Gave away some of my stash

Joined
Jun 5, 2003
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Location
Apple Valley, California
Got a call yesterday from an aquaintance I know. Older guy that lives alone and in the desert like I do.

He was doing an oil change. Forgot to put the plug back in and poured 5 qts of oil through his engine.

He asked me if I could run him to town to buy more oil for his 1986 toyota truck.

I told him that I had oil at home and would bring him some that would be acceptable for his truck vs taking an extra hour to go get oil which was fine with him.

He poured orileys oil onto the ground. I went to my stash and found some valvoline durablend 10w-40 I paid pennies for.

Took him that since none of my cars call for 10w-40. ( although my Jeep could use it).

He tried to pay me but I declined. I am sure someday he will return the favor so I am not worried about it.
 
excellent karma chris142! there are those of us of a certain age now for whom motor oil in our youth simply meant 10w40, with 10w30 a close second. simpler times, perhaps not better in all regards, but certainly less complicated.
 
Right on. Woman @ work is driving an oil burner so I tossed her my 15 qts of STP 10W-40 HM. Not sure why I even bought it..... oh wait, it was $10 / jug
 
Forgetting to reinstall the oil drain plug is a rite of passage...
Don't ask me how I know, or how many friends were laughing at me.
Or how I had no more $$ to buy more oil.

You and your stash saved the day!
 
I never forgot to reinstall the drain plug (give me time) but I did fail to inspect for a stuck-on, old oil filter gasket on my brother's van which resulted in a huge oil pump-out upon startup. Right of passage, sure, but my brother has never returned for even an oil change since. That sucks.

Re 86cutless307: "Random acts of kindness keep us where we need to be." So true...EXCEPT when some well practiced nogoodnick learns how to precipitate said random acts of kindness. Call these people "users" or "leaches". They are not deserving of help. They never help. They never contribute.

.....been watching one ply his craft....always stings
 
Good Job Chris142. Glad you and I pay ot forward.
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Good for you Chris. I'm thinking that forgetting a drain plug is due to getting out from under the vehicle for the "extended drain" while you go for a coffee. I stay under the car until the oil stream stops and starts to drip. That is enough and the plug goes back in. Anything more than that is just anal retention IMHO. 200,000 miles on my Chevy doing it that way.
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When I was 14 I was helping at a friends fathers shop. I was doing an oil change on an older Buick with a 455. I poured in 5 qts and checked the stick. Nothin. Put in 2 more. Nothin. Then I looked under it and saw the oil dripping out.
 
At least your friend caught a break using O'Reilly's oil instead of Ravenol. The worst part for him was the cleanup afterwards.

Since the early 70s, I've encountered oil spills twice. One time was a double oil filter gasket and then an episode where I got distracted and accidentally tipped over the plastic oil drain bucket, walking backwards after my wife backed the vehicle out of the driveway.

When it's all said & done months from now, maybe you will have converted your friend over to Valvoline products.
 
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Normally I'll double check that the drain plug is in before I start pouring oil but didn't on a recent change. I forgot the drain plug on my last oil change in the Versa but thought of it and was able to get the plug in before losing 1/2 a quart of oil. When I remove the old filter I always take a rag and wipe the filter seating area clean before putting the new filter on, by doing this I've never had a double gasket failure. I started using 10w40 when I bought my first car in the '70's and still use it in all my vehicles.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
When I was 14 I was helping at a friends fathers shop. I was doing an oil change on an older Buick with a 455. I poured in 5 qts and checked the stick. Nothin. Put in 2 more. Nothin. Then I looked under it and saw the oil dripping out.

Well done! I think my limit was 2 quarts...
I think it was spilling out of the oil drain pan; that's when the laughter started.
 
Pouring oil back into the ground; you can't get any greener than that!
When I do my oil changes I have everything on a table in the order I'm going to use it. Soon as I torque the drain plug I put the wrench away. Filter, filter wrench and oil all in sequence. Put everything away after I've used it, at the end all that's left is the old oil and filter, filter box and empty oil jugs. Just my way of keeping track of myself (I'm 68).
 
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