why does gm have high oil standards and not ford

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So I have a loaner Chevy cruze whIle my focus is having the paint issue fixed. The cruze is a nice little car. But why does gm have to have dexos approved oil and ford doesn't hAve an particular spec. My manual says anything api sn approved is fine. Are ford's ecoboost engines similar to this as they do not require a synthetic? Seems to me I'd want to use synthetic if I had a turbo engine.
 
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1. They make money off the licensing.
2. They make money by selling the stuff.
3. They make money by denying warranty claims.
 
GM has an OLM, turbo charged engines, etc. They also sell all over the world, so they are doing it the European way.

I'm sure if you were to thumb threw the manual on a turbo charged Ford it would have fairly specific oil requirements.
 
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Maybe gm engines suck so bad they actually need a better/higher certified oil to keep them running????...just thinking out of da box...flame suit on...lol
 
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
GM has an OLM, turbo charged engines, etc. They also sell all over the world, so they are doing it the European way.


So does Ford.

Dexos is mainly a cash grab.

The European automakers don't charge the oil companies for their approval--not even Porsche.
 
You may feel 'synthetic' is warranted for turbochargers but many mfrs (including Ford, GM, Hyundai/Kia etc) do not. Category API SN/ILSAC GF-5 was designed with turbo protection in mind.

Fords also last just as long as anything else with whatever oil is spec'd for them.
 
I would say Ford's are high, GM's are higher. Probably to achieve longer oil drain intervals. Saves oil if people follow the OLM. Ford has different spec.'s for different oils. Even the GM spec. can be met with a semi-synthetic. Even basic oils today are pretty good.
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man
So I have a loaner Chevy cruze whIle my focus is having the paint issue fixed. The cruze is a nice little car. But why does gm have to have dexos approved oil and ford doesn't hAve an particular spec. My manual says anything api sn approved is fine. Are ford's ecoboost engines similar to this as they do not require a synthetic? Seems to me I'd want to use synthetic if I had a turbo engine.


Ford has a "spec" for basically every engine they make. It is in your owners manual that they recommend you use an oil that meets Ford spec WSS-something.

That said, they don't put it on the oil cap and plaster it all over the place. This is likely due to them not charging royalties like GM does with DEXOS. Ford's spec's are performance specs that in some instances, the products being used must meet. In order instances they are just a recommendation. Depends on the application.
 
My understanding is that Dexos was brought about for the 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. With VVT and such and a longer powertrain warranty, it makes sense to require a standardized synthetic oil. Ford's warranty is 60K. I imagine in that later 40K, there is much more potential for problems related to running conventional oils way too long in a demanding application.

I bet the licensing has a lot to do with it too.
 
5W30 Ford WSS-M2C946-A
5W20 Ford WSS-M2C945-A

There are others for the Diesels.

Ford just doesn't charge companies for some stupid logo like GM. Actually, GM is the only ones to do that....
 
There used to be a website that had a convenient graph that would show what the various different oil requirements were. Furthermore you could overlay two different standards to visualize how they differed. Its long gone from my bookmarks.

Anyway,Ford's spec was closest to Honda I would say. Not substandard or minimal by any stretch of the imagination. Based on my own limited UOAs their oil was also pretty durable, easily handling an 8K run.

GM I think is part of the top-tier consortium, so its probably a moneymaker for them. Plus, engines are getting way more high-tech. They would probably have to build to a lower output, lower mpg standard to accept worse oil.

Edit: Here it is. I couldn't get it to open. Maybe it will work for you. http://www.lubrizol.com/apps/relperftool/pc.html
 
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They try to scare the average person who doesn't know what Dexos certified oil is and make them think they better always take it to the dealer for service. At least that's what I think part of it is.
 
I think the dexos marketing is a good idea because for the average consumer it simplifies the oil choice.

The fact that they charge for it may or may not be bad. You would need to see the numbers behind it to understand whether it is to cover costs or a profit center.

Note that Ford charges for Mercon V licensing and that Top Tier requires the additive manufacturers to spend $25k on tests.
 
It's about time that the manufacturers stopped using viscosity in their labeling. They should call a certain oil, "strawberry" and another "apple, and one "apricot" and so on. Just require one of these oils for warranty and let oil companies label the corresponding oil with the right fruit. Then, people could stop worrying about thin oils and mechanics could stop giving bad advice. Just change with the correct oil based on an OLM and be done with it. A marker could be put in each oil for warranty purposes, maybe a color dye. That way a quick lube place or a dishonest dealer would have to work harder to cheat customers with substandard oil.

The reason something like this might help is a situation near where I work. There is a quick lube business that has one 55 gallon drum hooked up to a hose and a pump and every car that goes through there gets this oil, from a late model BMW or turbo VW to an old domestic pickup. The drum has a label on it that reads, "National 10w-30". I've looked at receipts from co-workers that go there. One receipt read, "5w-20" and another "5w-30" and a third, "0w-40". No one has to worry about them, anymore. They got caught up in one of those TV reports and exposed for charging for work they did not do.
 
Originally Posted By: BowNisPar
1. They make money off the licensing.
2. They make money by selling the stuff.
3. They make money by denying warranty claims.

There are plenty of reasons to dislike dexos certification. Financially, I doubt it's even half a drop in the bucket for GM. Engineers might have wanted more rigorous standards, and the accountants might have wanted the project to at least pay for itself.

Personally, I doubt that GM is selling much more oil at their dealerships than they did previous to dexos, except, perhaps, for dexos2 oils, which are substantially harder to find.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
It's about time that the manufacturers stopped using viscosity in their labeling. They should call a certain oil, "strawberry" and another "apple, and one "apricot" and so on. Just require one of these oils for warranty and let oil companies label the corresponding oil with the right fruit. Then, people could stop worrying about thin oils and mechanics could stop giving bad advice. Just change with the correct oil based on an OLM and be done with it. A marker could be put in each oil for warranty purposes, maybe a color dye. That way a quick lube place or a dishonest dealer would have to work harder to cheat customers with substandard oil.

The reason something like this might help is a situation near where I work. There is a quick lube business that has one 55 gallon drum hooked up to a hose and a pump and every car that goes through there gets this oil, from a late model BMW or turbo VW to an old domestic pickup. The drum has a label on it that reads, "National 10w-30". I've looked at receipts from co-workers that go there. One receipt read, "5w-20" and another "5w-30" and a third, "0w-40". No one has to worry about them, anymore. They got caught up in one of those TV reports and exposed for charging for work they did not do.



Dexos is a spec but there are also viscosity requirements as well.
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man
So I have a loaner Chevy cruze whIle my focus is having the paint issue fixed. The cruze is a nice little car. But why does gm have to have dexos approved oil and ford doesn't hAve an particular spec. My manual says anything api sn approved is fine. Are ford's ecoboost engines similar to this as they do not require a synthetic? Seems to me I'd want to use synthetic if I had a turbo engine.
Why would anyone want to be required to run a certain oil?
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
It's about time that the manufacturers stopped using viscosity in their labeling. They should call a certain oil, "strawberry" and another "apple, and one "apricot" and so on. Just require one of these oils for warranty and let oil companies label the corresponding oil with the right fruit. Then, people could stop worrying about thin oils and mechanics could stop giving bad advice. Just change with the correct oil based on an OLM and be done with it. A marker could be put in each oil for warranty purposes, maybe a color dye. That way a quick lube place or a dishonest dealer would have to work harder to cheat customers with substandard oil.


While we do need to know more info than just viscosity at only two data points, reducing the amount of information available to the consumer is NOT the way to go.

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack

The reason something like this might help is a situation near where I work. There is a quick lube business that has one 55 gallon drum hooked up to a hose and a pump and every car that goes through there gets this oil, from a late model BMW or turbo VW to an old domestic pickup. The drum has a label on it that reads, "National 10w-30". I've looked at receipts from co-workers that go there. One receipt read, "5w-20" and another "5w-30" and a third, "0w-40". No one has to worry about them, anymore. They got caught up in one of those TV reports and exposed for charging for work they did not do.


And how exactly will that help?

Cheaters gonna cheat, and labeling oil "Apricot" is not going to stop the cheaters, just like a barrel labeled "10w-30" didn't stop them from using it for other applications.
 
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