I have 20w50 in now, but it's cold now so i was going to use 10w30 to top it off, or should I just change the oil?

i guess my question really is, will mixing oil of different weight cause any problems?

 

i have searched and found lots of useful info about oil but not the answer i'm looking for.

 

No, you'll be fine.

 

I dump all kinds of oil in my car; it's leaking so badly it doesn't last for more than a week anyhow

 

If you mix viscosity grades such as a 10W30 low-viscosity oil and a 20W50 higher-viscosity oil, it is reasonable to expect that the resulting product will have viscosity characteristics which are thicker than the 10W30, but thinner than the 20W50. This change does not reflect incompatibility - it's simply a re-balancing of the viscosity characteristics. In all other ways, the product should work as expected. But there's absolutely no danger about incompatibility resulting from mixing engine oils.

 

i think that ^ was abou the best answer you could have gotten well done

 

ok, great. thanks!

 

just dont mix brands b/c some times their additive packages are nont compatible.

 

we took a trip with my buddys ooold ford escort, just for the hell of it; he couldnt remember what kind of oil was in it so we topped it off with 20w50.... On the way back, the engine started to knock rediculously and theenn, it blew up haha. It was Awesome, but shitty for him/pos escort......anyways we always wondered if it was due to us probably mixing viscosity and/or brands or just the "last leg" of the escort.

 

^^ Maybe he had synthetic and you put SAE in?

 

Correct. But this only means that you have to change your oil earlier, since the addtivies - detergents and corrossion protection - won't last as long.

As a general rule you can mix any brand and any weight with any other brand and weight. And you can mix synthetic with dino, etc. You can mix any motor oil with any motor oil. It only becomes an issue if you mix in a large amount of a different brand (e.g., 50% or some significant portion), then that might shorten the life of your oil if the brands are incompatable. Even then you'll be fine for a long time as long as you change your oil early. Different weights shouldn't matter.

If I had the option I wouldn't do it myself. I'd just wait til my next oil change. You aren't really gaining or losing much no matter what weight you use, unless you live in an exceptionally cold or hot climate. As it happens I just switched from 20w50 to 10w30 on my last oil change.

 

lol. well done.

 

why 20w-50 ? what are the requirements for runnin that stuff?!

 

telling that the ford escort is only designed to use a 10w30, 5w30, or5w20 oil adding 20w50 is what probably killed that motor. The Oil journals in an engine such as that are not large enough to be pumping such a thick oil through them which is going to cause oil pump failure first, then the engine goes due to no oil. You see our cars (the beloved RX) can handle almost any type of oil because it is equiped for this. little pissant piston fourbangers are not. In short Im gonna blame the engine failure on the fact that it was a F.O.R.D. and he tried to pump pudding through a coffee straw.

 

still didnt answer the question!

 

double post

 

no it wont but why risk it? just keep 20/50 in it

 

I put 20w50 in it when it was getting above 90 F outside this summer. Now it is winter and and temps are dropping below freezing, getting very close and possibly beyond the minimum for 20w50 and i'm afraid that it could hurt the engine running with such thick stuff in this cold weather.