Motor Oil Change 5Quarts Jug Vs 5 1Quart Bottles - Corolland: the Toyota Corolla Forums

I drive a '99 corolla and I usually buy the 5qts castro high-mileage in walmart and my car only takes in 4qts of oil. The remaining 1qt gets thrown away because I heard that once it is opened and air gets in the oil is no good or not as good. Is it better to buy five quart bottles instead? What do you guys use for oil change?

This seems wrong.

I've been keeping and reusing the leftovers from the 5 litre/quarts for the last 30 yrs of driving on all sorts of cars.

Never did I have any oil burning or compression problems from excess wear. If you cap the oil tightly,

it is a sealed system with no water or oxidants to get inside the oil.

Motor oil is fine after being exposed to the elements. It's brake fluid that you should throw away after opening (and not using for a few weeks).

 Nah. As long as u put the cap back on
it should do till next oul change.
And if thats ur fear..
Why dont u try the 4qt/1gal. from any
autoparts store??
Besides, doesnt ur car burn/leak
any oil at all??...
If it does then just use the remaining quart
Between oil changes..

If the left over oil got bad, why doesn't the oil in the crank get the same way? Just a thought I've used the extra quart to top off for years.

If the left over oil got bad, why doesn't the oil in the crank get the same way? Just a thought I've used the extra quart to top off for years.

some of the detergents or neutralizers may go stale with time, but I would think if the cap is tight, they should

be good for a few years.

If the left over oil got bad, why doesn't the oil in the crank get the same way? Just a thought I've used the extra quart to top off for years.
some of the detergents or neutralizers may go stale with time, but I would think if the cap is tight, they should

be good for a few years.

Must be nice to have a car that doesn't burn any oil! default_biggrin

That extra quart used to get me through to the next oil change, but with 190,000 miles on her now she gets thirsty.

If the left over oil got bad, why doesn't the oil in the crank get the same way? Just a thought I've used the extra quart to top off for years.
some of the detergents or neutralizers may go stale with time, but I would think if the cap is tight, they should

be good for a few years.
Must be nice to have a car that doesn't burn any oil! That extra quart used to get me through to the next oil change, but with 190,000 miles on her now she gets thirsty.

when did the oil burning start ??

are you sure its not a leak, a slow leak somewhere ??

If the left over oil got bad, why doesn't the oil in the crank get the same way? Just a thought I've used the extra quart to top off for years.
some of the detergents or neutralizers may go stale with time, but I would think if the cap is tight, they should

be good for a few years.
Must be nice to have a car that doesn't burn any oil! That extra quart used to get me through to the next oil change, but with 190,000 miles on her now she gets thirsty.

what kind of car u got?

i have a 98 corolla and it would chug about 11/2qrt before it was time to do an oil change. default_sad i was using 5w-30 thou. and the engine was in poor condition.

i tuned it up and cleaned the tb real good plus i recently put a temporary oil catch can in there to help a bit.

right now im test using a diesel oil that is very heavy

(delo 400 15w-40) im 1k miles from my next oil change and the oil level hasnt diminished one bit.

when its time for me to change it again i will go back to

5w-30 and see how it behaves since the catch can will diminish oil dilution a little bit.

oh, yeah. my corolka has 245k miles and still going strong.

default_smile

I have a 98 corolla, and over time oil burning has gone up. I maintain it well, but I think increased oil consumption is part of age. Right now there are no leaks and in ~3,000 miles I have to add about a pint, if I don't when it hits 6-7,000 it's a quart low. I'm a courier and can tell you that's a good case scenario. More than that and you can be sure something is amiss, either a bad design or probably a lack of maintenance.

If you're worried about the oil becoming oxidized or contaminated before you use it, just pour it into an empty spare 1-qt. bottle. Until recently, I've been doing all my own oil changes, using the 5-qt. jug of Mobil 1 5W30. Always tightly capped; never noticed any difference in the oil. With an expensive oil like Mobil 1, the cost savings of the large jug are significant over buying individual quart bottles. With a cheaper oil, perhaps not so much.

BTW I had one jug that got lost in the clutter of my garage, and since it was, by then, over 2 years old, I just used it in my lawn mower. I also use it to lube my bicycle chain. However, it doesn't make a very good salad dressing.

The remaining 1qt gets thrown away because I heard that once it is opened and air gets in the oil is no good or not as good. Is it better to buy five quart bottles instead?

You heard wrong. As dshadle1 mentioned, brake fluid is hygroscopic (absorbs water) and will be contaminated if left open or kept in a place with large temperature swings once the seal is broken. Motor oil doesn't "go bad" from sitting as long as it's kept capped.

Buying oil in jugs usually saves a fair amount of money so just keep doing what you're doing and save the remaining oil for the next change. No worries, mate!

No need to throw away the extra quart. Even if there were a little moisture built up inside it would quickly be burnt off in the engine.

I prefer 5qts instead of the jugs. That way I can easily monitor how many ounces of oil I top off with occasionally since the engine burns a little oil. I actually keep a log of how many ounces are added with the date and mileage so I know exactly how the engine is doing. If one prefers the jugs then you could always pour ounces of oil into a measuring cup before adding it to the engine if you wanted to know how much oil is being poured in.