the manual says 5w-30. what happens if i mix 2 different types of oil together?

this guy at my shop changed the oil a while back but i dont know what kind he put in there and im a quart low and dont have time to get it changed. will it hurt to put 5w-30 in there or some kind of additive to make up for the quart?

dont mix diff weights of oil. he probably used 10w 40 in there..just a guess though..

i use mobil one tri sythentic with mobil one filter. i use 5w30. the manual strongly suggests it! ;)

depending on your weather situation and driving condition.

If you are in SoCali or Florida type of weather where it is hot, I would run heavier grade oil ie: 10w30 or 10w40 all year round.

If in COld conditions then go with the 5w grade. If any one ever bullshit you to use 20W grade, you should walk away from that store. I had that happen to me once. took my car to Walmart, and saw them about to pouring some "Tech 2000" 20w grade oil in my car. Good thing I caught them in time, and had a good argument witht he service counter guy.

I never trust any mechanic anymore ie: jiffy lube, 10 minute lube, or where ever other places there are as they only focus is on getting you car back to you ASAP. Sometime they do not fully drain all old oil out of you car. Not to mention they replace with oil that is already outlived their shelf life.

You best bet....do it yourself. that way you'll be able to answer all of your stated questions yourself.

I use Purolator filter and Mobile 1 synthetic (green cap) on my 420a and 4g63 every 3500 miles. It is not hard to do. Just a 17mm wrench, a suitable container, some towels, and 30 minutes is all you need. whle waiting for the oil to drain out, you can always check your tranny fluid, plugs, air filter, belts, hoses, turbo (if you have one), or even just chill and take a glup of beer.

Thinking about switching to Castrol synthetic though. I like the name and bottle...:P

i bought some 10w-30. Im in Alabama

ummm, i think the guy used 20w-50. whats wrong with that?

you should only run 5W30 or 10W30 in your car.. 20W50 is way to heavy of a oil for the 420a engine.
but yeah.. ya shouldn't mix differenct weights of oils.. and also.. NEVER mix styles of oil (such as normal oil.. semi synthetic, and full synthetic.. always use the same type/style) if it's a temporary thing though.. putting in a quart of oil that is like 5W30 when 10W30 is in there won't hurt anything.. atleast it shouldn't.

i use synthetic at the oil lube place...then as I lose a quart before the next change i top it off every week with 10-40 weight so plug up the leaks a lil...runs like a champ.

damn headgasket im sure of it. oh wells...small leak, cant bitch.

called my dad, he said that it wouldnt matter if it was just a quart

>called my dad, he said that it wouldnt matter if it was just
>a quart

Is he a mechanic?

Anyway, there is nothing I can really add here. Just another vote for not mixing the weights or mixing the types of oil. As for myself, I use 5w-30 Mobil 1 full synthetic with the Mobil 1 oil filter. It ends up costing about $26 for a 6 bottle case of oil and $11 for the filter. I change every 3000 miles. Like I said, other than what the other guys told you, there isn't much more advice that I can give you.

Chris

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Full sig with mod list, timeslip and dyno chart: http://www.geocities.com/ls1z28chris/sig.htm
321.4 hp and 338.5 ft. lbs. torque to the rear wheels.
13.729 at 105.84 with a horrible 2.346 60'

The Website: http://www.geocities.com/ls1z28chris">www.geocities.com/ls1z28chris

You guys are wasting your money on that synthetic oil. Ask any mechanic that isn't selling you your oil and they will tell you the same thing. As long as you change your oil and filter when your supposed to regular oil is fine.

I would like to disagree with that. Synthetic oil acts totally different in almost every way. If you are going for easy
driving they say u can go 5-7,000 miles on synthetic vs. the 3,000 for regular oil. It also doesn't break down as fast at higher
temps. There was a posting on this a while back, and a really well written article that discussed all this. After reading
that article i started using synthetic on my rebuild. Anyone know what article I’m talking about, and where it is?




97' Eclipse RS (kinda)

Present mods:
HRC stage III turbo kit (12 psi street, 25 psi track) / HKS 2 1/2" cat back exhaust w/burnt cat / 16" wheels w/Yokohomo tires (215/40) / 420A engine w/ tooled crank, billet crower rods, and 8.5:1 JE pistons / Head ported and polished, 3 angled valve job
Power-stop brakes w/axis pads / Ebachi Pro lowering kit (1.8") / MSD DIS-2 ignition system w/turbo retard

Near Future:
Stand-alone fuel system / 550cc injectors, and fuel rail / TEC III fuel/ecu system / 17” Hart racing wheels / KYB AGX struts, w/ upgraded anti sway bars / Rear brake conversion (front to rear, Brembo in front)

Jay-
wakbrd99@aol.com

So you mean to tell me that normal oil versus full synthetic have similar thermo/molecular breakdown characteristics when heat is applied to it.

Here is a though would you just add plain distilled water to your engine, or would you add ethlene glycol along with it.

Might want to look that one up.

>>called my dad, he said that it wouldnt matter if it was just
>>a quart
>
>Is he a mechanic?
>

are you a mechanic? my dad has had a lot more experience with these types of things than i have, and i was just giving his opinion. everybody else on here who gave me their opinion is not a mechanic

I also use Mobil one with a Mobil oil filter (which is actually Purolator from what they tell me). I use 10w-30 regular oil, I think synthetic is a waste on my motor since I'm not racing a lot or pushing out a lot of horsepower.

i had my car at a local mechanic and he was trying to tell me that aftermarket intakes arent worth any more hp. mechanics dont know everything.
-Josh




weapon-r intake
greddy headers
apex-i n1 catback
afx udp
energy suspension
motor mounts
cf altezza tail lights
bored t/b
magnecore wires
hotter plugs

Oil and antifreeze mixtures. thats 2 different discussions. He asked about oil. Either will work. Not using antifreeze will not. What is your point here? Duh

10w40 out here in the desert, all yr round, non-synthetic ;-)

Our motors are really sensitive to low oil. What do you mean you don't have time to change your oil? Make time. If you have time to post on here you have time to change your oil.

To be honest I dont think it really matters, but I use regular oil. The last time I had my oil changed it had been 5,000 miles since the last one. I had it done at Grease Monkey and you know how they dab some of your oil on that piece of plexiglass and show it to you? Well mine looked like I had just put it in the car. And I am pretty damn hard on my car. I plan on changing my own oil from now on, so I will be going to a synthetic just because of the money I will be saving.

Key word for a young member....thermo/molecular break down characteristic between normal oil and full synthetic. One comes out sludged the other comes out blacken but still viscious.

which one will most likely resist heat changes (endothermic reaction) under hard abuse. Have you actually looked at the difference in oil thickness between the two oil types. this is why I switch both of my turbo cars to full synthetic for added protection. the turbo will cook normal oil into chunks.

the water/antifreeze exaples should have been better presented. It was an example to demonstrate the effects of engine cooling between the types of fluids.

I was reading a while back about a test in which they had two identical (brand new) Nissan Maximas. In one they put standard 10w30 oil and changed it every 3000 miles. In the other they put Mobile One Tri Synthetic (this was the ONLY oil ever put in the motor) and ran it under the same driving conditions for (get this) 60,000 miles. At the 60,000 mile mark both engines were disassembled and examined.... Which one do you think had less wear... that's right kiddos, the one with 60,000 mile old Tri Synthetic in it. Yeah, it matters what kind of oil you use. I'll try and locate that article and post it on here when I get a chance.

Adam

Whoa ! Hold Up ! Wait a minute !
What'z wrong with 20W50 again ? I called satan when I got my car and they stated that they use 20W50... ever since they told me that, that's what I've been using... Castrol 20W50 every 3,000 miles (not a mile more) Is that really wrong !?!?!?

PANIC ALERT! PANIC ALERT! HELP ! :wary

yo i use 20 50 in my VW.. it has 145,000 miles on it... its good for older engines as you have more "room" in the engine for this type of oil...

it is true that synthetic oil is a better choice. expecialy for cars that are expecting to run higher temperatures like turbocharged cars. bot synthetic and regular oils can handle temperatures as low as 150* but a synthetic oil can handle up to around 40* MORE than regular minaral based oils(270* for synthetic vs. 230*)

Nice of you to resurrect a 4 year old post. Awesome!!!:thumbsup