The Truth About Oil, Autozone Style

[kschachn]

So I was in Autozone two nights ago, and in there was a local resident who has a diesel pickup of some sort. His whole family drives trucks, mostly diesels, they seem quite proud of them despite the fact that they are grocery haulers as far as I can see. But I digress.

He was buying oil for his truck and the clerk came over to assist. The clerk was a young guy who knew him apparently and seemed as excited as he was that they were both truck drivers. Anyway, they start talking about oil and eventually it turned to Rotella T6. I kind of hung around because I thought this might get interesting. The clerk finally said "you dont want that oil, it's too thin! It'll ruin the engine, I don't know why they sell that stuff for diesels anyway". The guy buying the oil made a few comments and then the clerk sealed the deal with "Hey, that's a light oil for light duty. You have a heavy-duty truck! A diesel! You need a heavy-duty oil!"

So another sale of 15W-40 was made. Nothing wrong with that oil I guess, but still I wonder how many times a day this convo goes on.

 

[Nick R]

*Massive sigh*

 

[DrDusty86]

When I buy oil for my diesel, I NEVER will take the word of a "parts monkey". It's either RP 5w40-hard to get, OR T6.
T6 hasn't ruined my 6L yet.hhhhhaaahhhaa

 

[Artem]

The truck can be as heavy duty as it gets but if he doesn't haul anything and just uses it as a grocery getter, a "light duty" oil will do just fine.

I personally don't trust anything that any auto parts "specialists" say.

 

[Lead Shoes]

Because the 5 obviously indicates how thick the oil is over its entire working range

I always love when the counter boy full of his grand fathers "vast" knowledge of motor oil sways a customer away from a better oil.

If I had a dollar for every time I was in a parts store and heard Pennzoil is bad because it just waxes up your engine I would have at least 20 dollars, and I don't even go to the FLAPS that often...

I wonder how many sales Pennzoil loses a year to people still thinking it is just going to wax.

There is some serious oil ignorance out there..

 

[RedCorvette]

I did an online order at AZ for their M1 oil and filter deal which makes M1 0w40 a good value. The filter I chose was not for the same application. I think that the application goes through to the store when you put in the order.

Anyhow, at pick up, the clerk was puzzled by the filter choice. He asked what car the order was for and I said Mercedes. He then said the filter was not correct, which was correct, and I explained it was for another car.

Then he said, you need 5w30 for a Mercedes. Not only do we have owners running the wrong oil in these extended drain German cars, we have AZ clerks helping them make the wrong choice!

 

[dparm]

I had to help a guy in Pep Boys about a week ago with a similar issue. Once the employee walked off (the customer looked even more confused), I quickly told him what to buy and he obliged.

At the gas station yesterday, a guy with an old Mercedes ML320 came in needing to top off his oil. He asked the clerk if a bottle of GTX 5w30 on the shelf was what his car needed. The clerk shrugged and I told him, no, drive down the street and buy Mobil 1 0w40.

 

[RedCorvette]

It's not just oil ignorance, it's symptomatic of a society that relies on feelings rather than seek out facts.

Would it be so hard to read information that is already out there? I mean all the oil websites have application guides. All the filter manufacturer's, heck all the after market manufacturer's have application guides for every replacement part.

Why don't these auto part stores just put a computer in every store with all of these web pages bookmarked and send an edict to the stores to consult these references every time you make a recommendation, or better yet, tell the customer to consult them.

 

[pzev]

The Autozone computer will clearly list the 15w-40 AND 5w-40 oils for that application.
And people get all upset that modern autoparts workers rely on the computer too much...in all honesty, you don't want these guys giving you advice, as this above example clearly demonstrates. Also, if I was managing that parts store, I would have written up that associate for loosing a higher value sale...actually, I would have tried to teach him the difference and asked him next time to make the higher value sale. If he did it again however, I would write him up

.

During college I was a part time manager for a retail autoparts store. Some of the "advice" that was past a long in that store made me cringe. Many times people got confused by the first number on a quart of oil, and I had to explain the differences between an 0w/5w/10w. But even with all that, I never once encountered someone down-selling diesel oil because they thought the synthetic variety was too thin.....that takes a special kind of idiot.

 

[crazyoildude]

most of the clerks at auto part stores know nothing about cars...the commercial deptments are the exceptions in some cases

 

[kschachn]

Actually the manager for this store is pretty good and does look things up in the computer rather than going on personal knowledge. The store is very close to my house so I am in there pretty often, and this is the first time I have heard such advice being given. They have hired a lot of new people lately so that might have something to do with it since the previous people had been there for a while.

 

[Spazdog]

I was one of the first ever ASE Certified Parts Specialists.

I don't know what the test is like now, I haven't recertified in a long time, but the tests administered in the '90s did not mention lubrication at all. It was more centered around merchandising. I worked directly under one of the people responsible for writing the test and I can't say that I'm suprised that it was focused on merchandising and profitability.

It's sad that the Western Auto Master Parts Specialist test had more to do with being a counterperson and specific parts knowledge than the ASE Parts Specialist exam did.

 

[RF Overlord]

Originally Posted By: Brenden
I wonder how many sales Pennzoil loses a year to people still thinking it is just going to wax.

There is some serious oil ignorance out there..
I once had a parts store clerk try to sell me on Pennzoil BECAUSE it was a "paraffin-based" oil. The other choice was an "asphaltic-based" oil. He asked me which I'd rather have in my crankcase, wax or tar.

 

[cp3]

I thought the GM dealer parts guy telling me a PF47 and a PF47E were the same thing was bad....

 

[84zmyfavorite]

I like to bring up facts about motor oil when I buy it at AutoZone, Usually about Castrol Syntec(Well EDGE, now) 0w-30, bring the Conversation to them. Its fun to watch their confused expressions. How can something so "Thin", be so good, they might be thinking...

 

[84zmyfavorite]

I get angry and frustrated when AutoZone employees approach me, and Tell me that what Im buying, usually Castrol Syntec 0w-30 or Mobil 1 0w-40 in one of their oil change deals, is no good for what Im using it in(any number of Jeep Cherokees). So I bring the conversation to them, and it seems to go better.

 

[exranger06]

Oh look, another BITOG thread where everyone bashes parts store employees. This is even better than the threads where everyone complains about manual transmissions going extinct.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: exranger06
Oh look, another BITOG thread where everyone bashes parts store employees. This is even better than the threads where everyone complains about manual transmissions going extinct.

Next is the bash the bashing thread basher, thread...

OT, I was surprised when one of my oval racing buddies thought my rotella 0W40 was too thick for my Neon. He usually runs old smoking Honda's and I thought he'd be all over the 40 weight HDEO's.

 

[tommygunn]

I thought the whole point of driving a big diesel truck was to way overcompensate.

Heavy oils, tow packages, lift kits, off-road ready tires, oversize exhausts, chipped out with a loud stereo.

I mean what are you gonna do, admit you're some suburban wannabe who hauls, at best, a boxful of IKEA furniture you think your mom would approve of?

Of course not. You need a truck that could pull a small building off its foundation and carry it through the Sahara. I mean, maybe not today, or tomorrow, or in the next 15 years...

But its good to have.

Edit: Sarcasm, just in before I gotta explain to someone.

 

[chestand]

1973 or thereabouts. I'm at the parts counter at our local Chevy dealership. I'm buying some part for my '65 Corvair, I don't recall what exactly. The dealiship parts guy says with a straight face "Is that the four cylinder or the six cylinder?" I should have told him it was the four and oh by the way, what do you recommend for antifreeze for my engine?