Mixing Oil

eidolon · 3 Sep 2006 at 01:04

Just checked the oil level in the Elise today and it's on about the 3/4 mark so I guess I should top it up a little bit.

Problem is that I have no idea what oil is currently in it. Lotus recommend
Texaco Havoline Synthetic 5W/40 oil for normal use and Castrol Formula RS
10W/60 however I don't know which is in mine (it might not be either of them)

If I pop to my local Texaco tomorrow and get some of the 5W/40 that should be fine shouldn't it? There's no problem with mixing oils that I don't know about is there?

xcessive · 3 Sep 2006 at 01:28

To be safe i would do an oil change so you know what oil is in the engine.

Firestar_3x · 3 Sep 2006 at 01:29

Main Dealer last service?

Can't you phone them up and ask or is that how your have already got the recommended ones??

eidolon · 3 Sep 2006 at 01:39

xcessive said:
To be safe i would do an oil change so you know what oil is in the engine.

The car has only done about 1000 miles since its last service so I don't wanna do a full oil change if I can help it.

Firestar_3x said:
Main Dealer last service?

Can't you phone them up and ask or is that how your have already got the recommended ones??

Was done at Nick Whales in Birmingham. Unfortunately they're not open at 1.40am so I can't phone them so I thought I'd ask the knowledgeable people on here instead

If nobody knows I'll give em a ring on Monday but I just thought I'd ask.

Firestar_3x · 3 Sep 2006 at 01:41

Lol quite clearly i didn't mean phone now

Off the top of my head mixing fully synthetic and semi synthetic is not such a good idea.

Mixing viscosities is alright as long as you keep in the manufacturers specifications.

andi · 3 Sep 2006 at 01:45

According to the Subaru service manual (and I guess this applies to all cars) mixing oil is not a problem, as long as both are the specified viscosity etc.

Jonnycoupe · 3 Sep 2006 at 02:03

If its not using much I'd be inclined to leave it until you get an oil change.

Its not like lateral G's and oil surge will be a problem with days like today in Bristol.

Stonedofmoo · 3 Sep 2006 at 08:10

It's done 1000 miles and the oil is at 3/4?

That would worry me. Either they didn't fill it up or it's going somewhere. None of my cars have ever lost a drop

Zuma · 3 Sep 2006 at 08:58

Stonedofmoo said:
It's done 1000 miles and the oil is at 3/4?

That would worry me. Either they didn't fill it up or it's going somewhere. None of my cars have ever lost a drop

you're assuming it was right on maximum after they serviced it.
it normally takes a few goes to get it right to the maximum mark. plus it usually goes down the first time you run the engine cos the oil filter fills up with oil.
also overfilling can be a problem, so you wouldn't really want to go right to the maximum mark unless you were doing it a little bit at a time. which would be laborious

so i wouldn;t be surprised if it came from the dealer on 3/4 full.

Saytan · 3 Sep 2006 at 08:59

asda sell havoline cheap.

eidolon · 3 Sep 2006 at 09:15

Jonnycoupe said:
If its not using much I'd be inclined to leave it until you get an oil change.

Its not like lateral G's and oil surge will be a problem with days like today in Bristol.

I was hoping that the weather was gonna get better today too but it's still miserable

I guess I'll just have to lock myself in the garage and find something to tinker with.

Saytan said:
asda sell havoline cheap.

Cool, never knew that. I've got an ASDA within about 5 mins from my house so I'll pop in there later.

^^Gord^^ · 3 Sep 2006 at 09:44

andi said:
According to the Subaru service manual (and I guess this applies to all cars) mixing oil is not a problem, as long as both are the specified viscosity etc.

That's correct. I asked the question to guy who works for the oil industry a few years ago and he said that as long as you are just topping the oil up it's not a problem.

gobbo · 3 Sep 2006 at 12:38

As long as the oils are the same rating you can mix them, brands are quite irrelevent when your just topping up.

Not sure it's a good idea to mix fully synth and semi synth/mineral oil at the same time though.

PardonTheWait · 3 Sep 2006 at 13:03

Double post

PardonTheWait · 3 Sep 2006 at 13:04

gobbo said:
Not sure it's a good idea to mix fully synth and semi synth/mineral oil at the same time though.

That's the only bit I've been told you must stick to - don't mix fully and semi or semi and so on. As long as it's the same type and weight, brand doesn't matter.