mixing oils in a bind

Jeffblue

I'm about to do my first oil change next week. my car has baout 3400 miles on it. During break in i hardly seemed to consume any oil, but i just checked it yesterday, its about 5mm below the middle of H and L on the dipstick. should i add some oil to hold me over till next week when i do my oil change?(i can't do the change yet b/c i'm waiting for the other things i need for my oil change like ramps/etc) I bought a case of 12 quarts of redline synthetic 5w30. Is it ok to use this to top off the oil (even though the car has the factory dino oil in it), or is mixing a small amount of synthetic in with the regular bad?

thanks

WarmAndSCSI

It's fine. It's always OK to mix oils. "Synthetic" oils like Mobil 1 5W-30 are already a blend of Group III, IV, and V oils.

__________________

Jeffblue

great, thanks a lot. +Rep should i just top it off so its right in the middle of H---L or a little more?

WarmAndSCSI

It never hurts to add up to a quart (or even 2) over "full" (well, unless you're talking about a 1.5 L Honda engine with a 3 L sump lol), so I'd fill it all the way up to the full dot. That's typically what I do - makes monitoring consumption easier as well.

__________________

Jeffblue

good to know, thanks!

Jeffblue

so if i'm halfway between, and its about a quart from Low to High on the dipstick, should i add half a quart to bring me to full?

WarmAndSCSI

If that's how it is right now, I'd leave it. Don't waste your new Red Line oil! If you must, just grab some cheapo conventional or a bottle of Castrol GTX if you want good stuff, and pour in 1/2 to 3/4 of it.

__________________

Jeffblue

i'll do that then, i appreciate your help

WarmAndSCSI

No prob. Just pick up some yellow-bottle Pennzoil. It'll tide you over, and really isn't that bad. After all, you're diluting it like 10:1 so it won't matter.

__________________

Jeffblue

If i want something bad, shouldn't i use royal purple?

destinyZ

ha, depends on what you mean by bad. your pockets will get hurt more then your car. royal purple=$$$

WarmAndSCSI

lol he's referring to my justified crusade against Royal Purple, the devil oil.

I hate Royal Purple for preying on quasi-gear heads. it's kind of sad.

__________________

destinyZ

I dont touch it. I stick with moble 1 synthetic but right now im on the dealerships oil. honestly.... if you have waited till 3,400Miles to do the change, you'll feel a difference with almost any oil. you just dont want a shitty brand cuz it could mess with your head gasket. never had an experience but someone warned me about royal purple doing that

By the way like said before mixing oils dosent hurt and you should probabaly add oil cuz the car still has the same oil it used for break in. You need to get out whatever is floating around. Did my first oil change at 1200ish miles.

Another thing is if your truley concerned just us the P.O.S jack in the back of the car or use your jack if you have one or use a friends and if your lookin at the car jack up the right side of the car and go under the front do the the change out. the plug in on the other side that will get the oil out.

Jeffblue

^ haha yep!


i'm actually just waiting on the magnetic oil drain plug and my filter magnet. i have everything else. i ordered everything i needed earlier this week, and i get a package everyday from amazon, its like christmas everyday after work.

I had to pick up something from the dealer yesterday, so i just bought a quart of ester oil that they had their b/c i didn't feel like stopping somewhere else to save 3-4 bucks, i put that in, now i'm at just about the 'H' on the dipstick.

i got my oil filter today in the mail. i didn't realize how small it was. I was picturing something about the size of a large can of progresso soup, its like a small can of campbels, i got the hp-1008 K&N

destinyZ

"i got my oil filter today in the mail. i didn't realize how small it was. I was picturing something about the size of a large can of progresso soup, its like a small can of campbels, i got the hp-1008 K&N"

nice