MisunderstandingsWe get the question about Dealership vs. Independent service and maintenance often. Some folks are actually led to believe that they must have the service done at the dealer to keep their warranty. First off, the manufacturer cannot require you to use their service facilities for anything unless they are doing it for free, such as warranty repair or a recall. However, they can and do establish the minimum standards for service and products used on their cars and trucks. Oil is one of the most misunderstood products. The technology has and continues to change at a fast rate to keep up with the changes in the engines and emission systems. There are so many different oils making so many varied claims that the average motorist has no idea what is appropriate for their car. Most of us are familiar with the old SAE standard of oil weight. For instance your car calls for 5W20 oil. Those numbers refer only to the viscosity of the oil, it's ability to flow at specific temperatures. Using the specified oil weight is critical to engine life, but by itself is not enough. API also has a letter standard that tells us other things about an oil such as its ability to fight aeration, fuel economy rating and the amount of specific additives or contaminates in it. The current API spec is "SM". The weight and the rating are both shown on the API "donut" logo located on the oil container. A few years ago we started using the International standard, ILSAC. The International Lubrication Standardization and Approval Committee sets a standard for all oils used around the world, with some exceptions for European cars. The current rating standard for ILSAC oil is GF4. If you use a GF4 oil in any car or light gas powered truck build since 2001 you will meet or exceed the oil standard requirements. All oils meeting this standard 
display a "Starburst" logo on the label. For a 2006 vehicle you want to use the proper weight, in your case 5W20, and a API SM or ILSAC GF4 oil. All of the major oil companies make this oil, not just Motorcraft. The problem you, or any driver has is to know if the service shop you chose is using the proper oil. The major oil change places, especially those that fly an oil company banner, are going to be using the right oil. Some of the discount places may not. If you see a very cheap oil change price I would be concerned about the quality of the oil, GF4 oil is much more expensive than the older oils. If you are using an independent repair shop ask them what they use as the "house" brand of oil. If, for any reason, you think they might lie to you then you are in the wrong place for an oil change, or any service. At Freedom Auto we use Motorcraft oil in all the Ford products. We use Castrol GF4 in almost everything else. The problem has been that there are so many different weight specifications (0W20, 0W30, 5W20, 5W30, 10W30) that we can no longer depend on the "house" brand and weight for every car. Each oil change requires a look at the specification. Fortunately that spec is clearly printed on the oil filler cap of most cars. You can still enjoy the convenience and personalized service of the independent shop, just ask the right question, "What kind of oil do you use in my car?" Just to make it more confusing GF5 oils will be standard in 2010 vehicles. Slick stuff...right? |
Interesting History LessonRailroad tracks. This is fascinating. Be sure to read the final paragraph; your understanding of it will depend on the earlier part of the content. The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge theyused. Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe(and England)for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot.. Bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with it?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horse's asses.) Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRB's. The SRB's are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRB's would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRB's had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRB's had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything... and CURRENT Horses Asses are controlling everything else.
Don't forget |
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