Is Dealer's bulk oil bad?

[John105]

I think being a Jeep (assumed by screename), just having someone else handle the big wheels/tires rotation, on a lift most likely, 6 times, would be worth the price of admission. The oil and filter change is a bonus. The dealer oil should be fine.

Didn’t think of that (big wheels and tires). Rotations for those of us who don’t have a quick jack or lift are a pita…again likely worth it for OP. For me I don’t look forward to snow tire changeovers at all. I really only do 1 wheel at a time….

 

[kschachn]

BTW, the "crappiest Pennzoil" would still be good oil. In fact, nothing they make is "crappy". They have tiered products just like all the other majors. Are you revealing an unfounded bias here?

More like making topic after topic that has embedded phrases solely to generate contention.

 

[Pablo]

He's indicated in other threads that he's going to change oil every 3k miles. So it's really kinda moot, because any API appropriate lube would do just fine in a 3.6L Pentastar. Dealer bulk oil isn't going to be a risk by any means.

Yeah I didn't pick up on some of this earlier. Not even sure where he got the Amsoil, maybe from one of my links, maybe not.

 

[John105]

...and to answer the subject line, I don't think there's anything wrong with bulk oil. When my uncle ran a quick lube service place, where people could watch through a window, they used bottles for the synthetic change. They wanted customers to feel assured that synth was being used.

Myself, I always wondered with dealers doing cars that didn't come with synth (like our 2011 Enclave), and when the customer pays extra for it. I did catch GMC not using it one time, and never again. But how often is this practice done.....they could say (and they did) your car didn't come with synth. We put in Dexos 1 (at the time) that it came with, no harm, no foul, here's a credit for the difference (the clerk accidentally stapled the work order to my receipt is how I busted them). Yeah but how many customers did you do this to and collect extra without putting in the costlier oil...

 

[Pablo]

My (old) gripe with "dealer bulk oil" is old school one viscosity for ALL. Especially years back when 5W-20 started in to use. What did dealers use? 5W-30. I mean come on man. This very OP started a thread about warranty worry. Let the irony soak in a bit.

 

[JavierH19]

No such thing as bad oil if it at least has an API license or the equivalent in other continents but for the most part kinda. They do use the cheapest acceptable oil they can get and still charge a good amount for it but if not changed at long intervals it's fine. I'd do less than 5k with cheap oil. That works out to about 42 bucks a service and I guess that's fine if you really don't wanna touch it. It looks good to have something dealer serviced on the paperwork and if anything goes wrong they get all the blame. Though you should be prepared to be pestered with silly crap like intake or injector cleanings or intake/cabin filters every single time you take it in. So many people get charged tons for bs services when they go to a dealer oil change.

 

[Rand]

When I got my 2019 cherokee with the 2.0T they were trying to put bulk conventional 5w20 servpro in it.
I had to get the manager and show him the manual.. (5w30 syn with ms-13340 spec)
they then redid the oil change.... Using Servpro syn 5w30 which didnt meet the spec..

This is the Jeep dealer's quick change. They also wanted to charge for it but 2(3?) years were included.
Guy also used an impact driver on the airbox I told him not to bother checking(5k miles new vehicle)

after that I changed it myself.

To be fair they did put the right oil in the 2017 pentastar cherokee.. of course I paid 8$ to upgrade to the mopar filter
and they used the jobber filter.. and had to redo that oil change too. I thought after 2 years I'd give them another shot
being I had "free" oil changes.. and was out of oil filters.

They were also trying to sell me tire rotations when they were included with "Jeep Wave".. but I did them myself anyway.

 

[wpod]

Would a drum of Chevron Supreme SP be different that a quart container of Chevron Supreme SP?

 

[Foreman04]

Many years ago, I worked for an oil distributor and we supplied “bulk” oil to car dealerships as well as auto repair shops & contractors that had their own on site service garages. We were a Valvoline distributor and sold to numerous dealerships delivering bulk oil by tank truck usually filling one or two 275 gallon tanks located at the dealership. The oil was the exact same oil that was sold over the counter at any store or auto parts store. At that time, the standard oil was Valvoline All Climate 10w40. Dealerships were concerned about quality and that the oil met the specification they needed. I’m not saying that some dealerships wouldn’t buy anything whether it met the spec or not but my experience was that no dealership wanted to risk servicing cars with oil that would potentially come back to haunt them later in a lawsuit.

 

[Urshurak776]

The problem with this scenario, for me anyway, is they will probably only do it at 7500-10K, not sooner. I would definitely ask the question. If they're okay with you doing it every 5K, then you would be fine using dealer bulk oil. Even the "crappy" Pennzoil.....(sarcasm.)

$41 per OCI isn't too bad if you just can't do it yourself.

 

[Foxtrot08]

Would a drum of Chevron Supreme SP be different that a quart container of Chevron Supreme SP?

Nope. It’s the same stuff.

 

[Foxtrot08]

Dealerships / OEM programs are highly sampled typically.

I know the ins and outs of the ford program, because I helped write it.

 

[bullwinkle]

Dealer bulk oil is sufficient. Nothing more, nothing less.

More like barely sufficient... When my company had "Ford Premium Care", the only stealership with an actual "Fast Lane" used the weakest swill they could find! Vans burned it like water.

 

[wemay]

For a 3k mile oil change, anything API SP will do just fine.

 

[bullwinkle]

When I got my 2019 cherokee with the 2.0T they were trying to put bulk conventional 5w20 servpro in it.
I had to get the manager and show him the manual.. (5w30 syn with ms-13340 spec)
they then redid the oil change.... Using Servpro syn 5w30 which didnt meet the spec..

This is the Jeep dealer's quick change. They also wanted to charge for it but 2(3?) years were included.
Guy also used an impact driver on the airbox I told him not to bother checking(5k miles new vehicle)

after that I changed it myself.

To be fair they did put the right oil in the 2017 pentastar cherokee.. of course I paid 8$ to upgrade to the mopar filter
and they used the jobber filter.. and had to redo that oil change too. I thought after 2 years I'd give them another shot
being I had "free" oil changes.. and was out of oil filters.

They were also trying to sell me tire rotations when they were included with "Jeep Wave".. but I did them myself anyway.

Good to see CDJR dealers are just as bad as the Ford ones. If any of these greedy [CENSORED]s put anywhere near the effort into treating customers correctly that they dump on advertising & corrupt service advisers, they would have more business than they could handle.

 

[Hall]

I’m not saying that some dealerships wouldn’t buy anything whether it met the spec or not but my experience was that no dealership wanted to risk servicing cars with oil that would potentially come back to haunt them later in a lawsuit.

How many shops (dealers or independent) ever asked you guys to supply motor oil that was absolutely unsuitable for modern vehicles ? Did you even sell anything that would meet that ?

 

[AZjeff]

The possible downside isn't the quality of the oil, it's the quality of the work done. BITOG isn't generally too confident of the dealer guy doing oil changes.

An example is I recently changed oil in my neighbor's 100% Ford dealer maintained Fusion and had to get the 3/8 breaker bar out to get the drain plug loose. On an aluminum oil pan. The composite filter cartridge was stupid tight as well.

 

[JTK]

Ok I promise this is my last thread for today before moderators smack me.
My Jeep dealer is offering 6 services for $250, that includes 6 oil changes and tire rotations. It is too good to be true. What oil these guys use, the crappiest Pennzoil?

Sorry if I missed it, but if you're in a situation where you can't change oil yourself, $42 a pop is about half the typical retail cost of these services, so if you have to pay to have it done. I'd deal with the dealer pain and have it done there.

IMO, the key is, don't take your oil life monitor down to 0% life remaining. I wouldn't go more than 5K miles max between oil changes on their bulk oil. Plus, if they hammer your drain plug or lug nuts / studs in that time frame, it's on them given they're the only one who touched them.