New Car Warranties and Oil

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Lots of times I read on here where using an oil of a grade or even a specification other than what is listed in the owner's manual will void the warranty. It came up in another thread today, and I've always wondered if this is true.

I looked through the owner's manuals for all four of my (admittedly older) cars and none of them specifically state that using an oil other than what is recommended will violate the warranty. Generally I've seen warranties for other products carefully spell out what will invalidate the coverage, but I've never seen this listed for a vehicle. Does anyone know if this concern has any validity or not?

It's not like I care really for any of my cars but since it comes up a lot on here I was just wondering.
 
It is not uncommon for the OE to use an oil filter that is not available for sale on a new engine. If you still have that filter and are over the miles then no warranty. They have also been known to put a special die tracer in the oil. They can ask for receipts, and should you hand over a receipt for wrong oil, they can invalidate warranty if oil was responsible for the failure.

I know of a young man that never changed his Kia oil. At 30K he needed a new motor, and his warranty was denied.

Rod
 
I should clarify that my imagined violations are of the more minor type, such as using 5W-30 instead of 0W-20, or SM oil instead SN. Not where someone uses conventional gas station brand oil for 15,000 miles in a VW engine that might already be on the ragged edge of imminent failure.
 
Its a good question. I'd believe the dealership could look at oil level & color, & maybe do a blot test too, to determine if the oil looked too old.
Then, if it looked nasty, they might call it into question if you spun a bearing or something. Valve covers off would reveal neglect to a mechanic as well.

Otherwise, they would see clean oil in the present tense, assume the oil was changed OK, and not bother to demand receipts for the entire life of the engine.
 
Having worked at a dealership - we did warranty work on neglected stuff all the time. Heck, a few CPO cars with ~30k miles got their first oil change off of lease. Right to the lot.

The only warranty work I have EVER seen denied were over revs. All this hand wringing here about oil during warranty is ridiculous. As long as the engine isn't totally packed with sludge, you're fine as far as warranty is concerned - even then, you're probably still fine.
 
They would have to prove the selection of viscosity caused the damage. Most manuals as you may have read, will allow 2 different viscosity types depending on availability.

Warranty is also something subjective, if your service guys like you, they'll practically warranty anything.
 
Originally Posted By: RedOakRanch
Every dealer in my area uses the wrong grade most of the time anyway, there's no way they're checking into any details other than it has oil or doesn't.


That's funny, I can attest to that statement.
 
No in the USA we have the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. It states they can't make you use their oil or filter to get warranty on say your motor or your transmission. If they state and make you, they have to provide it to you for free. I have heard this "you have to run our oil or filter" at dealerships and I pipe right up and say NO, there is the Magnuson -Moss Warranty Act that says I don't and you can't hold my warranty hostage. Many people at the dealer THEN change their tune. They have been told to preach this "dogma" by the owners, some really don't know or heard of the Magnuson-Moss Act and preach the "you have to use our stuff to get warranty" because "they don't know what they don't know.

http://www.mikethemechanic.com/about/magnuson-moss-warranty-act/

.
 
I ran new car dealerships for many years. When there was an engine claim under warranty, we never asked what type or grade of oil was used. And we only questioned the owner when the car had obvious signs of abuse - such as massive sludge or many quarts low/no oil situations. Even if the car was abused, if the customer provided evidence of an oil change or two with receipts, the claim was covered. This obsessing over oil type for warranty is amusing...and I'm guilty as well. I like to use oils that meet Chrysler MS-6395 when changing on my 2013 Dart or my son's 2015 Chrysler 200S. That being said, I haven't changed the oil on the Dart in a year (only gone 1000 miles) and likely wont change it for quite a few more years - whenever the OLM starts bugging me to.
 
All car manuals I have seen so far only have "RECOMMENDED" grades or oil, not "REQUIRED". So therefore if I ever get a new car - it will receive whatever is in my stash at the moment. Once I run out of stash - all my cars will be on Redline 0w30 til the wheels fall off.
 
I bet it gets as far as the mechanic looking at the oil on the dipstick and seeing it is not a sludge motor and they keep going to the next issue. Really any oil now a days will safely work in any car except maybe turbo cars and coking issues. All this spec this and spec that is really moot if you are nor racing the car and give it a change at a reasonable mileage interval.
 
Originally Posted By: bigt61
I ran new car dealerships for many years. When there was an engine claim under warranty, we never asked what type or grade of oil was used. And we only questioned the owner when the car had obvious signs of abuse - such as massive sludge or many quarts low/no oil situations. Even if the car was abused, if the customer provided evidence of an oil change or two with receipts, the claim was covered.


OK, several above answers above confirm what I thought.
Remaining question: When authorizing a big engine warranty repair (or replacement!), does the automaker sometimes insist on 'proof' the oil was changed semi-regularly at least?
 
Its best to protect yourself against the worst case scenario.
Below is from sis 2016 chevy equinox manual.
Atleast thats my view though i toy with the idea of sneaking in a quart of 10w30 in there !



 
Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
Originally Posted By: bigt61
I ran new car dealerships for many years. When there was an engine claim under warranty, we never asked what type or grade of oil was used. And we only questioned the owner when the car had obvious signs of abuse - such as massive sludge or many quarts low/no oil situations. Even if the car was abused, if the customer provided evidence of an oil change or two with receipts, the claim was covered.



OK, several above answers above confirm what I thought.
Remaining question: When authorizing a big engine warranty repair (or replacement!), does the automaker sometimes insist on 'proof' the oil was changed semi-regularly at least?


I would say yes.
Talked to service rep at chevy dealer yesterday as she was getting her transmission fluid flushed at approx 15k instead of 45k ! They called me since it was unusual ! Anyhow we got talking and i learned that if her dealer does the transmission flushes at the regular intervals specced by the owners manual her transmission is guaranteed for life upto 2k bucks. Early flush will throw off the service intervals and if she forgets then the warranty wont apply.

I dont think there will be a general conclusion on these topics
smile.gif
some are braver wiser silly than others however one wants to handle warranty issues.
 
Having worked at BMW/Mini dealerships for over 20 years now I will agree with what others have stated.

I have never seen warranty coverage denied because of oil or filter choice.

I have seen warranty denied because of LACK of oil changes one time. Guy was "too busy" to change his oil for two and a half years, 46k miles. Chewed up his cam bearing surfaces in the head.
 
Originally Posted By: Seventh
I have seen warranty denied because of LACK of oil changes one time. Guy was "too busy" to change his oil for two and a half years, 46k miles. Chewed up his cam bearing surfaces in the head.
Wow, an extreme case. Probably only got away with it that long because it was synthetic. Could clog the oil filter with PIN (pentane insolubles) from oxidation. Must have been apparent from valve cover off, seeing junk in there.

Originally Posted By: merconvvv
Talked to service rep at chevy dealer yesterday as she was getting her transmission fluid flushed at approx 15k instead of 45k ! They called me since it was unusual ! Anyhow we got talking and i learned that if her dealer does the transmission flushes at the regular intervals specced by the owners manual her transmission is guaranteed for life upto 2k bucks. Early flush will throw off the service intervals and if she forgets then the warranty wont apply.

Transmission fluid doesn't need to be changed or flushed very often at all. What you saw was a way for the dealer to get easy money, offering a "warranty" if the customer spends a bunch of money on unnecessary tranny flushes. Clever but unethical. A huge waste. Transmission fluid normally lasts for 100,000 miles or more.
 
Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
...Transmission fluid doesn't need to be changed or flushed very often at all. What you saw was a way for the dealer to get easy money, offering a "warranty" if the customer spends a bunch of money on unnecessary tranny flushes. Clever but unethical. A huge waste. Transmission fluid normally lasts for 100,000 miles or more.


If viscosity factors into proper operation of an automatic/manual transmission, then going to mileage extremes could be harmful. The additive package disappearing or becoming weak is another issue. On my DD the Merc V trans fluid viscosity probably shears to min spec (or lower) by the 30K recommended OCI. Let's say it sheared from 7.4 cSt (100 deg C) down to 6.0-6.2 cSt in 30K miles. After 90K miles on the same fluid I'd expect approx 4.0 cSt.

ATF shear rates

There might be some fully synthetic automatic trans fluids that can get you 100K miles. But with semi-syns or conventionals, that might not work.
 
Originally Posted By: Mainia
No in the USA we have the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. It states they can't make you use their oil or filter to get warranty on say your motor or your transmission. If they state and make you, they have to provide it to you for free. I have heard this "you have to run our oil or filter" at dealerships and I pipe right up and say NO, there is the Magnuson -Moss Warranty Act that says I don't and you can't hold my warranty hostage. Many people at the dealer THEN change their tune. They have been told to preach this "dogma" by the owners, some really don't know or heard of the Magnuson-Moss Act and preach the "you have to use our stuff to get warranty" because "they don't know what they don't know.

http://www.mikethemechanic.com/about/magnuson-moss-warranty-act/

.


Right. Plus, on an older car the manual lists a wide range of oils that were recommended for use by the engineers that built the engine. On a new car today, they list one grade – the one that was used to achieve the miles per gallon ratings during CAFE certification.
 
no way I'm running 20 oil especially TGDI..on 40 oil my little 1.5 specs out efficiency numbers similar to 20 and the motor sounds great, no worries, I'm golden.
 
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