Service advise

REDDYZ · 02-02-2013, 05:28 PM

Hi everyone,

Need some feedback on Melbourne Ford dealer service. Any suggestions or recommendations? Does anyone know which dealer uses proper 5W-30 fully synthetic engine oils to service the car? I remember few years back when my sister had a Territory most of the dealers used non synthetic oil and upon insisting some used 5W-30 which again is not fully synthetic. Yes, Ford has non synthetic 5W-30 with its own brand on it. My sister wants to get her new Focus LW serviced. Car is located in SE suburbs.

Thanks,

Franco Cozzo · 02-02-2013, 08:36 PM

Essendon Ford is very good to deal with, but they're northern suburbs.

mrmavx · 04-02-2013, 12:28 AM

i find that most dealers will use a particular oil if you provide it to them but not many of them will carry full synthetics as most average customers dont wont to pay extra.

mrmavx

REDDYZ · 04-02-2013, 12:33 AM

I wonder if we can ask for fully synthetic oil under capped price service...

hnn17 · 09-02-2013, 01:17 PM

Just had a service at the dealer today, they used Havoline premium 10W30 not 5W30 as specified.

So does it matter ? we don't have much of a winter here, keep it or change the oil asap ?

REDDYZ · 09-02-2013, 04:35 PM

Doesn't really matter. It is like the way we distinguish between good and best. 5W-30 would easily reach all parts of the engine even when cold (not talking about winter). New engines have very fine clearances which are hard to reach for normal oil. 10W-30 might take about 20 secs or more to reach all those places. I wouldn't worry about that as long as it is fully synthetic. Both will do the job.

marg99 · 09-02-2013, 06:13 PM

If that is true why do Ford specify something else (better) and then allow their dealers to not follow that requirement? Bet they would deny warranty if the likes of Ultratune serviced the car like that.

hnn17 · 09-02-2013, 06:46 PM

Ok thanks, was a bit worried, next time i'll bring in my own oil.

REDDYZ · 09-02-2013, 06:53 PM

There was a big debate on engine oils before in one of the threads. People say I used that and had no issues and others used something else with no issues and debate goes on. It all depends on how far you want to go. If you drive a high performance car or if you are a bit hard on throttle then you would want go a bit beyond manufacturers recommendation.

My car clocked 160000kms plus and I still use fully synthetic 5W-30 and no issues. Doesn't burn oil and oil wont change colour for upto 6000kms depending on driving conditions. I change oil every 5000kms and sometimes a bit earlier depending on how I drive. That is because I service my car by myself. Not everyone will have that choice. Thats when you drop from best to good.

My sis had a Territory before and Ford recommended fully synthetic 5W-30. She bought it in Melbourne and a year after she moved to Canberra. She got her car serviced with the dealer and dealer advised that there wasn't much oil left in the engine. I told her find out what kind of oil was used in previous services. Guess what... its not 5W-30 and not even synthetic. She then called few Ford dealers to find who actually stocks and uses fully synthetic 5W30 oil. She had no luck and upon insisting one dealer in Canberra used Ford branded 5W-30 oil that doesn't specify whether it is fully synthetic or mineral based. When she questioned those dealers their answer was, this is what we stock and this is what we have been using in every falcon or territory they service. They never had issues. I advised her to get her Territory serviced outside with Castrol Edge full synthetic 5W-30. Now she sold Territory and bought Focus. She is in Melbourne now.

My sister has an option of capped price service. So, she wants to go back to Ford to take advantage of that. Personally I don't believe dealers and that is the main reason I started this thread just to find a genuine dealer. As BigDamo advised, I rang Essendon Ford this morning to find what oil they use in Focus. They are infact good as they are using castrol fully synthetic 5W-30 to service Focus.

Another interesting thing I found in Ford Territory service manual is until around 17000kms (not sure but somewhere around) there is no need to change engine oil. Just check and topup. If you really want to keep the car for long time you definitely want to chance oil every 7000kms if using recommended fully synthetic 5W-30. In my previous post I said 10W30 would take an extra 20 secs at least before it can reach every part of the engine. Imagine how 20 seconds of friction everyday without lubrication would affect the life of engine. So, you have to make a decision how far you want to go.

Cheers,

Citwit · 09-02-2013, 09:59 PM

Reddyz, when you say you drop from best to good I assume that you mean servicing the car yourself is not as good as going to a dealer. You would assume that to be the case but I dont think that it is necessarily true. When you do it yourself you know what has been done and how it was done.

If Ford have a specific standard for oil and recommend that oil to that standard should be used I think you have every right to expect that a dealer would use an oil meeting that standard. At last service I had done I queried the oil used. The invoice stated they had used a 10W-40 oil that doesn't meet the standard. "We made a mistake on the invoice". If that had been the only evidence of poor customer service I may have believed them.

The manual Focus has a hydraulic clutch. The manual states that clutch and brake fluid is hygroscopic and needs to be replaced every 2 years. I asked for that to be done and I asked afterwards if the clutch fluid had been changed. It had not been. I did it myself and now I know it has been done.

I had a long list of complaints about sub standard service. At the end of discussions about this with the dealer principal he complained about owners getting their servicing done elsewhere but coming back to them for warranty repairs. I wonder why they would do that!

REDDYZ · 09-02-2013, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Citwit

Reddyz, when you say you drop from best to good I assume that you mean servicing the car yourself is not as good as going to a dealer.

Sorry, I didn't mean that. I didn't put my words together properly. Not even in my dreams

I would say dealer service is best. I meant the other way around. When we can't service our car we will loose "best" option and have to go with "good" or what ever available option and unfortunately that is not the best option most of the times.

I agree with with the trustworthiness. Though we give our own expensive oil, there is no guarantee that they will put that in our car. I am surprised though that the dealers who serviced my sister's territory didn't say that it was an error on the invoice after listing oil that is not recommended. Atleast they were loyal at something.. lol..

I would say do it yourself or find a good mechanic and stick with him or a dealer where you have contacts you can trust. I wouldn't say all dealers are bad but its hard to find a good one.

Cheers

Franco Cozzo · 09-02-2013, 11:26 PM

At Honda we had only one engine oil on the pumps, full synthetic 5W-30, and manual trans fluid/auto trans fluid if a car specified otherwise, say for example you had an S2000 come in needed diff fluid, they use hypoid gear oil, rather than the standard 80W-140 we had in big drums. As you go to parts dept with the job sheet they would give you the bottles of oil you needed.

Talking to my mate who works at Sunbury Ford, they have 15W-40 on the pumps and they use it on everything.

So I guess its a dealer by dealership thing.

With all my cars, as they are in warranty I buy genuine filters from Ford, source my own oil (I use Shell Helix Ultra Extra 5W-30 full synthetic in the WS Fiesta) and take it to my trusted local mechanic, he does a good job and I know it. If i need warranty, it goes back to Essendon Ford who are good after having serious trouble with Sunbury Ford (on more than one occasion with 2 cars).

Now the WS is out of warranty I do minor servicing myself, anything like handbrake adjustment/pads/rotors I go to my local mechanic, majors he can do as well.

On my Focus, the same deal except the oil is different, Liquimoly 5W-30 full synthetic.

REDDYZ · 09-02-2013, 11:52 PM

Thanks for recommending Essendon Ford. I spoke to them this morning and they seemed to be trustworthy. I hope they do what they say. Told my sister to call them on Monday and book in for service.

I agree with you on dealers using 15W-40. I have seen lot of places who use this grade as it is compatible with most of the cars. Its cheap to buy/stock 1 grade in huge quantity than stocking different grades in small quantities.