What Kind of Oil do I need?

[underemployeed]

I work in a gas station, we have no been a full service station in AT LEAST 5 years but I think much longer than that. It does not stop people from thinking we are mechanics..... but still not listening to a damn thing we say.

SC comes in and asks "what type of oil do I need?"
me: "It will say in your owners manual or somewhere by the engine"
SC: "Its a Saturn, what type of oil do I need?"
me: It will say in your owners manual or somewhere by the engine"
SC: "So what is the difference between, 5W-30, 10W-30?"
(Now I do know the answer about viscosity and usable temperatures, etc, etc)
me: "I don't know, I just match the values up. to what is listed on the engine"
SC: "Well, I'll just get this 10W-30, what is the worst than could happen?"
me: "Blow up your engine from lack of oil in right spots would be my guess" (he did ask what is the worst)
Sc: "Oh what do you know, you don't even know what type it takes and that is not possible to have your engine get destroyed from lack of oil or the wrong oil"

..... also during this he asked another customer, who responded that it should say right on his oil cap.....

Now, it is also agreed between random customer and my co-worker that had I told him a value to shut him up and he somehow caused damage to his engine, he was sure as hell gonna hunt me down, blame me and want to take some sort of legal action to get the company and/or me to fix his engine. When we not to busy we will sometimes go outside and point out said oil type location especially for people clearly have no idea but are NICE about it.

Why is it every SC can talk but NEVER really listen to the answers because I refuse to draw in crayon. and make hand motions unless your foreign and or deaf

[wagegoth]

You're not telling them what they want to hear, that's why they ignore you. Tell them what they want to hear, and it doesn't matter that it's the biggest lie you ever told, they'll go with it.

[TonyDonuts]

I manage a convenience store.

I've got people working for me who are only dimly aware of exactly what kind of car they own and drive.

And they will happily, without a trace of embarrassment, tell you that they know nothing about, what did you call it again, oil.

Doesn't stop customers from asking them detailed questions about oil, though.

Good times.

[Jester]

" ... that is not possible to have your engine get destroyed from lack of oil or the wrong oil"

Absolutely correct, sir. Not at all possible. So don't worry about what kind of oil to buy...why buy any at all? Just run your engine without it. There's no way anything bad could possibly happen.....

[RayvenQ]

Shoulda told him he needed 1D-10-T oil

[Shamus]

With that attitude, I'd have recommended Canola oil.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

With that attitude, I'd have recommended Canola oil.

Wouldn't peanut oil be just as good? Or would that be too much like offering milk to a cow?

[blas]

I'd say they are pretty fucked already if they don't know what kind of oil they need.

Don't they tell people when they get their oil changed what kind they use?

[JustaCashier]

I hope he never loses his 710 cap!


Mike

[mattm04]

I manage a convenience store.

I've got people working for me who are only dimly aware of exactly what kind of car they own and drive.

And they will happily, without a trace of embarrassment, tell you that they know nothing about, what did you call it again, oil.

Doesn't stop customers from asking them detailed questions about oil, though.

Good times.

Sadly I had a CW, who was just like that. They knew they got it new from a Hyuandi dealer, but had no clue what kind of car it was, make or model. It took them about a 18 months to kill it. They never got a oil change and ignored the combination of the check engine light and oil light until the inevitable happened. Nothing like dumping thousands of dollars down the drain.

[Jester]

For the record, I killed my first car (a 1971 Dodge Colt, color was....faded pale yellow, looked ghostly white at night, I had bumper stickers on the fenders in a vain effort to improve its looks, and my friends and I called it the "U.A.V." for Urban Assault Vehicle) by not thinking to put oil in it.

So the dude is as wrong as my first car is dead.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

If his Saturn is anything like mine, all he has to do is pop the hood and note the type of oil specified on the oil filler cover--in my case 5W30.

And I do this about every time I fill up with gas, since the car is in its "burn oil for shits and giggles" phase. Saturns are notorious for doing that. But it's a decent car once you get past that, so I just buy a few bottles of oil every now and then and consider it the cost of driving the car.

Perhaps he would've listened to you if you used finger puppets or something.

[EricKei]

Absolutely correct, sir. Not at all possible. So don't worry about what kind of oil to buy...why buy any at all? Just run your engine without it. There's no way anything bad could possibly happen.....

Funny you should mention that. My brother managed to FUBAR an old econobox car back in the day by literally NEVER checking nor changing the oil for months and months (after all, he was the more experienced driver, so what does my opinion matter? Note that he also ignored Dad's thoughts on this as well, which matched mine exactly...) -- Naturally, after half a year or so, the car engine just STOPPED.....On the freeway when he was tooling around with some buds. Luckily, they got it off to the side without incident. They popped the hood, only to find an engine more-or-less fused into a solid block, the metal having turned blue from the heat...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

On some cars, such as my Saturn, you really have to be diligent about oil changes every 3000 miles, even though for most other cars that's a myth.

This is because of the design of the engine--it has a timing chain and if oil is allowed to get too old the chain can become loose and break somehow.

Not that this makes me do oil changes any differently than I did with my old car--I had the oil changed in that car every 3000 miles anyway. It's just the number that sticks in my head, and getting oil changes a tad more frequently sure beats a destroyed engine.

[sylvier]

No, no canola oil is too cheap - extra virgin olive oil is the way to go