anyone know what quick lube places use to know how much oil your rigs take?

B

Bluelake

Joined
Dec 16, 2020
Messages
45
hey

i’m curious to know if anyone knows what quick lube places use to know how much oil to put into cars and if there is a version to help because I do oil changes for freinds and families and always looking online just wondering if anyone knows

thanks
jacob
 
Most likely it is some form of subscription to a service, or larger chains may have their own R&D department that compiles the information for their use.

Probably not something the average user would want to invest in if they're just doing the occasional oil change.
 
Back in the day of written material...like, turn the page stuff....the oil companies supplied a ''lube book'', which gave all sorts of specs on every vehicle, including what sort of oil and how much for every orifice. These days they cost too much, so we go online to the oil company site - Netlube.
 
The dipstick?

We had metered dispensers at the tire shop. I'd deliberately underfill stuff by a half quart to a quart, start it up so it filled the filter, then finished it off. Anything over 5 quarts was noted so the customer could pay extra. I wasn't very serious about making said notation.
 
Bluelake said:
hey

i’m curious to know if anyone knows what quick lube places use to know how much oil to put into cars and if there is a version to help because I do oil changes for freinds and families and always looking online just wondering if anyone knows

thanks
jacob
Click to expand...
I am sure they have subscribed to something for the information. You could use their owner's manual or you have the internet. Very easy.
 
Walmart was terrible for supplying that information to us. We had to look up a lot of it in books. When you change oil enough in the same engines, day in and day out. You remember how much oil common cars take.
 
Bluelake said:
i’m curious to know if anyone knows what quick lube places use to know how much oil to put into cars
Click to expand...
They probably just guess, as evidenced by the overfilled level many people here complain about after going to a quick lube place. All the manufacturers put the engine specs like spark plug gap or freon capacity on a sticker under the hood somewhere. How hard would it be to add oil capacity to that?
 
Pro Demand, All Data, Pennzoil website, Amsoil website etc.

We have Pro Demand where I work but sometimes on a medium duty truck or chassis cab will sometimes have to use an oil manufacturers website to find the specification and capacity. Even though we supposedly do not work on medium duty and especially motorhomes. No one wants to pay $250 an hour for an RV shop to work on it so they throw a fit that it has a Ford motor or chassis and that we should work on it for half the labor rate of the RV shop and sometimes management caves in.
 
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When I worked at one of those places they used their system which I think was AllData. And they would always short the amount by .5 because they said you never drain all of the oil out anyway. That’s part of the reason I left as well.
 
Bluelake said:
hey

i’m curious to know if anyone knows what quick lube places use to know how much oil to put into cars and if there is a version to help because I do oil changes for freinds and families and always looking online just wondering if anyone knows

thanks
jacob
Click to expand...
Oil Specifications and Quantity is integrated into our Shop Management System. We click on a tab that has numerous vehicle specifications to choose from, however, the software grabs the necessary values and updates this for us. Very speedy! The source data for this information is Motor data. Now, with more work (less speedy), I can look this up on AllData, Mitchell or Identifix. Sometimes on brand new vehicles of the current model year, none of the information services will have this data and we resort to the Owner's Manual (really slow). They usually catch up within a few months. To be clear, we are paying well over $700 / month on information subscriptions. The owner's manual is free and can usually be found online.

The real magic and quality of your QL is whether or not they bother to match the oil selection to the Manufacturer Specification. Some don't understand the importance of this step. We do and have a written matrix of MFR Specifications to Oils Stocked, but typically remember. We are very careful in the initial selection and remember it for repeats. If we do not have the correct oil, they are encouraged to come back later (and we order it) or declined altogether. Do it right or not at all!
 
Amsoil has a tool that you enter the vehicle info in and tells you what the recommended weight is and how much oil needed.

LINK

Not what shops use, but a great resource for the DIY person that does multiple vehicles.
 
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When I worked at a Sears Auto Center we had a printout on receipt paper that had all the oil capacities/type as well as lug nut torque. Here at the dealer the techs can look up anything on OASIS for a Ford and MSGS for Mazda. Funny thing is as a parts person I have full access to the service side of Ford. Workshop manual, wiring diagrams, you name it I can get to it. But Mazda forbids parts people from accessing the service side of their page. Anything "competitive make" basically goes to me to look up and I use either Amsoil's page or O'Reilly's shop account page for capacity.
 
Passport1 said:
Maybe they look in the glove box and find the owner's manual? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yeah no. Half of quick lube customer cars:

1615593549662.jpg
 
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