Once You Have Changed Your Oil

Nick Vassilev
SubmitYOURArticle.com
September 12, 2011

Copyright (c) 2011 Nick Vassilev

You can, of course, get your oil changed by the professional mechanics and put the problem elsewhere. But if you're like most people who want to save a penny or two on car maintenance, changing your own oil is something you can do, no matter how cack-handed you are with a spanner.

This isn't an article about how to change your oil, though. You'll have to go elsewhere for that. This is about what to do after you've changed the oil. We'll also assume that you have managed to do everything without mishap and haven't ended up with oil all over yourself, the engine and the driveway/garage floor. Your car is nicely topped up with oil, you've only got a little bit of oil on an old rag and your overalls (you were wearing these, weren't you?) and all the old oil in an old roasting dish or an old ice cream container or three. Yes - now what are you going to do with that old oil?

What you aren't going to do is tip that old oil down the drain. This is really irresponsible and damaging to the environment, making a film over the surface of the water and preventing oxygen getting to the aquatic plants and fish, not to mention the catastrophic effect on bird life. Don't even start on the toxicity effects of old oil in the water system.

Nor do you want to try and dispose of the old oil in the regular way. Just stop and imagine for a moment what would happen if you poured old oil into a rubbish bag or dustbin… Fancy picking that up and tossing onto the back of a truck? No thanks!

It's just as well, then, that many council-run tips and "resource recovery centres" have facilities where you can hand over your old oil. It is possible, by a process of filtering, to clean that old oil for re-use. For many people, this is the most convenient option, and it's not a bad one.

However, you can keep hold of that oil for your own use. That oil still retains its lubricating properties and can be used for this. Used oil is perfect for keeping bicycle chains running nice and smooth. If applied carefully, old oil can be used to lubricate other equipment with moving parts - chainsaws? squeaky doors? wheelbarrows?

It is also possible to filter your own oil for reuse, according to some people. While this writer hasn't personally tried this method, here are the instructions if you want to give it a go. After all, you've got nothing to lose! You'll need two containers some bits of plastic tubing and a multi-filament double-braided rope. This method uses capillary action to clean the oil, and apparently, it takes a while to work!

First put the container of dirty oil on a bench or surface so that it will be higher than the second container, which will be for the clean oil - a box, a bench or an old chair will do. Thread the rope through the plastic tubing, leaving some of the rope dangling out each end. Pop one end of the rope in the dirty oil, somewhere near the bottom of the container and the other end dangling in the empty container below. The capillary action of the rope and gravity will siphon and filter the dirty oil, allowing clean oil to drip into the pan below. This process will need to be repeated several times, but you can speed the process up by using more than one rope at once. The ropes will be dirty at the end of this, so soak them in kerosene and let them dry before you try again.

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Nick Vassilev runs a successful London carpet cleaning firm called CarpetFirst!. Being in the cleaning industry for more than 12 years, Nick has built a substantial knowledge base, which he wants to share with everybody with passion for carpets, cleaning and... guitars. For more info regarding carpet cleaning visit http://www.carpetfirst.co.uk