Outboard Motor Oil Recycling | Outboard Motor Oil - Part 4

How Do You Dispose of Used Oil?

How Do You Dispose of Used Oil?

If all the used oil from people in the United States alone who changed their own oil were re-used and recycled, there would be enough motor oil from that population alone to power 50 million automobiles each year. The used oil from just one oil change can contaminate 1 million gallons of fresh water-a year’s supply of drinking water for fifty people.

During normal use of marine engine oil, impurities such as dirt, toxic chemicals, and heavy metal scrapings can mix in with the oil, causing it not to perform as well as it once did. Used oil must be replaced periodically to help machines run their smoothest. Used motor oil is slow to degrade, adheres to everything from bird feathers to beach sand, and is a major contaminant in waterways and is a potential pollutant of drinking water sources. On average, 4 million people reuse motor oil for other equipment or take it to a facility with recycling capabilities. Used motor oil from automobiles, motorcycles, farm equipment, and landscaping equipment, as well as boats, can be recycled. Recycled used motor oil can be reinvented as new oil, processed into fuel oils, and serve as raw materials for the petroleum industry. One gallon of used motor oil produces the same 2.5 quarts of lubricating oil as 42 gallons of crude oil can.

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How to Change Your Outboard Motor Oil and Filter, Part 2

How to Change Your Outboard Motor Oil and Filter, Part 2

The oil filter will need to be changed every time the outboard motor oil is changed. Be sure and place a couple of rags or absorbent pads under the filter cap to collect potential oil or debris. Try to loosen the cap, using the appropriate wrench. You may have to clean the filter cap with an absorbent pad; if this doesn’t work, get a screwdriver and hammer and tap the screwdriver tip down into the cap, rotating the existing oil filter until it loosens enough to be removed.
Before you replace the old oil filter with a new one, dip your finger into the old oil and rub a bead of oil around the edge of the new oil filter’s gasket o-ring, which will ease the future removal of the new filter when it needs to be replaced with the next oil change. If you will be boating in a hot climate that stays above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, use 25W-40 motor oil; in a cooler climate, use a 10W-30. Screw the new oil filter into position. Tighten the new oil filter by hand, ensuring it is snug with an additional ¾ to 1 full turn. Once the oil filter is in place and the drain plug is secured tightly, remove the plug for the fill and add the new oil using a funnel. Check your manufacturer’s manual for specifications regarding the amount of oil to use. Finally, check your dipstick to make sure there is enough oil. For environmental purposes, please dispose of discarded outboard engine oil at an approved hazardous materials collection center. Happy boating!

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How to Change Your Outboard Motor Oil and Filter, Part 1

How to Change Your Outboard Motor Oil and Filter, Part 1

With a four-stroke outboard motor, you will need to change the boat motor oil at frequent intervals. (A traditional two-stroke outboard motor doesn’t require engine oil because the oil and gasoline mix provides lubrication for the motor.) For a four-stroke outboard engine, it is generally recommended that the oil is changed once a year or every 100 hours of running time in fresh water, whichever comes sooner. For saltwater usage or if the four-stroke motor is run hard, the oil should be changed twice as often-for every 50 hours of running time and or twice a year if you are a frequent boater. A tip before you begin: have plenty of rags or absorbent pads ready to use during and after the oil change.

Pull the boat out of the water onto dry land and remove the engine cover (which usually is secured with one or two latches), setting it off to the side so that its surface does not become scratched. The top section of the outboard engine is called “the power head” and below it is the lower gearcase. Pull out the dip stick to assess the condition of the oil inside the crankcase. The drain plug is in the midsection of the outboard engine, and it will need to be loosened in order to drain the oil.

A table can be helpful to provide some leverage for the draining process. One technique is to turn the steering wheel so that the drain plug on the motor is facing inward, placing an oil pan on the table and under the drain plug to catch the existing oil. Back the drain plug out with the appropriate socket wrench, having a pan ready to catch the oil, because it will flow freely. Once all of the oil has drained, wipe up excess oil. Replace the drain plug, making sure it is secured.

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How to Find your Local Oil Recycling Center

How to Find your Local Oil Recycling CenterThrough several posts on this blog, we’ve stressed the importance of recycling your outboard motor oil. One of the biggest concerns is where to find your local recycling station. There are several ways to do this.

The easiest way to do it is to check your local phone book. You can also check your county or city’s website to find locations. If none of those resources work out, you could also consult an auto mechanic, as they would know where to recycle your oil.

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A Friendly Reminder

A Friendly ReminderIf you own or operate a sailboat, commercial fishing vessel, or recreational powerboat, now you can keep our waterways clean by properly managing your oily bilge water for free! Oily bilge water pump out stations have been installed at many marinas and lakes for the public to use, and oil absorbent pads are often available for free to help absorb boat motor oil contamination in your bilge water or to clean up any accidental spills safely and efficiently. Plus, oil and oil pad collection stations are conveniently located to ensure your used oil get recycled into new products.

It only takes a few minutes to pump out your bilge and keep our waterways and drinking water clean! All the oil captured by these systems is recycled, the water filtered and returned to our waterways free of contamination.

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The Benefits of Oil Recycling

The Benefits of Oil RecyclingClean Water: By recycling your used outboard motor oil, you keep it out of rivers, lakes, streams and even your ground water. In many cases, that means keeping it out of your drinking water, off our beaches and away from wildlife.

Recycling the motor oil from one oil change protects a million gallons of drinking water – or a year’s supply for 50 people.

Save Energy and a Resource: Motor oil doesn’t wear out – it just gets dirty. As it circulates through your engine it picks up a variety of contaminants and becomes dirty or used and needs to be replaced. If you are one of the millions of do-it-yourselfers who drops off your oil at a collections center or uses curbside pickup you are conserving energy for future generations.

If one gallon of used motor oil is reprocessed and burned as fuel, it will generate enough electricity to power everything in your home for a day.

Recycling Used Oil: Used motor oil can be reprocessed into fuel that warms your home in the winter and cools it in the summer. It can be burned in furnaces for heat, or in power plants to generate electricity for homes, schools and businesses. Processed motor oil can also be used in industrial burners, mixed with asphalts for paving, or blended for marine fuels.

Used motor oil can be re-refined into lubricating oils that meets the same certification and specifications as new or virgin motor oil thus conserving energy resources for the future.

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Record High for Oil (Again)

Record High for Oil (Again)Today oil prices surged, yet again, to $127 a barrel. On the heels of this news are the concerns that oil prices will not go down as Memorial Day weekend (the unofficial first day of summer travel) looms closely. That said, outboard motor oil prices are also scheduled for a slight price increase. Do yourself a favor and start buying oil for the summer now. Don’t wait around or you’ll be apt to spend your summer on land.

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Yamalube is More Than a Brand Name

YamalubeRecently I found that some of the motor oils I’ve been using have been more a detriment to my boat, often causing more problems eating more gas than anything else. Then someone recommended that I switch to Yamalube. Admittedly I was a bit reluctant, but I hedged on my feelings and tried it.

Let me say that I thought Yamalube would only work well with Yamaha engines. Those ill informed opinions aside, Yamalube made my boat run remarkably well. Riding on the water was a smooth go, which is not an easy feat by any means. It’s also quite affordable as I found a case of it for $83 online.

I thought it would take a huge arm twist to turn me into a convert, but all it really took in the end was a simple test drive and the ability to make my boat run well, as opposed to a gloried gondola.

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Escape the Crunch of Steep Oil Prices

Escape the Crunch of Steep Oil Prices

I think there’s this misconception that those of us who use boats recreationally have a pile of money buried beneath their mattress. I can’t say that I’ve ever had anything more than a stack of comic books and dirty laundry under my bed (when I was a kid), but I can tell you that a pile of money is something that I do not have.

Luckily, I can purchase a 16 gallon drum of Evinrude outboard motor oil for under $500 through domo-online.com. It’s a perfect buy for a budget-minded consumer and boat enthusiast such as myself. 16 gallons may not seem like much, but there’s realistically a few weeks out of the year that I can take my boat out, so it works out in the end.

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The Many Benefits of Recycling

The Many Uses of Recycled Motor Oil

Oil BarrelRecycling used outboard motor oil keeps oil out of landfills and ensures that this oil is available for re-use, reconditioning, reprocessing or re-refining.

From a purely environmental point of view, the best thing that the motor oil consumer can do is to buy a longer-lasting oil. In that way, less used oil is generated in the first place.

Over 380 million gallons of used oil is recycled each year according to the U.S. EPA, which equates to over 50 percent of all motor oil purchased annually.

Currently, used motor oil can be re-used or recycled one of three ways-reconditioning, reprocessing or re-refining. It is important to note that each process can be important in helping to manage the overall volume of used motor oil in the U.S.

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