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For those who change their own oil, how do you handle the used stuff?

S

Sluggo

Lifer
Does anyone have a good system for storing/transporting/just generally dealing with the hassle of used oil?

Anything small enough to fit under a car (without a lift) will only hold about 1 oil change. I want to save up a few oil changes before I take it to recycling, but it seems like there is always some spillage and mess transferring between containers, and the chance of spillage during transport.

Is there an easy answer?
 
My local bottle depot has a oil dump.

The kitty litter I buy comes in handy 5 gallon plastic jugs. I use them. My brother uses an old water cooler bottle.
 
My oil drain pan technically could hold 2 changes worth, but I just dump it at Autozone (free) after the oil change. It is only a couple minutes away anyway.
 
The used oil goes back into the 5 qt container that the new oil came out of. With a funnel I don't have much, if any spillage transferring it from the drain pan to the empty container. Usually, the biggest mess is had when removing the drain plug and old filter.
 
Milk or windshield wiper fluid (better) jugs.

My recycling company conveniently provides labeled jugs and curbside pickup. Before that was available I would take it to Autozone.
 
Been using one of these for a long time for drain pan:

9017658_bli_11838_pri_detl.jpg


Holds 15 qts. and is no taller than those 7 qt. open pans, just larger in diameter. Cost is $10.

As for disposal, as everyone else has mentioned, the large parts stores, AutoZone, Advance, O'Reilley's, etc., all offer used oil disposal.

I use what FuzzyDunlop uses, cat litter bottles. 5 gal. capacity and makes storing used oil easy. The county I live in also offers used oil disposal for no cost, so I tend to use that because it's also where we dump our trash, making it a one stop trip for me.
 
Meghan54 said:
Been using one of these for a long time for drain pan:

9017658_bli_11838_pri_detl.jpg


Holds 15 qts. and is no taller than those 7 qt. open pans, just larger in diameter. Cost is $10.

As for disposal, as everyone else has mentioned, the large parts stores, AutoZone, Advance, O'Reilley's, etc., all offer used oil disposal.

I use what FuzzyDunlop uses, cat litter bottles. 5 gal. capacity and makes storing used oil easy. The county I live in also offers used oil disposal for no cost, so I tend to use that because it's also where we dump our trash, making it a one stop trip for me.
Click to expand...
That's what I use also. The two quick oil change stores in town will take used oil for free. When we had only one quick oil change they charged to take it. Amazing what competition will do.
 
The recycling truck that takes my beer cans also takes my used oil. I put it in 1 gallon milk jugs. I use a funnel to get it from the catch container to the jugs. If I needed to take it to autozone I'd put them in a cardboard box lined with a garbage bag in the trunk of a car.
 
Hmm, I had not thought of using a different jug for the old oil stupid me. I just did an oil change this weekend and transferred the old oil back into the single qt containers. At that point, i swore of 1 qt containers in favor of the 5qt variety just for fewer opportunities to spill. Milk jugs... that'd be much, much easier.

As for disposal, I bought a tall plastic tub at walmart to store the jugs in that I can throw in a vehicle and drive them in without making a mess in the car... it's time I do that shortly.
 
Meghan54 said:
Been using one of these for a long time for drain pan:

9017658_bli_11838_pri_detl.jpg


Holds 15 qts. and is no taller than those 7 qt. open pans, just larger in diameter. Cost is $10.

As for disposal, as everyone else has mentioned, the large parts stores, AutoZone, Advance, O'Reilley's, etc., all offer used oil disposal.

I use what FuzzyDunlop uses, cat litter bottles. 5 gal. capacity and makes storing used oil easy. The county I live in also offers used oil disposal for no cost, so I tend to use that because it's also where we dump our trash, making it a one stop trip for me.
Click to expand...

Have the same container... only problem I have with it is the new car literally POURS oil into and fills it before it can get into the jug part, overflowing the top. I drilled some holes to aid with the air flow and oil flow in hopes to prevent that from occurring again.
 
mvbighead said:
Have the same container... only problem I have with it is the new car literally POURS oil into and fills it before it can get into the jug part, overflowing the top. I drilled some holes to aid with the air flow and oil flow in hopes to prevent that from occurring again.
Click to expand...


You are remembering to open the vent, right? I forgot once and had the same problem of the top filling faster that it'd drain into the pan's storage area. Duh!
 
i have a large red gas container that will take 2-3 loads of used oil. when it fills up I take it to the local autozone or pep boys
 
Put back in 5-quart jugs and leave it curbside with the trash / recycling. They'll take used coolant, too.
 
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Meghan54 said:
You are remembering to open the vent, right? I forgot once and had the same problem of the top filling faster that it'd drain into the pan's storage area. Duh!
Click to expand...

Yep, vent is open. That stuff just comes out FAST. On both my truck and car, it comes out of a hole about the size of a bic pen's diameter, maybe a touch larger. The subaru's drain diameter was about 50% wider I think, and I am no mathematician but that is something like double the surface area. All I know is, it was pouring out fast and I immediately thought it was going to overflow, which it did.

Hopefully the extra holes help. 🙂
 
I have the above pictured drain pan, it's a bit unwieldy when full is how I wound up with spills.

Definitely going to start using the kitty litter buckets. Nice snug lid and hold a lot of volume.
 
I pour it back into the 5 qt jugs and dump it in the oil container at work. I've been told auto parts stores and Wal-Mart will take it, but I cannot confirm.

Edit: I used to pour it in to the kitty litter jugs (not the buckets), but the caps are sketchy at best. I never had any spills, but I stopped using them because I'm pretty sure a huge mess was on the horizon.
 
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I keep the 1 gallon jugs from the window washer fluid used in winter time. It makes it easy to fill them up with the used oil and then they go to the auto store (Strauss or Autozone) for recycling of the oil.
 
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