I hear alot about recycled motor oil.Is this the way most service stations and quick oil change shops?I still use brand name motor oil.is recycled motor oil ok to use? I have a 06 Chevy malbiu
Personally, I use oil I know I can trust.
Recycled oil? Iffy, at best IMO.
What if they don’t remove all the contaminates in the recycle process?
Perhaps someone else has a better grasp of this.
I think all the major brands of dino (non synthetic) oil are blended with some recycled oil. It’s OK as long as it meets the SAE certification the car’s manual calls for.
I agree with the Roadrunner. Motor oil is, I believe, mostly recycled one way or another, we don’t need to use it as a lubricant.
If it’s re-refined, run through a still, it’s as good as new…
I think most used motor oil is used as fuel in large boilers and space heaters. At one time, railroads blended it into their locomotive fuel…
As long as the re-refined motor oil is API certified, it is as good as virgin motor oil. Interestingly, Mercedes Benz uses re-refined motor oil in it’s cars produced in Germany.
In the US, SafetyKleen is running a large recycled/re-refined oil program. Certain types of their oil meet or exceed API classification SM, which is the most recent. One of their brands is America’s Choice.
There is also a US govt executive order that requires US govt agencies to purchase a certain percentage of API certified re-refined oil, so many of the GSA fleet vehicles, many DoD agencies, etc, are using this type of oil.
For me, the biggest issue is that virgin conventional oil costs about the same or less than the re-refined, so there is little to no economic incentive to change consumer buying habits.
As I understand it it is not that the oil looses its lubrication function but the dirt and contaminants need to be removed from the engine oil. If treated and filtered properly old oil would have the same quality of new oil. I can’t help but think of a neighbors dad that got drain oil (oil from oil changes of other cars) to change his oil, that is high on the dumb and dumber list for me!
I’ve Always Thought “Recycled, Used Oil? That Can’t Be Good!”
However, if I think about it, have you ever seen what that crude looks like when it comes up from the bowels of the earth? I wouldn’t want that crap in my car, either!
I guess recycled (or should we rightfully say, {re-refined}) can be refined just as crude can be and be as good as new. I think it probably matters who is doing the processing and whether they are a trusted name in the industry. It’s almost “suck it up” time. I think we’re going there whether we want to or not.
Besides, many of my beer cans come from recycled aluminum, saving lots of electricity, and my beer is just as nice and fresh and cold and tasty as it can be. That gives me an idea. Gotta go now.
Recycled oil ? Just as good as recycled food !
genex, please don’t tell me how you judge the quality of recycled food! I don’t want to know!
Does the car use oil as food? If not, your analogy is flawed.
In my view it doesn’t really matter as long as the oil meets industry standards. The way I see it, synthetic oil is pretty much made from scratch and it protects your engine better than dinosaur oil in some circumstances. If an oil refiner starts with used oil and refines it to make it pure again, what is the difference?
Personally, I am more concerned about the quality of the finished product than I am concerned about where it came from. The fact that the refiner started with recycled oil rather than crude oil doesn’t necessarily affect the quality of the finished product.
When I buy new carpet for my home, it might be made from recycled plastic bottles. I care more about the overall quality of the carpet than whether it was made with virgin plastic.