"Elliot Richmond" <xmrichmond@xaustin.xrr.xcom> wrote
> On Wed, 4 Aug 2004 14:42:42 -0700, "eh" <eh@nospam.com> wrote:
>
> >I have a 98 Accord that has 80K on it. Last week
> >I went an independent deader to get my oil changed.
> >The technician told me that I should be filling 10-30
> >or 10-40 oil since my car has a lot of mileage on it.
> >He said these oil protects older engine better.
> >The car manual specified to use 5-30 and nothing
> >else. Is the technician right?
>
> You should always follow manufacturer's recommendations. However, the
> manufacturer may not include all of the information about oil choices
> in the owner's manual, so you may want to check with a dealer. The
> dealer will have more extensive information about oil choices that, I
> bet, include the conditions under which 10W 30 oil might be a better
> choice (high temperature, severe service, etc.).

I don't want to be too caustic; rather, I want to present another point of view
re going to the dealer.

The dealer's time is money. Given what I think is a high turnover of technicians
and service managers in the business, and how busy dealer service departments
are, I wouldn't count on many dealers fielding this question with integrity or
expertise. They might have a correct answer, but from too much bad work by
dealers, I wouldn't rely on them as being "expert."

Now maybe Elliot has a dealer whom he really trusts. But I've worked with a few
dealers and found it's a roll of the dice as to their people's competence.

Last time I called the dealer for some basic parts information, as an aside to
my query some yahoo there told me the crankshaft bolt was left-hand threaded.
Wrong. Thank god I knew better and just ignored this gross mistake.

In order, go to
1. the owner's manual
2. service manuals such as Helm or Chilton's
3. the newsgroups
4. the Google search engine
5. other resources suggested by the newsgroup
6. the dealer

Weigh all the information and come to a decision

I don't buy the technician's cousel at all, based on reading over the years.

Caroline
1991 Honda Civic LX, 155k miles, Pennzoil 5W-30 always, 40+ mpg 3/4 of the year.