Disposal of gas/oil mix

[Dogma]

Not sure this is the right place, but it's the closest fit I could find:

So. Several weeks ago I finished changing the steering bearings on my 1000G for the second time. (Only about 30,000 miles. They are definitely lubed this time). I put it all back together, but couldn't get out for a ride. A couple days later, I smell gas in the garage, and there's a puddle under the bike. Great. The top case is covered too. The tank is nearly empty with only about 30 miles showing on the odometer, so I figure there's most of a tank full in the crankcase.

I know the cause and the cure for this, but what to do with the contaminated oil? AutoZone won't take it, right? Maybe I should just go buy a chainsaw or a Chinese 2-stroke dirt bike to use it in.

 

[chuck hahn]

Orilleys never asks me questions. And i know up north many shops have multi fuel heaters. I would ask around and some shop owner may gladly take it from you

 

[Big T]

Or, just pour it in your car/truck tank and fill up the car/truck tank
3 qts of oil in 20 gallons of gas won't hurt anything

 

[Dogma]

AutoZone sometimes asks me if it's just oil. Maybe I had a guilty look on my face when I knew there was a bunch of brake fluid in there.

I had thought about feeding it back to the bike, maybe gallon at a time. I'd rather run it through the bike's simple system than the more complex stuff in the Prius and CX-5, just to play it safe.

I think my gas can (usually empty) is a 5 gallon job, so it can probably hold everything. My oil drain pan won't though. Maybe I should use the Mighty-Vac to get a siphon started through the oil filler. That feels like a plan.

 

[Guest]

i think in smallish doses the car will actually eat it better than the bike, more gas in the tank to dilute it. That's just, like, my opinion, man.

 

[Burque73]

Here in Albuquerque we have a drop off location for hazardus houshold waste. I've taken pesticides, herbicides, antifreze and all sorts of automotive fluids to them. Unless it's radioactive, explosive or biomedical they'll take it.

Isn't there anything like that around there?

 

[timebombprod]

Go to oriellys and give a fake name and adress lol

 

[cowboyup3371]

Dale, the transfer station up here in Dayton doesn't ask questions when it comes to dumping the oil if I go there instead of OReilly's. May check out your local trash transfer location and see what they have for hazardous waste

 

[robertbarr]

Normally I burn my leftover premix (and ethanol that's getting a bit too old) in the car, a 2018 Mazda in this case, but these are very small ratios. I'm adding a quart or two of 50:1 to a 12-gallon tank, which works out to roughly 1.25 ounces of oil to 12 gallons of fuel, which is about a 1200:1 mixture -- not significant.

With that much to dispose of, and a much higher oil:fuel ratio, I'd be too concerned about screwing up the cat. I'm starting out with a good-running car, and I'd like to keep it that way! Work your ratios and let's see: 5 gallons of fuel, initially, mixed with 4.5 quarts of oil is 640:144 ounces, or 4.5:1 (fuel to oil). That's a pretty stout mixture! In order to dilute that down to a few ounces of oil per tank of gas, it'd take 50 to 60 tanks of fuel. That might be overly cautious, but you get the idea.

With an older non-cat vehicle, who cares? It smokes. So did I for 30 years. But I'd sure hate to have to pay for a new catalytic converter just to dispose of oil-soaked fuel!

 

[dorkburger]

I was under the impression that some gas mixed in wasn't a problem at Auto zone.
I've never dropped a mixture there, but they are very lax at ours. No signing of papers, etc.

 

[Dogma]

Normally I burn my leftover premix (and ethanol that's getting a bit too old) in the car, a 2018 Mazda in this case, but these are very small ratios. I'm adding a quart or two of 50:1 to a 12-gallon tank, which works out to roughly 1.25 ounces of oil to 12 gallons of fuel, which is about a 1200:1 mixture -- not significant.

With that much to dispose of, and a much higher oil:fuel ratio, I'd be too concerned about screwing up the cat. I'm starting out with a good-running car, and I'd like to keep it that way! Work your ratios and let's see: 5 gallons of fuel, initially, mixed with 4.5 quarts of oil is 640:144 ounces, or 4.5:1 (fuel to oil). That's a pretty stout mixture! In order to dilute that down to a few ounces of oil per tank of gas, it'd take 50 to 60 tanks of fuel. That might be overly cautious, but you get the idea.

With an older non-cat vehicle, who cares? It smokes. So did I for 30 years. But I'd sure hate to have to pay for a new catalytic converter just to dispose of oil-soaked fuel!

This kind of thinking parallels my misgivings about putting it through the cars.

I don't know if we have a regular transfer station available to the public here in Mason, but Rumpke will probably have some advice if I give up on trying to run the bike on it. I do kind of like the idea of keeping the mosquitos at bay all summer, but I don't think my conscience can handle that much dirty burn if it isn't necessary.

 

[bwringer]

Yeah, don't put it into a car.

The "tox drop" in Indy will take old/contaminated gas and oil, and I've used this a few times when dealing with the manky contents of old tanks. Basically, there's a rotating list of locations around the county where residents can drop off "hazardous household waste" on certain days several times a month. I drop off old motor oil a few times a year, paint, electronics, antifreeze, etc. and so on.

That said, I don't know whether your county or city has this. But even normal used motor oil contains some gasoline from blow-by, so it's not a show-stopper if you just recycle it with your regular used motor oil.

 

[Gorminrider]

We have similar here to Bwringer's...They used to accept oil at all sorts of places but so many people abused it

...Many years ago I talked to the guy who was emptying the "Recycle Your Oil!" tank at a gas station and he said that the problem was people weren't just putting oil in it...gas,oil, weird slurries...oil itself is easy to recycle but weird mixes the "mouth breathers" dumped in were a big problem. Also, the nasty containers that showed up in the night.

So, they are now more careful. And supervising.... I do believe old gas, weird mixes- get burned as fuel in industrial locations that are set up for it. For instance, I think there's a pulp mill here that burns it...?

 

[wymple]

I thought people in Ohio just tossed everything in the Cuyahoga?

 

[storm 64]

I thought people in Ohio just tossed everything in the Cuyahoga?

Yes, yes we did. But then someone threw a match into it and it caught on fire. That ended that!

 

[xkaes]

Thanks for the clarification. I thought they stopped because the river was overflowing with styrofoam.

 

[Wingsconsin]

Firepit in the back yard --
Burns for hours

 

[Dogma]

Well, The good news is that not as much got into the crankcase as I had feared. I got about 6 quarts of mystery mix out of it. The rest of it must have spilled over the back of the engine. Yes, it was a mess. If I can't track down an appropriate disposal for the whole mess, I think I could just put that through the bike a bit at a time over the coming season.

Thanks for the feedback and advice, folks.