To prevent contaminating landfill, suggest filter, etc. not go in trash - our town has a hazardous waste drop off center open on weekends (for filter, empty bottles, and oil contaminated things), and I expect you can find a service station to take at least the filter.
1 Like
Hi Robert:
I’ve done thousands of oil changes over the years and I’m struggling to understand this.
You probably get a tablespoon or two of oil (at most) when left to drain overnight.
Yet do understand that depending on the engine, there can be up to a quart of oil left in your engine after an oil change. That residual oil will never come out with an oil change. It’s located in low pockets, oil galleries, lifters, oil pump.
On a related note, when I was growing up there were old timers who used to keep their engines running while they drained the oil. My uncle did that on all his oil changes. The reason was to “get more oil out”.
As with all your posts on this subject…it’s total bull. I don’t believe one bit of it.
1 Like
Yes, perhaps 1/2 cup because in the morning still a slow drip. And there is more puddled in various places.
Doesn’t hurt and I am adding cold oil to a cold engine.
As a teenager, to get more out I would turn over thengine without starting it. Also after draining I would run 10¢/quart recycled (filtered) oil in thengine and then drain it. In my 1961 Volvo 544 I would pour in some kerosene and turn the engine over and then drain over night.
The filter element also drains all night so there is less oil in the filter. It is discarded in the trash because Walmart will not take it with the old oil.
Taking an RN to Amtrak, a hospital called for an emergentransport of platelets for a young teenager in postpartum hemorrhage.
She said the trip was much fun and she operated the siren. She showed others the VHS tape made from the dash cam video.
We arrived Amtrak in time.
Friends suggest posting the dash cam vides on Youtube.
Trying to correct this RG clown is a waste of time . He only comes here to stir things up for his personal enjoyment .
2 Likes
He’s a legend in is own mind.
2 Likes
What is to correct? Getting the most dirty oil out as possible? Nothing legendary. It’s easy!
They drain some but not completely, especially if it has an anit-drain back flap. Drill a hole in one or pry open the anti-drainback flap and you’ll can get a few more ounces. Another way to verify this is to weigh one when new and again after it’s drained overnight.
You probably can find a garage or dealership to take them, and can check with your local landfill agency to see what they recommend - you really don’t want to be putting used oil in there, and it’s better for the metal to be recycled, too.
Best wishes, ks
| Robert-Gift
August 23 |
- | - |
The filter element also drains all night so there is less oil in the filter. It is discarded in the trash because Walmart will not take it with the old oil.
I just let it drain for like 10 minutes. If only dripping, then I don’t worry about it. If you do 5K changes, any old oil left behind will not be an issue.
I once helped a friend with an older Chrysler minivan that had been HIGHLY neglected. The drain plug was only partially down the oil pan and I would say at least two quarts or more of oil remained in the pan with the plug out. This van had been seriously neglected before he got it and was a sludge monster. I actually took a small hose like a vacuum line or fish tank hose and ran a siphon to try and get most of this nasty old oil out of the pan.
He then ran new oil for about 500 miles and we did the same thing. The oil with only 500 miles on it was nastier than any normal oil change I have done.
It became pretty obvious that the damage was already done. The more he put clean oil in this thing, the more he dissolved all the crap that was basically holding the thing together. It started to really leak and burn oil. It was one of those blowing a cloud of smelly blue smoke and the entire back end was covered in oily soot.
He just needed this for like 6 months to finish college, then traded it in on something nice and new when he graduated and got that good paying job. I think it was burning/leaking like a quart of oil a day by the end.
I think previous owner neglect killed this van but having the oil drain plug halfway up the side of the oil pan sure didn’t help things. Designs like this are why I have not been a big fan of MOPAR products although I do think they have improved greatly in recent years.
One thing I do when changing oil is to pre-fill the oil filter as much as possible without leading to spills. Some of my cars have a vertical oil filter so you can pretty much fill them full. Others are sideways or at an angle so you can only do about halfway on those without spilling. I hear some cars have them mounted vertically but upside down which seems like a bad design. I have seen several riding mowers setup this way and I think it is a terrible design. You have to make sure no dirt or grass clippings fall down into the area where the filter mounts. It is almost like this is setup to introduce dirt into the engine when you change the filter. You basically have to WASH off the engine and make sure it is really clean before you even think of changing the oil.
That plug was for the optional oil level sensor, there were 3 quarts below that plug. He should have taken the vehicle to a repair shop for a proper oil change.
3 Likes
What is the proper draining method? This was a decade+ ago so I don’t remember the thing in great detail but it didn’t seem like there was an obvious method to draining the pan completely.
Having such a poor design that you need to take a car to the shop for an oil change is also stupid. This was typical of Chrysler in that era. Maybe the real drain plug was covered up by the subframe or something like that? I seem to recall oil running all over something as well but again this was a LONG time ago.
Also, this thing was WAY beyond being worth spending any extra money on by taking it to the shop. It needed an engine rebuild, not just an oil change. He limped it along for 6 months or so until he graduated and got a good job so it served its purpose while leaving a trail of leaked oil and smoke behind it.
That makes sense that this could have been a port for an optional low oil sensor. I bet that was it.
The oil level sensor plug faces the front, the drain plug faces the rear of the vehicle, with no restrictions. An oil change a LONG time ago cost $25.
2 Likes
I usually use the plug that says “engine oil” stamped by it in the pan. A little hard to see sometimes without my glasses on but never failed me. Being wrong once in a while builds humility.
Maybe the engine was buggered from a lifetime of 50% oil changes.
1 Like
My dad used to do something like that during oil changes I helped him with on on his truck. He didn’t use kerosene tho. Diesel fuel. I think he hear that idea from his coworkers. He’d drain the old oil out, replace fill plug, fill oil port with diesel fuel, and idle the engine for 5 minutes. Never dared do that on my truck tho. But it didn’t seem to do any damage to his truck, and might well have helped. A lot of ugly black stuff came out when the diesel fuel go drained away. I was always a little concerned the diesel fuel might ignite and start an engine fire, but it never did.
I suspect it was so caked with dirt from all the leaked oil that you couldn’t see the drain plug. This van was a mess. His car got wrecked and this was some extra van that his family had just sitting around that was given to him. It got him through a few months when it was needed but at got traded in at first chance.
Many of the engine flush products sold are just kerosene. You add about a quart of the stuff on top of your old oil before changing and then let it idle a few minutes, then drain. I am not sure this is required if an engine is cared for but it is an option to clean out sludge. I would be worried about it breaking loose too much at once on a neglected engine.
1 Like
So tell me how many vehicles have you owned with over 300k miles with the engine internals never being touched? What you’re proposing is useless. We’ve owned 5 vehicles with over 300k miles and never ever did what you proposed. Engines were still running fine when we got rid of them. You propose something with zero evidence that it even solves a problem.
1 Like