Ten uses for old engine oil

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Thu 1 Jul 2021 11:04
Ten uses for old engine oil - John F

Another amusing post from John F, can't wait for next weeks installment. 10 uses for 10 year old used engine oil maybe?

I have an old 20l can to store old oil in which makes rare trips to the tip when full, because there are so many uses for it...

1.Dilute with paraffin and paint on sheds

2.Treat fence posts and garden stakes

3. Paint onto old car's springs and subframes

4. Use in my 50+yr old Atco 17 and 20+yr old Mountfield Empress.

5. Apply to undersides of mowers for winter period

6. Use in chainsaw for blade lubrication (but not for 2stroke fuel)

7. Brush sparingly onto bicycle chain

8. Oil gate hinges

9. Rub into wooden front roller of mower

10. Mix with weed killer to paint on leaves - sticks on them longer

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Thu 1 Jul 2021 11:17
Ten uses for old engine oil - Steveieb

How about using it to set fire to your compost heap ?

Certainly helps to get it started, but don’t tell Greta !

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Thu 1 Jul 2021 12:59
Ten uses for old engine oil - Chris M

Well at least half of those uses will result in polluting the ground :(

Years ago had an elderly neighbour who wanted my old engine oil so that he could light his almost daily bonfires. I think he felt burning wet leaves didn't create enough smoke.

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Thu 1 Jul 2021 14:49
Ten uses for old engine oil - John F

I hardly dare admit to occasionally pouring it sparingly onto dry logs in the woodstore. It soaks in nicely. The high temperature in the wood burner ensures more complete combustion. Don't tell Greta. As for polluting the ground, it's not long before bacteria digest the hydrocarbons - and the ground around here has lots of mineral (mainly iron ore) content. And all those thousands of tons of creosote on a hundred years of wooden railway sleepers and telegraph poles spread far and wide don't seem to have done much harm.

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Thu 1 Jul 2021 15:36
Ten uses for old engine oil - _

Don't tell Greta, but it does keep the rats out of the septic tank...

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Thu 1 Jul 2021 16:01
Ten uses for old engine oil - Steveieb

All my neighbours and my wife died of lung cancer and we live next to the allotments where the ECO brigade constantly burn bonfires.

My other neighbour decided to sell up after she read that bonfire smoke is hundreds of times more toxic than cigarette smoke.

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Thu 1 Jul 2021 16:41
Ten uses for old engine oil - Andrew-T

<< Dilute with paraffin and paint on sheds >>

I think it would take a long time before anything like touch-dry. I wouldn't like using a tacky shed.

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Thu 1 Jul 2021 17:34
Ten uses for old engine oil - corax
2.Treat fence posts and garden stakes

They are usually pressure treated when you buy them.

But they rot at ground level so no point painting them.

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Thu 1 Jul 2021 18:48
Ten uses for old engine oil - Terry W

Basic question - (a) do I paint everything in sight with a profoundly toxic and unpleasant liquid, or (b) spend a few ££ on some shiny new fluids specifically developed to be fit for purpose.

There comes a point where a virtuous recycling and repurposing policy makes no real sense other than for the self righteous or obsessive.

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Fri 2 Jul 2021 00:30
Ten uses for old engine oil - brum

Eleventh use - take it to your local recycling place, or in my case I phone the council who will once a year come and pick up my hazardous waste for free. It will then be sent to a company who will recycle it and the containers to make new oil and new containers

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Fri 2 Jul 2021 12:20
Ten uses for old engine oil - Sofa Spud

There's a 12th use for old engine oil . . .

Leave it in the engine and it will probably run fine for years.

Edited by Sofa Spud on 02/07/2021 at 12:20

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Fri 2 Jul 2021 13:01
Ten uses for old engine oil - brum

There's a 12th use for old engine oil . . .

Leave it in the engine and it will probably run fine for years.

And I believe thats John F's favourite option.....;)

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Fri 2 Jul 2021 13:54
Ten uses for old engine oil - bathtub tom

Years ago, the missus had an oil burning old banger. When I changed my oil I'd use it to top hers up.

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Fri 2 Jul 2021 14:13
Ten uses for old engine oil - Xileno

We also had an oil burning wreck of an Escort (one of the first FWD ones), burned almost as much oil as petrol. Falling to piece with rust so we didn't want to spend money on the engine. A local garage used to let me call and fill a few cans from their old oil drum, a real multi-grade mix no doubt. John F's 20 litre can would have been useful!

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Sat 3 Jul 2021 10:41
Ten uses for old engine oil - John F

There's a 12th use for old engine oil . . .

Leave it in the engine and it will probably run fine for years.

And I believe thats John F's favourite option.....;)

Quite so. TR7's last five oil and filter changes were in 1993, 1997, 2002, 2013 and 2019. But mileage 56,000 in 1993 and only 72,000 now. Forty year old engine indeed run fine for years. Oil and its additives is just chemical machinery. If you don't use it, it doesn't wear out.

Slight panic on checking oil after shopping trip to Milton Keynes the other week - only a drop visible on end of dipstick! Closer inspection revealed total collapse of the rubber dipstick tube connecting the pipe poking up from the engine block to its mounting bracket on the air filter cover. The dipstick had poked through it. I don't suppose it was ever envisaged to last so long. I whittled a twig to bung the pipe to prevent any oil discharge on the journey home. Easy repair by using some old fuel hose I had (from a previous repair of a rusty section of fuel pipe on my old Audi 100) cut to the right length.

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Fri 2 Jul 2021 19:17
Ten uses for old engine oil - blindspot

oil bath for rusty chains

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Fri 2 Jul 2021 22:36
Ten uses for old engine oil - Big John

I thought used engine oil was rather carcinogenic?

It certainly eats into metal eventually. I helped a friend pickup and old engine for spares from a 1920's Morris Bullnose that had been "stored" on its side for many years(decades!). It was the side of the crank that was submerged that was in incredibly poor condition.

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Sat 3 Jul 2021 07:13
Ten uses for old engine oil - edlithgow

People use it to rust treat chassis. I think I’ve done that once, but more recently I feel a little oil goes a long way, so I just use new stuff. The marginal economy gain of used oil doesn’t compensate for its dioxin content.

If I ever make my boat I MIGHT be tempted to use it inside bamboo sections on spars and beams, where it wont be very exposed unless they break.

In that role the unpleasant ingredients probably add to the preservative effect.

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Sat 3 Jul 2021 10:53
Ten uses for old engine oil - Andrew-T

I thought used engine oil was rather carcinogenic? It certainly eats into metal eventually.

Used oil may attack metal because it has become acidic from combustion products. Oil is (was) also associated with scrotal cancer in men working with it daily, in mechanical workshops and the like. The two effects are not related AFAIK.

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Sat 3 Jul 2021 11:15
Ten uses for old engine oil - Steveieb

Yes my work colleague , ex Royal Navy engine mechanic and worked on Paxman and Deltic static generators had to have major surgery on that area . They put it down to stuffing oil rags in his overall pockets .

Brings it home when you see the cause and effect!

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Mon 5 Jul 2021 18:38
Ten uses for old engine oil - nailit

Seriously! This is just another John F wind up, he certainly knows how to have a laugh.

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Mon 5 Jul 2021 19:38
Ten uses for old engine oil - Metropolis.

John is quite witty on the forum, but I don't honestly think this is a windup. I know many people who do the same. I even know someone who uses old engine oil for an oil burning heater. Chainsaws is very common too. Country life is a bit different to urban/inner city living. Alot of things get reused or burned.

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Mon 5 Jul 2021 20:52
Ten uses for old engine oil - Big John

It probably depends on the state of the old oil. My dad's pre crossflow MK2 Cortina leaked/vented oil. The coated bits of body never rotted but the rest of the car did. Saying that it burnt/leaked so much oil that the oil in the sump must have been newish having been topped up so much.

Edited by Big John on 05/07/2021 at 20:53

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Mon 5 Jul 2021 21:00
Ten uses for old engine oil - John F

In an old car with a high mileage engine burning around a litre of oil every 2,000 miles, I think there might be a reasonable argument to be made for not bothering to change the oil and just changing the oil filter every 10,000 miles till it dies.

PS I live in the countryside.

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