'They Can't Filter It Out All the Way:' Walmart Service Tech Changes Customer's Oil. Then She Puts In Recycled Oil

A Walmart service tech just made a bold claim about the company's auto care centers: They allegedly use recycled oil, not fresh oil, during customer oil changes.
Trish (@pyt21_) didn't explicitly say how she knows this, though she implied she used to work there. In a now-viral TikTok, she accused Walmart Auto Care Centers of what could amount to negligent car care.
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'A PSA to drivers who get their oil changed at Walmart,' she begins, before adding that the workers there 'are reusing old oil.'
'Any oil that I take out of people's cars—that's what you're getting at Walmart,' Trish says.
As of Monday, her video has racked up over 468,000 views. In a follow-up, Trish
tries
to back up her claims with receipts.
Getting An Oil Change at Walmart's Auto Care Center
According to Trish, even though Walmart might filter the used oil, that process doesn't remove everything. 'At the end of the day, they can't filter it out all the way,' she says. 'And you're still reusing someone's old oil.'
That, she warns, could impact your car in the long run. Conventional oil is designed to last up to
7,500 miles
—but with reused oil, she says, that number may drop closer to 1,500.
So while Walmart might save you a few bucks, Trish argues it could cost you much more in engine damage.
'If you want to save $20 to [expletive] up your engine in the long run, that's on y'all,' she says. 'How you treat your car is how your car is going to treat you.'
Where's the Proof?
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In a second video, Trish points to online search results that
show
Walmart does accept used motor oil for recycling. She cites a website explaining that used oil can be re-refined into new oil, used as industrial fuel, or turned into raw materials for other products.
'Recycled used motor oil can be refined into new motor oil, used as a fuel source for certain furnaces or boilers, or used as raw materials in the petroleum industry,' she reads.
Trish acknowledges that oil can be recycled, but remains skeptical that Walmart's recycled product is equal to fresh oil.
But Is it Really That Bad?
Not necessarily. Re-refined oil isn't just filtered—it's
completely processed
to remove contaminants and restore it to the same quality as new oil.
Re-refined oils meet the same industry standards and can be used interchangeably with fresh motor oil. In fact, reusing oil is often
better for the environment
and conserves resources.
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control
reports
, 'Used oil can be re-refined over and over again, it never wears out–it just gets dirty.'
Do People Trust Walmart?
Walmart
doesn't specify on its website whether its oil is new or re-refined. Its site says it offers a variety of oils, including synthetic, high-mileage, and conventional.
Some drivers, nevertheless, are going to steer clear of Walmart.
In a popular
subreddit thread
, one commenter wrote, 'I wouldn't [expletive] in a Walmart, let alone let their employees touch my fucking cars.'
'I don't even go there for groceries,' another added.
'I would DIY before bringing it there,' a third chimed in.
Others shared horror stories from personal experience—or from cars that came into their shops after a Walmart oil change. Their claims have more to do with the purported quality of the work than the oil itself.
'I work at a different shop, and we get cars coming in from Walmart and Jiffy Lube all the time,' one person said. 'The number that were underfilled, have loose drain bolts, stripped drain bolts, or missing oil caps is asinine.'
'One time, Walmart left a pair of pliers attached to the underside of my car, and they found themselves embedded in the brakes,' another recalled.
Still, not everyone is convinced Walmart deserves the backlash. Some argue that
oil changes
are simple enough to trust even a discount chain.
'Changing the oil is one of the easiest things anyone can do on 99% of the cars on the road,' one Reddit user wrote. 'You will be fine.'
A Walmart employee in the complaints department told
Motor1
in a phone call Friday afternoon that the company doesn't have a media department or a corporate phone number for press. They also said that there is no manager of the company's Auto Care Centers who can speak on behalf of all Walmart locations and said that they would need the specific location where this allegedly occurred to provide additional information or comment.
Walmart also didn't respond to an inquiry sent via the contact form on its website Monday morning.
Motor1
has reached out to Trish via a TikTok comment. We'll be sure to update this if she responds.
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This Was The Last Carbureted Engine Sold New In America

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This Was The Last Carbureted Engine Sold New In America

Ah yes, the carburetor. A humble device that mechanically mixes fuel and air, which gets sucked down the intake manifold and into the cylinders to feed the internal combustion process. The carburetor, or just carb for short, had a long run as the de facto fuel metering device on American automobiles, beginning with the Duryea brothers' converted horse buggy in 1893 -- several years ahead of Henry Ford's slightly less rudimentary Quadricycle. Fast forward 100 years and the writing was on the wall for the carburetor. By the late 1980s, California was mandating stricter emissions control equipment on all vehicles sold in that state through the California Air Resources Board, which amusingly abbreviates to CARB. California is such a large market for automakers that it's frequently simpler and less expensive to make all production cars intended for U.S. markets compliant with California's rules than to make a slightly different configuration for the Golden State. On a related note, California may no longer be able to set its own unique emissions standards, but we digress. The other death knell for the carb was the implementation of the OBD-II onboard diagnostic system in California by 1994 and nationwide by 1996. For those who aren't mechanically inclined, the port to connect to the OBD-II system is that trapezoidal dongle that's under the driver's side dashboard of your modern vehicle. Computer-controlled carburetors were attempted as a stopgap measure prior to perfecting economical fuel injection in the 1980s, but proved troublesome for both motorists and mechanics alike. Read more: The Best-Looking Pickup Trucks Ever Sold, According To Our Readers By the final decade of the 20th century, domestic automakers had abandoned the carburetor in all of their vehicles except for two. First up is the Ford LTD Crown Victoria equipped with the larger 5.8-liter V8 engine. While the regular 5.0-powered LTD Crown Victoria had long been equipped with fuel injection, the 5.8-liter 351 Windsor soldiered on with a two-barrel carb for fleet sales -- such as Crown Vic cop cars -- throughout the 1991 model year. Jalopnik readers probably won't be surprised to hear that the other carburetor-equipped American car on the market in 1991 was the Jeep Grand Wagoneer (SJ), which looked like it teleported straight from 1963. By its final production year the SJ was down to just one powerplant, a 360 cubic inch AMC V8. Perched on top was an anemic two-barrel carburetor provided by Ford's Motorcraft division because, well, why not? Of course, this article is about the last carbureted engine sold in America, not just produced here. So let's move on, shall we? In spite of the onboard diagnostic equipment mandate looming large, a few Japanese automakers opted to continue selling carbureted vehicles right up until the bitter end. The primary recipients of the antiquated fuel delivery device were bargain basement compact pickup trucks and SUVs. For example, Mazda's B2200 pickup retained a carb in non-California trucks until that model was discontinued after 1993. Still basking in the afterglow of its wildly successful Joe Isuzu advertising campaign, Yokohama-based Isuzu also continued foisting carburetor-equipped masterpieces onto the American motoring public well into the 1990s. Take, for example, the base-engine-equipped 1993 Amigo, a sort of Wrangler-esque member of the two-door SUV club. Isuzu also has the distinction of making the very last carbureted vehicle sold new in America. The same 2.3-liter four-cylinder that powered the 1993 Amigo was also found throughout 1994 in very basic rear-wheel drive iterations of the brand's pickup truck, literally called Isuzu Pickup. So there you have it. The 1994 Isuzu Pickup with a base engine was the last carbed passenger motor vehicle sold new on U.S. soil. Automakers may have been nudged into fuel injection by California's rigid emissions monitoring and nationwide OBD-II requirements, but the change was indisputably for the better. Fuel injection is more efficient, both in terms of increasing fuel economy and lowering tailpipe emissions. It also makes more power than carburetors while requiring less maintenance and tuning. Finally, fuel injection is more readily adaptable to changes in operating conditions, such as temperature and altitude. RIP to the carb -- it had a good run. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.

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