Oil change

I change mine every 8 months and have used M1 0W-20 from the get go. No problems to date.

 

Shut The F... Up

 

I'm doing my 1,000 Mile oil change on my Prius V tomorrow night, and I would like to switch over to a magnetic plug, too. Do you happen to remember the thread specs for the plug which you purchased?

Thanks.

 

Here ya are Jayman:

 

WOW Looks nice

 

A standard steel tote bin system, from the looks of it. I had mentioned desiccant breather, here is an example of one I frequently use and recommend

http://www.descase.com/disposable-desiccant-breathers/

The desiccant changes color to let you know when to toss it out. It looks like your tote bin has a standard steel breather vent. If it is a desiccant breather, how do you know if the desiccant material is saturated and used up? They don't last forever, usually 6 months max, sometimes a year in good conditions

If I had to rate your tote bin system, based on my experience in fluid contamination control, I'd flunk it. Here is why:

I'd like to point out the top of your tote bin has appreciable dust. If that is a regular breather vent, dust is being aspirated into the tote bin as the fluid is drawn down. The pump appears pneumatic, where is the inline water/oil filter for the shop air?

On the topic of preventing fluid contamination, that opaque fluid container on top of the tote bin, is it used for oil or for coolant?

If it's used for oil, since it's sitting on top uncovered, and looks dirty in the photo, any free dust or moisture in the shop will automatically be attracted to the container. The proper method of storing small oil containers is to keep them in a clean airtight cabinet, usually fire rated, that is equipped with o-rings on the door seals.

If that container is used for coolant, which I'm guessing it is since what appears to be a jug of Toyota coolant is next to it, that automatically flunks fluid contamination control. The breather does not look liquid-tight. If the jug of coolant were to tip over and spill, you could introduce ethylene glycol into the tote bin

It looks like you have the tote bin set up with a digital totalizer, an air/venturi pump system, and a small dispensing nozzle/table. Where is the inline filter for the dispenser? Where is the dust cap on the dispenser nozzle??

I'm not trying to s*** on you, just pointing out items I would never allow if I were on a contract, offering my services. Consider this a valuable learning experience, and I'm not even dinging you for billable hours. Here is some reading material:

Designing the Optimum Lubricant Storeroom

Lubricant Dispensing and Storage Systems

Lube Room Challenge

Lubricant Dispensing - What Not to Do

Lube Room Challenge

What I would recommend, based on the photos:

The most obvious change, installing a desiccant breather/filter on the tote bin, with a clear cover to provide visual confirmation the desiccant material isn't saturated/used up, would provide the most benefit. I've already provided a link to the desiccant breather/filter I recommend. Figure about $120, should last a year or so

The next most obvious step is to prevent cross-contamination. Never, ever allow other fluids on top of a tote bin. If the other fluid should happen to leak, you could contaminate the tote bin. A strict no-no

Third, keep the dispenser tip COVERED unless in use. A variety of manufacturers offer little plastic tip covers, some reuseable, some disposable, that look like little condoms. A box of 100 disposable tip covers is typically under $35.

Fourth: consider an inline 5-10 micron filter to the dispenser spout. It's general lubricant good practise to provide an inline filter to a pumped lube dispensing system

Fifth: That tote bin looks like metal. There should be a draincock on the bottom, it's a good idea to drain a quart or so monthly, to verify no rust, dirt, or water in the oil.

Oh, you should NEVER store bulk lubes that close to electrical disconnects. In most locales, you'll violate code for doing so

 

Jay, does this also apply for the oil containers at a parts store? If it does, you wouldn't even want to see this thing.

The top remains open, any customer can drop off fluids there without good control. Right next to the tote, they have batteries on trickle chargers. I did not see any sort of filter.

Maybe I should take a picture next time I'm there. definately not as nice as the pics from Josh.

 

If you mean for a used oil collection system, the answer is no. The oil is already contaminated, is used, etc.

Around here, a customer must sign a form indicating the quantity and type of oil being dropped off, the customer name, address, and phone number. In theory, one could still dump PCB's illegally, but usually the oil collection system works ok enough

Battery chargers, hydrogen gas, next to a used oil collection system. Does your local fire marshall know about this? You don't need a filter on a used oil collection system

Yes, I would like to see a photo. However, if this is a used oil collection system, the lack of contamination control and no filters is a non-issue or very minor issue

For supposedly clean, fresh oil, used to refill motors and gearboxes, please reference the articles I provided. A surprising amount of contamination is due to ignorance/laziness, such as not keeping dispensing spouts covered, not using a desiccant filter, etc

 

Makes sense, Jay. What you are talking about is for fresh oil waiting to be put into an engine (duh) and hence why the quality control has to be so strict. In my parts store, it doesn't matter much because it is all old oil.

Regarding my local parts store, I was surprised to see the batteries being charged right next to it.

 

no worries

well, except for batteries being charged right next to a used oil collection tank

 

I got my oil/filter changed today. ~2,000 miles on the car and I always do an initial oil service around 2,000 miles on all my cars to flush out the break in gunk.

My dealer sent me a coupon for $28.88 oil/filter service, but it said synthetic oil higher. They charged me $16.40 extra ($6.66/qt for 0W-20, vs. $3.28 for conventional oil * 5 quarts--I know it only takes 4.5 qts, but close enough). Oil used was in 1 qt containers (not bulk). So $45.28 + tax & haz fee = $49.81. Not bad compared to the $125+ I was paying on my BMW.

 

With the beemer, did you have to change the oil every 5,000 miles or 6 months

 

With my '05 330i they recommend 15K miles or 1 year with synthetic oil. I used Mobil 1 0W40 but I changed it every 7500 as did most of the DIYers. Or was that a rhetorical question?

It uses a cartridge filter you get to from the top, very handy. 6.6 quarts of oil.

 

No--it was recommended every 12K miles or 12 months, but I always had an oil/filter service every 6K miles (BMW 4 year maintenance paid for 12K miles, and I paid for interim services).

 

Was the oil already degraded by 7,500 miles? I've put 7,500 miles on Mobil 1 0W-40 European Car Formula, in my FJ, and the lab results came back very good. The oil was clearly good for much more

Again, was there a problem with the oil at 6,000 miles?

 

I didn't want to wait 12 months / 12K miles between changes. Sure, synthetic oil should last longer than conventional oil, but what about the oil filter? While I never had a lab test performed on the oil, I can tell you that during my monthly oil level checks, the oil got pretty dirty by the 5th month. I saw it as inexpensive insurance.

 

No Jayman I don't think it was degraded, looking back on it no one had any objective evidence that it needed changing at 7500, I never sent in an oil sample. Maybe some people who tracked their cars regularly needed to change more often. My BMW lead a pretty good life, not much time near the red line and not to many short trips either. I probably could have safely gone 15K between changes.

As much as I hate to admit it I think I just went along with the majority on the BMW sites and changed it at 7500 mi.

 

There is now a temporary low-image-quality draft copy of the document for the 2010 available.

That draft will be deleted soon, so be quick if you want to provide feedback.

Text review is the current focus.

Please share comments & suggestions.

Thanks!
.

 

The text look fine, great job. Just one suggestion; a photo of the cap with the new element in it would be nice, just for completeness.

Peter

 

I don't get all this oil change fuss?? How can 5w20 oil be bad? I would expect it to be more protective than 0w, and the mileage thing has to be virtually insignificant.