engineermike

Based on voa, I believe the base-oil and most of the add. pack to be the same between platinum and ultra. However, boron shows up in the ultra with none in the platinum. I believe boron is an anti-wear/extreme pressure additive.

BadAV

It would then, admittedly, maybe warrant looking at it for forced induction applications. I am not going to sweat it since I change at 5k mile intervals and don't tow a ton of miles - about 1500 of my 25k miles so far.

Takeda

Motorcraft synthetic blend has more boron than Penzoil Ultra:



http://www.pqiamerica.com/January201...motorcraft.htm


http://www.pqiamerica.com/March2013PCMO/penzultra.htm

Curmudgeon

For my 2.7, I consider Quaker State UD to be a reasonably priced sleeper. It may not have much boron (5) but with a TBN of 8.5, VI (172), Volatility (8.8), zinc (847), and moly (58), I'm with the Rat...the UD will 'git 'er done'.

Bubbabiker

I just switched to QS UD several weeks ago. For the price ($20 a jug at Walmart), good additive package, low NAOCK volatility, and a very impressive high temperature shear strength it's a bargain.

jctevere

I always find it a bit hypocritical that the very people who tell you to stick to the on-board oil live monitoring for oil change interval and "follow the manual" are themselves changing their oil at 5k miles and using full synthetic.

I follow the indicator and bring it to the dealer for service. If there is an added benefit to using full synthetic or a shorter oil change interval, why would it not be listed in the manual or at least suggested by the manufacturer?

I tend to agree, I think ~10k miles on the dealerships "synthetic blend" oil is a bit of a stretch. Even Mercedes with their larger oil quantities and full synthetic only suggested 10k miles.

But then the question begging to be asked, why is Ford recommending 10K intervals with synthetic blended oil? Does anyone have quantifiable evidence / proof that changing every 5k or or using full synthetic oil offers added benefits?

Ricktwuhk

Ford does not tell you to go 10,000 miles. Then tell you to use the IOLM, which will trigger when it's time, OR at 10,000 miles, or a year whichever comes first. For many it will be in the 7,500 - 9.000 range, and yes that's with the synthetic blend that Ford uses.

I switched to Mobil 1 for my truck because I basically go a year (or more ) due to driving less miles. Coming up on 4 years in late December and I recently broke 23,000 miles.

There is no benefit to changing it sooner, been beaten to death, money wasted on oil analysis, etc.

However, there still will be _____s who change their "break-in oil" on the way home from buying the vehicle, then change it every ____ "because my Pappy did". Gotta love it.

engineermike

The manufacturer has to balance all sorts of things that may not be your priority. For instance, if ford recommends synthetic oil (im certain there are people within ford who would rather it), then chevy would point and say "look, f-150's require special, expensive oil. Ours doesn't!" As far as intervals go, there is an industry -wide effort to extend drain intervals. There are several reasons for it, some being lower maintenance cost and less natural resource usage. If you value engine longevity more than you're concerned about natural resource usage, your decisision might be different than the oem's. Same goes for oil viscosity.

engineermike

At a glance, it does look like the motorcraft oil has a pretty stout add pack. However, it's still missing some of the oxidation and shear resistance that would come from a group 3 or 3+ base oil.

jordan15screw

i find that most who do all these extra oil changes and sample test do not even keep there trucks for long enough for any of it to matter.i have not seen anyone say yet that they have gone by there olm and sent a sample out and was told not to follow fords recomendation on a change interval.