Choosing a service provider

What do you want from a maintenance program?

When people bring late model cars to Robison Service (or any independent service specialist) they are often seeking an alternative to dealer service.  Why? 

In my experience, dealership service personnel follow a game plan that is laid out by the carmaker and oriented toward maximum new car sales.  In other words, keep the new car buyers happy so they buy another car in 2 or 3 years.  The primary purpose of a new car dealer is to sell new cars.  Service may be an important tool to build client satisfaction but it’s not the reason dealers are there.

 Shops like ours – specialists who concentrate on one or two makes for service only – have a different orientation.  We are here to keep the cars under our care on the road and as reliable as possible for as long as our clients want to drive them.

With that different perspective it should not come as any surprise that the dealer and we would espouse different philosophies when it comes to preventative maintenance.

The manufacturer may call for a 15,000 mile oil change interval in a certain model car.  That may work fine for new cars.  But we cars that are 7-8 years old, with 70-80,000 miles on the odometers, and that 15k service interval hasn’t worked out too well.  Maybe the owner didn’t make it in a exactly 15k.  Maybe the dealer didn’t use the right oil.  Maybe the 15k recommendation was a little too aggressive.  Maybe . . . .

From our perspective, the maybes don’t matter.  Results matter.  We see the damaged high mile cars, and we see other cars whose oil was changed at 10,000 miles.  Those cars don’t show any wear or damage. 

The dealer represents the carmaker, and if they say “do oil at 15,000” that is what they do.  We are independent.  If the evidence of our service fleet causes us to believe 10,000 miles is a more prudent interval, we’ll say so. 

We also recognize that tests may facilitate even better fine tuning.  If you run 25 vehicles, and you sample oil from all of them at different intervals you will get a very accurate idea of how often to change oil for your fleet in the circumstances in which you operate.  You may be surprised at the number.

We may deviate from the manufacturer’s suggested service schedule based on our experience.  Does that mean the manufacturer was wrong?  No.  It means operating conditions differ in different areas, and service schedules may be optimized to reflect that.  In some cases, manufacturer service scheduled may be trimmed down to present a lower cost of upkeep in the early years.  If you only drive the car for those early years that’s good for you.  But if you plan to drive it for ten years, you’ll pay a price for that early economy.  We don’t have to follow that plan for long-term owners, while we can embrace it for short term lessees.

Flexibility has value.  We can apply that flexibility in a hundred different areas from filters to fluids; from software updates to system upgrades.

There’s room for more than one opinion when it comes to service.

Think about that as you consider what you want from a service provider.

John Elder Robison is the general manager of J E Robison Service Company, independent restoration and Bosch Authorized Car Service specialists in Springfield, Massachusetts.  John is a longtime technical consultant to the Land Rover, Porsche, and Rolls Royce Owner's Clubs, and he’s owned and restored many of these fine vehicles.  Find him online at www.robisonservice.com or in the real world at 413-785-1665

Coming Soon - New standards for describing motor oil on invoices

Author's note:  This is an example of the sort of knowledge today's auto technician needs to possess.  I'm very proud to say we are training the technicians of tomorrow - right in the Robison Service Auto Complex - through the most extraordinary special ed high school - TCS Automotive Program  Read more about the program here   Check it out, next time you are in for service.

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The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology has made some new recommendations for motor oil information on invoices. These uniform standards direct us to list SAE oil ratings, brand and weight on customer invoices.  Twenty states automatically adopted the standards, and we at Robison Service are going beyond the requirement effective immediately.

For years I have been writing and talking about the importance of correct oil.  Most of the car lines we work on require special synthetic oil formulations, and it seems like every one is different.   Yet most motorists remain totally oblivious to the different requirements and specifications.  What's worse is that many service professionals are not a whole lot more knowledgeable.  "Oil is oil," they say, but they are wrong.

Even saying “I want synthetic oil,” isn’t enough.  You must specify the right synthetic oil because it comes in dozens of grades for different cars and trucks. Choosing the wrong oil can be harmful – even fatal – to your engine.  We’ve see more than one motor destroyed by incorrect oil choice.

The new government standards became effective July 1, 2013, for states that approve, and are outlined in the Uniform Regulation for the Method of Sale of Commodities.  By requiring repair shops to spell out what they use, the hope is that they will use the correct stuff.  Will that happen?  I don't know, but it's a step in the right direction.

At Robison Service, we’ve always told clients the brand and type of oil we install.  For us, using the best possible lubricants has always been a source of pride.  In years past, our invoice for a Mercedes might have said, Mobil 1 0-40, 9 quarts.  Mobil 1 0-40 is the particular type of oil specified for many Mercedes cars and that description told consumers they were getting the right stuff for their Benz.

Now our invoice is a little more detailed.  Today that same line would read Mobil 1 ACEA A3/B3, A3/B4 API SN, SM, SL 0-40 synthetic oil MB229.3/229.5 VW 502 Porsche A40 BMW Longlife 01, 9 quarts.

The ACEA and API codes are the industry standard ratings for that particular oil.  The MB, BMW, VW and Porsche codes mean this oil was tested and approved by those manufacturers. Decoded, they tell you what cars Mobil 1 040 is right for.  We stock nine different blends of Mobil 1, each for a different application.  There are also a few cars that don’t use Mobil 1 – like the newest M-series BMW.  We have even more exotic oils in stock for them.

I use the word "exotic" because few oils meet the specifications of high end carmakers.  Walk the aisles of your local mass merchandiser.  Read the labels on the backs of the fifty-some different oils they should have in stock.  You will be lucky to find one single product that meets the Mercedes 229 spec, and you may not find any!  The same will be true for the VW or BMW requirements.   If you install an oil that does not meet specs for your car you are taking a big risk.

Every oil has its own unique description.  A BMW M3, a Mercedes E350 and a Range Rover all need synthetic oils, but the specific requirements for each car are different.  The result: we stock three different synthetics for those cars alone, one for each make and model.  And that's just motor oil for three sample vehicles - there is just as much variation in transmission fluid, coolant, and every other fluid in a modern automobile. A shop like ours has a lot of different fluids in stock!  

Oil technology is complex, and engines can be damaged when the wrong oil is used.  The requirement for a detailed description on the service bills allows motorists to look and see if the correct lubricant was used.

A 2003 Mercedes engine damaged by using the wrong oil

There are quite a few benefits to using the right fluids in a modern car.  The biggest benefit is that the use of correct oils and regular service can virtually eliminate wear.  Take a look at these two images, showing the same area on two engines; one had the wrong oil, and not enough changes.  The other one used the correct Mobil 1, changed every 7,500 miles from new.   As you can see, one motor is junk while the other looks as clean as the day it left the factory.

This 100,000 mile engine looks new, thanks to good service and the right oil

You will always get the right fluids at Robison Service, and with any luck, this change may encourage others to follow that lead.

John Elder Robison is a NY Times bestselling author and the founder of J E Robsion Service of Springfield, MA.  Robison Service is a long established Bosch car service specialist, with expertise in BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, Porsche, and Rolls Royce/Bentley motorcars. Find them online atwww.robisonservice.com or in the real world at 413-785-1665

To Maintain or Not to Maintain, that is the question . . .

Lexus service. © copyright JE Robison

“All I’ve done is change the oil, and do whatever service my local garage told me about."  That’s what the owner of a ten-year-old 150,000 mile Lexus told me yesterday.   So what should I do now?

We looked at the receipts and she was right.  A bunch of oil changes, a few sets of tires, a few sets of brakes, and a battery had taken her all that distance.  It hadn’t been very expensive, especially compared to what the dealer wanted when they quoted the recommended services.

Now the car had an engine misfire.  That had caused catalytic converter failure, and a check engine light.  The owner knew the car wouldn’t pass inspection that way, and the corner garage didn’t do work like that.  So . . . the car ended up at our shop.

What does a responsible shop owner do, when someone like that comes in?  It’s like when the CPA has a new client walk in the door and say “I haven’t filed any tax returns since 2003, and now I’ve got this letter.  What do you suggest?”  What indeed.

I have seen some very high mileage Lexus cars in my day.  We had one fellow put 420,000 miles on a 1999 LS400 without a single major failure.  But he did his maintenance.  This car was a bit different.  It was fifty thousand miles past the timing belt change interval, and a hundred thousand past the transmission service date . . . . this car was living on borrowed time.

As I explained to the owner, it costs less than $1,600 to change a timing belt, water pump, and all the stuff in front of the engine.  If the belt breaks the bill is going to be at least $5,000, maybe considerably more.   It’s an all or nothing thing.   Every day you drive without belt breakage, you win.  The day it breaks, you lose big.  No belt lasts forever. 

She decided to change the belt.

We moved on to the other items on the service schedule.  Spark plugs were next.  Why?  Because the car had an intermittent skip.  Ignition failure is the most common cause of misfire faults.  What happens is that the plugs get old.  As they age, it takes more and more voltage to fire them.  That extra voltage puts stress on the wires, connectors and coils, and eventually something fails.  For that reason, whenever you have an ignition miss, step one is spark plug replacement. 

You may still need other parts but you certainly need new plugs if the old ones have been in the car 150,000 miles.

She decided to change the plugs

Now we get to the “other” fluids – brake fluid, transmission fluid, rear axle lube, coolant and power steering fluid.  Some people say, “I went this long without changing them, best leave it alone so I don’t stir things up and cause a problem.”  While many people use that line as a rationalization for doing nothing, it ensures the eventual failure of the system.   Lubricants, like belts and plugs, have a finite lifespan.

Brake fluid absorbs water, and it will rust your brake system from the inside.  Coolant becomes acidic, and dissolves your radiator and engine from within.  Transmission, steering, and axle lubes all pick up tiny metal particles.  Left in the old oil, they will grind away at the bearings till something fails.  At the same time, oil gradually loses its film strength, which is what keeps the gears from galling against each other under load.  

She decided to change the fluids.

In the end, after going through the list line by line, we agreed to do all the deferred service on the car.  It cost a hefty sum, to be sure, but it’s still less than she would have spent had she done it all on time, because some of the things we are doing would have been done several times already.

Which begs the question . . . .

Was the original maintenance schedule too conservative?  If so, she saved quite a bit of money with little or no consequence.  Or will she pay a higher price down the road, as the un-maintained parts and systems fail before their time?

I wish I knew.  I’m sure some carmakers are conservative and others are not.  I’m also sure some drivers are hard on their cars, while others are gentle.

In the past five years I have lost count of the engines I have changed in Mercedes, BMW and other cars because the owners failed to change their oil. I used to ask how they could be so dumb, but after the tenth or twentieth car came in the door I knew the answer.  Cars don’t talk back.  So when money is tight, the car gets neglected.  Most live, but some die.

When I point that fact out, the owners get mad at me.  Fine, I tell them.  I’m not the one making loan payments on two tons of scrap iron because I failed to protect my investment.  That’s the thing about being autistic.   When people act dumb, and machinery suffers, I may take the side of the car and not the human.  Vets feel the same about people who abuse cats and dogs.

The lesson to take away from all this:  You can probably push the maintenance schedules a bit if you drive gently.  But when you do, you take a big risk.  Deferring a $1,000 service won’t be so smart, if it costs you a $7,500 engine.   Carmakers make maintenance schedules for a reason.

Most of the time, when we suggest altering a factory schedule, it is to do something more often, not less.  The carmaker, after all, wants a schedule that keeps the car alive long enough to give them happy owners and a good reputation, but not so long that the car never wears out.  We, as repair people, expect to care for things and have them last almost forever.

So I guess you pick your philosophy, and with it, your repair shop.

The best oil change ever

Changing the oil on your vehicle is probably the single best thing you can do for it. Getting your oil changed isn't very expensive and doing it on a regular schedule will help to greatly extend the life of your vehicle. If you are in a pinch you can always take it to one of those oil change places and and get it done in 30 minutes or less. This is better than nothing and if more people would do this then they would have fewer issues with their cars. Personally I don't really like these places as they don't seem to do a very good job and I keep hearing horror stories of them stripping out the threads on the oil pan so I just do my own oil change.

Benefits of doing your own oil change:

1. It is done correctly
2. Cheaper
3. You can take care of other things as well

Mandatory Supplies:

1. Oil (probably between 4 and 8 quarts). If you don't know how much you need, or what type ask at you local auto parts store, they are helpful. I prefer O'Reilly because they are close and seem to have most of the part I need. I recommend synthetic oil, grease, and other fluids as they are better.
2. Oil filter. The people at the parts store can help you with this as well
3. Funnel
4. Hydraulic floor jack (don't use the crappy spare tire jack, those are junk)
5. Oil drain pan
6. Socket set or wrench set (you will need the size that fits the oil drain plug)

Recommended additional supplies:

1. Power steering fluid
2. Grease gun
3. Fluid transfer pump
4. Synthetic Grease
5. Antifreeze

Steps:

1. Drive the car around until it is fully warmed up. This will make it so the the old oil drains out quicker. Additionally this will get all the crud in the oil in suspension so it will be carried away with the old oil.
2. Open the hood
3. take off the oil filler cap
4. Jack the car up (use one of the jack points for changing the tires)
5. put the drain pan under the oil drain plug
6. Remove the oil train plug
7. Do these optional (recommended) steps as the oil drains out as the oil draining will take a while (probably close to 30 minutes)
1. put the battery on a charger (trickle charge ensures that the battery is fully charged)
2. using the fluid transfer pump remove all the fluid in the power steering reservoir. (cheeper to replace the fluid a little at at time than to pay for a new power steering pump)
3. refill the power steering reservoir with fresh fluid (probably close to 12 ounces)
4. grease all suspension parts using synthetic grease (makes these parts last longer. These are expensive)
5. Shake the dirt out of your air filter (this will help extend its life)
6. Check to see that your belts aren't cracked or worn (you don't want to get stuck somewhere)
7. Check the radiator hoses 
8. Check the tire pressure (don't want to get a flat)
9. Check your coolant level (refill as needed, you don't want to run low on coolant as a blown head gasket will probably be the end of you car)
10. Fill your windshield wiper fluid.(you want to see don't you?)
11. Check lights and blinkers (this avoids a visit from a L.E.O.)
12. Take the battery off the charger
8. Now that the oil has finished draining out put the oil plug back in. Initially put it in finger tight (several full turns) then use a wrench or socket to tighten it down the rest of the way. This will prevent you from stripping the threads on the oil pan.
9. move the oil drain pan so it is under the oil filter.
10. Remove the oil filter and put it in the oil drain pan (more oil will drain out)
11. Fill the new oil filter with oil (This will get oil into the engine quicker when you start it)
12. put a light coat of oil on the rubber gasket on the oil filter (This will make it so you can easily get it off when you change it next time)
13. Put the new oil filter on. once it makes contact with the engine turn it another 1/4 to 1/2 turn. this will keep oil from leaking out.
14. Take the oil drain pan out from under the car
15. Take the car off the jack
16. Put the funnel in the oil filler hole and pour in the correct amount of oil.
17. Put the oil filler cap back on.

Congratulations you have just done the best oil change ever. I do all of this each time I change oil on any of my vehicles. At this point you are stuck with some old oil, an old oil filter. Some auto parts stores will take the old oil and filter, but if not you can always dispose of them at the local hazardous waste disposal site. In Dakota county MN it is free. My local O'Reilly store take used oil so I just save up the old filters and bring a bunch of filters to the Recycle center at once (about 3 or 4 times a year).

Note* I am NOT sponsored by or in anyway affiliated with O'Reilly auto parts, I do NOT own stock in O'Reilly either.  I have had better experiences there than at any of the other auto parts stores so that is what I am basing my recommendation on.

Where did the $39 BMW oil change go?

I grew up thinking of oil changes as inexpensive, quick services. Yet the simplest of services on a late model Mercedes or BMW seems to cost $150 or $200. How come?

The first part of the explanation lies in the oil itself. In recent years the European carmakers have extracted more and more performance from less and less fuel using sophisticated technologies. Anyone who’s compared a 2008 BMW 5-series to a 533 from the mid 1980s can’t help but notice the difference.

The car designers have pushed the limits of engine technology to get today’s performance. That means engines run hotter, and there’s more stress on the internal parts. Engines now contain plastics and exotic metals, which need different kinds of protection. And finally the service intervals are far longer, so the oil in today’s BMW has to last several times as long as the oil we installed 25 years ago.

The result of that change is a much higher performing car that needs far higher performance lubricants than cars of yesterday. And the costs of getting it wrong are high . . . an engine that fails from sludge buildup or other lubrication failure can easily cost over $15,000 to replace.

Important as it is, engine oil or “motor oil” is totally misunderstood by most technicians and consumers. People glance in their owner’s books and see that their car takes 5-30 oil. They don’t even know what 5-30 refers to, so they assume any 5-30 oil will meet their needs. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

In fact, all non-synthetic and most synthetic SAE 5W-30 oil products available in North America fail to provide adequate protection for North American BMW and Mercedes cars that require a 5W-30 viscosity oil.

For example, both Castrol Syntec 5W-30 and Mobil 1 5W-30 both fail to meet BMW minimum requirements. Castrol and Mobil both make products that are suitable for BMW and Mercedes engines but they are not readily available in North America. Even respected brands like Amsoil and Redline fail to offer products that are approved by BMW. In the case of Amsoil and Redline, SOME of their products will serve well but are not technically approved and do have the potential to create problems under certain conditions.

Due to the widespread ignorance of oil service ratings in North America, BMW reduces the minimum requirements for cars sold on this continent. The Genuine BMW 5W-30 oil meets the reduced "LL-98" requirements. LL-98 is the long life oil standard that BMW established in 1998. That standard was superseded by a tougher one in 2001, BMW LL-01. Robison Service and other good BMW specialty shops use the higher grade "LL-01" approved oil for improved protection. These products will improve protection and improve the effectiveness of the BMW oil monitor system.

Mercedes has similar standards for its cars, and for that matter so do Porsche, Volvo, VW, Audi and most other high end carmakers. Ignoring the carmaker requirements is to court disaster. Having said that, I see that very thing happen all the time. People buy inexpensive oils in the mistaken belief that all oil is the same, and they feel good because they saved $50 on an oil service. But what happens when the engine fails and they face a $10,000 repair bill? That’s truly an expensive lesson.

Oil is not the only component of an “oil service.” There is also the filter. At Robison Service we use genuine filters and filters from Bosch and Mann, two of the principal suppliers to European carmakers. These filters cost a bit more, but once again they meet the carmakers requirements. A filter that clogs and causes an expensive failure isn’t much of a savings . . .

Finally, a proper service includes reading and resetting the maintenance system. All late model BMW and Mercedes cars have flexible service computers, where the car keeps track of what’s due and when. You may think the car just needs an oil change, but the maintenance system may be asking for a brake fluid change and new cabin filters too. Once again, there can be serious consequences if the recommended services are ignored.

Dealers and properly equipped independents will have the necessary electronic systems to talk to the car’s service computer. It’s very important to do this, and to scan for faults, because your car’s computer is all that stands between you and a breakdown in many cases. And if you ignore a stored fault (which may be invisible from the dashboard) you may not get any other warning before the car fails.

Finally, a proper service includes a careful visual inspection by a technician that’s familiar with the marquee. You can’t find that anywhere except at a dealer or specialist.

That’s why we don’t call these services oil changes anymore. We call them small services. BMW separates oil service from inspection service. Mercedes Benz A Service is their small service. We do that because they always include an oil change but they often include additional work as dictated by the car or our inspection.

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