Self Maintenance and Warranty

[Beal13]

I'm up for a 50 hour service on an new tractor. I just need to change the oil, oil filter, and hydraulic/transmision filter. I have a contact selling AMSOil products that told me the parts that will fit my tractor. However, It was mentioned from my dealer that to avoid any possible problems in the event of a future warranty claim, that I should use the OEM oil and filters. Is there any validity to this?

Thanks for responses

 

[AlanB]

I'm up for a 50 hour service on an new tractor. I just need to change the oil, oil filter, and hydraulic/transmision filter. I have a contact selling AMSOil products that told me the parts that will fit my tractor. However, It was mentioned from my dealer that to avoid any possible problems in the event of a future warranty claim, that I should use the OEM oil and filters. Is there any validity to this?

Thanks for responses

That question comes up fairly often, and if you search back you will see various takes on it, but thought I would answer this way.

First, understand that the particular question you framed, has two very distinct parts too it.

First part, Do I have to use OEM stuff?

I reccomend reading here, A Businessperson's Guide to Federal Warranty Law

That is the best explanation of it I have seen, look for Tie in Sales, The short version, if they don't pay for it, they cannot require you to use thiers.

But the second part of your question (that I am not sure you realized was even there) is where it gets into the trick part of this deal.

Usually, a manufacturer will spec what has to be used, something along the line of an API 15/40 spec CI4 say, and the trick there is too the best of my knowledge, Amsoil does not "meet" or "conform" to that spec. Now there will be 10 people right below this saying it is better, the spec is bad, they have testing to prove it yada yada yada.. but the cold hard fact is that the manufacturer can tell you a spec you need to use, and you must use it to maintain warranty.

So, while you can use whatever brand you want, you will need to insure it is "proper" and honestly, if you think about it, it is reasonable, if it just said "oil" someone would pour cooking oil into the motor, toast the motor and scream at the manufacturer that they don't stand behind their warranty.

So, after saying all that, some other random thoughts.

IMO to beat this, some manufacturers spec an oil that the only place you can find the stuff just happens to be at their store. Polaris oils come to mind.

Warranties are really only as good as the folks standing behind them. Read through the pages here on TBN and you will see all sorts of examples of good and bad customers and dealers and manufacturers.

The thing I usually bear in mind when making decisions such as what you are facing is how would I handle it from the other side. Just like the folks that say you can go out and lowball and buy the cheapest tractor you can find and the dealer closest too you "must" honor the warranty. Well, yes, if you are going to force them they "must" and you can sue (that is what we have it for) but really do you want to go through that to rectify the problem?

And even then, again, lots of Warranty is interpretation of the whats and the whys that caused the problem.

If it was me, and I was concerned about warranties, I would speak with my dealer and ask his advice, and weigh out the costs against the potential hassle and then make a decision. I am pretty fortunate in that I have very little under warranty (one Kawasaki motor at this point) so I just go with whatever I think best at the moment.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Beal13]

Thanks for the very informative answer. My owners manual says I must use CF, CF-4, CG-4, CH-4 or CI-4 10W-30 or 15W-40, or a few more like just SAE 30, etc depending on temperature and that I cannot use the CJ-4 oil.

 

[Doc_Bob]

I use OEM filters.
Just removes one complication in an already complicated life.
Bob

 

[dmccarty]

And you need the paperwork to prove you did the work on the tractor as specified in the manual.

On my tractor I use JD filters. Why? Because I think if they are not the best they are pretty danged good. Also I can send my salesman a note on Monday with what I need and the parts will be at the house on Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. The oil and fuel filters for my F350 I get from my JD dealer. The oil filter is made by same company that makes them for IH. The name is not popping up in my head for some reason. The fuel filter is the exact same thing I get from Ford or other parts suppliers.

The JD parts are the same price or less than what I can get anywhere else. AND I don't have to waste time going from store to store trying to find the filter. Why the parts stores can't keep oil and fuel filters in stock for my truck is beyond me. The JD dealer can and does.

Same price or better. Has it in stock. Gets it to me when needed. Saves me time. No question on who gets my money.

Only once has Joe messed up. Really ticked me off too! He sent me fuel filters for a Ford 6.0L Diesel by mistake. I was not mad that Joe sent me the wrong filters. He mailed me a label to mail the parts back to them. And he resent what I needed. I got the parts by Saturday which is when I would need them.

So what made me mad? Those 6.0 filters are about half the price of my 7.3 filter! And they are screw on instead of the messy drop in cartridge I have.

If the parts/oil meets the manufactuer's spec you should be ok. But does it meet spec? I looked at AMSOIL years ago. At the time their oil did not meet the API specs for my engines. That may have changed though. I have been using Shell 5wx40 in the truck and tractor. Have a 5 gallon pail of JD 0wx40 I'm about to try out. Price at the time was only a bit more than Shell so figured I would try it out.

Later,
Dan

 

[ultrarunner]

In my "Spare" time I do Consumer Arbitration in my state. 95% are vehicle warranty claims.

It is standard procedure for the manufacturer to bring in the service records for the vehicle. If the Service records are incomplete it is then up to the consumer to prove the unit has been operated, serviced and maintained in accordance to the manufacturer's written maintenance schedule for the type of service the unit has been subject to.

Not having Dealer Service is never grounds to deny a warranty claim. Not being able to prove the unit has been serviced to manufacturer's specifications is.

Proof can be as simple as a detailed maintenance log showing date and unit hours along with materials used. Receipts are helpful, but not always required.

If non-oem, non approved parts are used, the manufacturer's position is the consumer must look to the part manufacturer for relief.

 

[WTA]

I'm in a battle with my dealer now over crap just like this. They had my tractor in and out of the shop for 3 months this summer, finally fixed the problem but broke so many other things that I couldn't even tell, Throughout, they flat refused to give me any sort of receipt for what they were doing to fix it. I never once got a receipt for any of the maintenance items I bought even though I asked and they were real slick about not returning phone calls or e mails so as not to incriminate themselves. Even the head company told me they would not fix my warranty problem if I took it to another dealer and one further they flat refused to take it to another dealer at their expense after two months and I had totally lost confidence in the dealer here.

Now they are trying to make me pay for some of the repairs because the crooks submitted a fraudulent warranty claim for parts they broke themselves. What a mess. They now claim the entire problem was dirt in my fuel tank. Even though they cleaned it twice in the beginning of all this, before they started throwing parts at it, and I cleaned it once myself the first time it messed up. They had tried to deny service to me once claiming that the oil I used caused the problem. Yeah the oil in the engine is sure going to make the fuel pump lose it's prime! I had synthetic Mobil 1 in it with a factory filter. Mobil 1 more than meets the spec called for by the manufacturer. Then they tried to tell me they would not work on it anymore because I had gone hunting for the problem myself. They even went so far as to paint all the bolts they took off so they would know if I messed with them. Well, I had to tighten a few that were leaking real bad. I know that isn't legal either. If I hadn't tried to diagnose it myself I never would have found the two bolts missing and one stripped out on my injector pump, or the ac bracket they broke when they took the pump off. I also wouldn't have found all the loose fuel fittings from them taking the injector pump off. I'm half tempted now to pull that front cover off just to make sure they put the lock back on the nut on front of the injector pump. I'll bet they didn't. This mess is in my lawyers hands now so I'm leaving it alone. I sure don't think it's too much to expect a brand new tractor to work through the growing season and to be fixed right the first time when it does break. If it had been a car in this state the lemon law would have been in effect long ago on it but they don't care about farm tractors down here.
To top this all off, originally I thought the fuel pump had gone bad but this dealer told me it was some ridiculous price like 200 bucks. Of course he wouldn't put it in writing though. I almost paid for it and fixed it myself but I figured it's under warranty and they can figure it out. I later found out I could get it for about 30 bucks at any other dealer in the country. After 3 months it did turn out to be the fuel pump too. All the other maintenance parts I did buy there were well over 100% over average retail prices from other dealers too. My lawyer just loves this.

My point is, know your dealer. Most dealers will go out of their way to help you and do what is right. A very few will go out of their way to screw you. I should have known being a mechanic myself for so long but I didn't listen to my gut. The ONLY reason I took it to them in the first place was that it was under warranty. Normally NOONE works on ANYTHING of mine for any reason.

The ONLY time I ever denied a warranty claim (well, I didn't, the company denied it and I was working on it) was on a 05 I think firebird with a blown engine. It was new at the time. The owner had completely taken the exhaust off including all the oxygen sensors, put on straight pipes, slicks in the back and put an aftermarket computer in it then gone racing. No way possible that was GM's fault. I've done warranty engine replacements and rebuilds before on ones that ran out of oil. Even a couple that had missing drain plugs or damaged filters. If there was a good excuse the company almost always paid for it. I've always worked at GOOD dealers though.

 

[Happyman]

WTA...so sorry to hear about this.
You did not say what kind of tractor you have (or maybe, had)?
Also, what part of the country do you live? I want to avoid that dealer if I happen to have the same tractor.