Demystifying myths about changing oil brands for your engines

Since I started using a car, I have been loyal to a particular brand of engine oil whenever my car is due for an oil change. This loyalty is not just a coincidence, it is more like a psychologically enforced one. What I have learned from interacting with local mechanics and car owners is that a sudden change of oil brand can damage one's engine. I recently found out that this assertion is simply not true.

So recently, one of our school buses developed what looked like a minor issue early in the morning while conveying pupils from the various homes to the school. The engine simply refused to accelerate fully. An electric technician was called to look quickly into it. After some time, he diagnosed that one of the plug sockets was bad and that a mechanic would need to work to replace it. The driver managed the bus back to school and a mechanic was called to look into it.

After spending a considerable time diagnosing it, including taking it to his workshop for proper attention, the mechanic concluded that the oil valve inside the engine of the bus must be the culprit. This diagnosis didn't really augur well with the owner of the school because the implication is that the engine will need to be dismantled before a solution can be reached. The reservations by the owner of the school were based on 2 premises:

• The bus still worked perfectly fine the previous day, such a major problem should be gradual and would have been giving signs before now.
• Once the engine is dismantled, its lifespan will be shortened.

Next, the owner had to call an electric technician in whom he has major trust for a re-diagnosis. After working for almost an entire day on the bus, including scanning the entire electrical system, the electrician came up with the same diagnosis. At this juncture, we were left with only a single option - to allow the mechanic to open up the engine and fix the problem. This, the owner of the school had to reluctantly agree to.

The mechanic came to pick up the bus and promised to work on it the following day. This is because the engine needs to cool down totally before it can be opened. According to experts, working on an improperly cooled engine constitutes a health risk to the mechanic because it could cause burns. In addition, dismantling metals when hot will lead to their contraction when cold, which if not checked could cause microscopic hairline cracks which may lead to structural failure of the engine.

To cut a long story short, the mechanic did the necessary repairs and fixed the functioning of the engine. However, he "mistakenly used another oil brand for the engine, different from the brand that we usually used for it. I challenged him about this mistake and what the consequences could be, and that's when I got informed of the reality of changing oil brands.

You can change the brand of oil you use for your engine at any time. This should ordinarily not give your engine any issues provided that the same oil specification is used.

In conclusion, putting oils in your engine is like being recommended generic drugs without specifying the exact brands to buy. You can decide to chop and change into different brands as long as the content remains the same.

We really do learn every day. What do you think?

All the images used in this post are mine.