Dealer puts wrong engine oil in my 2019 Maruti Baleno: Need Advice

The car has already run 2500 km and a slight difference in performance and fuel efficiency can be noticed.

BHPian sashi_007 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello All,

I recently took possession of my Dad’s Baleno 2019 – Petrol variant. Upon noticing a difference in vehicle performance and mileage I started looking into service history.

In the last PMS, done in April 2022, the service centre in Haryana used 5W40 synthetic engine oil instead of 0W20 synthetic.

The car is now in TN and has been used for about 2500 km till now, after the service.

I have sent a mail to Haryana and TN regional offices and also to Nexa asking them to look into this issue and change the oil to the correct one.

But haven’t heard back from any of them. Any suggestions on how to proceed with this?

Here’s what BHPian sudev had to say on the matter:

Drain the oil and get the correct grade put in. Why keep running the car on the wrong grade till Nexa and you sort out the issue?

Here’s what BHPian shancz had to say on the matter:

  1. Change the engine oil at a MASS/Dealer and apprise the same in your mail chain. This is a deviation from standard practice and should be corrected by them.
  2. A FNG had put 5W30 in our WagonR instead of the recommended 0W20 and honestly I couldn’t feel a difference maybe it was too slight to be noticeable but I do suspect that the 0W20 had slightly better FE. I ran the car for 5000 km and reverted back to 0W20. Again no significant change except slightly better FE.

5W means a thicker oil when cold and 40 is a thicker oil when hot. The 40 should be better for hot climates but the 5W could be an issue.

But the manufacturer knows best (especially in warranty) and you should have this mentioned in your owner’s manual.

Here’s an excerpt from the Suzuki Access125’s owner’s manual, just for learning purposes. Based on this, for my climate, I should be running a 10W40 instead of the 10W30 which is widely used. I use 5W40 and the results are excellent for performance, smoothness and FE (3-5 km/l increase).

Here’s what BHPian Turbanator had to say on the matter:

Does Nexa have any vehicles that use this “wrong oil” else how will it come at your stores? Can be either an advisory or a wrong description if there’s no other Nexa car that uses mentioned type.

Also, usually, Dealerships get large barrels so service technicians withdraw oil themselves and do not get individual cans issued that someone in store can mess up.

I also doubt if someone can notice a difference in the engine due to a change in the type of oil, has to be physiological

Here’s what BHPian audioholic had to say on the matter:

Maruti has reduced the viscosity of recommended oil over the years due to tighter tolerances, coated piston and cylinder walls and of course, higher FE. From 20W40 in the Altos, 5W30, 0W20 and now 0w16. Hence this seems to be difficult for the service centre to stock and such incidents happen. And 5W40 is the synthetic grade they usually try to fleece customers with since this costs higher than 0W20 even though that is also fully synthetic.

The issue with using thicker oil in these engines was once highlighted by LeoShashi. Such cars had piston ring failures because due to the fighter tolerances, thicker oil would mess up the rings. So it’s better to revert to the recommended grade immediately. If the use of 5W40 has been mentioned in the previous service bill, then it’s at least good evidence in case of any issues but beyond that going back to the dealer in a different city would be a hassle.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Source: Read Full Article