Mixing Weights (Oil)

[SD GST]

I have looked over some of the older questions about motor oil, and which ones to use and the best brands etc.. But I didn't see any threads about people mixing the weights of oil?

I used to have a Zx2 and I know that the best combonation (dynoed) was 1 qt of 0w30, 1 qt of 5w30 and 2.5 qts of 10w30.

Have any of you ever mixed the weights and what qty's did you use. I recently changed my oil to full synthetic and I used 1 qt 0w30, 2 qts 5w30 and 1.5qts of 10w30.... And it seems to have the car running great.

I just want to see what your opinions on it are..

 

[jdbTSi]

So just by changing the oil you gained HP? Hmmmm....that's funny.

 

[Violater101]

I switched over to Mobil 1 15w-50 since there product change. Never tried mixing up weights

 

[SD GST]

Yeah, I don't know how it worked either.. But my friend used to work at a muscle car shop, and they had a dyno.. Well, I had some extra oil laying around, so we started to play around with mixing it.

It netted a total gain of 2 hp to the wheels.. The baseline run was with 4.5 qts of 10w30, which was what the Mfg said to use. As we started to mix lighter and lighter oils, the power went up. It could have been a "fluke", but I was convinced. I just moved, so I have the dyno's packed away somewhere. When I unpack, I will post them..

 

[racer]

well I'll give u an example here.Go into poll with pure,clean water and and swim for 1 min then go to a poll with water mixed with mud that is thick and swim for a minute and then u tell me where it was easier for u to swim.Same thing with the engine.Hevier the oil means more restriction going to pistons rods and cranke wich means HP lose in that area.lighter oil mean less restriction,wich means HP gain,but ofcourse it means more wearing.I know that from a experiance.I have an old Camry that burns alot oil and smokes alot.For that reason I keep the oil on it way belom MIN on the dipstick so it doesnt smoke as much as when it is full.So I got used to driving it with no oil,but one day I decided to fill it up to the max just to see how it would feel.I was surprized that I had to add 1 + half bottles of oil to fill it to the max,so gess how low on oil I was driving that bich and I didnt have any problems.Anyways after I topped it to the max i went for a ride and i was surprized that the car actualy felt slower then it was with out oil.So I gess the oil does make some drag to the engine.That is why I do not use 20/50 cuz it is way to heavy and Im N/A.If I was turbo with more then 100k I would use 20/50 but since im N/A I'll stick with 10-40 witch is the best recomended for street use anyways.

 

[Defiant]

Originally posted by SD GST

I used to have a Zx2 and I know that the best combonation (dynoed) was 1 qt of 0w30, 1 qt of 5w30 and 2.5 qts of 10w30.

I just want to see what your opinions on it are..

It's my opinion that the weather (or dyno, or tires, or drum friction, or circuitry impedances in the dyno, or the cat out back by the garbage moved six feet south) changed between runs, and that witch's brew had nothing to do with any kind of hp gain.

I don't know of any possible damages in mixing oil weights -although perhaps you _could_ find a couple of different company's additive packages that wouldn't get along- but what an absurd waste of time. ESPECIALLY if you're honing it down to a ½-quart. How do you know there's not another 3 horses lurking in ½-pint mixes?

 

[BUCK]

There's definitely HP in running thinner oil - Nascar, other "racers" do it in Qualifying all the time - mind you they run the thicker oil come race time... Motors run cooler with thinner oil too - provided the weight is sufficient to provide ample lubrication. These new cars get thinner & thinner Oil - I think one of my new Ford cars is reccommended 5W-20 Semi-Synthetic - At least it holds 6 quarts but damn the filters are getting tiny!

 

[Enigma_Man]

There may be a couple extra HP from thinner oil... But weigh the benefits to the disadvantages...

You're running more risk if you run a "really" thin oil of not providing enough lubrication. To gain what... Maybe 5 HP at most?

Personally, I'd feel better just keeping high quality 10-w30 in the car, and leave it be. There's easier power to be made elsewhere.

-Jesse

 

[Defiant]

Originally posted by BUCK
damn the filters are getting tiny!

I agree with you on this one -I ran dual Ford filters on my L-24 in the 510- but then again, once an engine's broken in, what's really the point of even running a filter? What crud can get in there? If you're hoping to catch bits from an engine that's already shedding metal, it might save the crank or a couple of other bearing journals somewhere, I guess. But other than that, is there anything showing up that needs to be filtered out?