[Mike McDaniel]

...so I get back from having an oil change done at my local dealer where I bought the truck almost a year ago. Usually, I don't look at the statement in the oil change section because you get a year free oil change. Well, my year is up and I happen to notice that when I got it back home today, the statement had a charge of $13 under oil and another charge of $5.20 or so under another oil. I called and asked them about the differences and they said that the $13 was for a gallon of oil and the other $5.20 was for an additional 2 quarts. Consequently, they noticed that I was over charged for the gallon price and that they would give me a free oil change. I told them that I noticed that the owner's manual for the truck says that the 5.7L Hemi takes 7 quarts of oil and that the statement said that I was only charged for 6....4 quarts for the gallon plus the 2 additional that I paid for per quart. He said that he was pretty sure that the 5.7L Hemi was a 6 quart system and that he would check. I haven't heard back from them yet, but I was wondering if there was some TSB where the manual is wrong or what. He told me to check the oil in the truck and make sure it was full and it reads full on the dipstick. So, yes it's full, but did it take 6 quarts like he said or 7 quarts like the manual says?

Mike

 

[CajunPW]

my 2004 takes 7 quarts

 

[PatriotBlueHemi]

2003 5.7 takes 7 Qts.

 

[ramcrazy]

7 qt in my 05

 

[Mazz]

Me thinks you should look to another source to get your oil changed.

 

[bmgamble]

7 here....sounds to me like you get to start doing your own

 

[DallasG]

7 here....sounds to me like you get to start doing your own

Not yet, he still hasn't gotten a response from a 2006 owner.

 

[bmgamble]

Not yet, he still hasn't gotten a response from a 2006 owner.

Does it really matter?

 

[lpfan4life85]

I put 7 qts in mine and the dipstick reads full.

 

[JeffB2002]

Straight from the 06 service manual

 

[dartboy]

If it is full, it is full. Maybe they just don't charge that extra quart to keep the price low, or maybe they put in 6.8 exactly to get to full and don't charge for the .8. On mine 7 quarts is a tad bit over the line. I would not worry about it especially if it is saving you a couple bucks, but yes the capacity is supposed to be 7 quarts.

 

[PatriotBlueHemi]

So you paid $18.20 plus probably tax on top of that for an oil change. For me, I do my own, and it costs me closer to like $25.00 for me to do it myself. The oil, Castrol GTX 5W-30 is just less than $3.00 a qt. at Wal-Mart, something like $2.79. The Fram filter PH-16 is around $5.00 I think. So roughly $25-26 with tax. It would be cheaper for me to have it done, but I have always preferred doing it myself. I do not let anyone touch my vehicles unless it is something I just absolutely can't do myself. Funny thing......this last oil change took nearly 7.5 qts to fill it. The only difference is I normally run my truck's engine just prior to changing it, and I change it warm. This time I did not. It had sat for 3 days without being started at all. I crawled under it, dropped the oil and filter, replaced filter, and put 7 qts. in it. I then started it as always to fill the filter and check for leaks, then shut the engine off and let it sit for a minute to take a reading. It was half-way in the "Operating Range". But certainly not at the top end. The only two things that could have caused this that comes to mind are: It sitting for three days without being cranked, all of the oil was in the pan and no residual was left in the engine. This doesn't make sense because they only hold 7 qts. Now what makes more sense is one of the bottles I purchased could have been low and I just didn't notice it. So I went and bought the 8th qt. and put about half of it in. Now it is ever so slightly above full which is fine.

 

[Mike McDaniel]

So you paid $18.20 plus probably tax on top of that for an oil change. For me, I do my own, and it costs me closer to like $25.00 for me to do it myself. The oil, Castrol GTX 5W-30 is just less than $3.00 a qt. at Wal-Mart, something like $2.79. The Fram filter PH-16 is around $5.00 I think. So roughly $25-26 with tax. It would be cheaper for me to have it done, but I have always preferred doing it myself. I do not let anyone touch my vehicles unless it is something I just absolutely can't do myself. Funny thing......this last oil change took nearly 7.5 qts to fill it. The only difference is I normally run my truck's engine just prior to changing it, and I change it warm. This time I did not. It had sat for 3 days without being started at all. I crawled under it, dropped the oil and filter, replaced filter, and put 7 qts. in it. I then started it as always to fill the filter and check for leaks, then shut the engine off and let it sit for a minute to take a reading. It was half-way in the "Operating Range". But certainly not at the top end. The only two things that could have caused this that comes to mind are: It sitting for three days without being cranked, all of the oil was in the pan and no residual was left in the engine. This doesn't make sense because they only hold 7 qts. Now what makes more sense is one of the bottles I purchased could have been low and I just didn't notice it. So I went and bought the 8th qt. and put about half of it in. Now it is ever so slightly above full which is fine.

That's kinda why I was trying to get to the bottom of what the capacity was. Now that my year is practically up, I was under the assumption that it would be cheaper to do it myself. It's been awhile since I've had to pay for an oil change as I had a F-150 with the plan that included oil changes for the life of the vehicle. I remember oil changes running about $20 last time I actually had to pay for one and when I got the bill for almost $35 I was stunned...lol. Then I go to Walmart and price the Mobil Synthetic 5w20 and it's about $5.50 per quart which, times 7, comes out to about $38.50 plus the cost of a filter. Now I'm trying to justify why I should do it myself when it's going to cost me more.

 

[bmgamble]

Now I'm trying to justify why I should do it myself when it's going to cost me more.

Get the type of oil that you want....it'll cost you more if you pay a place to change it any day. You have to compare the same oil....you can't compare a conventional oil change that you pay a place to do versus a DIY synthetic....of course it will be more for synthetic. Point is, to make sure everything is done right, do it yourself. It'll come out cheaper and you have a self satisfaction to go with it.