I have a confession to make. I am a ase L1 certified master tech and before I started lurking on Bitog I knew nothing about motor oil . I turn alot of hours. I had very good csi scores. A decade plus of turning wrenches bought me a nice house a new car every five years for the wife and I knew nothing about engine oil.
I knew how to look in the owners manual or maintenance card and find the right oil for the car I was working on. I couldn't tell you the difference between group III,IV,Or V. I don't think very many master techs could. Every good tech answering a oil related question at my dealership would say follow the recommended oil standard and interval for your car . That's the best advice a tech could every give a customer .
I see some posts on Bitog complaining about technicians general knowledge about oils . Even with the knowledge I have gained from these forums I always tell my customers to use our recommended oil and filter and change it at our recommended interval and that's all any good tech really needs to know unless they work at a after market performance shop then I would expect way more expertise on the matter.
A few years ago I left the dealership life and went to work the local police fleet maintenence. We have marked chargers, impalas, crown vics, and a few Taurus interceptors. We have over seven hundred vehicles in our fleet on 4k oci using mc synblend 5w20 or chevron Dino 5w30. We do not have hour meters in the cars even though they idle alot. In the three years I have been there we have not had one lube related failure and not one sludge motor. The impalas have a very small sump and take a hair over 4 qts I would say if you factored in idle time the impalas are doing the equivalent of 7-8k Dino oci and haven't had one sludge or internal engine failure. Most of the cars come in for service with the olm pegged at zero. I chalk it up to how good sn rated oils are
I knew how to look in the owners manual or maintenance card and find the right oil for the car I was working on. I couldn't tell you the difference between group III,IV,Or V. I don't think very many master techs could. Every good tech answering a oil related question at my dealership would say follow the recommended oil standard and interval for your car . That's the best advice a tech could every give a customer .
I see some posts on Bitog complaining about technicians general knowledge about oils . Even with the knowledge I have gained from these forums I always tell my customers to use our recommended oil and filter and change it at our recommended interval and that's all any good tech really needs to know unless they work at a after market performance shop then I would expect way more expertise on the matter.
A few years ago I left the dealership life and went to work the local police fleet maintenence. We have marked chargers, impalas, crown vics, and a few Taurus interceptors. We have over seven hundred vehicles in our fleet on 4k oci using mc synblend 5w20 or chevron Dino 5w30. We do not have hour meters in the cars even though they idle alot. In the three years I have been there we have not had one lube related failure and not one sludge motor. The impalas have a very small sump and take a hair over 4 qts I would say if you factored in idle time the impalas are doing the equivalent of 7-8k Dino oci and haven't had one sludge or internal engine failure. Most of the cars come in for service with the olm pegged at zero. I chalk it up to how good sn rated oils are