do oil change shops use recycled oil?

[brainhulk]

I change my own, so I've haven't been to one in years. But do you actually see them popping open new bottles and pouring them in? I wonder if some of them get shady and recycle the used oil.

 

[jlee]

If they were going to do that, why bother changing it in the first place?

Many garages use waste oil furnaces for heat.

 

[LordMorpheus]

It would be immediately obvious from looking at the dipstick - most customers won't bother with this but if even 5% do, the shop wouldn't be able to get away with it.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Most of the time they use oil from drums, not bottles. It's easier and faster to use a pump, and cheaper in many respects.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I doubt it's worth the risk to cheat someone on an oil change.
Though When I used to take my vehicles in for oil changes when I didn't do them myself, I always watched the technicians like a hawk

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I doubt it's worth the risk to cheat someone on an oil change.
Though When I used to take my vehicles in for oil changes when I didn't do them myself, I always watched the technicians like a hawk

Where they tend to cheat is to save time by not replacing the filter and doing up sales that you don't really need.

 

[thescreensavers]

Yea, OP they buy the Oil in Bulk so it comes in large containers that they pump in.

 

[MJinZ]

$25 oil changes are not worth it to destroy your business over.

 

[Raizinman]

Most oil change shops cheat. It's hard to make money on $19.95 oil changes. Many will cheat by using a cheaper straight 20 weight oil. On other fluids they will cheat even more. Take a Ford in for a Transmission fluid change. Instead of Mercon V at $7 or $8 per quart, they will use Dextron and put in and an additive such as Lubeguard. Most shops will still charge you the $7 or $8 per quart, but their cost dropped dramatically to about $2 per quart. The same with power steering and brake fluids - you will get ripped. I always recommend going back to the dealer for all fluid changes. The independent shops will rip you everytime.

 

[T2urtle]

dealerships when performing flushes dont always use OEM fluids either. They use what is bought in bulk and supplied to thru the cheapest vendor with the highest kick back.

That vendor is normally BG. I've been on both sides of the dealership to know and understand.

 

[Gillbot]

It's likely bulk drum oil, but there have been rumors of some shops using recycled oil which is basically only filtered used oil that has been "graded for viscosity".

 

[Raizinman]

Dealership are monitored for the type of oil they use. When a new vehicle is in their shop for an oil change, the factory, which they have a franchise agreement with requires specific fluids. Should an oil problem show up on a new vehicle, the factory knows exactly how many new engines will have an oil problem. If this dealership has even 1 more than normal, the factory will come in quicker than the IRS to find the problem. They know all the cheap oil tricks. Even having a tank of cheap oil next to the good oil is rarely done in a dealership. The factory does not like it and will start rejecting oil warranty claims on the assumption that the technician accidently put in the wrong oil. Dealership don't fudge on fluids as much as independent shops. Independent shops can put into your engine anything they want. Unless you have an immediate problem, they are pretty much off the hook for liability.

 

[alphatarget1]

The OP got me wondering... how much is oil when you buy it in bulk?

 

[BUTCH1]

All the more reason to do your own oil changes, you don't save a lot of $$ but at least you KNOW what's being put in you engine, I'm lucky, my oil filter is easy access right behind the radiator so it's only a 10 minute job on my car..

 

[RPD]

All the more reason to do your own oil changes, you don't save a lot of $$ but at least you KNOW what's being put in you engine, I'm lucky, my oil filter is easy access right behind the radiator so it's only a 10 minute job on my car..

Its what I do and you know you are getting a new filter.

 

[Raizinman]

All the more reason to do your own oil changes, you don't save a lot of $$ but at least you KNOW what's being put in you engine, I'm lucky, my oil filter is easy access right behind the radiator so it's only a 10 minute job on my car..

Yes, changing your own oil and filter is the very best. Buying 5 quarts of Mobil 1 at Walmat is $24, add 1 premium oil filter for $8 and your in for (with tax) less than $35.

1) Synthetic Oil change for less than 1/2 for what a shop could do it.
2) You know it is really synthetic oil in the engine - not going to tell you what some shops do.
3) You know you put the oil plug back tightly. This is the number one problem at most oil change shops.
4) You know that you don't have two oil filter gaskets on. A very common problem when the filter is difficult to see or reach.
5) You know that the car was not started without oil - (This happens alot in shops)
6) You have done a quick visual of the underside of your vehicle.
7) You now have 5 quarts of pesticide to kill bugs around the outside of your house, or you can use it as weed killer.
8) Win Win Win.

 

[BUTCH1]

Yes, changing your own oil and filter is the very best. Buying 5 quarts of Mobil 1 at Walmat is $24, add 1 premium oil filter for $8 and your in for (with tax) less than $35.

1) Synthetic Oil change for less than 1/2 for what a shop could do it.
2) You know it is really synthetic oil in the engine - not going to tell you what some shops do.
3) You know you put the oil plug back tightly. This is the number one problem at most oil change shops.
4) You know that you don't have two oil filter gaskets on. A very common problem when the filter is difficult to see or reach.
5) You know that the car was not started without oil - (This happens alot in shops)
6) You have done a quick visual of the underside of your vehicle.
7) You now have 5 quarts of pesticide to kill bugs around the outside of your house, or you can use it as weed killer.
8) Win Win Win.

I use partial synthetic in my car, it's "cam in block" formerly known as a "pushrod" V6 is easy on oil and the only reason I do that is a little better protection from the FL heat. #3 Yup, my brother had his oil changed at the Honda dealership, next morning as he was getting into his car he noticed a big puddle of oil on the driveway so he didn't start the car and checked the stick, bone dry, plug was only on by a couple of threads!. #6 I like to pre-fill my filter with oil so the engine NEVER runs without oil. #7 I just drop off used oil at an oil "igloo" our town has, sandy FL soils would let weed-killer oil right into drinking water supply..

 

[mwmorph]

Most oil change shops cheat. It's hard to make money on $19.95 oil changes. Many will cheat by using a cheaper straight 20 weight oil. On other fluids Instead of Mercon V at $7 or $8 per quart, they will use Dexron and put inthey will cheat even more. Take a Ford in for a Transmission fluid change. and an additive such as Lubeguard. Most shops will still charge you the $7 or $8 per quart, but their cost dropped dramatically to about $2 per quart. The same with power steering and brake fluids - you will get ripped. I always recommend going back to the dealer for all fluid changes. The independent shops will rip you everytime.

Lost of misinformation here. I've done the flushes at a Ford dealership and it is a Mercon fluid. Dexron is a GM trademark and a GM specification. It's not inferior to Mercon in any way, Dexron 3 and Mercon V ATF are actually the same fluid. If you've ever bothered to read the specs you'll see that GM's specs for lub properties and Ford's specs are the same, so substituting Mercon for Dexron (There is no Dextron, it's just a common misspelling of Dexron) and vice versa is perfectly fine.

Furthermore, there is no price difference, again, you're buying the same fluid, they're usually labeled as Dex III/Merc V.

I do recommend dealers for trans flushes though since the machines do make a difference. A cheap machine uses high pressure to flush one way, usually backwards from operating flow which can dislodge contaminants from your trans filter. A more expensive machine at a good dealership does proper flow direction with lower, metered pneumatic pressure so that the contaminants stay in the trans filter.

The OP got me wondering... how much is oil when you buy it in bulk?

At least alternator sized, 10lbs.

Really though, it's drums and drums of it. At the Ford dealership I worked at, it was in giant pumps of 0W-20 oil ad almost unlimited amounts of 65 gallon oil drums. Synthetic and Hybrid oil was Mobil 1 that came in quart containers that we had to walk over to get from the parts desk by the box.

I use partial synthetic in my car, it's "cam in block" formerly known as a "pushrod" V6 is easy on oil and the only reason I do that is a little better protection from the FL heat. #3 Yup, my brother had his oil changed at the Honda dealership, next morning as he was getting into his car he noticed a big puddle of oil on the driveway so he didn't start the car and checked the stick, bone dry, plug was only on by a couple of threads!. #6 I like to pre-fill my filter with oil so the engine NEVER runs without oil. #7 I just drop off used oil at an oil "igloo" our town has, sandy FL soils would let weed-killer oil right into drinking water supply..

Go dino oil or full synthetic. There is no regulation for partial synthetic so you can get everything from a 30/70 mix(No partial syn has more than 30% synthetic in it) to a 1/99 mix when buying partial synthetic.

I always go Valvoline synthetic in my cars. Beats the crap out of Mobil 1 (I believe Mobil 1 is now merely a very good Group 3 synthetic, used to be a decent group 4, but cheaped out a few years ago, this is why you cant sell Mobil 1 US version or Castrol Synthetic US version as "synthetic" in Germany). Valvoline is a very, very good group 4 IIRC with wear tests and friction tests outdoing aything else I've ever seen.

 

[soccerballtux]

mw, how can you tell?
Is it how much power the car has? I feel like my car has felt faster after oil changes. This last one I did myself with Castrol GTX and a NAPA gold filter has been the biggest jump in performance I've noticed before. If I used synthetic, would I not notice that performance boost after a change (because the synthetic doesn't wear out like normal oil does)?

 

[mwmorph]

mw, how can you tell?
Is it how much power the car has? I feel like my car has felt faster after oil changes. This last one I did myself with Castrol GTX and a NAPA gold filter has been the biggest jump in performance I've noticed before. If I used synthetic, would I not notice that performance boost after a change (because the synthetic doesn't wear out like normal oil does)?

You pretty much have to just do research to find what oil is what composition. Most are predominantly Group 3 oils, Group 4 is rather expensive.

There are ups and downs for every quality PAO Group 4 oil, and each engine treats oil a bit differently so there is no #1 best, but there are some you can't really go wrong with and many times, you the best choice is not the most expensive.

If you don't run oil analyses after an oil change, you can pretty much just use a top tier oil and feel confident about your choice.

Valvoline Syntec 0W30 is the only common, easy to get oil I know that is considered significantly group 4. The other valvolines have varying (lower) amounts of PAOs. No oil is 100% group 4 since it would be worthless for lubrication.

There are good predominantly group 3,
Pennzoil Platinum/Ultra
Mobil 1 Extended Life
Castrol Synthetic (Make sure it says made in germany on the bottle)
Supertech Synthetic (May depend on where you live, the 5W30 bottles I've seen are sold at wal-mart but made by shell, aka Pennzoil, good oil analyses results from their oils. They also make surprisingly good oil filters.)
Other Valvolines

Then there's the super expensice group 4 oils
Royal Purple
Amsoil

and the Extreme priced group 5 (though I'm taking their claims with a grain of salt)
Redline
Motul

I personally just go Valvoline for bang for the buck. It's very good value and performance wise, it's always one of the most shear stable oils, which means it keeps performing like new oil longer. To me, it's like Meguiar's, if you don't have a specific product in mind that is proven to work better, you really can't go wrong with buying that brand.

It is possible you can feel an increase in power when you change oils as friction goes down. Engines with wet sumps (all of them except very high performance engines) have the crank rotate through your oil pan and can hit some oil as you drive. This naturally robs quite a bit of hp, along with of course oil lubricating other moving parts, going to a lower weight or lower friction oil can gain some hp.

Toyota did it recently with the 2AZ-FE, gaining 4hp SAE year to year by using a different oil.

The best way to tell how well oil protects your engine is to order a Used Oil Analysis. They're fairly cheap and can tell you if anything is going on internally in your engine as well as how well your engine likes that particular oil and its additives.
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

 

[BUTCH1]

Lost of misinformation here. I've done the flushes at a Ford dealership and it is a Mercon fluid. Dexron is a GM trademark and a GM specification. It's not inferior to Mercon in any way, Dexron 3 and Mercon V ATF are actually the same fluid. If you've ever bothered to read the specs you'll see that GM's specs for lub properties and Ford's specs are the same, so substituting Mercon for Dexron (There is no Dextron, it's just a common misspelling of Dexron) and vice versa is perfectly fine.

Furthermore, there is no price difference, again, you're buying the same fluid, they're usually labeled as Dex III/Merc V.

I do recommend dealers for trans flushes though since the machines do make a difference. A cheap machine uses high pressure to flush one way, usually backwards from operating flow which can dislodge contaminants from your trans filter. A more expensive machine at a good dealership does proper flow direction with lower, metered pneumatic pressure so that the contaminants stay in the trans filter.



At least alternator sized, 10lbs.

Really though, it's drums and drums of it. At the Ford dealership I worked at, it was in giant pumps of 0W-20 oil ad almost unlimited amounts of 65 gallon oil drums. Synthetic and Hybrid oil was Mobil 1 that came in quart containers that we had to walk over to get from the parts desk by the box.




Go dino oil or full synthetic. There is no regulation for partial synthetic so you can get everything from a 30/70 mix(No partial syn has more than 30% synthetic in it) to a 1/99 mix when buying partial synthetic.

I always go Valvoline synthetic in my cars. Beats the crap out of Mobil 1 (I believe Mobil 1 is now merely a very good Group 3 synthetic, used to be a decent group 4, but cheaped out a few years ago, this is why you cant sell Mobil 1 US version or Castrol Synthetic US version as "synthetic" in Germany). Valvoline is a very, very good group 4 IIRC with wear tests and friction tests outdoing aything else I've ever seen.

Wow, I didn't know that the % varies that much, I just might go back to regular Valvoline, I can't justify paying for synthetic for a low output GM V6, if it was a higher-revving, higher compression engine or a turbo then yes I would switch in a heartbeat..

 

[Chuvalo]

Valvoline Syntec 0W30 is the only common, easy to get oil I know that is considered significantly group 4. The other valvolines have varying (lower) amounts of PAOs. No oil is 100% group 4 since it would be worthless for lubrication.

There are good predominantly group 3,
Pennzoil Platinum/Ultra
Mobil 1 Extended Life
Castrol Synthetic (Make sure it says made in germany on the bottle)
Supertech Synthetic (May depend on where you live, the 5W30 bottles I've seen are sold at wal-mart but made by shell, aka Pennzoil, good oil analyses results from their oils. They also make surprisingly good oil filters.)
Other Valvolines

Then there's the super expensice group 4 oils
Royal Purple
Amsoil

and the Extreme priced group 5 (though I'm taking their claims with a grain of salt)
Redline
Motul

I personally just go Valvoline for bang for the buck. It's very good value and performance wise, it's always one of the most shear stable oils, which means it keeps performing like new oil longer. To me, it's like Meguiar's, if you don't have a specific product in mind that is proven to work better, you really can't go wrong with buying that brand.

It is possible you can feel an increase in power when you change oils as friction goes down. Engines with wet sumps (all of them except very high performance engines) have the crank rotate through your oil pan and can hit some oil as you drive. This naturally robs quite a bit of hp, along with of course oil lubricating other moving parts, going to a lower weight or lower friction oil can gain some hp.

Toyota did it recently with the 2AZ-FE, gaining 4hp SAE year to year by using a different oil.

The best way to tell how well oil protects your engine is to order a Used Oil Analysis. They're fairly cheap and can tell you if anything is going on internally in your engine as well as how well your engine likes that particular oil and its additives.
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

Great post !

How long are your oil change intervals when you use Valvoline ?

Do you feel there are any significant differences in quality among oil filters available to the general public.

Which oil filter do you use ?

Did you happen to stack up the specs of the Valvoline Grp IV ' head to head ' against Amsoil ?

 

[Gillbot]

You pretty much have to just do research to find what oil is what composition. Most are predominantly Group 3 oils, Group 4 is rather expensive.

There are ups and downs for every quality PAO Group 4 oil, and each engine treats oil a bit differently so there is no #1 best, but there are some you can't really go wrong with and many times, you the best choice is not the most expensive.

If you don't run oil analyses after an oil change, you can pretty much just use a top tier oil and feel confident about your choice.

Valvoline Syntec 0W30 is the only common, easy to get oil I know that is considered significantly group 4. The other valvolines have varying (lower) amounts of PAOs. No oil is 100% group 4 since it would be worthless for lubrication.

There are good predominantly group 3,
Pennzoil Platinum/Ultra
Mobil 1 Extended Life
Castrol Synthetic (Make sure it says made in germany on the bottle)
Supertech Synthetic (May depend on where you live, the 5W30 bottles I've seen are sold at wal-mart but made by shell, aka Pennzoil, good oil analyses results from their oils. They also make surprisingly good oil filters.)
Other Valvolines

Then there's the super expensice group 4 oils
Royal Purple
Amsoil

and the Extreme priced group 5 (though I'm taking their claims with a grain of salt)
Redline
Motul

I personally just go Valvoline for bang for the buck. It's very good value and performance wise, it's always one of the most shear stable oils, which means it keeps performing like new oil longer. To me, it's like Meguiar's, if you don't have a specific product in mind that is proven to work better, you really can't go wrong with buying that brand.

It is possible you can feel an increase in power when you change oils as friction goes down. Engines with wet sumps (all of them except very high performance engines) have the crank rotate through your oil pan and can hit some oil as you drive. This naturally robs quite a bit of hp, along with of course oil lubricating other moving parts, going to a lower weight or lower friction oil can gain some hp.

Toyota did it recently with the 2AZ-FE, gaining 4hp SAE year to year by using a different oil.

The best way to tell how well oil protects your engine is to order a Used Oil Analysis. They're fairly cheap and can tell you if anything is going on internally in your engine as well as how well your engine likes that particular oil and its additives.
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

From my recent research, the supertech oil is still good, but their filters have significantly dropped in quality as of late and many appear to be fram clones complete with cardboard internals.

I also doubt the claims of the "top tier" oils myself. While they do have great products, their marketing preys on the underinformed and I just can't support that.

Also, I used to strictly run Mobil 1 oils but lately their quality seems to be lacking. I've gotten WIDE variances on viscosity from one bottle to the next so i'm phasing out my Mobil 1 use.

 

[Howard]

Looks like M1's High Mileage is their best synthetic right now. Pennzoil Platinum and Pennzoil Ultra are also great oils.

 

[mizzou]

Yes, Yes, AND YES!

most "value" oil changes are from recycled/reconditioned oil.