My wife's friend(always the case) brought her excursion to wal-mart for a check up and oil change prior to 600 mile trip. Needless to say, the only benefit was changing of a few lightbulbs. They sent the X (03 V8 2WD Limited) out with 32-33 lbs in each tire and 31 in the spare after Laura specifically askd for them to be filled. Next, she also asked for new wipers, but did not get them. They failed to fill the washer fluid, empty. The worst was oil. How bad is it if they put in bulk castrol 10W-30? I know it reco's 5W-20 blend and in fact is on the oil cap.

Just wondering.

FYI, my lifted X has more power than that stock V8. My assumption was the lift would make it more like a V8 due to not changing from 3.73s, but I was wrong.

Thanks

 

I've found that you've really got to watch the quick-change lube places and tire pressure is one of the problem areas even though virtually every vehicle now has a recommended tire pressure tag on it. Also, many don't fill the oil filter before placing it on the vehicle. In addition, there are many of the chains that routinely push PVC valves, filters, and other accessories off onto customers when they're not needed.

Some years ago, I had a really bad experience at a local Jiffy Lube. They tried to tell me that I needed a new PVC valve (I shook it and it rattled and I wiped it off and was able to only blow through it one way, so the valve was fine), they brought in the air filter which was about 3 months old and looked brand new. To finish off the job, they pumped up the tires on my 1/2 Suburban to 90 psi and sent me out on the road (maximum was 35). I drove it down the Interstate that day and something didn't feel right, so I checked the air pressure that evening, found the problem, and lowered the air pressure to the proper inflation. However, it was too late and afterwards the tires ran lumpy and were showing signs of the beginnings of belt separation. I took it back to Jiffy Lube the next day and they refused responsibilty telling me that they essentially didn't have any way of telling if the tires had been overinflated after it left their shop! I haven't been back to a Jiffy Lube since and I was out the cost of a new set of tires!

Your friend's Ex's tires were certainly under-inflated and it seems like the folks working there weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer.

We're lucky that there's a great crew at the 9-Minute Lube that have taken good care of all of our vehicles for many years.

BJ, Lexington, KY

 

Biggest Q was about oil. I could see the truck was off when she pulled in to pick up my wife. Being the good husband, I betterd the situation as best I could less an oil change. I doubt the oit will kill anything, my bet is it will burn a little more and protect a little less. My guess is it will harm nothing in the short term, but repeated use will shorten engine life.

Your reasons are the reasons I do my own. My dad just left one place that failed to tighten drain plug and replace crush washer and it leaked all over a new driveway.

Last time I was at a Wal-mart mechanic (lifetime rotate and balance), their insurance company sent me a check for 880 to cover damage from chaining a trailer to my Jeep and moving them.... that was more than a year ago and never been back.

 

I don't think you'll have anyshort term issues with that oil in there. You will want to get that and that crappy-*** filter off their as soon as you're able though. Hopefully you educated your "wife's friend" on the dangers of going to get your vehicle serviced by folks who obviously failed Basic Automotive Maintenance Class?

 

Id be quite upset about the low tire pressure. Anyone remember the exploders flipping after blowouts from low air pressure and general crappyness of firestone tires? Id next be upset they didnt give me my new wipers and washer fluid, id be least concerned about the 10W30 as i (and others) feel its a superior oil for these motors. It will do NO harm to the motors what so ever. The cheapy oil filter they proabbly used is another story though lol.

Just my .02


Read this thread it discuss's 10W30 or 10W40 in a Triton V10.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...-a-v-10-a.html

 

...and she has the firestones on it although they are Load Range E, I checked and fixed them. It made the trip without problems but Wal-mart....c'mon...failed at a chance for wiper sales.

 

Im planning on doing some oil analysis on my next oil change (this week) and im running motorcraft 5W20 still. Im taking it about 4500 miles on this oil fill. I'm under warranty still so I'm gonna run the swill they recommend. These same motors ran 5W30 in 99-01 i believe? They were switched to 5W20 for emissions reasons (whole modular line of motors seems to have been changed to help with CAFE ratings, and ford didnt want to have a bunch of different oils for the different cars it seems). Owners manual still says you can run 5W30 according to some but i havnt looked at my 03 manual to confirm yet. If it does 5W30 is going in on this fill most likely. I want to do an oil analysis on 5W20, 5W30 and 10W30 and ill decide on what oil i will run from there. Ill post up my results when they come in.

 

1, i think it was just 99 and 00 because my oil cap says 5w20. Where are u sending them off to?

 

Auto mechanics get a bad rap all of the time. Mostly because we have all had some bad experience with some place or person. Much of the time they don't deserve it, obviously some of the time they do.

But let's be fair, although the occurance of "issues" might be greater at a "jiffy lube" type place they happen plenty at dealerships also. I am sure we all have some great stories about dealerships also!!

The fact is that the oil and or the underinflated tires (for a short period of time) is probably not going to make any significant difference. As a second note, maybe your wifes friend should take some responsibility for understanding what should and should not be done to her vehicle so that this doesn't happen to her again

Michael

 

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

 

In regards to the "crappy" Firestone tires, I know the first tires that came with the Excursions from the factory were POS's, I went through 6 of those tires before getting them replaced for free with the recall, but the new Firestones (the E rated ones) I got however gave me 50000 great miles, not one them blew out, the spare I have has never been used. Those tires are worn out now and if Firestone was still making those tires I'd buy them again in a heartbeat. Like I said the first Firestones were "crappy", but the new ones on the other hand were great for me, I think Firestone redeemed themselves with these tires. So I would like to say that the 2nd Firestones were excellent, I wouldn't call these "crappy".

 

Ive had firestone firehawks on a couple cars, originals, and SS20's...junk. My friends G/F has firestones on her eclipse and it gets flats weekly, not to mention the belts on teh shoulders going out in about 2 months. Been through 3 sets of those tires liek a dummy so it wasnt a fluke. Then we have the whole exploders flipping over. Firestone has a very bad track record in my eyes and will never be on any vehicle i own ever agian.

Ill take Michelin, Goodyear, or BF Goodrich, thanks.

 

Personally I don't like Firestone much either ( I also like those brands you mentioned plus Pirelli, I'm going to get Pirelli ATRs for my Excursion when I get around to it), but after 50000 wonderful miles on those tires, I really was suprised that these tires served me so well, I wouldn't call those tires crap, as for the rest of the brand, they aren't the best tires out there, but they probably are crap like you stated. Just wanted to let you know about the great experiance I experianced with these tires, I guess there was an exception with these tires.

 

1, what else can they tell u from the test? Im thinking about doing that this summer

 

There is some responsibilty assumed when you go to walmart as she did. She is a BMW girl and almost brought it there but decided against it. Half the time BMW picks up her car for service and leaves her one in exchange, other times she goes there and gets a loaner. She is used to service, at least getting what she asked for and she pays for it. She has learned and will go to BMW next time she said. There is a big diff between her M Roadster and an excursion. Her hubby is overseas, this was her first time with maint on it since he left. I got the next one.