Honda Dealer/BG additive/engines for life

[Garak]

Originally Posted by Trav
Using that crap may in fact void you factory warranty, even more so as you just told them and God forbid its on any paperwork when they do an oil change.
So if you ever do have a problem with the engine they can use your own paperwork against you without any questions about OCI or oil used, they couldn't care less if an additive was used and they prove it.

I would wonder how the invoice would look. The BG stuff is at just about every dealer's service department I ever have the need to walk into here, with signage and literature and displays. Surely, some people must be declining the sales pitch, so there's got to be some sort of differentiation on pricing. I feel sorry for the people doing Infiniti/Nissan short severe service intervals with synthetic at the dealer price combined with a BG product.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by Schmoe
It's not like I'm calling the dealership, but I was really surprised that Honda said additives are a no-no.

What do you expect them to say ? There are probably thousands of oil additives out there and no automaker can or will test them and say "this one is fine" or "don't use this one". Fact is, once you add something to your engine oil, you're no longer using Mobil 1 0W-20 or Castrol Magnatec or Honda Genuine Oil in the engine.

 

[Schmoe]

The receipt from the two oil changes I had done at the dealer say absolutely nothing about additives. Just shows oil change/filter. Hmmmm, so they don't tell you or ask, they just do it if you are on the EFL thing. I'm sure that BG product is good, and as others have pointed out, used by a lot of dealers so I don't think that engine is in jeopardy, but I'm just surprised about how they go about it. Tricky krap if you ask me.

 

[OVERKILL]

Why would you be sure the BG product is good? It may simply be a product that causes no harm and as such is purely a profit-driven endeavour.

 

[Schmoe]

My reasoning is that it's being used by a lot of dealerships.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by Schmoe
My reasoning is that it's being used by a lot of dealerships.


Considering how sketchy many dealerships are I wouldn't put too much faith in their choices at all.

I will say that BG probably won't do any harm though. The products are probably safe enough.

I will say that back in 2001 when I was working at a Honda store the BG people came in and did a shop demo for the techs and managers
with their fuel injector and plenum cleaning service, and it DOES work on Port Injected engines..

This is the type where they use a dedicated air powered delivery tool to attach to the injector fuel supply rail, and a brass piece that was inserted directly into the plenum for the intake valves.

 

[IMPALA08]

The greenies and three humpers want to run your life.

 

[Schmoe]

AC1DD....that's about what I concluded after doing a bunch of research on BG. Their youtube videos seem impressive, but sometimes you got to take that with a grain of salt. I get that. But the shear amount of places using BG products, to me, means it can't be that bad. I don't know the actual weight of that additive, but if it thickens the oil from the 0W-20 that Honda recommends, I ain't complaining. That particular engine has had numerous complaints, and there have been Honda recalls, about fuel dilution, regardless of weather conditions or miles driven. The only thing that seems to combat against the dilution problem is going to a thicker oil. But at some point, too thick is too thick, my concern would be the turbo unit. I know they are oil cooled and with thicker oil, might not have enough constant oil flow going to those bearings. So for know, I think I'll just let the dealer continue doing the oil changes. I got the extra 120K Honda bumper to bumper warranty and it states no where on the oil change receipts that they are using additives, so I think I'm covered there.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by AC1DD
I will say that BG probably won't do any harm though. The products are probably safe enough.

Personally, I believe this to be the case with pretty much all additives, at least from well-known companies. Lubegard, BG, Lucas, Seafoam, etc, etc all know what they are doing and while the "benefits" may vary greatly from application to application, I don't think in any cases they will do damage. Those companies wouldn't risk it.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted by AC1DD

I will say that BG probably won't do any harm though. The products are probably safe enough.


Out of all the additive companies, I have faith in BG - EPR does work, 44K has long been seen as one of the gold standards for fuel system cleaners. MOC is a favorite in CA, but I think their product isn't as hyped up as it seems. Although I will say, when I worked at the dealership 10 years ago, the techs said I can use the MOC brake flush machine - it's just a glorified brake bleeding pump with a controller that makes it almost idiotproof by reading out the bleed sequence. I have to say, it's a cool machine.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by Schmoe
My reasoning is that it's being used by a lot of dealerships.


That doesn't mean it is good, it just means there is an incentive (financial) for them to use it and that there's no obvious proof it causes harm.

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by Schmoe
My reasoning is that it's being used by a lot of dealerships.

That doesn't mean it is good, it just means there is an incentive (financial) for them to use it and that there's no obvious proof it causes harm.

Agreed. I was surprised to learn that all of my local Hyundai, Kia, and Jeep dealers use BG tranny fluids in vehicles still under warranty (one uses MaxLife). The dealers exist to make profit just like the aftermarket fluids and parts that we buy and install ourselves in our vehicles. Some people buy in to Lucas, Amsoil, Shaeffers, Gold Eagle, etc. with no obvious proof it causes harm.

One guy runs his car to 200K on Supertech and the other guy on Amsoil. Same difference.

 

[NormanBuntz]

The real scam with a dealer using BG oil additives in a new Honda is that the Honda factory recommends NOT using engine additives.

 

[UncleDave]

If you follow the manual/ maintenance minder you will have an "engine for life" anyway.

 

[Audiman]

I think the real scam is a new factory engine will cost way more in parts and labour than $4000

 

[PWMDMD]

Why does anyone fall for these dealership scams? If the offer is dealership-specific - it's a scam!