Mixing oil weights

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normohl

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so autozone gave me the wrong oil, and i ended up mixing 3qts of 5w30 w/ 4qts of 5w20 before I noticed they gave the the wrong oil, same brand synthetic.

I call them they say its fine, i call the manufacturer and they also say its fine, neither of them seems to care what I was asking them and I am guessing it was a generic answer. should I swap it out for the right weight?
 
No, You can use this mix to the next oil change. At least because the manufacturer say it's OK.
 
Yes, you can mix oil weights, it won't hurt anything. It will mix to be something like a 5W-25 or so. remember, these cars were originally using 5W-30 so moving to 5W-20 improves mileage slightly. You prob. won't even notice the difference and your engine will certainly be protected.
 
im pretty sure when you go to auto zone you pick out your own oil.. so did you just pick out the wrong oil and not look or are you trying to blame it on them??..lol
 
Here's the thing, you are correct, it's best to stick with the manufacturer's suggestions, however, it's not awful to go outside of them if you understand what you are doing.

Ford recommended the 5-20 for the cars now, I go with 0W-20 for better cold start with the same protection of a 20 weight.

Geno, on the other hand, goes with 10W-40, I'm not sure what his reasoning is, but that wouldn't be terrible in the warmer weather. I don't think that would be a great idea in the winter although a 10W is pretty thin so I guess it would be fine. 40 weight protection is probably overkill and hurts mileage a slight bit. A good synthetic 10w-40 would be OK, not preferred in my opinion.

If people have used anything between 0W-20 and 10W-40 successfully, anyW-30 will be fine, especially in the summertime.
 
The reason they advise against the higher number (less viscous) oil is due to the closer clearances that are held in the bearing areas. By putting in too high of a weight oil there will be over stressing of the bearings. Race motors are typically set up with more bearing clearances so they use heavier weight (higher number) oils.
 
ya i have had a mark for 4 years now and both of mine take 7 qts to fill right under the max line on the dipstick? how much does yours take?

and no the guy got me my oil, that's how we do it here in ohio, they have always done it that way there. anyways i guess i just will change it around 3000,

i did not think i would get that many conflicting opinions, but i am going to leave it be.
 
normohl said:
ya i have had a mark for 4 years now and both of mine take 7 qts to fill right under the max line on the dipstick? how much does yours take?

and no the guy got me my oil, that's how we do it here in ohio, they have always done it that way there. anyways i guess i just will change it around 3000,

i did not think i would get that many conflicting opinions, but i am going to leave it be.
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Well here is fact:

You can mix the oils just fine and at a 25w it wont make any difference what so ever on your car.

Fact:
Drained 4.6 DOHC will only take 6.75 quarts to fill. Mine always is around 6.25 even if I let it sit for a long time to get every last drop as some is still in the pump.

If yours takes 7 all the time then its one of a few things. The dip stick does not seat all the way. OR you have the wrong dip stick. OR your tube is backed out of the hole by a mm or so.

7 quarts wont blow up the car and most older Marks will burn or leak that difference right away anyway. If its low miles and dont leak then 7 quarts may end up rupturing a seal. Prolly around the cooling jacket.


Unless Saperfire :p steals my oil I only have to buy a 7th quart every 3rd change.
 
I was at an autozone once and some chick came in, for whatever reason she put like twice the amount of oil necessary in her car, she misinterpreted some advice given by a zone employee and this car was driving around with huge clouds of blue smoke out the back, under the hood and from the wheel wells. This girl was bugging out, I felt bad for her but man, I'd never seen something like that before!
 
it started with my old mark, someone wrote 7qts w/filter on the strut cover, so i always put 7 in it and it was always just under the max level on the dipstick, and now i have a 98 w/170,000 on it and it is the same way 7qts puts in right under the max reading of the dipstick, do you think i should drain a quarter of a quart out?

hell your talking about .25 of a quart here, I probably spill that much, not to mention my long funnel is coated w/ oil, and i dont wait for the last drops out of the oil container.

if something goes wrong because of a quarter of a quart too much oil, then my car is a pussy and deserves it.
 
ive always put 7 in mine, im not gonna bother measuring half a quart, and half a quart will never hurt anything............


also, i use 10w40 year round, but i live in the desert..............
 
brentalan said:
I was at an autozone once and some chick came in, for whatever reason she put like twice the amount of oil necessary in her car, she misinterpreted some advice given by a zone employee and this car was driving around with huge clouds of blue smoke out the back, under the hood and from the wheel wells. This girl was bugging out, I felt bad for her but man, I'd never seen something like that before!
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when i was just outta HS i worked at firestone, and a lady came in that filled it till no more went it......yup till it over flowed out the cap hole......... needless to say she blew it the fukk up.

ive always used 6, and its usually in the middle. the extra .5qt~.75qt aint gonna hurt nothing
 
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