We made a mistake with some engine oil and ending up mixing 4 litres of new engine oil with 2 litres of used oil. The used oil was drained from the sump about 1000 km after an oil change on a Corolla. So we have 6 litres that we don't want to waste. My grandfather used to put the used oil from his 1940's Chev through an old felt hat but that might be going a bit far these days! Any suggestions for making it useable in the car again! We don't want to use it for painting the fence etc.
drew2009,
Nov 3, 8:52pm
Get one of those black funnels from supercheap or topmaq that has a removable screen in it and pour it through that straight into the engine.
drew2009,
Nov 3, 8:53pm
only 3 or 4 bucks from memory and handy to have around
pauldw,
Nov 3, 9:01pm
Are you saying that the used oil had only done 1000km! If so why was the oil changed so early!
arthurdent2,
Nov 3, 9:01pm
Will I be able to use that strained oil for the next oil & filter change -will it clog up the filter or do any damage to anything!
arthurdent2,
Nov 3, 9:10pm
Sorry, didn't explain what happened very well. As I said, a mistake was made. The new oil was put into the sump by someone who misread the dipstick and thought we were right out of oil but in fact there were at least 2 litres in there. Ended up with 6 litres in the sump and a lot of blue smoke coming out of the exhaust after burning the extra oil.
mrcat1,
Nov 3, 9:12pm
Are you sure your name isn't "Arthur Daley"!
drew2009,
Nov 3, 9:16pm
It should be just fine i wouldn't worry. The oil filter and pickup screen should do their job there.
drew2009,
Nov 3, 9:17pm
So is the oil still sitting in the car sump! or was it all drained out again!
arthurdent2,
Nov 3, 9:46pm
Drained it all out and put new oil in the car. But want to be able to use the drained oil at the next oil change, if possible.
arthurdent2,
Nov 3, 9:49pm
"Don't judge others by your own low standards!"
olsod2,
Nov 3, 10:01pm
so that 2 lt of used oil must have been old.most corollas take about 4 lt so what happened to the other 2lt.either the motor is burning it or leaking it.if its burning it just use it with a new filter.
drew2009,
Nov 3, 10:18pm
Yeah it should be fine. When you pour it out into the funnel dont use the sludgy stuff right at the bottom of the container though as most of the sediment will have settled. It would also help if the oil was warm before you poured it (sit the container next to a heater for a little while first). Good Luck
arthurdent2,
Nov 3, 10:20pm
The other two litres got burned out the exhaust. There would have been 3-4 litres in the engine before the 4 litres of new oil got put in by mistake. It took a while to work out what had happened.
shadowzz,
Nov 3, 10:36pm
For 20 years a man in the Bay of plenty ran his 1971 Fiat 125 without an oil change. He would drain it out and pour it through a filter made of 4 rolls of toilet paper, and occasionally top up with new oil. He reasoned the more it was filtered the better it got.
arthurdent2,
Nov 3, 11:16pm
Mmmmm.you're giving me ideas now!
mm12345,
Nov 3, 11:19pm
But oil doesn't lose it's properties because of crap in it - so getting the crap out by filtering might solve one problem, but not others: Viscosity index modifiers and pour-point depressant break down, so your "multigrade" oil will become single grade (synthetic will be better perhaps than dino oil for this).The detergent and friction modifying additives will be used up, the pH will drop causing corrosion, and it will oxidise causing sludge / varnish build up.It's a very bad idea to do what this guy did.Perhaps he just got away with it, because as we all know, fiats, and their derivative products, lada and yugo, are supremely indestructible.
jenny188,
Nov 3, 11:47pm
It was common around WW2 to use a toilet roll as standard oil filters were not available. on today's hi -performance motors with equally hiperformance oils i wouldn't risk it unless stuck. You could run your oil slowly over a couple of days through Standard coffee filter (paper) but you are not doing your oil any favors, or just do your next change with the oil as it is but run it for the 1000 less k's it has already run. Let the user beware.
mrcat1,
Nov 4, 1:07am
I don't have low standards, I buy high quality diesel engine oil by the 209 liter drum, I wouldn't even worry about being so tight as to try and save 6 liters of engine oil with the risk of adding crap back into a engine. The reason I made the comment was tongue in cheek, why would you even risk trying to save 6 liters of oil.
un_known,
Nov 4, 1:16am
hang on a minute had the old oil only done 1000km or not! If it did and you say it burnt the rest off then thats a ****load of oil to burn in 1000K are you sure your not one digit short!
a.woodrow,
Nov 4, 1:21am
Hmmm one of my work mates used to collect all the 'cleaner' used oil from work and stored it in a 44 gallon drum. After a couple of years he would pump it from the near the top of the drum and it came out looking as clean as new! don't know about the lost additives etc, but he only put it in old bombs anyway
arthurdent2,
Nov 4, 1:26am
The old oil had done just over 1000k and when we drained the sump after adding the new oil we got six litres but there would have been more like 3 litres than 2 in there before the unnecessary new oil got added. The mechanic told me that a lot got burned off in a short time from after we overfilled the sump with the extra 4 litres. It didn't get burned during the 1000k.
arthurdent2,
Nov 4, 1:29am
Whoa! The quote was one from Arthur Daley himself on one of his shows -I wasn't accusing you of having low standards!
cuda.340,
Nov 4, 1:34am
i change the oil in my racecar after its done 15 miles of race duty. (drag car) the oil that i remove goes into the chainsaw as bar lube. oil is cheap insurance for an engine so don't be a titeass & just buy new oil.
pollymay,
Nov 4, 4:09am
All the time on tractors. The gearboxes often held 20 or even 40 litres of oil and not always cheap shit, high grade hydraulic fluid on some. My dad used to use a 20 micron then a 1 micron filter over a couple of days on the expensive stuff as long as it wasn't really black, just picked out any bearing wear etc
The cost to refill some tractors is astronomical when it holds so much expensive oil.
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