Sharpie

I just bought a '11 EB with 16,800 miles on it. The Ford dealer had just serviced the truck before I bought it with 16,762 miles. They said they used MC 5W20 Syn blend but the filler cap says to use 5W30. The dealer service department also says to change at 3000 miles. The service life remaining on the oil says only 34% life is left with only about 2500 miles since the dealer changed it.

2 questions:

Should I use 5W20 or 5W30?

Shouldn't the oil service interval be longer than about 3000 miles?

I believe the dealer didn't reset the service life back to 100%

Marc D

Look in your owners manual and you can see the wide range of temperatures multi-weight oils cover. Unless you live in super hot or super cold weather, the factory oil weight is recommended (5w30). Synthetic blend oil can last 4000 or 5000 miles at the most but if you want longer mileage life out of the oil , 8000+, you need to use full synthetic oil. This usually cost 2X the money. On a side note when the oil life is reset on the truck it goes to 100% automaticly.

Damn Dirty Ape

iTrader: (1)

mc syn blend can easily do 7500, go by the oil monitor, might get 10k.

Sharpie

Oil can last much longer than 4k- 5k. The oil life service monitor can be reset to something other than 100%. It can be reset in increments of 10% from 10% up to 100%. That's how they trick people who still believe that oil should be changed every 3000 miles or for someone who doesn't understand what oil is capable of doing and going by strictly what the so called oil change expert tells them to do. (ie... I need you to pay me more money more frequently). I run 10K on Syn in my Diesel Car but only 5K on T6 Syn in the 6.0L that I just traded. Some machine shear oil faster than other engines which should be a consideration on the choice of oil viscosities in addition to the environmental conditions. 5W20 while it affords better cranking , it does not leave room for error in a high shear engine.

Synthetic doesnt cost 2X what dino changes cost unless you are paying someone to change the oil for you. Sort of like what the Harley dealer wants to change the oil for 5 quarts is around $225 for 1K service on my Dyna Glide. I generally do my own. You have to know what something actually cost or you will be at the mercy of someone else telling you how much you need to pay.

Marc D

Sharpie, I've never heard of incremental oil life reset on a vehicle. With the computers, I'm not surprised. I've owned several newer non-Ford vehicles that did not give you, the owner, that option. I would love to read more about this unless it's only something a dealer can do or a shop with the right computer equipment. I assume it's not the owner following the manual that can get this done. Any references?

Marc D

Sharpie, I've never heard of incremental oil life reset on a vehicle. With the computers, I'm not surprised. I've owned several newer non-Ford vehicles that did not give you, the owner, that option. I would love to read more about this. Is this only something a dealer can do or a shop with the right computer equipment? I assume it's not the owner following the manual that can get this done. Any references?

RLXXI

Owners manual.








Was one of the first things I found out about my truck while playing around with the controls, I could set oil life to what ever I wanted in 10% increments, naturally I reset it back to 100% because I only had 20 miles on the odo.

.

Sharpie

On my 2011, I too found it by playing around in the settings. It will only allow you to change the oil life reset when the engine is running but the vehicle is in park. I do not have to press hold I simply scroll through the numbers using the arrow buttoms and then press OK when I get on the one that I want the oil life to be. All the dealer has to do is to reset oil life to say 50% and most folks are none the wiser. Pay me money more frequently to unsuspecting patrons. Owners of newer vehicles are being told to get the oil changed when the monitor tells them the oil life has been used up.

I will probably go with the MC 5W30 for my area (South Miss) due to heat. More than likely I will let the dealer service the truck as they are running a special at QuickLane for $30 with rotation and fluid top off, 5 quarts and Filter. I can buy the oil and filter for about $30 at WalMart so I will let them do the service and get the tire roatation and fluid top off and labor essentially for free. Ocassionally the dealer will run specials for $20 for a week or so as well.

aandrews109

Just my 2-cents worth but here goes.

I've been using Mobile 1 Synthetic for a number of years and changing my oil and filter every 5000 miles. I do the work myself and it costs in the neighborhood of $35 each time.

I've had 3 Expeditions,

2000 w/4.6 liter currently owned by a friend with over 200,000 miles and no oil related issues,

A 1999 w/4.6 liter with over 150,000 and no issues

A 2006 w/ 5.4 liter with over 80,000 and no issues.

Also a '93 Lightning with 155,000+ miles and the same scenario.

I always use the recommended weight for the engine and am continuing to do the same for my '13 Ecoboost and '13 Explorer with the 3.5 liter engine.

I live in the Florida Panhandle where summer temps are in the 90's with high humidity and heat index over 100 much of the time during the summer.

Hope this helps.

Sharpie

Aandrews109,

You and I live pretty much at the same Lattitude. My '93 model 5.0L uses 10W30 so I'm gonna use 5W30 in the EB. Just can't quite bring myself to run a addative altered 20 weight in a truck engine. If we had single digit winters I might would run 5W20 in the winter. I'm gonna try the quicklane route as long as they do it for what it cost me in fluids. Ive had the EB 2 weeks today and have driven about 2300 miles already. I stay on the road so the dealer is convenient. (I never thought I would say that)

Like I stated earlier, I couldn't afford the dealer with the 6.0L diesel at 15 quarts nor can I afford the Harley dealer when it only takes 30 minutes. On my 6.0L I installed a Fumoto valve to expedite oil changes.