NOW I'VE HEARD IT ALL

[grbr95]

I was at Autozone check prices on oil and I was looking at the Exxon Superflo container out of boredome. The sales associate comes up and askes if I need anything, (I should have kept my mouth shut) instead, I utter the words, "I wonder if this stuff is the same as the Mobil 5000?" Ooops! Foot in mouth. So this sales associate goes on to say two things. One being that the more you pay, the better the product, so the Mobil 5000 is better and different. He also went on to say that you should not change brands very often and that it's ok to switch one time. He said that if you switch brands often that you will get "gum" in your engine, as he put it.

Where in the H E double hockey sticks do these clerks come up with this stuff? Is there or was there once any fact to these comments?
I know that many of you buy whatever is on sale. Do you have gum in your engine?

 

[Quest]

For sales person, their bottomline shall always be sales+profit margin.

Cheaper products usually comes with lower profit margin so they would try to push high-priced products in general.

Same with certain automotive vehicle salesperson: they would try to push more stuff on you unnecessarily becase there's profits to be made from these unnecessary "add-ons".

Same with motor oil: Exxon Superflo, just like PetroCanada's product, IMHO are pretty good for the $$.

 

[memo]

Behind his lousy words, some of it has some merit to it. Mobil 5000 is probably better then the cheapest oil you can find. More money doesn't = better oil tho. I've heard that you should try and stick to the same brand of oil because every brand uses a different additive pack. You will NOT gum up your engine by changing brands. While I don't recomend trying a different brand every time you change your oil for as long as you own your car, you will not do any harm in trying different brands to see what works best in your car.

 

[addyguy]

I was actually planning on doing just that.....using a different brand at every oil change pretty well....I have so far: Motomaster Formula 1 5w30, Pennzoil 5w30, Tech 2000 5w30, latest is Castrol GTX 10w30.....

 

[Titan]

I think he might have meant that mouth breathers shouldn't open the oil fill cap, because the gum they are chewing might drop into the engine.

 

[kanling]

Maybe it is a good thing that store employees never offer assistance around where I live.

 

[Volvohead]

quote:

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Originally posted by grbr95:
. . . One being that the more you pay, the better the product . . .

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The same can also be said for auto parts clerks.

 

[bighead]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Titan:
I think he might have meant that mouth breathers shouldn't open the oil fill cap, because the gum they are chewing might drop into the engine.

---

LOL..

 

[m3kgt_99]

LOL that is funny

Speaking from a mechanic's point of view... Most of these employees at Autozone, O'Reileys, Advance Auto.... ect. are not the most experienced people with an automotive background. Most of the experienced people are at the dealerships. (as you probably know) The Autozone employees are not out to steal your money, they just don't know. They get paid the same no matter how many sales they have. I am not trying to defend the emplyoees at Autozone, because you will probably get the same answer from an experienced mechanic from any dealership you go to. Oil is something that people don't like to go outside of their comfort zone with and what they hear is what most people believe becuase they don't want to make that mistake first hand.

 

[mechtech]

Reponding to an auto parts person is like a blunder when playing chess - you instantly regret it.

 

[m3kgt_99]

...now the dealership on the other hand....
Screw them.

 

[grbr95]

I mainly posted this with respect to what I was told about "gum" forming in the engine from switching brands too often...LOL Surely they meant sludge... But like you all have indicated, I have never heard of this either.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

"I should have kept my mouth shut"
============================================================
Yep.

 

[m3kgt_99]

quote:

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Originally posted by Titan:
I think he might have meant that mouth breathers shouldn't open the oil fill cap, because the gum they are chewing might drop into the engine.

---

LOL

 

[Volvohead]

quote:

---

Originally posted by grbr95:
I mainly posted this with respect to what I was told about "gum" forming in the engine from switching brands too often...LOL Surely they meant sludge... But like you all have indicated, I have never heard of this either.

---

Staring at cans of GUMout all day long can bring about this sort of simple thinking. I've yet to find a wad of Wrigleys in a throttle body.

 

[sjlee]

I think you should go back and ask the guy where he's getting his info from. I'm willing to bet that his response will be as feeble as the rest of his advice.

 

[Mr Nice]

Did he also tell you that you can only use synthetic oil when using a Mobil 1 oil filter ??

 

[C.S.]

I would wager that he wasn't speaking official AZ policy, he was just speaking from his lifelong accumulated misinformation.

Generally, if you know anything at all about a topic, you know more than 95% of the general population knows about it. If you've ever been quoted in the newspaper you know exactly what I mean.

 

[Buick92]

It's amazing to me how many people here complain about employees who work at auto parts chains. I think that there are a lot of informative people who know a lot about cars working at these places, but there are always going to be a few idiots here and there. I have had good luck in the past at shucks and napa. The majority of people (not just auto parts workers) who know anything about cars are not nearly obsessed with "oil" like everyone here, give them a break!
Most people here will admit that any "SM" oil is fine regardless of price or brand preference.

 

[Gilitar]

If you know that the clerks at these places are full of it; why would you even talk to them? Just get what you need and get out. If we are the oil experts why ask?