the Walnut Diary

Ruby, our 2004 Porsche Cayenne S, requires fairly frequent oil changes to protect her cylinder walls from ring-scraping.  Her previous owner didn’t go over 5,000 km between oil changes, but he drove very limited amounts in downtown Vancouver traffic.  I drive on the highway almost exclusively, so a 10,000 km interval seems more reasonable.  The only time Ruby has used oil was the time I forgot a washer and didn’t torque one of the two drain plugs to the full 37 foot-pounds.  That spilled a litre over 8,000 km.

UPDATE:  February, 2019

I did it again, skimped on the crushable washers.  I knew when I checked it that it was going to leak, but with 9 litres of oil above the plug, what are you gonna do?  So I forgot about it until the computer gave me a stern warning a couple of weeks ago.  I added a bit over a litre again, and all was well with the computer.

But the regular oil change requires nine litres of 0W40 Mobil 1 European Auto Formula.  It says so in the engine compartment as well as in the manual.  That’s two jugs of oil, normally priced at a bit over $50.00 each:  double the cost of a normal oil change, just for the oil.

Canadian Tire fortunately has put that particular oil on sale on a regular basis, and my son, Tony and I have been stockpiling it to meet the needs of our various Porsches.

Last Thursday Tony sent a message that CTC had the oil on special again.  Then he tried in Smiths Falls and reported that it was no longer offered.  I checked the Internet.  Nobody seemed to have it except the Division Street store in Kingston.  I called and attempted to order six jugs and pay online.  Yes, they have 22 jugs of product #028-9441-2, but I have to have a Canadian Tire card in order to buy it online.  My moans had no positive effect, so I resolved to drive to the store at first opportunity and make the purchase in the good old-fashioned way, with my bank card.

Sunday morning at 9:00 I was one of the three or four eager souls admitted through the auto parts door.  On the oil wall I found three jugs of euro blend, but they were 4.7 litres rather than 4.4, and the price was a bit north of $51.00.  The clerk at the auto desk spoke politely to me and then made me wait fifteen minutes while she answered a series of telephone calls.  Then she assured me that her store has only three jugs of euro blend and its price is $51.xx, but the Cataraqui store has 22.  She implied that I must be mistaken, and she wrote down the number of the auto parts department at the other store.

A friendly guy answered, listened carefully, then put me on hold while he ran out to check his oil wall.  He did not return.  Fifteen minutes later I ended the call to save on cell expenses, if nothing else.

On my retreat from the Division Street store a sympathetic clerk asked me if she could help.  Then she directed me to the customer service desk where the woman in charge gave me access to the Internet.  I promptly located the ad, gave her the product number, which enabled her to call Penny and send her to the warehouse for the six jugs of oil.

The unrepentant Penny brought them out and I made sure that the correct price went through at the check-out.  I left the store at 10:00 a.m.

What could have been a wild goose chase had been saved by a couple of alert staff at the Division Street CTC.  The lesson from this:  Don’t try to buy anything on sale at CTC if you don’t have at hand the product number in the ad.  Store computers don’t have access to the online ads, and you’ll look like a fool to the Penny’s who also work there.