If the world goes exclusively to bulk oil and away from bottles, I would miss the names the companies give to the motor oils:
Quaker State--Superblend
Shell-- Fire and Ice
Oh, yes–I forgot a couple of other winners:
Ford -- Rotunda
GM -- Mr. Goodwrench
Phillips 66-- Tropartic
Amoco-- SuperPermalube
Gulf --Single G (Single G was a famous harness racing horse as I recall)
Wolf's Head--Run with the Wolf
MacMillan-- Ring FreeI was a little suprised that Tom and Ray hadn’t heard of this before. I remember when my dad (a mechanic in the 60’s and 70’s) was teaching me to change the oil in our cars when I was a kid, one of my jobs was to take the oil bottles and turn them upside-down and shake them. That way we made sure the got all of the additives into the crankcase. Always bottled oil, and we always serviced our own cars. I still do it to this day, I figure a few minutes of looking silly won’t hurt me.
When we work on our own cars we can do and believe as we please,we don’t have to prove anything to anyone else, I am looking in the mail for that hydrogen generator, should be here soon,(the one with the flashback arrestor) that I traded my flatscreen for.
He may have been remembering an oil from my teenage years that was supposed to be the be all and end all (which, for many engines, it was). The product was Arco Graphite, and it not only settled in the bottle, but also seemed to do so in many engines, especially (as in my experience) in little used small engines for go carts, lawn mowers, dirt bikes, etc. When semi-rebuilding a Pontiac 400 we had used it in, we had to spend hours scraping the ‘graphite’ off of all the surfaces it had goo’ed to.
This is my first post. Love the show.
I was always taught to be suspicious of oil in shop storage tanks because you don’t know what crud is in there. In a well run shop, the storage tank would have a breather tube that draws air through a dessicator, so new water is not introduced into the oil. In sloppy shops (sadly, there are too many) the tank has a screen over the breather hole, or NOTHING at all, meaning you will find moth carcasses, cigarette butts, sand, leaves, etc. in the oil.
If you see something separate from the oil, it is probably not the oil. It definitely means something bad is happening.
If someone really wants to see if this happens, buy one of those quarts of oil that now come in a clear bottle and put it on your shelf for a few months. I doubt you’ll see any separation. Problems with the bulk oil most likely result from contamination or mislabeling, not separation.
There is a non-chemistry issue that makes bottled motor oil better IMHO…that would be that when you have completed emptying the bottles, you KNOW exactly how many quarts your vehicle has in it. For the shadetree mechanic who is protecting his own investment, this may not seem like a big deal…but for folks who take their car to the “quickie-lube” places who are in a hurry to get the car in and out, using a barrel system…do you REALLY have a visual proof that 4 or 5 quarts went into your car?? Did the quickie tech actually CHECK the dipstick?? Did the pump sending the oil function properly…is the gauge calibrated correctly?? No worries with bottled oil…if the tech can count to 4 or 5 (and hopefully put the drain plug back in), you can be assured of the proper amount of oil.
When it is coming out of a unmarked drum, you don’t know if they are providing the proper oil. There really is no issue with it separating or whatever in the bottle or the drum, if it is going to separate, the container will not stop it.
Some (mostly large chains and quick oil change places) have been known to charge you for the oil your should have and then give you want ever cheap oil they happen to have.Last time I checked, oil floats on water - not the other way around. Any rain or snow would end up at the bottom of the tank - right about where the pick-up is.
A related question - in bottled oil one often sees a small amount of impurity that settles out. I always avoid this (i.e., don’t pour out the last few drops) but at one point thought maybe this is an additive (like the graphite mentioned below). So is it just junk?
Bottled is definately better for 2 reasons,
Further note whether you have a shop change your oil or not you always need a bottle or two to top off in between changes. If you are not doing that do not worry about the oil you are probably screwing your car up in other ways that will damage it before the oil does
I worked in a gas station during my college days in Wisconsin in the 60’s. The barrel oil cost less to the customer.The owner/mechanic said the oil was identical to the cans. The cost differential was packaging. This was confirmed by the oil supplier.
Life is good.
I think people are confused between drum oil ( branded ) and what was called bulk oil which was abundant 40-50 years ago. This was re-refined oil ( used oil filtered and heater to get rid of the water ) and very cheap. There used to be many cars on the road wit worn out engines and this was a cheap way to keep them running. Even our local Sears sold this stuff and it was never bottled, if you wanted to buy it to take home you had to bring your own container.