uses for used motor oil?

[JJZ 109]

My vortex v6 in my blazer likes to drink a little off road diesel.

Just out of curiosity, what would the benefit be?

 

[pjbci]

Im wondering the same thing. Offroad fuel here is more expensive than premium gas.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I was thinking of 2 possible uses for used motor oil;
1. In a hydraulic system.
seams like even used motor oil has got to be better than many hydraulic oils since it is a much higher grade of oil to start with. Could this cause damage? I don't see how having suspended carbon in the oil would hurt anything and the loss of additives would mean nothing to hydraulic oil.
2. Well diluted in diesel fuel.
I've heard of people burning straight ATF, so it seams like I could burn used motor oil at 10:1 or so without any harm

I'd rather not go through the hassle of properly recycling it if I don't have to, and if I can get away with using it in place of something that would cost $4 a gallon or even $20 a gallon, all that much better, but it certainly isn't worth risking the equipment if it isn't safe.

What do you guys think?

You are walking over a dollar to pick up a penny here. Trust me on this one. I do a 100 plus oil changes a year and you are better off just getting rid of it. The cost savings on say diesel fuel would be lost 10 times over if you ate up a injector pump or even just more filter cost. Lets not even talk about the cost of injectors themselves.

Same holds true for your hydraulic system.

Trust me, I am cheap also but there are times to cut corners and times to do it right.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

I'm surprised it works well. Bar oil has "stickiness" additives in it.

Yep, it does. Use the right oil for your saw also. A $6 gallon of bar oil last the average guy a year or more.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

Just out of curiosity, what would the benefit be?

Diesel burns hotter than gas. He is cleaning up the valves and pistons of carbon deposits doing this. Old trick but can do damage also if used wrong.

Chris

 

[D7E]

I use it mainly for torching brush piles, preservative for wood lumber, coat it on some of my farm implements especially if it has fertilizer hopper. My planter and seed drill and drop spreader owners manuals all recommend coating with used oil or diesel.

Likewise... most goes for lighting fires on bush clearing and some on rusty knives on combine headers/haybines etc .

 

[D7E]

Yep, it does. Use the right oil for your saw also. A $6 gallon of bar oil last the average guy a year or more.

Chris

We cut 150 cords a year firewood and i have always just used new 15/40 in saws , I worked for some large forestry and logging crews and 15/40 is all they used too wether company workers or self employed that supply saws .

 

[LD1]

Regardless of what your flavor for bar oil is (engine oil, bar oil, veg oil), I would certainly NOT put used engine oil in MY saws.

It isnt the bar and chain I am worried about, it is the oil pump. ALOT of saws just use a plastic/nylon gears. They like clean oil. And if an oil pump goes out, it can get expensive. Not to mentioned some of the 20+ year old saws I have that you just cannot find parts for anymore. Last thing I'd want to do is make the saw totally unusable because I tried to save a few pennies with used motor oil. Not to metion the environmental concerns, but that is another matter completely.

So that leaves me with ONLY clean oil that will go into my saws. And bar oil @ $6/gallon is about the cheapest there is. So that is what I use.

We cut ~20-30 FULL cord per year. And are lucky if we even use 3-4 gallons. So what am I saving???? $25 for ~ $3k plus worth of wood??

 

[grsthegreat]

Diesel burns hotter than gas. He is cleaning up the valves and pistons of carbon deposits doing this. Old trick but can do damage also if used wrong.

Chris

I thought the opposite was true. A gasoline engine runs hotter overall than my diesels do. The gas blocks are way hotter.

 

[MHarryE]

Cat's , especially the older one were designed to be road job friendly. A road crew would only need to have one oil (15w40) and it could be used thru the entire machine. Most other brands are not made this way. Komatsu for example, you better be using 10w hyd oil and 30w trans fluid or you are headed for more problems than you can stand. The newer equipment with wet brake systems are very picky about the type oil that's required. Use the wrong type fluid and you will find out the hard way that you have no brakes. With the high prices of parts and repair these days how much money are you really saving by dumping used engine oil in anything?
I had a friend that would mix his used oil in the fuel in his Pete then turn around and complain about having to change his fuel filters so often. What good is it if you are changing your filters 2 or 3 times more often than normal.
Good use for old engine oil? Burning brushpiles.
Bar oil??? As high as a new Stihl bar and chain cost, I'll pay a few dollars for bar oil. You might get by with used oil if you only went thru a gallon or two every few years. We've went thru 4 or 5 gallons of bar oil in the last few months. My Stihl dealer said not to use even new motor oil for lube. It just doesn't have the correct additives to lubricate propperly.
That's just my 2 cents anyway.

Cat current equipment has 15W-40 engine oil as a recommended hydraulic oil. For the most part Cat uses the same hydaulic component suppliers as all the other major manufacturers.

This chart is their recommendation for all Cat hydraulic and hydrostatic systems. Note that for many of the temperature ranges engine oil (DEO is Diesel Engine Oil, DEO-ULS is Diesel Engine Oil - Ultra Low Sulphur. 15W-40 is good from 5° to 122° while their standard fill 10W is -4° to 104°. Sorry about the formatting getting all mixed up.

Hydraulic System and Hydrostatic Transmissions
Lubricant Viscosities for Ambient Temperatures
Oil Type and Performance Requirements
Oil Viscosities ï½°C ï½°F
Min Max Min Max
Cat HYDO Advanced 10
Cat TDTO SAE 10W -20 40 -4 104
Cat HYDO Advanced 30
Cat TDTO SAE 30 0 50 32 122
Cat BIO HYDO Advanced "ISO 46" Multi-Grade -30 45 -22 113
Cat MTO
Cat DEO-ULS
Cat DEO SAE10W-30 -20 40 -4 104
Cat DEO-ULS
Cat DEO SAE15W-40 -15 50 5 122
Cat TDTO-TMS Multi-Grade -15 50 5 122
Cat DEO-ULS SYN
Cat DEO SYN SAE 5W-40 -25 40 -13 104
Cat DEO-ULS Cold Weather SAE0W-40 -40 40 -40 104
Cat TDTO Cold Weather SAE 0W-20 -40 40 -40 104