DIY: Extra Bottle of Oil Under The Hood
 

Simple:

Stuff a bottle of oil beside the washer fluid reservoir. Make sure not to force it against wires/insulation/etc. It wants to snag on the firewall insulation if you're not careful, but it really does fit nice and securely. No bottles in the trunk!

Nice

good idea gotta move mine in the morning..

Just "installed" my bottle 20 minutes ago while waxing the engine bay! Great fit!!! I'm looking for a spot to rest a small "Walmart" funnel now. Great idea!!!

LOL - that is funny. I'll move mine also.

Lol, probably the only forum you will find people looking for places to store the emergency oil fill bottle :)

Here's my lunchbag

Dang, and I was about to do this DIY after finding that spot two weeks ago...

--Massive

Why do you guys keep an oil bottle in the trunk or in the engine bay??


isnt it just easier to check the oil before you leave home?

Never know when you might be somewhere and decide to check and find it low. Sure, it wouldn't hurt to drive it home 20 miles with it being a little low, but you could be a long way from home. Nothing wrong with being a little proactive.

So then when you find you are low on oil you'll have to run back into your house? It can be a hassle. What if you are going on a long trip and are not at home?

It is just easier to check the level while filling up with gas, then you have the bottle RIGHT there.

Yeah but most gas stations sell oil so you could just buy it there. I like the idea though, I have considered putting some spare oil somewhere in my car but figured its just as easy to wait till I'm home or just buy some while i'm out if its an emergency.

So what about engine heat? Can those plastic oil containers handle it without melting?

What’s wrong with the storage cubby in-between the rear seats? In a Zip Lock bag, that's where mine is.

Neat spot, but I wouldn't put mine there. I don't need it popping open with all that heat under there.



...can someone say "oil fire" ;)

The heat issue is a good point. A fire would make for a very bad day. I guess I thought it was better than the bottle flying around in the truck. A spill of oil in the truck would also be a bad day. I keep a quart because I live and drive often in the middle of nowhere and many small gas stations don't carry 5w20. Is all the other plastic in the engine bay like hoses, housings, fluid vessels constructed of different materials?

You can actually secure it with the Mazda Emergency Mobility Kit strap. I got mine attached like that and works fine. I think I even gained some better weight distribution ;)

I don't want to get off point in this thread but my subject of interest have moved a bit, to the heat in the engine bay. I'm already rethinking the oil storage but, where we live it routinely reaches 110-120 degrees in the summer. Is there sufficent cooling in the engine bay to keep the OEM components, electronic and plastic cool?

:rolleyes:

No, it's not.

First off, the plastic bottles aren't THAT susceptible to melting. I've set bottles on HOT engines while doing oil changes before.

Second, it's *well* away from the engine, against the firewall insulation/washer fluid tank/fender. There are plenty of other plastic & rubber parts (some even carrying <gasp>gasoline</gasp>) closer to or right against the engine itself.

If your washer fluid were hot enough to make coffee with, then you'd have a point.

It's a non-issue. If you don't want to keep a bottle there, don't, but this imagined problem is killing me....

:eek:OH:eek:MY:eek:GOD:eek:!

Somebody call Mazda Japan quick and tell them! I'm sure they *never* thought of that! Better pack some dry ice around the 'Renesis' logo to keep the engine cover from melting!

:rolleyes:

Please....

All winter people were hand-wringing about anything less than 50degF being so "cold" that their precious RX-8 would flood and die, now it's going to be a summer of worrying about the engine compartment becoming drenched with melted polymers?

Damn, sorry I brought it up now. :mad:

I have 3 quarts in the pass through compartment in the trunk. They don't move around and they're easy to access.

I didn't check but I think the engine bay is vented through the front fender vents. The FD3S had the same type of venting for the engine bay. The bay will get hot under idle and cool down close to ambient when the car is moving. It's a clever place to put the oil.

No one's talking about the oil bottle exploding or melting from heat. But you have to agree you are increasing the risk of something happening by putting the bottle in the engine compartment and on the exhaust manifold side.
To many variables to consider when placing it there. Possible piercing the bottle, not tightening the cap enough, bottles are "thin" enough material as it is.

For me it goes like this:
- Oil bottle wrapped in the trunk and get crushed, I have some clean up to do.
- Oil bottle in engine bay and leaks, beside oil burning smoke, there could be way more problems and more of a PITA to clean up I might add.

So it's a no brainer for me. :)
I mean my finger fits in my @ss but I still don't put it there!) :D

man that works nicely!!!!

JM1FE...Show a little ingenuity to others and what does it get you? Melting plastic and 'my oil is only low at home'. I think there are actually a lot of people wondering the same thing...where to stow the emergency oil container, without it rolling around? We especially need an extra for the 8's abundant thirst for oil and, as someone else aptly mentioned, very few gas 'stations' carry 5W-20.

Neat spot, but the shelf in my garage does just fine. Right next to the spare tire kit and moon roof deflector.

salituro, you looking to unload your spare tire kit? i am too

I think that's a great spot, and the one I use. Just don't put too much confidence in the zip lock bag. Oil has a way of getting through the pores in the bag as well as through the zipper. But, better than nothing.

Unless you're going on a long road trip, I don't see why you need to carry a spare bottle of oil in the car. It's not like you have to add oil every week. Why don't you check your oil when you're at home?
If it gets so low that you have to fill up when on the road, then you're not checking your oil regularly enough. I check the oil level about once a month and top up, and it is never under the halfway mark.

You're right. I think it's basically a feel-good thing, knowing that no matter where you are and whether or not you remembered to check the oil before leaving home, you will be covered. I carry a qt, along with a screw-on spout and a rag, in the pass-through storage compartment, but will likely never use it. But having it there removes one more possible on-the-road problem that I might run into while away from home.

I can envision scenarios where it might come in handy. For example, if you develop an minor oil leak and discover that while in a location where the relatively scarce 5W-20 brand of oil you use is not readily available. Yeah, I know, I could add just about any oil without a problem in a case like that but I'm anal--what can I say. Besides, I had to come up with a rationalization in order to feel good about this practice. :D

Do you also carry a gallon of gas of your favourite octane in case you run out of gas? Or brake fluid, coolant etc.? ;)

Good idea.....
 

I really like that suggestion!....though the space isn't much use for anything BUT a jug of oil, due to heat and dirt.

Canadian owners can't use it anyway, that corner is where the headlight washer pump sits! ;)

S

When I had a car with a master cylinder that was going bad, yes, I carried brake fluid to keep it topped off until I replaced the part.

When I had a car with a leaking radiator, I carried coolant until I got the radiator repaired.

When you find me a rotary engine that doesn't consume oil, there'll be no reason to carry oil.

Gas is gas. 5w20 isn't available everywhere, and is cheaper by the case than at gas-station-extortion prices. If you're cool with dumping generic 10w40 in your Renesis because that's all the QuickieMart has, be my guest.

My point was why you don't check your oil when you're at home and top up. The 8 does consume oil, but not very much, really. The oil level does not have to be at the maximum level all the time. Checking your oil once a month should be good enough.

ditto :cool:

I wouldn't put a bottle of brake fluid in the engine bay, It's very flamable.
IMHO the boot/trunk is the best place for spare fluids.

I have an idea, if you don't like his don't do it!

for the people that say check the oil before you leave :

i have always been told, and the rx8 book says this to : "check oil lvl after car has reached normal operation temp, and then shut the car off and let it sit for a few mins, THEN check it."

so to check it before you leave you need to start it, warm it up, shut it down, check it, start it up and leave.

I prefer to warm the car up as i drive to the gas station, shut it off, fill it with gas, check my tire pressure, check the coolant, brake and washer fluid...THEN check the oil, 2 times. I do this every sunday night as i go thru a tank of gas a week. it takes no more than 15 mins to do and it lets me know the car is ready to be driven how I want any time for the next week.

I will move my oil to the eng bay, since i like the idea of the oil i fill it with being around the same temp as the oil in the eng. that way your not mixing cold and hot oil....although the trunk isnt that cool anyway...lol

Hmmm....lube advice from a person named 'KYLiquid'! How can we go wrong?
;)

lol :D

I had my bottle in the engine bay for a while and one day I went to grab it and it was very soft, it didn't spring a leak but I was worried that it might so I took it out.
The plastic on the bottle is thinner and more flexible than any of the plastic that Mazda put under the hood.

Lord that was brilliant. I love seeing people posts intelligent quotes that make the rest of the thread look like ass. Bravo.

The main issue here is if the plastic bottle from the oil manufacturer was made to stand up to the heat created in the underhood environment.
I would have assumed that the coolant reservoire was made of cheap plastic, but then I could have been wrong.
Deadly wrong, if My bottle ignited, or melted.
So, here is the answer;
just get a plastic container that IS certified to withstand the temperatures at hand, transfer the oil from the original oil bottle there , and voila.
As a note, I did have a bottle of oil in the passthru for a year, and IT HAD LEAKED.
Not much, but enought to make me take the back seats off and restore my baby to its original pristine conditions. I did go to Vegas that year though...
You don't want to have a somewhat smell of oil permeating you cabin do you?
So, in the end it is just a matter of looking for the cheapest, most common sense solution, with a bit of research.
(Asking yourself what could fail in this picture?)
IMHO

I keep mine in the pass through that works fine for me in a zip lock and paper towels.
As for checking the oil, i check it when i fill it up with gas, its so much easier. Its easier not to forget about it and that way i can get into a habit easier. In the time i takes to open the hood, and check the oil; my car is done filling up it works out quite nicely.

You should check the oil when hot..like when getting gas.

This "underhood heat" mystery has been around since the first car.


120-150d isnt that hot unde the hood..and no, there is no such thing as sufficient cooling to keep the plastics cool, they'll dry out and turn almost to black glass after 15-20yrs no matter what you do.


Internal combustion is -hot-, youre lucky to have only 120-150 underhood temps all things considered.

Move the radiator to the back of the car and massively vent the bay, ya..it'll cool down a -little-. What temp does the thermostat open at? Thats the temp of maybe 90% of the air entering the engine bay from the radiator.


You have a nice car, everythings fresh..it will -age-, accept it. If you still have your car in 20yrs, it will be a plastics disaster to work on it like any other 20yr old car with OEM hoses and fittings.

Ditto, its as if nobody on the 'Net ever really wondered where the air thru the radiator goes to cool the coolant...

Ambient?

Wheres the radiator waste air going then?

Holy resurected thread Batman!

God I hope not, you could melt something..or turn it into a diamond.