Well, finally saved up the money and did the dreaded Ford/Mazda 3.7 Water Pump Service. It is a 2009 model CX-9 with 170K miles and figured I had tempted fate long enough. If the weep hole gets plugged the water pump will back coolant up into the crankcase and you know the rest. This engine uses oil. A 4500 lb vehicle with a high revving low torque engine is gonna work the engine hard especially putting around town. I learned years ago, the thicker the oil the better in this engine. Instead of 1 to 2 quarts between 10K oil changes, a 10W-40 or 15W-40 will need about a half quart to a quart in 10K miles. I tell the repair shop this. I get the standard "OOOOhhhhh, thats to thick, the factory specs 5W-20 blah, blah, blah, etc.". I'm like "look, I know this car, it LIKES 15w-40, put that in after you do the service, thank you". I get the car back and sure enough they put almost thin as cat piss 5W-20 in it. We get it back to the house and I check the level and all is good. I get busy and don't check the oil for about 2 months and about 3000 miles. I check and HOLY ****! It 's barely even touching the dip stick! So, time to change the oil. Out goes the Cam2 5w-20 cat urine and in goes the Delvac. 3000 miles later, no top off needed. All is good in the world. Oh, I asked the tech who did the service "how'd the valvetrain and timing gear area look?". "Great, that is a **** clean engine for 170K". I said "Thanks, 7500 to 10000 mile intervals with HDEO". Tech says "No way".
Wish Repair Shops Would Listen Better
- Thread starter Stumpy
- Start date
Using oil that doesn’t have the correct specs could cost them a lot of money if something goes wrong later and they are sued. I understand them not wanting to follow your direction for which oil, but they should have explained they wouldn’t so uou’d know.
Some places will document the request if a customer makes one that goes against the mfr’s requirements and have the customer sign it to show they were warned ahead of time.
If the shop didn’t make you sign anything that noted your request, they never intended on following it.
Some places will document the request if a customer makes one that goes against the mfr’s requirements and have the customer sign it to show they were warned ahead of time.
If the shop didn’t make you sign anything that noted your request, they never intended on following it.
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2006
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You should've shown the tech this page:
It's due to insurance reasons and fear of getting sued by someone so they aren't taking any chances of deviating from the manufacturer specifications. I've found that it's getting hard to even get someone to install a bit larger tire on a truck even though the specs show that it will fit on the rims. Might have better luck taking the tires and the rim and then install yourself but even then they may question you about the vehicle they're being used on.
Shady practice to tell the customer they will follow his/her request only to do something else. Quite simply they are liars. There is no justifying it.
if they are worried about being sued they should either have the requestor sign off on the different oil OR they could just not do an oil change...
Bill
Bill
If I'm a shop, I'm using the required oil, this isn't odd that they did. At some point you either do the work yourself or expect that a shop may not follow what may seem to them as incorrect advice from a customer that could get them in a pickle if something goes wrong. Move on.
You got busy and didn't have one minute to check the oil for 2 months, 3000 miles?
The issue isn’t that they used manufactures recommend oil grade, but that they lied to the customer. There is no excuse for it.
You either explain why you will not install anything outside of OEM spec or refuse the work.
I went to Jiffy Lube and the guy says we may be out of the recommended 5-20 oil.
I said put 5-30 in instead,he says we have to use what is recommended.
I said put 5-30 in instead,he says we have to use what is recommended.
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In the OP nowhere does it say that I can see that they lied, they just didn't do it. Did he go back in and ask? How did he know this was "cat piss" when he checked it? This level of concern and "got busy/didn't' check my oil for 2 mos" knowing he has higher consumption on the 5W20? What does the work order say?
Repair shops are covered up with people who can't repair their own vehicles, yet tell them how to do the repairs and service. I imagine they get to where they ignore the customer B.S.. The shops probably don't want to argue with these customers and establish paper trails to document discussions with them.
Wal-mart won't even install an oversized oil filter.
I’m very curious as to how the water pump looked and how the bearings felt.
Most people including mechanics have no idea how oil viscosity works, if you care about your vehicle and what goes into it you should learn to do it yourself, especially something as simple as an oil change. Most shops outside of the dealership will use the absolute cheapest parts possible and charge you 4x what they paid for it.
That is a very broad brush you have used to insult mechanics, perhaps you are one of those people that have never served a recognised electrical/ mechanical apprenticeship and therefore would not know what a qualified tradesperson would have been taught in relation to oils/fluids.
How long does it take to fill the car with gas? Can you not check oil level while waiting for pump to stop?
Not a good time to check the oil level. I can't get a proper level reading after a short 5 min stop.
Cold in the morning before setting off, or after work before leaving for home.
There is one major part of this story missing. What was the response when the OP said, "look, I know this car, it LIKES 15w-40, put that in after you do the service, thank you". The story jumps from that to getting the car back home. The integrity of the shop weighs entirely on what that response was. If they said, "No, I'm sorry, we can't do that." then that's completely different then if the service writer said, "Yeah, sure, we can do that." and then didn't do it.
Another major part of the story missing here is how did the OP know it was 5w-20? That's left out. Does it say that on the work order? If so, why wasn't this seen while still at the shop where you could have brought it up to the service writer? If the OP knows this was 5w-20 just by pulling the dipstick and looking at it, that's sounds pretty sketchy. There's no way you can know with enough certainty to condemn a shop just by looking at some oil on a dipstick.
And then not checking oil for 2 months when you supposedly know it's going to burn faster. You don't "get busy for 2 months". Just say you forgot to check it. It happens. We're all human. You're allowed to forget to do things.
I just see a lot of people filling in the blanks on their own here based on their own biases. I'd like more information before passing judgement on someone.
Another major part of the story missing here is how did the OP know it was 5w-20? That's left out. Does it say that on the work order? If so, why wasn't this seen while still at the shop where you could have brought it up to the service writer? If the OP knows this was 5w-20 just by pulling the dipstick and looking at it, that's sounds pretty sketchy. There's no way you can know with enough certainty to condemn a shop just by looking at some oil on a dipstick.
And then not checking oil for 2 months when you supposedly know it's going to burn faster. You don't "get busy for 2 months". Just say you forgot to check it. It happens. We're all human. You're allowed to forget to do things.
I just see a lot of people filling in the blanks on their own here based on their own biases. I'd like more information before passing judgement on someone.
