Transfer Oil from 1 vehicle to another?

[NCal]

My neighbor's wife asked me an oil-related question today that I have absolutely no answer for, and I was hoping that the experts here could shed some light on this issue.

Her husband uses Redline 10W30 in his '99 LS1/6spd Vette that he rarely drives during the winter (~ 1500 miles between Nov & March). Each spring he'll drain the oil from the Vette, put it (along with a new filter) into his wife's S-10 (4.3L/auto), and put fresh RL & filter in the Vette. When she asked him about it, he told her that "since RL oil is good for 6-7k miles, it would be a waste of money not to use it and that 2000 mile RL is better for her car than new Pennzoil".

So anyway, she comes over this morning asking me if it will hurt her engine, and, if I've ever heard of somebody else doing this? I don't know how to answer her. I've never heard of it, but:

On the 1 hand, RL makes a good synthetic oil and at only 1500 miles, there should be at least another 3-4k miles worth of life left in it.

OTOH, this oil has been in his car for nearly 5 months and even though he brings his car to operating temp every 2 weeks or so, it's still almost 5 months old.

I've gone back & forth on this all day so it's time to ask the experts: Do YOU see anything wrong with putting 1500 mile, 5 month old synthetic oil into another car?

TIA.
Nick

 

[2005tundra2002yz250f]

quote:

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Originally posted by NCal:
My neighbor's wife asked me an oil-related question today that I have absolutely no answer for, and I was hoping that the experts here could shed some light on this issue.

Her husband uses Redline 10W30 in his '99 LS1/6spd Vette that he rarely drives during the winter (~ 1500 miles between Nov & March). Each spring he'll drain the oil from the Vette, put it (along with a new filter) into his wife's S-10 (4.3L/auto), and put fresh RL & filter in the Vette. When she asked him about it, he told her that "since RL oil is good for 6-7k miles, it would be a waste of money not to use it and that 2000 mile RL is better for her car than new Pennzoil".

So anyway, she comes over this morning asking me if it will hurt her engine, and, if I've ever heard of somebody else doing this? I don't know how to answer her. I've never heard of it, but:

On the 1 hand, RL makes a good synthetic oil and at only 1500 miles, there should be at least another 3-4k miles worth of life left in it.

OTOH, this oil has been in his car for nearly 5 months and even though he brings his car to operating temp every 2 weeks or so, it's still almost 5 months old.

I've gone back & forth on this all day so it's time to ask the experts: Do YOU see anything wrong with putting 1500 mile, 5 month old synthetic oil into another car?

TIA.
Nick

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Shouldnt casue harm if the oil is still good. Not worth the hassle to me though. Plus, if the husband thinks the oil is still good, why drain it in the first place.

 

[Shannow]

a naighbour that we used to have was using synthetic in his turbo volvo. The synth was $10/litre 16 years ago, but it did keep his turbo alive.

He'd drain the OVLOV, filter the oil through a couple of old felt hats and use the oil in his beaters.

 

[moribundman]

I hope the S-10 won't catch any coodies from the Vette.

quote:

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He'd drain the OVLOV, filter the oil through a couple of old felt hats and use the oil in his beaters.

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Old Akubra hats? I hope they don't contain any mercury!

 

[tmorris1]

I say if it isn't good enough for the vette then why use it in something else? There is a good chance that dirt from the under carriage of the car could end up in the drain pan. I would filter it very well before dumping it into another engine.

 

[Shannow]

moribundman,
it would make for a good UOA.

Did you know that the calisi virus caused Akubra a lot of heart ache ?

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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moribundman,
Did you know that the calisi virus caused Akubra a lot of heart ache ?

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I can imagine. I will go to catch a wong-eared wabbit!

 

[NCal]

[/QUOTE] if the husband thinks the oil is still good, why drain it in the first place. [/QB][/QUOTE]

Didn't I covered that when I said "Vette Owner"?

All kidding aside, this guy is a perfectionist who reallllly loves his car. Changes the radiator coolant every year, washes it every week, waxes it every 3, you get the idea. He kinda looks down on me 'cuz I use RP oil in my '01 CamaroSS/M6 and only change it every 5k miles (spanking him at the track probably didn't help much either

), but he's an ok guy. And when he starts talking to me again I'll tell him that..

D@mn beautiful vette though. He does have a right to be proud of it.
N

 

[drive it forever]

Why would someone who can afford a vette do something silly and cheap like this?

 

[k1xv]

I used to know somebody who drained oil from a BMW motorcycle (twin air cooled) after only 1000 miles, then use it in his clunker car.

I guess so long as the transplanted oil was coming from an engine in top shape, no harm would be done. The question is, "WHY" ????

 

[jthorner]

He gets the Vette, she gets an S10. His car gets fresh Redline, hers gets leftovers. Hmmm, I wonder what the priorities are in that household!

As long as the oil is kept perfectly clean while draining, catching and refilling it shouldn't hurt anything.

Mightly strange behavior though!

John

 

[NCal]

"Why would someone who can afford a vette do something silly and cheap like this? "

"I guess so long as the transplanted oil was coming from an engine in top shape, no harm would be done. The question is, "WHY" ????"

"As long as the oil is kept perfectly clean while draining, catching and refilling it shouldn't hurt anything. Mightly strange behavior though! "

I know, I know

. That's why I had such a hard time answering the question

. How do you tell someone it's ok to do something that you wouldn't dream of doing yourself?

Well it looks like the general consensus is that with Thanks guys.
N

 

[Patman]

I see no harm in it, and applaud the fact that he doesn't waste the oil, even though he probably can afford to dump expensive oil with such low miles.

I'd recommend that he put a Fram sure drain system on his car though, then when he drains it out he can easily transfer the used oil into a nice clean container.

 

[Al]

Exercise in futility..if you ask me. Life is too short to crawl under one car and transfer the used oil to another. But that's just me. Whtever floats your boat.

 

[JHZR2]

the vette is a keeper car, the s-10 is a 'throwaway' daily driver to them apparently.

Redline at those miles is surely still good. its a smart way to save oil, since it is good stuff that can go for longer. So long as after the oil is swapped, she drives it a long while (maybe 50+ miles), to ensure that any condensation that might have been in there is gone, I dont see an issue.

That said, I have thuroughly analyzed MANY 4.3L GM V6 engine UOAs, and firmly believe that synthetic oils DO NOT protect these engines as well as well-designed dino oils. In my opinion, based upon analysis of many 4.3 V6 UOAs, I believe that no oil protects the GM 4.3 better than pennzoil 5 or 10w30! So I must respectfully disagree on the husband's statement due to use in that and ONLY that engine. Id say to re-use it, but preferably in another engine!

JMH

 

[uconn1150]

I'm guilty of this. I took the 2nd clean cycle (oil & A-RX)out of my Conquest and threw it into my trusty old Ramcharger. The Ram didn't complain

 

[tasman]

During the war, I was in Baghdad and we could not get supplies. I had a M1 tank that needed a transmission and we could get the trans but not oil. So we drained the used oil into the new trans and filtered it through coffee filters

. Only time I had to do this in over 19 years in the military. Can't see doing it, when I could get the oil though.

TasMan

 

[medic]

Honestly, I doubt there would be a problem (other than the chance of contamination from the drain pan and the underside of the vette). Her 4.3 sounds like it gets better care than most.

My grandfather used to tell a story of a local farmer who was so cheap that he drained the oil from the tractor and used it in the car when he had to go to town. When he got back, the oil went back into the tractor. This guy did pretty good for his family and left them quite a bit of $$$ when he died. They still live a very humble life today.

 

[NCal]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I told her that I had asked some people who know more about used oil than I do, and that you guys said that as long as hubby's careful during the transfer process, the oil should be fine. She was relieved to hear that.

Thanks again.

Nick