Mustang Evolution Forum banner

Is my dealership trying to rip me off with oil changes?

3K views 36 replies 22 participants last post by  Recon 
#1 ·
Recently I took my car in for its 20k service. Included in that service was of course, an oil change. Afterwards I noticed that the replaced my new "next oil change" sticker on the upper left side of my windshield with a sticker that said I will need an oil change at 23k miles. Ever since I got my car the dealer has told me to get an oil change ever 5k miles, which I have been doing. Are they trying to rip me off? From what I have read, with new advances in oil technology, changing oil every 3k miles is a waste of money. I have also heard of some people changing their oil over 10k miles. Thanks in advance for your input.
 
#3 ·
It doesnt sound like they are trying to rip you off. Most places still say 3000 miles, everywhere ive gone has said 3000 miles. But youre right, with technology these days its may not be necessary. I saw a chart somewhere that shows approx. how often you should get an oil change based on your type of driving. Ill see if i can find it somewhere.
 
#5 ·
I can understand why most places woulds still recommend an oil change every 3k, however ever since I got my car the dealership has printed a new sticker for my windshield recommending a new oil change after 5k miles. I just find it strange that once I hit 20k miles they now recommend I get an oil change after 3k miles.
 
#4 ·
^^ The oil life monitor just measures 7500 miles. These cars have large sumps, which combined with modern oil technology, allows for pretty liberal changes. I wouldnt wait for 10k, but 5000-7500 is ok.


There's even some arguments that most sheer and wear damage happens when oil is fresh, so too frequently changing the oil can actually cause more harm than good, but that's another discussion in and of itself.
 
#8 ·
I didn't realize that the IOMS actually took into consideration your driving habits, I figured it was based on how many miles were put onto the car. Thanks for the video! Sounds like it is safe to wait until the IOMS reads 5% before getting an oil change


Sent from my iPhone using Mustang Evolution
 
#9 ·
you can go by the OLM or more often. In my nice day toy 5-6K year it's time based which Ford says up to 1 yr. I choose to do it every 9 months which is 4 in 3 yrs or 1x more than suggested. It's my compromise.

side notes: I've never heard of a dealer trying to rip anyone off :)
 
#13 ·
If you want to find out if your dealer was trying to rip you off, you should act dumb and ask why 3000 miles when you thought that these newer cars went by the cars recommended oil change frequency or the recommended frequency in the owners manual.
Their answer should give you a pretty good idea as to whether they were trying to rip you off.
 
#15 ·
I went till 9000 this last time, and 4000 previously after the dealer changing it.

If manufacturers recommended 3k between changes and people listened, why won't they if they say 10k?

I never heard of people changing it every 1.5k before the new "standard".


Sent from my iPhone
 
#19 ·
Who says 5% is the magical number? I've never seen it In the book(if it's there what page?)

5k(50%) is good enough to for me. I get my tires rotated then and I'm not hurting anything.

The 3k thing was with the old school Dino oils. Most shops stuck with the catchy 3k/3month system even as oil became essentially better. With all the synthetics/blends/high detergent Dino oils now you could probably safely go 7500-10k, but it really comes down personal preference/comfort level. 5k for me is good, it's not too much and it's not stretching the oil life. Its only $40 for oil(motorcraft blend), wash/vacuum and rotation at my dealer.

Too say someone is wrong by not stretching their oil to the absolute max of the OLM just sounds like setting someone up for failure.
 
#21 ·
Back in the late '50s(ya I'm that old) we use to change the oil filters every other oil change.
I can't remember how often we changed the oil though. Maybe because back than half the cars were oil burners and it didn't matter that much since we were adding oil all the time.LOL
 
#24 ·
I got an oil change when the car was at 1500 miles. Then every 10k after that (at 31k now). I've been using the Ford MoCo full synthetic oil (highly rated) and when I sent the sample out to blackstone at 7k miles the oil still had tons of life left in it. Honestly I think you could do 15k intervals and maybe just change the filter at 7500 miles for good measure and top off. This new synthetic oil is awesome stuff. Just because its dark, doesn't mean its done. My only concern with long intervals is how clogged up the regular filters get over time. I suppose if you used synthetic from day 1 like I did, you aren't getting that sludge build up. However, if you switched over from dino you would probably want to switch the filters out half way because the newer oils clean like crazy.
 
#25 ·
I am a French Mustang owner, nobody is perfect, and I joined
USA 3 years ago. It is absolutely amazing to notice that American change oil 2 to 3 times more frequently oil than in Europe however they commute on highways at very reasonable speed limits. We are on a global market, with modern cars and full synthetic oils and because oil lobbying, people in the US continue to do like in the fifties.
Cars and oil reliabilty and quality dramatically evolved.
In Europe we change oil every 10k miles for gas cars and 20k miles for diesel cars, period.
This article read on Edmunds website confirms that oil change every 5k is a non sense operation.
http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/stop-changing-your-oil.html
 
#29 · (Edited)
I would simply ask the service advisor the next time I bring the Mustang in for its service as to why they are suggesting a 3K oil change when Ford, Mororcraft, and the oil monitor all say it is acceptable to go well beyond that.

To me its obvious: that dealer wants you to spend money getting oil changes more often then required.

When the "dime" falls onto the consumer, the frequency of good maintenace pratice is always lower then required. When the dealer is paying, the frequency is much longer! My wifes BMW is this way; BMW picks up the tab, and the oil gets changed every 8 to 10 months,or about 14K miles. When the consumer was paying for it, BMW's recommendation was no more than 7500 miles. Interesting.

Since it's a lease, and we have no plans to buy it out, I'll go along with their free, lifetime oil changes.
 
#30 · (Edited)
I change mine every 6-6500 miles, which equates to once a year. I typically do it in the spring after all the winter mess. Reason being when things dont always get up to full operating temps is when you start seeing stuff like fuel dilution happening.
 
#31 ·
I change when the OLM is below 10%, which works out to every 9k-10k miles for me. I use Mobil1 full synthetic. I also recently switched to using Mobil1 filters, which are about 20% longer than the Motorcraft ones, which should mean more surface area for filtration.
 
#33 ·
Thanks for all the input guys! Yesterday I was curious and decided to check my OLM and guess what. They didnt reset it to 100%. I am guessing they were hoping I never looked at it then when it was " time for an oil change after 3k miles" they would show me that the car "needed" an oil change through the OLM.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top