Dealer service write-up says they used 5w-20...it's my first oil change!

3812 Views 14 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Blackula, Apr 5, 2017

sparky5

Discussion Starter · Feb 11, 2017

So, I just go my first oil change which was free. While waiting in the customer lounge, I suddenly remember the stories about people possibly having their car filled with 5w-20 oil from when I used to just lurk here in the forums. I quickly googled what oil our STs need and I saw that is was 5.7 quarts or 5w-30 oil. Lo and behold, once the service advisor hands me my paper work, it see that is says they used 5 quarts of 5w-20 oil. I tell the service advisor that I believe the car needs 5w-30 oil. He calmly tells me "We used what the manufacturer recommends. If you want synthetic, it gonna cost around $80. You can pop the hood to check. We used what it says on the filler cap." Ok, so at this point, I realize that my service advisor does not know what type of oil should go into my car and he also does not seem to have a grasp of the concept of oil viscosity. I was questioning the viscosity, not whether it was synthetic or dino oil. I then go to the cashier since I did have to pay for the tire rotation I requested. After that I go straight to my car to pop the hood. Yup, so the oil filler cap does day 5w-30. I go back to him and tell him the cap says 5w-30. He says he will ask the service tech. After a couple minutes he comes back to me and says that the tech did actually use 5w-30 oil. I ask him how much oil did he put in. He replies, "our tech put in the right type of oil and the right amount of oil.". I ask him if he is sure, he says he is. In my mind, the service write-up should have said at least 6 quarts of oil since 5.7 naturally rounds up to 6 quarts. So my concern now is that I hope and pray that they were telling me the truth. If something goes boo-boo with the engine, I have it in black and white that they did use the wrong oil. Seriously, the ST is what, like 5 or 6 years old now? How are tech still getting the paperwork wrong? Well, I so hope it's just the paperwork. Our cars are not supercars or luxury cars by any means, but we bought it with our hard-earned money. It's just annoying that these things happen. @FordService Just venting.

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UnfocusedST

· #2 · Feb 11, 2017

Early builds are September of 2012 here in the US. I believe the UK got them a year early. Most service departments look at it as just a Focus. Mine straight up said they never worked on that engine before. It's the same 2.0L ecoboost that everything else uses. Idiots.

Sent from another garage.

scrub_radius

· #3 · Feb 11, 2017

I had the exact same situation happen to me a couple of month ago. When I challenged the service advisor, he retrieved the service tech's handwitten notes and it said 5.7L 5W30 was used. He apologized that he had mistakenly keyed it into the computer invoice as 5W20.

Soden82

· #4 · Feb 12, 2017

When they check the specs for the car, it comes up as a normal focus that takes 5w20. They're just nitwits that don't know what they're performance models look like

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Hosz

· #5 · Feb 12, 2017

Not trying to defend the dealer, but Ford only makes about 10,000 STs a year. Most are probably purchased by gear heads, a majority of whom likely do their own work, so it is probably a fairly rare event when an ST rolls in for service.

That said, it is unlikely using oil that has a weight different than the mfr.'s recommendation will cause any harm. Sometimes, you might even want to use a different weight depending on the application, such as track use, or in extreme temperatures.

Plus, there really is no way of knowing whether they really put 5w30 in there instead of what they just happened to get a deal on the last week.

One last thing about using what Ford recommends, if the dealer was following the recommendation, they would have put a synthetic blend or full synthetic in there. From what you wrote, it sounds like they didn't.

galaxy7

· #6 · Feb 12, 2017

I'd almost get an oil analysis just for the heck of it to call them out on it. To me, it'd be worth the $30. My dealer sent me an email to remind me of my free first oil change and to call and schedule the appointment. I politely replied to her and said that I would not be taking advantage of this opportunity, but thank you very much anyways!

kshatt06

· #7 · Feb 12, 2017

galaxy7 said:
I'd almost get an oil analysis just for the heck of it to call them out on it. To me, it'd be worth the $30. My dealer sent me an email to remind me of my free first oil change and to call and schedule the appointment. I politely replied to her and said that I would not be taking advantage of this opportunity, but thank you very much anyways!

Haha I have the same issue my car is currently on the third motor, 3 different turbos, on the second clutch, and two different types of aux fuel systems, meth some other goodies and the dealer calls me to remind me of my free oil change. What gets me is they still call me asking if I would like to extend the factory warranty. The only thing is tell them is that I haven't known what a warranty is since about 6 months after I bought the car. I brought the car into the dealership just to show my sales guy the mods because as I was buying the car I told him what my plans were gonna be.

SIstomper

· #8 · Feb 12, 2017

After all these years they still cant get it right? This has been a issue since the beginning.

Fidget08

· #9 · Feb 12, 2017

Unless the service is free why on earth are you taking the car to the dealer for a simple oil change?:disappointed:

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xrayruester

· #10 · Feb 12, 2017

Fidget08 said:
Unless the service is free why on earth are you taking the car to the dealer for a simple oil change?:disappointed:

My local dealer charges about the same as it would be for me to do it myself, and I get it done while I sleep. I've changed the oil on all my previous cars, but figured I would let the dealer take care of it for his one. Also, some apartments do not allow people to work on their cars in the parking lot, so it may not be possible for them to take care of it. Or, they just simply don't want to do it themselves.

Soden82

· #11 · Feb 12, 2017

Hell im scared to let them do a recall on my car let alone change my oil

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SHOdown220

· #12 · Feb 16, 2017

I had this same situation when i was in for my "first free" service. I know that most systems use a pre-filled CCC (complaint, cause, correction) format and it would probably say 5W20 oil in there, the advisor should have caught it cause hey we all make mistakes, but when i asked about it he said the same thing (if you wanted full syn it would have cost extra) and that wasn't even the issue i was pointing out. The tech came and talked to me and said he did in fact put 5w30 and the sticker in my windshield was correct. That being said i went to check the rear hatch recall that they claim they completed and guess whos hatch still opens at 4 mph?

Huzzah

· #13 · Feb 17, 2017

I took mine in for the hatch recall recently too. None of the service advisors knew what I was talking about. They looked it up, took an hour to perform the recall. When I got my car back, all they did was reset my Sync, wiping out my radio presets and date/time. Lol ?

jamie1073

· #14 · Feb 17, 2017

I despise my Ford dealer for killing 4 out of 5 lugs by just jamming an air wrench on and not lining up the nuts. Stripped four out of five. Brake job took several days since I had to order and replace them. This was on my Fusion. I have a leased ST with an Oil Change Tire Rotation packages, they added it for free. I thank god it is a lease so I do not have to worry about their screw ups.

Blackula

· #15 · Apr 5, 2017 (Edited)

Thought I'd just leave this here:

Used my free dealer oil change that was about to expire on my beater, called Tuesday and scheduled an appointment for 10:30a Saturday, the earliest they had available. Dropped it off at 10:30a and told service manager to give it the multipoint inspection but to find where oil is leaking from, indicating a leak on passenger side. He gave an estimate of 2 hrs to get it done. I went to the mall and called at 12:15p and my car still wasn't on a lift. I went back at 12:30, walked straight past service desk to sales floor and asked for manager. A manager saw me ask and while receptionist looked around her desk for nothing, he walked over, greeted me and heard my complaint, agreeing that Ford dealers have a bad rep for service.

Car was ready at 1, service manager said they noticed it was leaking but couldn't see where from, and to maybe get someone else to look at it. But it needs new rear brake pads and rotors, they can do that for $500. What a joke, told sales manager how bad his service department sucks on my way out. I ordered rear pads and rotors from rock auto Sunday night, got em 2 days later for $48 including shipping.

Every time I see those Ford Service commercials, I laugh. Shouldn't The Rock be a spokesperson for Chevy anyway? Somebody over at GM dropped the ball on that one.

Edit: Oh yeah, and the dealer overfilled the oil as well. That's why I tested my service dept out w/ my junker. Had I not the free change coupon, it would have cost $60! Not full synthetic and 2.5 hours, I can confirm that Lindsay Ford of Wheaton MD lives up to the stereotype of overpriced poor service, and they don't give a flying f.

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