Let's call this technical inferiority
 

I hate screwing up.

I drained the oil in the LR4 without checking that I had enough new oil. I had 3 quarts of the 5W-20 and thought I had a new 5 quart bottle that would have given me the 8 that I need, but that other bottle was 0W-20 for the Miata. :irate:

Annoyingly, Walmart doesn't carry it anymore (at least not within ~80 miles), and Amazon won't get it to me until Friday. Now the LR4 is in the back garage and the M3 is still on summer tires. So basically we are down to 1 car (sort of) until Friday. Yes, the M3 can be driven in summer tires, and yes, I could pay $11/quart at Autozone, but I am not doing that.

Also I've been too busy to do the cooling system work and now it's effectively winter and I don't want to risk having the SUV down for extended time. I think I may have to wait until Spring.

Just a lot of suckage.:ack:

Are you sure about the Autozone pricing? My local Autozone is showing like a dozen different 5w-20 synthetics in 5qt jugs for under $28/ea. Even the more expensive Mobil 1 stuff isn't so much more expensive than Amazon that I'd wait an extra day if having teh car down was going to cause a headache.

It's not that I don't sympathize (empathize, really) on doing preventable dumb stuff, I'm just not seeing what the problem is here.

Yeah - I learned the hard way about checking for having (on hand) both the oil and filter beforehand for any car I do a change on.

LONG time ago I learned that the hard way (well - not THAT hard as I had a car to use to get what I needed - but, the lesson stuck).
Regardless of being able to go down to get what you need - still a PITA compared to just being able to finish out the job in the first place.

:)

All of this.

Also, do you have Advance stores near you? I've never seen a time when they don't have a 15%-20% online coupon available, which ends up making an oil purchase cheaper than at our local Walmart.

Fun fact: It’s getting impossible to find Rotella T6 and Mobil1 15w50 right now.

If you need an oil that is at all unusual, stock up. I had to do some hunting to find both, and I’m still short on 15w50.

Huh. I didn't even know they sold T6 in 15W50 (edit: not clear from your post if the 15W50 only applies to the Mobil1?). I've only ever seen it in 15W40. And the local Advance has 3 jugs of 15W40 in stock. $70 for 2.5 gallons and they will ship to your garage. Another local advance also has a few of those jugs in stock. Looks to be plenty of supply? :dunno:

Delo 15W/40 has a marginally superior additive package than T6, and is also cheaper, so it's what I use in the Ram.

I checked all the local stores. Some didn't have it and the ones I found it had only individual quart sat ~$10 each.

I bought 3 5-qt bottles, to Nick's point.

I am being overly dramatic. My wife WFH and in a pinch she could drive the M3. My kids walk to school. We'll be fine.

Everyone should be glad they don't need to use Dexos2 certified 0W-40. The only two kinds are Mobil 1 ESP and Castrol Edge. Both are available at retail in single quart only and almost no one carries it.

Speedway Motors usually has the best pricing and is currently $114 for 12 quarts shipped (two cases of 6) and includes an AC Delco PF64 filter (which is what the LT1 in the Camaro specs). Fortunately, the Camaro only needs 10 quarts at a time.

Now I REALLY feel stupid. My oil change has become a headache.

I've been doing yearly oil changes using Mobil1 EP 5W-20 since the car went out of warranty, or 4 years ago. My last change was 14 months and ~3200 miles ago. Anyhow, I usually have a healthy supply of motor oil, but after draining the oil on Monday I realized I only had 3 quarts left. I poured them down only to find no Walmarts within 100 miles carry it M1 EP 5W-20. I wasn't going to use the LR4 so I figured I'd just order it from amazon. Today the package arrives and I open one of the three 5-quart bottles only to find I am pouring 5W-30. Apparently amazon is out of stock of the 5W-20 and in its infinite wisdom, it thought 5W-30 would work just fine (GRRR). Shame on me for not triple checking.

Anyhow, my LR4 now has 3 quarts of Mobil1 EP 5W-20 and ~1 quart of Mobil1 EP 5W-30.

1) Should I drain what's in there, or should I assume ~1 quart of 5W-30 won't make a difference?
2) Should I hunt for Mobil1 EP 5W-20 to top off, or should I just use Castrol EP 5W-20, which is readily available?
3) If I use Castrol, should I use it to top off the Mobil1 that is in there, or drain and pour only Castrol?

There are endless threads about which oil to put in this car. Technically you are supposed to use unobtanium Castrol Professional blah blah available only through the dealer at the price of a kidney.

Conventional wisdom is that any good oil changed frequently (<5k miles) is just fine. Many, myself included have used M1 EP with no issues.

I don't know where you are related to downtown Boston, but the first O'reilly I checked in Everett shows 5qt Mobil 1 EP 5w-20 as in stock for $38.99.

Given your use case of not many miles and not severe duty, I'd get a jug of that and be done until next year. The one quart of 5w30 in the mix for that little use isn't going to matter.

I also wouldn't worry too much about finishing with what you have on hand and, at most, plan on changing the oil a little earlier next time.