So I take my car in to get an oil change and the mechanic try’s to sell me on going full synthetic oil. I think it over and tell him, you know what I change my oil every 3,000 miles anyways just to be safe so I think I’ll go with the conventional oil. He takes the car in, drains it and calls me over after and then proceeds to double check if I have changed my mind and goes on how I should use 10-40W since summer is coming on and I have to stop and think, Ford recommendation is either 5-20 Or 5-30W and I say “no, thank you. I think I’ll jist go with 5:20 conventional.
I think he was a little irritated with me for not going with his recommendations. at the end I had to go back in to ask for the oil change sticker that you get after ones done so I had to make my own with a piece of paper “. I also noticed that he never checked the fluids which I hear is required by law here in California to do after a oil change is done. Anyways, safe to say I don’t think I will be going back.
I do regularly check them myself so that’s why I didn’t go back in and demand that they check them… but it definitely rubbed me the wrong way. I know you can go 6 or 7,000 miles between with the full synthetics but I honestly prefer to lean on the safe side and do 3,000 changes
What does your owner’s manual specify for oil? That is the viscosity of oil you should use. My previous 2011 Toyota Sienna and my present 2017 Sienna call for 0W-20.synthetic with oil changes every 10,000 miles.
I have had a positive experience with full synthetic oil in a lawnmower engine. I have a 26 year old mower that the manual specified 30 weight heavy detergent. Three years ago, it began using copious amounts of oil. I was fogging for mosquitoes every time I mowed. As an experiment, when the mowing season began two years ago, I put 10W-30 full synthetic in the crankcase. The oil consumption decreased 75% and I was no.longer asphyxiated with blue smoke. Unfortunately, when I mulching leaves at the end of last season, the blue oil smoke returned. When I changed the oil at the beginning of this season, the oil smoke returned. I purchased the oil at our local RK farm store. The 10W-30 full synthetic was $1 more than regular 30 weight oil. That $1 bought me two more seasons of use from the mower. Since parts are no longer available for the mower, not even the blades, I am going to buy a new mower. If synthetic oil helped me get two more seasons of use from a $250 push type lawnmower, where the air cooled engine runs hotter than a liquid cooled car engine, I am willing to bet that the full synthetic may make the car last longer.
Ford specifically calls for 5-20W or 5-30W and that’s what I’ve always used on this car. I know on newer cars they say you can run them far longer ok between oil changes but since this is a ‘99 I just keep it safe at every 3,000 miles. The mechanic was saying that the 10-40 would provide better protection to the top of the engine
@John_Andrew_McCormick. You are using the correct viscosity for your Ford. 10W-40 is not good on cold starts for the engine bearings. Now whether synthetic oil of 5W-20 or 5W-30 would be beneficial is probably not worth the expense if you are changing oil every 3000 miles.
See and this is what I was telling the mechanic but he was just nonchalantly saying that no, 10-40 will be better for the engine and it’ll last longer.
Btw after looking on the dipstick it’s either the oil is very clear I’m having trouble seeing it… or he didn’t add the full 5Quarts. sigh.
I’m an old guy and all my life I’ve used Valvoline oil in everything. Way back when they first opened the Valvoline quick oil change places I started using them. I would ask to go into the pit every time they change the oil so I can look at the bottom of the car, put my hands on tie rods sway bars toe links to make sure nothing is obviously loose, and check the CV boots, and it’s MY car. There came a Time about 2 years ago where they stop letting me do that. Keep in mind I worked as a service manager in a transmission repair shop for several years and I’m no stranger to being under a car. But they made their claims of safety reasons and I gave in. But I don’t think those are the real reasons. It was a control mechanism. They want to be able to tell you what to do.
The last straw came when last time I got my oil changed at Valvoline quick oil change they wouldn’t allow me to get out of my car.
So now after having first put Valvoline oil in a lawn mower in 1960, my first motorcycle in 1966 oh, and every car and motorcycle I have used since then they have now seen the Last of Me at their quick oil change centers and I’m questioning whether I really need to be using their oil at all.
Really, Valvoline quick oil setters won’t allow you to get out of your car when they’re working on it. Nobody’s under the hood of my car but I’m not watching. There is no reason for this Beyond forced submission. If they can’t handle the extremely rare lawsuit from a customer that might slip on something their shop, they are in the wrong business. It pisses me off more the more I think about it. They won’t let me get out of my car? They’re out of their freaking Minds.
My reasons for using it were twofold. 1 was that I saw it used in so many race cars. I even saw Valvoline oil going into the Pennzoil car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The other had to do with the color of the oil. It’s fairly clear and you can tell when the oil gets dirty. Pennzoil for instance looks dirty when you put in. But I guess if I’m not going to be using their quick oil change centers anymore I don’t have you no good reason to use their oil anymore because for the most part motor oil is motor oil and it’s a marketing device not a product.
The only important thing about oil is to keep it clean. But don’t believe in the superiority of synthetics.
Valvoline’s use of control mechanisms to Market their product has become so extreme that I can’t use their centers anymore and probably because of extension of my feelings about big companies that use control mechanisms, I should be using the cheap oil in the auto parts store that’s clear in color.
Some people think they know how to care for the engines better than the people who design the engines. Some are mechanics. This mechanic just showed his arrogance, and his disrespect for you. A bad oil change experience for sure!
Good Greif , Crank . It only makes sense that they would not let a customer get out of the car at a drive through oil change facility and also allow someone who is not an employee in the pit.
I don’t see any reason to use multi-weight oil in a mower. I use straight 40 and give it about a minute to warm up. Mowers are sensitive to blow by. There HAS to be enough oil between the rings and the cylinder walls in order for it to make compression. Multi’s go to the low number when hot. 5 or 10 weight is not enough for a hot mower, especially an old one.
You evidently didn’t hear me. Nobody works on my car if I can’t watch. How many years has Valvoline quick oil change been open? They’ve suddenly decided to do this? It’s utter b******* and if you want to allow yourself to be treated that way feel free. They don’t want people that know about cars looking at their cars just like the issue of trying to talk you into a synthetic. I sold cars for 9 years. I know about control in sales. Oil is a marketing device not a product. I’m not as easily marketed to as you are evidently.
I’m telling you these are control mechanisms that have nothing to do with what they say it’s about. I have never allowed my car to be worked on in a place that wouldn’t let me walk in the shop. You can’t put tires on my car if I can’t go look under the car when you got it on the rack. You can’t do anything to my car that I can’t watch. If you want to buy into these control mechanisms and you just make yourself a victim.
This is one of the reasons that I do my own oil change. I go with what the manual calls for. I have 3 Hyundai’s now and I know they are picky about the oil filter. All 3 cars use the same filter, so I buy 10 at a time, my own oil with the rebate and 45 minutes of my time with my music in my garage. Don’t have to talk to anybody.
Unless you know that mechanic very well, well enough to trust, just consider that it’s somebody giving you an opinion. Do your own research. Of course it helps if you have a real curiosity about how stuff works.
The shop used Castro oil I believe. I was adamant that he just fill it up with the conventional motor oil 5-20 and that’s what he told me he did. Of course he was also very pushy about wanting me to go the full synthetic route on a different grade. I told him no quite a few different times. I don’t know much about oil but I know I’ve been using conventional for as long as I can remember and I’ve never had any problems and so I will continue going that route.
This isn’t a mechanic I know I was looking online for a good decent independent shop that had good reviews.
My normal mechanic is away on vacation and so I couldn’t take it in to him. I could have waited but I had already gone over 1200 miles over my oil change so I figured I’d just get it done.
