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Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco

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Re: Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco

#191

Post by ndiddy »

omgwtfbyobbq wrote: post #99
ndiddy wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is a legal floor of ~250M, after which it is reserved for government national defense. There is no "government national defense floor". As far as I can tell, this originates from someone misreading the SPR drawdown laws and then a bunch of people parroting it. The ~250M "floor" (really 252.4M) only applies for SPR drawdowns that aren't required by a severe energy supply interruption or to meet US obligations…

The problem with drawdowns is they can and have compromised the structural integrity of the caverns used in the SPR. Like oil, they're a finite resource and should be used judiciously. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/2585591

Right, that's what I meant by the problem being cumulative rather than caused by the actual amount of oil. The GAO article I linked goes into this:

> The SPR caverns that were built by DOE were designed to be geomechanically stable for up to five full drawdowns. Repeated partial drawdowns followed by refill can leach a single part of a cavern repeatedly, leading to undesirable shapes. After Congress directed DOE to begin conducting regular non-emergency mandated sales from the SPR starting in 2017 to help manage the federal budget, DOE tasked Sandia to provide a yearly update on the number of drawdowns each cavern had remaining since the caverns were being used regularly to withdraw crude oil. In May 2025, Sandia reported that the majority of the SPR’s caverns (47 of 60—about 78 percent) had at least four remaining available drawdowns as of the end of calendar year 2024, and all but one cavern had at least one remaining available drawdown.

Re: Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco

#192

Post by doodlebugging »

bijowo1676 wrote: post #183
doodlebugging wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've owned and driven V8 engine powered vehicles since the 1970's and have never owned one that used more than 7 qts of oil for an oil change. Most use 5 qts plus a filter. That is why oil is sold in 5 qt jugs. That's all that most vehicles need. Of course my vehicles are all model year 2015 or earlier. I checked specs with different manufacturers and find that the V8 engines that need 10 qts of motor oil are the hea…

I own BMW and all BMW V8s (engine models N63, N63TU..N63TU3, S63) require 10 quarts. Same for Mercedes V8 engines models M156..159 that require 9-10 quarts

Thanks for the added context. It made me think.

I guess I should've qualified my comment with a note about those vehicles being American-made V8s. Diesel engines tend to have higher lubrication requirements thus they have larger oil pans. I see that those BMW engines you listed are gassers so I took a look at their specs to see why they would need such large oil reservoirs.

Twin turbos. Mounted in the engine valley. High heat in that configuration and high oil consumption as a result - up to 1 qt/1000 miles. [0]

That's crazy. I can drive my V8 powered, non-turbo engine Bronco 10000 miles between oil changes using full synthetic oil without needing to add a full quart of oil and it has more than 330k miles on the odometer.

I see now why those BMWs may need a huge oil pan. It is an attempt to compensate for the consequences of design decisions that they knew would create problems. Those engines only need a 10 qt reservoir because they would burn through a smaller volume so fast that no one would buy the vehicle because it required them to check the oil every day and to carry oil so that there was less chance of destroying the engine due to running it low.

I was not aware of BMW engines having such huge reservoirs and now that I am I can be glad that I have never considered owing one.

I didn't look at Toyota or other foreign manufacturers who also built V8 engines. Maybe I should educate myself.

[0]https://bmwtuning.co/n63-engine-problems/

Re: Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco

#193

Post by dofm »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #52
johng wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of people haul things. The US is huge compared to what most people expect. Big trucks can be a necessity depending on what you do for a living/your way of life.

Things can be hauled just fine in an estate, saloon, or even a hatchback. European camper vans are regularly hauled by tiny Golfs or Polos with barely a litre of engine displacement and a hundred kilowatts of power. Americans just buy much bigger vehicles than necessary.

Yep. If you are under 30 in the UK and you have more possessions than can fit in one trip in a Fiesta with the seats down, you have too much stuff.

Re: Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco

#194

Post by dofm »

bijowo1676 wrote: post #183
doodlebugging wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've owned and driven V8 engine powered vehicles since the 1970's and have never owned one that used more than 7 qts of oil for an oil change. Most use 5 qts plus a filter. That is why oil is sold in 5 qt jugs. That's all that most vehicles need. Of course my vehicles are all model year 2015 or earlier. I checked specs with different manufacturers and find that the V8 engines that need 10 qts of motor oil are the hea…

I own BMW and all BMW V8s (engine models N63, N63TU..N63TU3, S63) require 10 quarts. Same for Mercedes V8 engines models M156..159 that require 9-10 quarts

Volume constantly surprises us, doesn’t it.

Re: Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco

#195

Post by AngryData »

mingus88 wrote: post #141
AngryData wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And idea like this is why EVs will still have poor depreciated values even if the battery holds up. Yes it is common for people to ignore all the non-powertrain maintenance items on cars before EVs, but at least in ICE half of them regularly dripped oil down its body and lines and still semi-regularly had somebody kicking the tires and shit when the oil was changed to try and sell you a repair before it fails. Body,…

I don’t understand this criticism. I have owned an EV for five years now. The app and the vehicle display clearly let you know when you are due for scheduled maintenance. Due to how online the whole platform is, it’s so much better than my older ICE car that has a cryptic wrench light on the dash. Did I mention that the intervals are also so much cheaper? Tires are the one standout but pretty much every thing else is…

There are multiple people in this thread talking about about how their EV requires zero maintenance despite owning them for years, which is just the admitting they are setting up a ticking timebomb of maintenance tasks that are being neglected. And then years down the line they will wonder why their model car has depreciated so poorly despite their battery being in good condition. And they will likely blame ignorance of EVs, rather than considering it is the average owners negligence of maintenance tasks on that car.

Re: Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco

#196

Post by Timon3 »

LeBit wrote: post #58
cute_boi wrote: post #23

Ram Shortage, SSD shortage, CPU shortage, GPU shortage, diesel shortage, now motor oil shortage....... Are we going to have shortage of everything now ......

I realize the shortages you enumerated have different reasons , but a highly respectable French engineer, Jean-Marc Jancovici , has been repeating for years that we are heading into an inevitable age of "degrowth". It is not an "if". It is now inevitable. He is very pro alternative sources of energy but he clearly explains nothing can replace petroleum right now. Petroleum is used to build everything. Gas for your ca…

We should have accepted that our trajectory is not sustainable, and voluntarily replaced and reduced consumption over decades. But growth was more important - "because the others won't stop growing either!", or "because we're only x% of global emissions", or similar arguments.

Now we'll be forced to go through all the same, and much more, in just a few years. And I can't imagine that even 5% of those arguing the statements above will recognize their role in all this.

Re: Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco

#197

Post by bijowo1676 »

doodlebugging wrote: post #192
bijowo1676 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own BMW and all BMW V8s (engine models N63, N63TU..N63TU3, S63) require 10 quarts. Same for Mercedes V8 engines models M156..159 that require 9-10 quarts

Thanks for the added context. It made me think. I guess I should've qualified my comment with a note about those vehicles being American-made V8s. Diesel engines tend to have higher lubrication requirements thus they have larger oil pans. I see that those BMW engines you listed are gassers so I took a look at their specs to see why they would need such large oil reservoirs. Twin turbos. Mounted in the engine valley.…

these BMW twin turbos are marvels of engineering, 567 horsepowers. The best engine BMW has ever made.

This engine allows you to have a huge family hauler (BMW X7) and drive like a BMW M3 like you stole it. Imagine hauling 3 kids and ski gear for 5 people up the twisty mountain road in the Sierras.

and by the way on the highway, X7 M60i gets you 21 mpg on the road. Amazing feat by the German engineers.

and I never had do top off the oil, just change oil every 7500 miles. Zero oil leaks. All of the notorious BMW V8 twin turbo issues were related to the early design and were solved in N63TU in 2014. The engines are rock solid, but the car has other weak parts (transfer case and front diff)

Re: Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco

#198

Post by kalleboo »

nickpeterson wrote: post #166
margalabargala wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean technically you never need to change the oil on any car if you're willing to just drive it into the ground.

I wonder how long a full synthetic could run in an engine that, for whatever reason, doesn’t push oil hard. 20k miles?

You can find these stories in the mechanics subreddits, typically it's some Toyota came into the shop dying at around 60k miles with the factory oil turned to sludge.

Re: Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco

#199

Post by delta_p_delta_x »

TitaRusell wrote: post #173
delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things can be hauled just fine in an estate, saloon, or even a hatchback. European camper vans are regularly hauled by tiny Golfs or Polos with barely a litre of engine displacement and a hundred kilowatts of power. Americans just buy much bigger vehicles than necessary.

My mother has rheumatics and she was looking at an SUV for her back. It gets more difficult for old people to climb into a tiny car- and for old people a car is a lifeline. Lots of big cars are driven by small old ladies and it has nothing to do with vanity.

The solution is not an SUV, but an MPV.

In almost no situation are pickup trucks, SUVs, or even a crossover the correct kinds of vehicle.

Re: Global shortage has led to motor oil rationing at Costco

#200

Post by doodlebugging »

bijowo1676 wrote: post #197
doodlebugging wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the added context. It made me think. I guess I should've qualified my comment with a note about those vehicles being American-made V8s. Diesel engines tend to have higher lubrication requirements thus they have larger oil pans. I see that those BMW engines you listed are gassers so I took a look at their specs to see why they would need such large oil reservoirs. Twin turbos. Mounted in the engine valley.…

these BMW twin turbos are marvels of engineering, 567 horsepowers. The best engine BMW has ever made. This engine allows you to have a huge family hauler (BMW X7) and drive like a BMW M3 like you stole it. Imagine hauling 3 kids and ski gear for 5 people up the twisty mountain road in the Sierras. and by the way on the highway, X7 M60i gets you 21 mpg on the road. Amazing feat by the German engineers. and I never had…

>All of the notorious BMW V8 twin turbo issues were related to the early design and were solved in N63TU in 2014.

That's great! It sounds like the early engine had lots of problems but BMW iterated until they solved them, and ended up having a high performance engine for those who stuck with the brand. I know that I have been burned buying the first year model of a vehicle and then having to absorb all the downtime for things that I felt they could've addressed before sending them out to dealerships. 21 mpg on the road from an engine like that is pretty impressive. Like I mentioned, I have never considered owning a BMW but it sounds like they are solid vehicles, after all the usual iterations, just like the other manufacturers. Enjoy the drives!

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