It’s a Trap! Walmart Mobil 1 content.

A couple weeks ago, I picked up some Mobil 1 from my local Walmart. I grabbed a couple of the regular 5 QT. jugs, which seemed to be a little more expensive than normal. I left the isle and saw a large display of 12 QT. boxes. They were a couple dollars less than the 2 jugs, and you got an extra 2 quarts of oil. Double deal, sold! I grabbed a box and put the jugs back. 

Fast forward to today. I get ready to do the oil change, and realize I’d been duped. The box wasn’t 12, 1 QT containers like I expected. It was a bulk bag in a box, like cheap wine. That just sounded like a pain in the butt, so I actually tried to return in. No luck finding the receipt, so I gave it a go. And it was just as bad an idea as I expected. First I spilled while prefilling the oil filter. The oil is dispensed through a spigot that looks like something that you would serve iced tea with. I turned it slowly- nothing, drip, drip, ALL THE OIL. Plus it drips a bit after you shut off the spigot. Then I got to hold the box with the remaining 11.5 quarts while dispensing it into the funnel. How much was I putting in? I had no clue! No markings or scale whatsoever. I needed six quarts, so at least I could shoot for half, which still wasn’t as easy as it sounds. I ended up opening the top of the box, so that i could at least see the bag. Normally, I know how much a car takes, and one check of the dipstick to verify is all that’s needed. Instead I had to add, check, add, check. Plus the car being on ramps, meant that I had to get it close, then repeat on level ground. Which lead to a whole new adventure that I’ll detail in another thread. Then I get to store the remaining 6 quarts in a 12 quart box until next time. Kind of like leaving an empty jug on the shelf. So word of warning. Unless you have a car that takes 12 quarts, it isn’t worth the hassle.  

Thanks for the heads up!  I might have easily fallen into that mess.

exactly who thought that oil in a box was a good idea?

In reply to mad_machine :

Uh, Walmart. 

I saw that and did the math.  The 12 quarts are cheaper than the 5 quart jug so I was planning on getting those next but I refill the used oils into the jugs and return it to Wally World.  

Funny is I thought they were 12 quart bottles too.  

Pass.  

mad_machine said:

exactly who thought that oil in a box was a good idea?

This is getting more common.  We get our ATF in 3 gallon bag-boxes like this, and where I used to work we would get specialty oils like this.

It's a way to buy in bulk with minimal packaging.  Mobil and other companies have been doing this for a while, although I am a little surprised that you can buy them at Wal-mart.  They are not in your typical repair shop's supply chain.

If you think the bag-box is bad, try pouring out of a 5 gallon bucket.  At least you can stick the bag-box on the shelf so you can dispense into your oil caddy for pouring into the engine.

In reply to Knurled. :

I've bought 5 gallon jugs from my old work and used a hand pump to fill out of it. It wasn't bad tbh

I stopped using Mobil1 years ago. I saw this a while ago and completely ignored it

I came close to buying one of those, before I realized that it was a boxed bag, like cheap wine. 

That said, I like the concept of reduced packaging.

yeah, you need a pump to use those 5 gallon containers.  Have same issue with polyester resin I get in 5 gallon containers.  \

I use one of these:

Costco has Mobil on sale every six months or so (including now, $10 off 6 quarts iirc)  

Disclaimer: Snow is in fact paid by Costco, but in the 'wage-slave' rather than 'advertising shill' sense.  

If I drank boxed wine I'd swap out the oil bladder for some Franzia just to see peoples reactions

Maybe pour it into a paint mixing cup for a quick, cheap way to have an idea on how much you've poured?

My Walmart has a 12 qt bag of their Super Tech brand, but no Mobil one as of yet.

Won't be buying that.

Oh geeeez.   Seems like an answer to a question that no one was asking.  One thing is for sure though......if one manufacturer can save some money  ( = ^ profit) doing it this way the others will not be far behind.

SnowMongoose said:

If I drank boxed wine I'd swap out the oil bladder for some Franzia just to see peoples reactions

Unclear if you are doing oil changes for people or having a dinner party

Lisle 19732 Plastic Oil Dispenser - 6 Quarts https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SRJCC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_8fEGEb9RYEE2K

i seems like an $8 oil dispenser could work well  it's what grandpa used to use  

The one-quart bottles were convenient.  But because oil is a lot less expensive in the one gallon jugs, I needed a solution.  I bought a $1 plastic watering can similar to this:

Then I used water in a kitchen measuring cup to index it into 16 ounces, 32 ounces, and 48 ounces.  For each of my cars, I converted their oil capacity into ounces and then fill accordingly.  Oh, the spout was a little long but that was easily trimmed to a convenient length.

Yeah, only 16 ounce gradients isn't super accurate but I can visually estimate for in-between amounts and the dipstick always shows that it comes out right in the middle between high and low.

It's not super-sexy but it works for $1.  I put a plastic bag over the top to keep dirt from accumulating between oil changes as I don't even wipe it out after each use.  It only sees new oil.

This looks super handy if you want to just top the whole engine off to the top of the filler cap though. May need two boxes for that though.

So.. My Rav4 (the payd4) goes through a quart and a quarter in 900 miles.  Anyways.. where can i buy oil in bulk.  with a 50 mile a day commute.. I'm thinking a 5 gallon can of 5w30 would be a good invetment.

What do you do with the old oil if you can't put it back in the jug to take in for disposal?

Fueled by Caffeine said:

Lisle 19732 Plastic Oil Dispenser - 6 Quarts https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SRJCC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_8fEGEb9RYEE2K

 

i seems like an $8 oil dispenser could work well  it's what grandpa used to use  

 

 

Came here to mention the old school oil dispenser. 

12 quarts for a cheaper price than 10 with less plastic and waste is an idea I can get behind. 

Feedyurhed said:

Oh geeeez.   Seems like an answer to a question that no one was asking.  One thing is for sure though......if one manufacturer can save some money  ( = ^ profit) doing it this way the others will not be far behind.

Well, this is the way repair shops buy oil in small bulk quantities. It's rather odd that they are selling to consumers this way.

Here's our supply of ATF:

You get oil in a bag box, you decant it into something like this:

Otherwise how do you know how much you are putting in?

Right, the advantage is less plastic containers go into the trash. I'm good with that.   I have containers to put the old oil in.

When they started putting oil in the one-quart plastic jugs instead of paper cans which required you use the spouts you shove in them (which always leaked),

people complained...now I need a funnel!   

oldopelguy said:

What do you do with the old oil if you can't put it back in the jug to take in for disposal?

A couple years ago, they were throwing out the 5 gallon jugs that the fry oil came in for the church festival.  I rescued two of them from the trash and now I empty my drain container into those and then take them to the store to dump into the big tank in the back.  They have a super-wide mouth, they seal completely, they're mostly square so they're easy to secure for transport or keep on a shelf, and the handle is large and comfortable for carrying.  They come inside a cardboard box, too and I wish I had kept them in that box instead of throwing it away.  I'm not sure, but I would assume that most restaurants are buying their fry oil in similar containers so you might go get some takeout from one and see if they have one they'd be willing to give you.  Or when church festivals get back into the swing again find the booth where they're frying things (haha!  Trick question!  That's all of them!) and they'd probably be willing to save you a couple.

I am actually somewhat intrigued by the concept of the boxed-bag of oil.  I like the idea of less trash and if I was going to use a funnel anyway, why not get one of the ones that has a spigot on the bottom and a graduated cylinder on the top.  Fill it from the box and then just set it in there and go.  So far, the only downside seems to be that there's no way to check the level from the outside so you might put yourself in a situation where you run out mid-fill!