$20 is too much for an oil change? Yet you’re driving a brand new car. How does that make sense?
Actually, I have free oil changes on my 2011 Toyota Sienna for two years. According to the dealer since we own another Toyota product, a 2003 4Runner, I was considered a loyal Toyota owner and this was part of the deal. I was just comparing the price of oil now with what I paid years ago. I was just surprised at the price per quart of synthetic 0W-30 oil that I saw on the shelf. One of the items that I use to compare prices among different stores is the price per quart of motor oil.
I would bet that as more vehicles require synthetic oil, there will be more players and the competition will bring down the prices.
I agree meanjoe; it should be about OPITIMIZING the oil change interval to let the car live to its natural design life (and have the engine outlive the rest of the car), and recycle the oil that is drained out. As stated there are various ways to recycle oil; you can make new oil out of it, you can put it back into the refinery with the crude feedstock, or you can burn it directly in areas where it minimizes air pollution; what you can’t do is dump it or spread it on the roads.
In very remote areas (and the Arctic as well), burning it in special heaters is possibly the best solution. Where I live however, there are 2 landfills and each has a huge tank for Old Oil, and also for old antifreeze. Both get recycled.
In Germany all used oil has to be recycled by LAW. I’m sure some of it still gets dumped, but it’s agood law. However, every town has recycling depots to drop it off.
Having said that, I’m sure there are still some villages in rural America where they spray the stuff on the road in the summer for dust control.
In Germany all used oil has to be recycled by LAW. I’m sure some of it still gets dumped, but it’s agood law.
Well, it’s certainly “good-intentioned,” but I wonder if it has a positive effect in the real world.
After all, disposing of oil (illegally) has an associated cost of roughly $0 (if you don’t get caught). If WMO can be used as a fuel source, it has a positive value (meaning that businesses will pay to take it). Thus, nobody in the business is likely to illegally discard the oil, because it’s a money-loser. (Granted that the DIYer might, just 'cause of the PITA factor.)
From what I’ve read, WMO isn’t much desired as a base stock for new motor oil, and thus WMO has a negative value in a market where you can’t use it as fuel (meaning that it costs money to get rid of). Thus, there is an incentive to break the law, and pollute the water and land.
So, I’d worry that the net effect of a “no burn” law is increased pollution, and that–to try and compensate for this “unintended consequence”–gov’ts would have to resort to stuff like cajoling citizens to change their oil less often and whatnot.
ZW, even recycled oil must be re-refined before it can be used in an engine again, and that refining process creates a lot of pollution.
I think burning used oil as heating oil is more like “reuse” than “recycling.” It can’t be recycled again after you burn it, so if you burn it, there is no “cycle.”
“I’m not in the market for followers. It can be used for home heating. That is recycling.”
Changing oil sooner so that we can burn it for home heating reminds me of buying something on sale to say you saved money on it, even though you didn’t need it.