How much oil have you had on your skin over the years?

[Patman]

I absolutely hate getting oil on my hands, but I also find that more often than not I don't wear gloves when doing an oil change. I just did an oil change last week on the BMW and everything was going great right up until the very end when I was putting the drain plug back in and it slipped out of my fingers and into the catch pan! I did the oil change cold so it wasn't a big deal to fish around in that oil to find the plug, but both of my hands ended up getting completely covered in oil. I immediately went into the house and washed my hands 3 or 4 times in a row (I'm getting used to that routine lately anyways!) In fact, after every oil change that I do, I wash my hands quite often that day, basically until I can no longer smell oil on them. It usually takes quite a few washings before that happens (9 or 10!)

 

[HonorAndHonesty]

Enough. Between that, second hand smoke, smog and the junk I've breathed at work I feel I will be lucky to make it to 70. Very frustrating, but at least this misery will be over.

 

[02SE]

A LOT.

I started out at 12 helping out around a garage. I was doing oil changes on customer cars, and learning what made cars tick, until I received my certifications and then worked for years on customer cars at a dealership, and various independents. All the while I was working on my own vehicles, and some relatives. Eventually I took up a hobby working in professional racing. Tons of oil, brake cleaner, Methanol and Nitro on my hands in that endeavor too.

 

[Alfred_B]

I wear gloves whenever working on the car. My oil changes are with an extractor so there is minimal chance to come in contact with used oil. I fill up the oil with a garden sprayer tank so again chances of contact are minimal.

 

[NYEngineer]

Originally Posted by 4WD
Yes sir … repaired 3408 gen sets on south Texas rigs …
You only got a real mechanic out if the D399's were acting up … and as the helper you got filthy …



The D399s dont act up too often. I used to love doing overhhauls on them. Not sure why. I just dug em.

 

[AC1DD]

I've been working around cars since the early 1980s as a kid and I've gotten lots of oil on my hands, back during that time until say the late 80s very few pros or shade tree bothered with gloves at all from my memory. Not to mention all the prep sol as well, when I worked at a Honda store back then we regularly used it without gloves at all, taking the cosmoline off the new cars coming off the boat from Japan...used it daily. I guess I can say I hope I don't get cancer....

 

[supton]

FWIW, when I buy gloves at HF I buy both the cheapo blue nitrile and the even cheaper vinyl. The vinyl doesn't hold up at all for oil--but it'll hold for a couple of minutes before it starts breaking down. That's long enough for me to get the drain bolt out, or the filter out, or whatever. I find I wind up taking my gloves off frequently anyhow--I might start to drain the oil and then want to putter around on something else. I pick which glove to use depending on the job.