the same time period are more similar to each other than same brand across a long period of time.
 
Originally Posted By: Eddie
I believe in picking a quality brand oil and sticking with it throughout my time with the engine. There are many instances posted on this site where when using a different brand, that oil consumption increases for the first oil change. That suggests that the difference in oil properties is causing a mini break-in. That is good enough reason for me to stick with one oil unless it is causing some issues. Ed


... Or the new oil is doing a little cleaning of the buildup that the old oil left behind or was unable to clean because of similar additive chemistry.

I am a firm believer that using the same oil in an engine all the time can lead to a buildup of varnish that the oil can't clean because its detergent pack doesn't have what is needed... but changing to an oil with a different detergent pack might be able to clean. I have no proof of this, however.
 
^^^^^^^^^

I like the way you think about this. Though I don't have any proof either
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I do this with gasoline though. Now running Exxon. Had been running Shell for a good while.
 
I rotate through the usual Walmart "synthetics". At any given time, you'll see jugs of Mobil 1, PP and Valvoline in my garage. I've never had an issue.

I also rotate through Shell, Chevron, Exxon and QuickTrip when I fill the tank, I guess in the hopes that there is enough variance between their additives to keep everything as clean as possible. I could be wasting my time, though.
 
I stick with one brand and one weight for everything, mowers/boats included, that way I'm not confused as to what to buy....M1 EP 5W-30.
 
Originally Posted By: Schmoe
I stick with one brand and one weight for everything, mowers/boats included, that way I'm not confused as to what to buy....M1 EP 5W-30.


Wish I could do that...4 vehicles, 3 types of oil. 5w20 of different flavors for the Kia, bulk 0w20 synth for the Hondas and 5w40 Castrol Edge Professional from the dealer for the VW.
 
Buy oil that your owner's manual calls for with the correct API rating when it's on sale. In more than 50 years of driving and changing my own oil, I have used at least 18 different brands of motor oil with not a single oil related problem: Castrol, Wolf's Head, Quaker State, Exxon Superflo, Shell Fire & Ice, Formula Shell, Pennzoil, Kendall, 76 Super, Conoco, Mobil Super, Smitty's, Supertech, Amalie, Napa, Valvoline, Lubrigold and Havoline.
 
I have stayed with 2 brands NAPA or TSC travelers conventional oil for 4 decades now. For the past 2 years I have use TSC travelers oil exclusively. I live near a TSC and they always have a decent price. But if I am unable to find one or the other I would not lose sleep over switching to another brand like QS, Penzoil, valvoline, Shell etc. You could switch brands every OC if you wanted to .
 
I've heard that before, and was a single brand advocate for a long time (been driving my own cars for 35 years this year, that long time ended 28 years ago).

bbhero mentioned fuel...and I think that's a good analogy. Different companies have different additives to control gunk. Exposing the backs of the valves and injectors to someone else's additives for a few tanks full (changing brand every 4-5 tanks) gives a (potential) benefit in that whatever the weak spots in additive A MAY be covered by additive B.

With oil, swapping every couple of intervals will never hurt, and may well expose a bit better (different) behaviour, most likely in cleaning/sludge.

Probably nothing of ANY significance in reality.

Mechanic that I used to work with swore that he'd seen a couple of engines which had long term operation on brand a (can't remember which), and when switched to brand b, a false main seal (worn main seal filled with sludge to look like it's sealing) cleaned up and started leaking...it's plausible, but also remember that was when rope rear mains were still the majority of domestic cars on Oz roads.
 
Say what? I'll never pour just one brand. That's like drinking only one beer. No such thing switch and choose anytime as long as it's got all the ratings.
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Probably nothing of ANY significance in reality.

Probably not, and my preference to stick to one batch lot, let alone one brand and viscosity, is probably well out of ordinary reality, unless I were being OCD over UOAs.
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