Oil conditioner?
 

So the wife dropped her Rogue off at the local dealership on Wednesday for an oil change. We got her the maintenance package (i know...) so I assumed with the car having less than 5k miles I wouldn't have to worry about them trying to sell her additional crap for service.... boy was I wrong!

So I pick her up, and on the way home she tells me that "it's only going to be $30". I damn near stood on the brakes at that point. WTF is the $30 for when the oil change should be free you ask? Well, according to her it was to do with the air filter cabin - to clean the sludge off.... so thinking that someone just took advantage of my wife, I call the dealer right away. They explain that it's a conditioner for the oil to help reduce sludge buildup.

I'm not going to say I am a mechanic, but I can do some minor stuff like changing oil, plug, break pads, etc. Never heard of, or even seen a product like this on the shelves. When I Google this I see a lot of comments about how this stuff isn't really needed.

So is this actually a legit thing? Even if it was, how in the F would the car have a sludge problem in less than 5k miles? Would love some opinions from the community.

If you are using a good oil (hard to find one that isn't a good one nowadays) you don't need ANY additives.

That makes sense to me South. Maybe if they suggested a synthetic oil that would have been kinda understandable, and I plan to run Synth in my Z after my third oil change.

I've literally never heard of an oil conditioner. They owe you and specifically your wife, a verbal apology for taking advantage of someone at the least.

Is it just me, or are most Nissan dealers just the shittiest people ever?

I think they also owe him another oil change WITHOUT the additive.

That's been my experience. :shakes head:

It's not just Nissan. ALL of them suck! I avoid them as often as I can.

Take the time to do you’re own oil changes and maintenance on the Z you own it’s well worth it and quite easy to do on our cars. Yes if you are using a good quality motor oil and oil filter you do not need any additives. I would not bring you’re Z to any place that is putting conditioner in the motor oil as it can be harsh on gaskets and seals and eventually down the line cause them to leak. I wouldn’t put conditioner or any motor oil additives in my lawn mower.

Complete and total bullsh*t!!! Your Rogue or any other Nissan car or truck does not require any oil additive whatsoever. This is also true for 99.9% of cars out there. So yeah, they took advantage of you and your wife. I would go back to the dealer and ask them to show you in the owner or service manual where this is required. That’s when I’d ask for a complete refund and also ask that they get that crap out of my engine and replace it with pure recommend oil.


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They tried to lure me in to some free oil change/tire rotation's on my new Camry & i declined,,,as i pull my own wrenches & with the new type (0w-16) oil that Toyota is putting in some of their vehicles; The interval is 10k.
Oil,filter & drain plug gasket is $42 from Toyota,,,as i haven't seen this oil elsewhere.

I fired off an email to their Loyalty Mgr, and the Finance Mgr to explain what is going on, and my concerns. No word back yet, but I will give them another day or two to respond - holiday weekend and all. If I don't get anything back from them by Friday I believe it will result in another trip back to the dealer to cancel any contracts we have with them that isn't extended warranty.

I used to do my own oil changes when I had my 350, but then laziness hit once I got my Juke. Looking back at my receipts for the Juke, it looks like they also did a conditioner additive at the dealer in McKinney. Not sure how that slipped by me.

Oh hey you're local. High five.

Yeah the McKinney dealership is the ******* WORST. My girlfriend was looking to buy a new Altima with cash, and the sales manager left us sitting in his cubicle (guessing because we were "young") and then watched us walk out. She ended up buying from Courtesy the next day, they were alright.

I bought from CarMax because of how every Nissan dealer treated me. Coming from Mazda (awesome dealers) it was so disappointing.

Contact Nissan directly, you don't owe the dealer any kindness, name names. 1-800 647-7261 (one of the options will be consumer affairs)

I think I have seen maybe 10 other 370's on the road in DFW this year.... a local Z is pretty rare!

I'll write that down, and most certainly use it if I don't get a response.