just took the '02 for a badly needed (by time/miles) oil change. went with a shall we say nationwide shop with initials ntb... which advertise valvoline oil.
my experience valvoline dino 5/30 is good stuff and they used an napa/wix filter. not bad sofar for about $25.-. then the sell up - they 'tested' the battery and found 'less than 50% of cca'. recommend replacement. it's a motorcraft group 59 of unknown vintage, although has started the engine already in 15 deg F. tested briefly by me few days before 12.5 v engine off 13.8 v at idle. they 'test' air filter which is filthy. i say i replace that myself. battery i say 'pass'. now fast forward to couple days ago... -8 deg F start engine cranks about 5 times and starts ok . question is battery ok? or should i look to replace? were they selling up too much? oil seems fine. should i go back there? they sell interstate batteries ...

 

I can't say hard enough that you should be doing all the oil changes yourself. With that being said, I know that an oil change is impossible for some people. A person could be disabled, elderly or perhaps live in an apartment complex where no work of any kind is permitted on your vehicle. (BTW, many years ago, I lived in an apartment and I got busted by the management for doing an oil change in the parking lot at 2:00 AM, LOL!)
Now with that out of the way, you've got to tell them from the beginning that you are in a hurry and need your oil changed and nothing else.
Years ago, I worked in a Ford dealership and every car that came in got a "safety check". (Which we didn't get paid for, BTW) It didn't matter if the vehicle was two months old, or fifty years old, it had to be thoroughly checked by the tech. It was a big PITA for both the techs and the customers because the techs knew it was just a scam to try to bring in more work and the customers knew that the dealer was trying to fleece them.
My advice is to do all the service yourself or tell the Iffy Lube place that you want your oil changed and NOTHING else. BTW, they have to upsell all the time or they will get fired, so that is their incentive.

 

I gave up on oil change places a couple of years ago when I had Valvoline change my Expedition oil because it was -20F and I had to make an unexpected trip. The next time I changed the oil myself, I found they had installed what looked like a motorcycle size filter instead of something the size of FL820S. So, even with coupons available on the web, I just don't go there anymore.

 

These places can be OK if you can watch them work, even from a distance. Their whole thing is to get you in on a cheap change and then sell you wiper blades air filters etc. I bought a lifetime oil change thing from a local company as I was driving 150 milers a day so 3-4000 miles came up fast. Had no issues till the branch I used was closed. Went to another and they eventually closed. Called for an appointment at a another, their thing was I was not 'buying' the recommended stuff so they had to shut down and put 'people out of work'. They did not take into consideration the $3000 worth of work on the wifes van, new tires bought from them etc. So yes we dropped out.

The other point is that there was a national scam going on to sell such items and they were NOT changing the oil and some were actually causing items to leak or look like they were to get more out of ya. I dont use these guys, will go to sears or even a dealer (on RV) for services. On the ranger and the truck, wifes car I do the changes, PIA getting rid of about 15 gals of oil at a time since they shut down the county recycle center locally (have to go to other side of town now). So yes they can be used but ya really need to keep an eye out on what they are pushing and what you can do yourself. Like grocery store ads, low prices are a loss leader, they hope to get ya in to buy other items!

 

yes, i was watching them from the waiting room until they stuck a van in the next bay blocking my view! anyway soonest opportunity i did check the oil filter and oil level/color, which looked ok, as well as vacuum out the air filter box/replace air filter.. reason i went was it was freezing cold/snow on the ground otherwise i do myself. in my town i can recycle used oil/antifreeze etc for free once per quarter.
i guess it boils down to trust... but with all the horror stories around it gets scary. on my '97 i actually had one of those type shops spray brake fluid on a rear brake line and tell me it was leaking! even showed me their 'evidence' i said no to replacing it, and drove the truck with no problem for 6 months before i sold it. they will never see another dime from me. to me that was downright fraudulent.

question now is the battery

 

My starter always cranks a little slower on really cold mornings, although excessively slow can be an indicator it's time for a new battery, i.e. cold cranking amps getting too low as you mentioned. I lean on Autozone quite a bit over here and they have a free tester if you bring the battery in. They also take used oil no charge. They're able to sell the oil for people who use it as burning fuel. Win-win. Other auto parts stores likely have similar programs and a few of our local shops who use oil burning furnaces will even take it. Might be worth asking around a little.

 

I have my own battery tester. My battery has been "marginal," according to the tester for almost a year now. But it still starts the engine no problem. It's the factory original Motorcraft battery, now 10 years old. It'll probably die any week now, although I've been saying that for months.

The point is, it's very possible the shop is being honest and that their tester said the battery is weak, but that doesn't mean it won't keep starting the engine for next few weeks, or months.

 

You might need a new battery, but it also might not be a great idea to buy one from them either.

 

that's my thinking as well. it's a motorcraft which highly doubt could be the original. the previous owners took the truck to the dealer for service so guessing it must be about 6 years old... assuming the original lasted 7. i'm leaning towards getting autozone or similiar to do another test on it.

 

yeah i hear you.. they do sell interstate batteries though, which is a good brand. local people to me here sell them as well, probably for around the same price.

 

I like to replace them before they fail or become defective and roast something expensive. Batteries are cheap compared to everything else especially labor and professional parts thrower-atters, much less getting stranded somewhere.

My view is pretty much all the batteries for sale are good, I charge them before, during and after installation. People will spend $150 on a battery but somehow balk at spending $25 for a charger (that will basically last forever) I don't get it.

 

yeah i had an original battery blow up on a 96 jetta.. acid all over the place...
a lot of cleanup ...

 

Yikes, that's no joke. Very dangerous. I've read batteries that have low electrolyte are prone to this, (internal arcing between exposed plates + the hydrogen = BOOM, or partially frozen batts too. A dead battery will freeze at about +20F a fully charged one is good to -45F below or somesuch. Beware trying to jump off a vehicle that has been sitting in the cold for several days. Take the battery out and thaw inside before attempting to charge.

 

yep this battery blew up in 85 def F temp... it shorted internally and = Boom!

 

Hm. It doesn't happen very often (thankfully) but, trying to wring every last single electron out of a battery sounds foolish from that standpoint alone. The potential energy stored in a battery is mighty impressive, and when they let go they really go. Hope to never experience that!