[ ♪♪ ] David:<i> This is
your Marketplace.</i> [ ♪♪ ] David:<i> When should
you get your oil changed?</i> Six months,
or 8,000 kilometres. David:<i> We put that to the test.</i> Man:<i> This is the used oil,
this is the new oil.</i> David:<i> You might be surprised
what we find.</i> People have to recognize
this is a sales job every time you go in
to get your car fixed. David:<i> You can't afford
to miss your</i> Marketplace. [♪♪] David:<i> We're hanging
out at the pumps.</i> How often do you
get your oil changed? Every six months. David:<i> To gauge what
drivers know about when</i> <i> to get an oil change.</i> David:<i> Can I ask you a really
quick question for</i> CBC? Sure. David: Your oil
change sticker up there. Yes. David: How often do
you get the oil done? Whenever it tells me. Whatever that kilometres
on there, that's when I take it in. David: And do you know how
often that is, every--? About every six months. David: How often do
you change your oil? Once every three months. Every 5,000 kilometres. Why? 'Cause that's what
they recommend to do. David: Who does?
-The-- the dealership. David:<i> But with oil changes
costing as much as a hundred</i> <i> bucks a pop, is that
the right advice?</i> Can you read something for me? Sure. David: What's that
line there say? Change the
engine oil every year. Davis: Change the
engine oil every year. Yeah. David: How often
are you doing it? I do it every
three months or so. David:<i> Check out most owner's
manuals and you'll see more and</i> <i> more auto makers now say
you can go longer before</i> <i> replacing your oil.</i> [ ♪♪ ] Siri From Phone:<i> The
destination is on your left.</i> David:<i> We want to
see what dealerships,</i> <i> which are owned independently
from the manufacturer,</i> <i> will recommend to us.</i> <i> So we choose six vehicles with
the same instructions in their</i> <i> owner's manual.</i> <i> That is, replace the oil when
the indicator light comes on.</i> <i> Not to exceed 12 months
or 16,000 kilometres,</i> <i> whichever comes first.</i> [ ♪♪ ] David:<i> Then we pay
a visit to one of each</i> <i> corresponding dealerships.</i> David:<i> The service advisor at
this Honda dealership gives the</i> <i> same recommendation
as the owner's manual.</i> David:<i> Similar
advice at this Acura garage.</i> David:<i> But at
this Fiat facility.</i> David:<i> How about
this Dodge dealership?</i> David:<i> And at
this Ford dealer.</i> David:<i> Remember, the manual
says as long as the indicator</i> <i> doesn't come on,
it can go twice that.</i> David:<i> So who's telling
the truth and who's taking</i> <i> us for a ride?</i> <i> Mark Wynnton is a licensed
mechanic and former instructor</i> <i> in south-western Ontario.</i> Oil changes, what if the
dealership says get it done every six months but your
owner's manual there says only every year. The people who built the car
and engineered it and assembled it, all their
knowledge is in that book, and that is king. It overrides anything
a dealer can tell you. In most cases today, cars have
an oil change monitoring system where the car alerts the driver
to the oil change requirement when that might be. That's what you follow. Nothing else. Otherwise, you're changing
your oil too soon, you're polluting
the environment, you're wasting your money. [ ♪♪ ] David:<i> So far,</i> <i> three of the five
dealerships we visit do not</i> <i> even mention following that
oil change monitoring system.</i> <i> So we head out for
one last test drive</i> <i> with our 6th vehicle,</i> <i> this 2013 Jeep Wrangler.</i> <i> It belongs to Eric.</i> <i> He works for us.</i> [ ♪♪ ] David:<i> Just like our other
five test vehicles,</i> <i> Eric's owner's manual says to
change the oil when that change</i> <i> oil message appears.</i> <i> But no later than 12
months or 16,000 kilometres,</i> <i> whichever comes first.</i> <i> It's been eight months and
about a thousand kilometres</i> <i> since the oil's been changed.</i> <i> And there's no
oil change message.</i> <i> So what will they recommend
we do at this Jeep dealership?</i> I was looking at the owner's
manual and it was saying that you can go up to 12
months or like 16,000 so -- <i> But why is it --
like why would --</i> David:<i> A marketing ploy?</i> <i> Time to call in science.</i> <i> Fluid Life in
Brantford, Ontario.</i> <i> It's one of the largest
providers of oil analysis in</i> <i> North America.</i> <i> Manager Mark Sherman
first pumps out</i> <i> a sample to be tested.</i> <i> He also takes a
sample of brand-new,</i> <i> unused oil.</i> Mark:<i> A little basis
of comparison.</i> David:<i> Certainly looks darker
but does it need to be changed?</i> I'm using sample
stickers, Mark. David:<i> The samples are
then shaken, weighed,</i> <i> and placed in this
ICP spectrometer.</i> Mark:<i> What we're doing here
is we're taking the sample,</i> <i> inserting it into
the instrument</i> <i> and it burns it
at temperatures</i> <i> that are actually hotter
than the sun.</i> We're really looking at whether
or not the oil looks like it is in a typical state for your
engine or whether it looks like it's in an unacceptable state. David:<i> The results should
tell us whether the oil in the</i> <i> Jeep is still good.</i> Give me the upshot. What have you found? Overall, these engine
oil results look really good actually. There was a slight
amount of oil degradation, but contamination level was
nice and the wear metals were quite low. David: Do you have a sense
of how much longer it could stay in that vehicle before it
needs to be changed? Well, it's always difficult
to say that with a definitive answer but I can probably tell
you that this engine oil is good for probably another 3,000,
4,000 kilometres. David: Is there any
need to change it right now? I would not change
this oil right now. No, it looks good. David:<i> So why might some
dealerships push more frequent</i> <i> oil changes than needed?</i> <i> Lucas Leung,
he's got a possible answer.</i> <i> He's a former service
advisor who's worked</i> <i> at six different dealerships.</i> Because they're
coming in more often, every time they walk in,
it's an opportunity for us to find things on the
vehicle that may be wrong. David: So if you can upsell
the customer to have them doing an oil change more often than
maybe they need to do it, that's your opportunity
to sell them other stuff. Correct. So every time they come more
often, it is a possibility that I can recommend more. David:<i> We contact the
four dealerships whose service</i> <i> advisors told us to change
the oil more often than the</i> <i> indicator says.</i> <i> Dodge and Fiat say they stand
by the advice given by their</i> <i> service advisors.</i> <i> Jeep's got nothing to add.</i> <i> But the Ford
dealership confirms</i> <i> drivers should consult their</i> <i> owner's manual to determine
their oil change interval.</i> So let's take a look at this. <i> Back at the gas station, we ask
people to take a look at their</i> <i> owner's manual.</i> What's that say there? However your engine oil and
filter must be changed at least once a year. It says every year, yeah. David: Yeah, it means maybe
you're doing the oil four times more often than
you're supposed to. Now I will go back to
Honda and tell them that. David: So, you're going right
to the dealership? Absolutely. David: Why would a dealership
want you to come in to get something done more often? For the money. [ ♪♪ ] There's 50 million cars in
Canada and they all take four, five litres so that's a lot of
hazardous waste and it's a waste of money. I mean, people have to
recognize this is a sales job. Every time you go in
to get your car fixed, there is no two ways about that. <i> And I don't know how to put
that any clearer than that.</i> [ ♪♪ ] [ ♪♪ ] David: Ever wonder what
happens when your email lands in our in-box? Oh, hi, I'm calling
from Marketplace. She thinks it's an
accident waiting to happen. Asha: When you hit send,
it sends us into action. David: You count on
us and we count on you. And together, create change. So help us decide
what to investigate next. Asha: Because this is
your Marketplace. [ ♪♪ ]
this would be a great video for people not in this subreddit most likely, though it is a great reminder for people to check their owner's manual.
The answer is always what your owner's manual tells you. The famous "3000 miles or 6 months" idea is over a decade old. Read your manual people :)
5000 Miles or 6 months
/thread