Shop Mixes All Oil Together And Uses It In His Car

[crazyoildude]

I have a friend that owns a gas station/repair shop that after they change oil in customers cars they take the quart bottles and turn them upside down and let them drain into a large container he has cam 2 5w20 5w30 10w30 wolfs head mixed weights and conoco and some mobil 1 synthetic and who knows what else.. He uses this in his own cars and has been doing this for a number of years.. He does not waste a drop of oil.
All his cars run very well and most have high mileage he has a 2002 Lincoln town car with 201,000 a 2012 chevy truck with 24,000 miles and a few other vehicles that his kids drive and they all run great. He also uses cheap jobber filters whatever he gets the cheapest. He says oil is oil and the cheaper the oil is the better.. But on the other hand he wont buy parts from advance auto or auto zone because he thinks they are junk.

 

[fdcg27]

Wouldn't be my first choice since quality oil and oil filters are so cheap anyway, but I guess it works for him.

 

[OneEyeJack]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Wouldn't be my first choice since quality oil and oil filters are so cheap anyway, but I guess it works for him.


+1

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

I've done that for over 30 years.

 

[jetmech1]

+2

More power to him if that's what works. How often is this guy doing OCI's? Mulligan stew oil might be fine for 2.5K OCI's. I do extended OCI's. No way I could get by with that......

 

[loneryder]

He's correct about the auto parts being junk...re-builds from China. It took me 6 alternators from Advance before I got a good one.

 

[eljefino]

He's right on all counts. NAPA probably jumps through hoops for the guy, too.

 

[CATERHAM]

Leaving a bottle upturned in the oil fill hole for just a few minutes while he does other car maintenance will leave only a trace of oil in the bottle.
To be worthwhile he would have to leave a fair amount of oil in each bottle and or he's keeping half filled bottles for himself instead of providing to his customer for topping up purposes.
Either way he is basically short changing his customers.

 

[UncleDave]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Leaving a bottle upturned in the oil fill hole for just a few minutes while he does other car maintenance will leave only a trace of oil in the bottle.
To be worthwhile he would have to leave a fair amount of oil in each bottle and or he's keeping half filled bottles for himself instead of providing to his customer for topping up purposes.
Either way he is basically short changing his customers.


A long as his clients get the oil they paid for and the correct amount then I don't see how he's automatically ripping off his clients.

Lots of odd size sumps take .5 or "point something" leaving all kinds of open containers of unused "good" oil.

There is always a bit of oil here and there left over in about every shop that can be collected and used in something. Even my garage has a few half filled bottles of this and that.

Not sure I'd do it with my car, but an older beater, or lawnmower, snowblower or something like that it'd be fine.

UD

 

[Tdbo]

I'd say he at least changes his oil/filter regularly.
That is more than a lot of people do.
I doubt the car knows the difference or could care less.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Leaving a bottle upturned in the oil fill hole for just a few minutes while he does other car maintenance will leave only a trace of oil in the bottle.
To be worthwhile he would have to leave a fair amount of oil in each bottle and or he's keeping half filled bottles for himself instead of providing to his customer for topping up purposes.
Either way he is basically short changing his customers.

No shop lets the oil bottle up side down on customer fill hole, they just pour it in at about 98-99% and then next bottle, they don't have time waiting for every drop. They then toss the almost empty bottles in the recycle bin(s).

Some frugal mechanics salvages these discard bottles to get the remaining few drops into a larger 5-qt jug(s). After many oil changes(several thousands) in several months they can get 4-5 quarts free.

Nobody short changes customers.

 

[UncleDave]

Originally Posted By: Tdbo
I'd say he at least changes his oil/filter regularly.
That is more than a lot of people do.
I doubt the car knows the difference or could care less.


And as long as its clean new oil with a fresh filter change - thats pretty much the net net of it.

Odds are very high more than one of us has already had a filling of "mystery oil" from a barrel at a lube shop and our rigs have been just fine.


UD

 

[901Memphis]

Not the first time I've heard this and not surprised by your friends results. All the oils are proper quality and within the viscosity range that the engine can tolerate.

 

[demarpaint]

A local shop near me does the same thing. He turns the empties over into a small piece of a gutter which is against the wall on his bench. It is tilted down slightly aimed into a funnel which drains into an empty 5 qt jug. When he fills it, it gets used.

 

[CT8]

The oils are more similar than different.

 

[Shannow]

When I was working in a Petrol Station (sold 5,000 gal of fuel a day, to help with scale, biggest one at the time in Canberra), I could keep the dregs from the oil containers that had just been tipped in and thrown in the bin.

Was about a quart a week, and I wasn't really fussy to get the last drips out.

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: UncleDave
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Leaving a bottle upturned in the oil fill hole for just a few minutes while he does other car maintenance will leave only a trace of oil in the bottle.
To be worthwhile he would have to leave a fair amount of oil in each bottle and or he's keeping half filled bottles for himself instead of providing to his customer for topping up purposes.
Either way he is basically short changing his customers.


Lots of odd size sumps take .5 or "point something" leaving all kinds of open containers of unused "good" oil.


Every vehicle I've ever had took an odd quantity of oil like that. If the customer leaves with the dipstick on "full" and he puts the rest to good use, more power to him.

It's been discussed here before, the most important thing about engine oil is having enough in the engine. We've seen UOA's of mixes before and I don't remember any alarm bells being sounded.

Anyone remember Mobil 2? He's probably better off because he's using fresh oil(s).

 

[raytseng]

Agree that the shop owner can have it if he goes through the trouble. Say with a 5 bottle change he has 4 bottles to keep with 10ml left and 1 partial to send home with customer. No customer wants to wait an extra 5min for 40ml. He wants to get out of there now.
No car is so precise that at the end of the oci 40ml was the difference between good and bad.

5oil changes a day he has 200ml. In a week he has a quart. In a month he has 5qts.

If you say he doesn't deserve the drips, you are taking such an small person view like someone who does believe in tipping and you probably never treated or bought a round for anybody un your life

 

[camrydriver111]

Surprised he's not worried about additive clash.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: camrydriver111
Surprised he's not worried about additive clash.


Most people don't. Additive clash is a rather..um..local concern.

Most people worry about bills, health, relationships, global warming, trivial stuff like that.