I stopped by my local Ford dealer this afternoon to pick up 3 quarts of differential gear oil following repairs made to my '97 Ranger. The parts counter clerk told me all they sell in the way of differential gear oil is Motorcraft Synthetic Gear Oil 75W140. He asked me if I had bought synthetic oil lately, implying that it had gotten pretty pricey. To make a long story short, he said that the price was $20.00 per quart. I about dropped a load. I pretty much told him that they were ripping customers off at that price and wouldn't be buying any. This was the same dealer that tried to charge me almost $9.00 per plug for platinum plugs for the same vehicle a year ago. I bought the identical plugs at a local parts store for under three bucks each. I'm curious if any of you have bought Motorcraft Synthetic Gear Oil 75W140 lately and what you paid for it. By the way, I ended up buying 3 quarts of Valvoline's Dura Blend synthetic blend 80W-90 gear oil that meets Ford's specs for under $22.00 total including sales tax.

 

Synthetic gear oil is not cheap, and I think I paid around $12/quart for it in a parts store.

 

Welcome to FTE.

$7 bucks a qt for syn gear lube is a good price, around here it's about $9 a qt, but $22 a qt is a rip, imo, so that Dealer has some out of control overhead, or he's greedy.

If you have one, try your local Motorcraft Distributor for parts & lubes, or Wallyworld for Motorcraft filters & oil.

I use OEM where their parts or lubes are well designed, but don't hesitatate to use others when the OEM haven't performed well for me.

 

I bought Mobil 1 Synthetic 75W140 gear oil for less than that (about $15/qt)! And I didn't need any friction modifier for my LS either.

They are marking their parts up wwaayy too much. If you still want some OEM gear oil call around to other dealerships, you'd be surprised at how different the prices are. There are a lot of good gear oils out there that cost less than half that if you check Wal-Mart or an auto parts store. Anywhere you look the price will be higher than an auto parts store, though.

 

This has been a complaint for decades and wont go away. Markups on dealer parts are high, sometimes for good reason, sometimes not. A part that you cant get anywhere else and sits on the shelf unsold for years has a high "carrying cost". That is justified. The fast-moving supplies, like spark plugs, filters, and lubricants, are mainly used in the service department and the markups are passed along to service customers. I dont think many people buy those things over the counter.

A complaint dealers have, at least GM dealers, is that they pay more wholesale for the same part than PepBoys, etc. An AC spark plug may cost the dealer more than retail at the parts store. When I worked at a Shell station it was the same thing. Canned (long before plastic bottles) Shell motor oil cost us more from our distributor than it retailed for down the street at the parts house.

Jim

 

Weird that seems counter intuitive.

 

Read it more carefully. That was a blend, which could've been 50/50, but also 95% dino and 5% synthetic....

 

Yup your right, I missed the "durablend" part!!!!

 

But I have seen full synthetic gear oils vary from $8 to $16 at parts houses. 75W-140 must be more expensive to make than 75W-90. If you can find it, RedLine is often a good deal and you can get it with or without friction modifier included. Redline cured the limited slip "chatter" that I had with Mobil One in the BMW. I was told that the overpriced dealer-only Castrol was the only thing that would work. Wrong.

Jim

 

Back when I did this https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...ar-diff-1.html
(51,000 miles ago) I looked around at oils and as mentioned in post #22, opted for a house brand synthetic.
Never a problem since I closed it up.
I'd do the same again without a second thought.

 

Last year I stopped by my local Ford dealer for a quart of 75-140 gear oil, he said 20.00 bucks also, no way I said. The reason for their markup for parts and fluids, their not selling any vehicles and their trying to make it up somehow, total rip offs, should be a law against that kind of robbery..

 

If you haven't gotten the oil yet, look into Amsoil Severe Gear 75w140, they make great gear lubes.

 

Redline is also in the $12 range for 75W-140, if you can find it locally. Shipping costs always destroy the savings for "boutique" oils when you cant pick them up locally.

Jim

 

Ford charges the dealer 14.21. So 20 dollars isnt bad with that kind of cost. Blame ford not the dealer.

 

GM dealers have the same problem. AC Spark plugs that retail for $3 at chain parts houses cost the dealer more than that. Its all about the distribution chain.

Again, why do you have to use Motorcraft oils, just because it has a Ford part number on the label? I know the owners manuals tend to imply that you need to use a certain part number or Ford specification, but that is to "trick" you into going to the dealer for everything. Any API GL-5 oil of the proper viscosity, which is going to be synthetic for 75W-140 anyway, will work. Ford/Sterling axles are not that exotic or different in design than Dana or GM for that matter. The main variable is limited slip additive.

Jim