Oil Change Question

[fmichael2]

I changed the oil in my smarty this weekend but I mesread the owner's manual and didn't buy enough oil the first time out (bonehead move #1). I ran into the auto store this morning and, because I was in a rush, bought the same brand but wrong weight oil. (bonehead move #2)

Right now the car has 2 qts of Mobile 1 synthetic 0W - 40 and I bought 2 more qts of Mobile 1 synthetic 0W-30.

2 questions - (1) can I drive the car a short distance with only 2 qts in it?
If not (2) can I mix the oil (maybe end up with 0W-35?)

[MPrice2984]

Don't drive your car with 2 quarts in it. It will be OK to run the 0-W30 with the 0-W40. The oils will mix fine and the 30 weight is good to about 90 degees farenheit.

[NeWave]

Yeah, you'll just end up with a "thinner" 40 weight. Pretty well harmless.

[jwight]

As the lead in says, more than you ever wanted to know: Vintage Triumph Register - VTR

[Old smart]

Be cautious of the American Petroleum Institute SG grade oils refered to in the VTR ("All of the oils above meet current SG/CD ratings and all vehicle manufacture's warranty requirements in the proper viscosity. All are "good enough", but those with the better numbers are icing on the cake."). SG oils became obsolete years ago; the current API grade for engines designed and built since 2004 is "SM."

[bob/cathy]

Just did it this morning.Got the info from Old Smart on filter.Gave NAPA the Misti. number and they had the one. Slightly bigger but not a problem.
Never figured out if they ship the car with reg. oil or mobil 1.But it didn't look synthetic.Anyways,used Penz. 5w30,probly 5/40 or 10 /40 next time.
Oil wrench too big,pipe wrench worked fine.Won't need that next time.Drain plug,didn't have large enough socket.Hammer and cresent wrench worked.Won't need that either agin.I know a cresent wrench near a car is a bad thing,it won't happen next time.

[Old smart]

Originally Posted by bob/cathy

... Never figured out if they ship the car with reg. oil or mobil 1.But it didn't look synthetic. ...

smartUSA has let it slip that the engines come out of Japan with a non-synthetic engine oil, and is the reason that sUSA has been recently experimenting with an early change to synthetic oil at the U.S. vehicle processing centers (all getting Mobil 1 0W-40). sUSA doesn't want to wait until the first scheduled maintenance at 1yr/10K miles to change to synthetic.

When I asked the reason for the early change (wanting to get synthetic in for the sake of the engine, or wanting an early engine flush, or wanting to get Mobil 1 in to satisfy some contractual agreement) they stopped communicating. The experiment was/is to compare doing the change at the VPCs or in Japan before shipment of the engines to Hambach. Changing the oil at Hambach seems not to have been in consideration.

Also, no response was returned when asked if the Japanese fossil oil was intended to be a break-in oil for some period.

[bob/cathy]

That little filter in the drain plug?never saw that befor,what's it there for?If it is 'clean' than does it mean I didn't need to change the oil so soon? Still think if they ship the car with reg. oil and recommend 10,000 mile oil changes it may be a scam.Our 07, f150 has a BP sticker,Ethanol,but have never found a BP station that had ethanol.

[bob/cathy]

So if we want to conserve oil,a country that has no oil,ships its cars with old,'basic' oil,so you can get rid of it and conserve oil?

[jwight]

Originally Posted by bob/cathy

So if we want to conserve oil,a country that has no oil,ships its cars with old,'basic' oil,so you can get rid of it and conserve oil?

Sort of off topic, but the assumption that "we" want to conserve oil may be faulty. As the manufacturers improve engine technology and the oil companies improve their oils to enable longer oil change intervals, old habits die hard - some folks can't let go of the 3K mile oil change, others want to do the "engine flush" thing, etc. Must really confuse the auto and oil company engineers.