Losing Faith...

[Eddie]

He probably saw that a 5w30 was spec'd for some Mercedes so pick her up a quart. I doubt I would rant over this and anyway 1 quart of 5w30 in a 10 or 12 quart system makes no difference. Exchange it and move on with life's important issues. Ed

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: bigt61

Nail hit squarely.

Of course, if it were me and someone tried to have me use an ILSAC 5w-30 in a newer Benz, I'd keel over, but that's my issue, not theirs.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ

I would try educating the girlfriend not the store clerk. It's her car and her responsibility.

Agreed. There's no reason she couldn't have the forethought to open the manual and see what's recommended. And then go and ask the clerk for a 229.1 spec Mercedes oil, or something like that...

 

[andyd]

Congrats to your GF, Some oil, any oil, is better than no oil. Show her the manual and the recommended oil.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: AZjeff

Respectfully, a GF who knows nothing about cars, with a Mercedes...and you're not checking the oil knowing it burns a little? Just asking. Put a note in the glovebox with the proper oil since she'll never remember, the next time the light goes off she can walk in and get the correct oil and impress the counter guys.

The level should be checked every so often, but I don't consider being super proactive a must, because: 1. 1 quart every 10k miles isn't a concerning amount of oil consumption. 2.The oil level monitoring system warned her about the quart-low condition. At such a low consumption rate, the OP has plenty of time to pick up a quart next time.

 

[DirkDiggler]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice

Better idea is for the OP to buy the oil himself, no headaches.

or. . . you could make a kit for her. My wife's former X5 burned oil and I would try to keep up with checking it. However, she was always on the go with the kids, etc. so I put a qt of M1 0w40, a cheap paper funnel, and some latex gloves in a gallon ziplock bag and placed it in the rear storage area. She called me one time and said her low oil warning light came on while on freeway. Smartly, she pulled over and turned off the engine. I told her about the oil (she wanted to call a tow truck), and walked her thru where to pour the oil. turns out a seal had failed, but that was enough to get her home. now I have the same set up in her Escalade, just in case.

 

[Brybo86]

Sounds like you and the GF need to have an oil DTR fill her in on the right oil for her car. I would politely go to the store and have them double check in their system which oil it says to get.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Let it go. Life is way too short and you probably have much better things to do than to get involved in discussions like this with parts store employees. Tell your gf what brand and weight/type of oil is needed for the car, write it down and put it in her purse or the glovebox and forget about the guy at O'Reilly. He will learn on his own sooner or later.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: andyd

Congrats to your GF, Some oil, any oil, is better than no oil. Show her the manual and the recommended oil.

I agree but if it were me, I would buy a couple of extra quarts to store in the garage or trunk of the car so next time she needs it, the oil is already there. Plus she might remember what the oil container looked like next time she might have to buy a quart.

 

[Torrid]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice

Originally Posted By: KrisZ

I would try educating the girlfriend not the store clerk. It's her car and her responsibility.

Better idea is for the OP to buy the oil himself, no headaches.

This. I don't expect my wife to know a darn thing about motor oil. I'm not sure if she has ever checked an oil level in her life. It's always been something I do if I'm in the garage doing something or if I take her car to put gas in it.

 

[edyvw]

Wife drives Tiguan. I "indoctrinated" her to be gentle to accelerator until engine reaches operating temp. and she even learned that coolant temp is not operating temp. Good enough for me. Once I start talking oils she just says: You know, I was happy with my Nissan Sentra. So, I make sure I check oil at least once a week, but figured Tig in 5k does not burn a drop of Castrol 0W40 or M1 0W40. So I would keep an eye on that car, and let her just drive. When it comes to auto store, I never did wallet with my car, not to mention for some "dude" recommending oil.

 

[chuck wood]

I would skip the store management and go straight to corporate with this issue. They obviously have an employee who is a stale leftover of the occupy Wall st movement bent on destroying the 1%. Explain to them how this could have caused severe damage to this wonderful example of teutonic engineering. Beyond that I would meet with a local police detective to see if it was possible to file charges for fraud or vandalism (make them understand what this wimpy 5W-30 could have possibly done to the Geländewagen.

 

[ccap41]

Believe it or not, I couldn't find the specs in her manual. Once I saw the oil I didn't want the hassle of buying more and returning the old stuff so I was hoping to find something on either spec or weight and I looked under every page that had "oil" or "engine oil" listed in the glossary and nothing. Even the "specifications" page only said "Mercedes spec only". I never came across a manual that didn't list oil weight or anything.

 

[ccap41]

This right here is a fantastic idea! Thank you I'll definitely be doing this. Even if I just end up doing it when she gets back from wherever she it at least I'll always have the stuff in ththe car ready at will.

 

[ccap41]

Just to clarify I have/had no intentions of being rude to the employee at all, just inform him. I said I'd sound like a dick(possibly) because questioning people can come off sounding like a dick without any intent. People don't like to be questioned, especially at their place of work where they are the "professional".

 

[Red91]

The one quart of 5W-30 would not have hurt a thing. It would have been fine. You guys are way too anal. End of the day, a Mercedes engine is still an engine very similar to the ones calling for 5W-30. You could run 5W-30 conventional oil as the fill for 4K-5K OCI's and yield the same results as running 0W-40 synthetic for 10K-15K. Again, way to anal.

 

[CT8]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4

You're expecting too much from an O'Reily's employee / and your girlfriend should've known better.

You can buy a pricey car but you can't read the manual.

 

[Benito]

Originally Posted By: ccap41

Just to clarify I have/had no intentions of being rude to the employee at all, just inform him. I said I'd sound like a dick(possibly) because questioning people can come off sounding like a dick without any intent. People don't like to be questioned, especially at their place of work where they are the "professional".

I seriously wouldn't bother. Even if they acknowledge the mistake, I can't see any meaningful change to the underlying problem. Worse, you might give your girlfriend the impression that this was a one off incident, while the actual lesson to learn is to not expect actual expertise and knowledge from the average worker.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: ccap41

When I got to her house and she handed me that I actually laughed because I thought she was just being a cheapo. Then she told me that that is what the guy said it needed. So she thought she bought the correct thing. I was actually frustrated that he brought her that. He(or his computer that told him that oil) should know better.

I just looked up your significant other's Merc on the O'Reilly First Call website (their pro level/repair shop site) and if you select "Oil, Fluids & Chemicals" (which brings up everything under the sun), then select "Motor Oil- Vehicle Specific" it will bring all the correct for application motor oils. The store rep may well have just assumed a generic 5w-30 would work. In my experience, most Americans think that oil is oil when it comes to viscosity grades. They don't realize/understand the importance of manufacturer's approvals, HT/HS, add packs, TBN and so on. They know what most Asian and domestic cars/trucks take and assume the Euro stuff is all the same too.

Originally Posted By: KrisZ

I would try educating the girlfriend not the store clerk. It's her car and her responsibility.

Agreed. There was another suggestion of making up a "kit"- that's a darn good idea and could very well bridge the gap between fully educating her and misinformed store employees.

 

[ccap41]

CT8: Read post #3851525. I already covered that.