Originally Posted by kevhead75

Most likey this is too good to be true. Oil change intervals are based upon driving habits and conditions. The way to properly determine your interval is to have your oil tested for contaminates. I believe Amsoil provides this service for a few bucks. You have to remember your engine oil is not only lubricating your engine but removing contaminates also. Just because you are using synthetic oil does not necessarily mean you can lengthen your change interval by long lengths. Also the Ford 3V motor is very picky when it comes to oil and filters. If you do your homework you will find that the Ford Motorcraft oils are as good if not better then most oils out there.

Originally Posted by RangerGress

Oil is very misunderstood.

Oil is complicated. Everything that you think you know is probably wrong. Certainly everything I thought I knew turned out to be wrong.

The center of oil knowledge on the web is www.BobIsTheOilGuy.com, or BITOG as it's known. Don't expect to really understand anything just casually perusing there for an evening tho. I've collected a bunch of useful info at: http://www.Gressorg/Home/Cars/TrackT...l%20Debate.htm Think of that as cliffnotes, even if it's oriented on 20yr old BMW race cars.

All AMSOIL oils that I know of are terrific, but only some of them are right for you. A few of the Mobil1 oils are terrific, but probably none of those are right for you. Pro teams that really do run M1 use blends that are nothing like you find in the store. Caveat: M1 does have a race line of oils that are available for retail sale.

Don't get trapped into the simplistic idea of "good" oil vs. "bad" oil. There's lots of different oils, lots of different good oils, and some oils that are right for your engine and usage habits. To pick the right oil you have to know what you are doing.

What the OEM specs isn't necessarily what's best for your motor. In the OEM spec recommendation committee there's more accountants and lawyers then engineers. Sometimes the engineers win an issue, sometimes not. So use the OEM recommendation as a starting point, but also attempt to understand the science. That may give you reason to diverge from the OEM recommendation.

A big problem with oils that have modern certifications is the lack of a zinc phosphorus additive called ZDDP. The EPA has reduced the amount that oil co's could put in their oils over the past 20yrs. ZDDP is important for the protection of cams, rockers and tappets. The EPA did this because it felt that ZDDP was hard on Cat convertors, which is another story. As a result the top ends of motors don't last like they used to. This is just one example of the little understood complexities of oil.

Almost all AMSOIL oils have plenty of ZDDP. Of M1's passenger oils, the only one I know of with decent ZDDP is 20W50, and that's too high a visc for our motor.

Oil Change Interval (OCI) can vary wildly for different cars and usage. OEM's are specing long OCI's because many of them are now paying for it. In order to last that long oil's have to have lots of detergents. More detergent means less slippery stuff. Consider that when selecting the OEM's approved oil.

Anyone that wants to do extended OCI's, say over 10k miles, should get periodic oil analysis from an oufit like Blackstone. They go for $25 ea. Me personally I'd go for 7500-10k with a top quality oil like AMSOIL or Redline. Less with something of lessor quality.

I think that the current darling of BITOG, in terms of value, is Pennzoil Platinum. It could use more ZDDP tho, so you might want to consider adding some engine break-in additive or General Motors "EOS". I've only been an F150 owner for 2 days now so I don't yet know spit about our engine design

Originally Posted by RangerGress

That's a good article but it's only a short overview of a couple issues.

Points worth making about the article: Lots of folks believe that the feds over reacted by reducing the ZDDP content of oil certs. I don't have the background to have any personal opinion on it.

When he was talking about types of lubrication he was simplifying. He didn't mention the kind of lubrication that occurs with cams and rockers. That kind of lubrication is dependent upon a sacrificial layer of material....there's no cushion of oil there. That makes cam lubrication an issue of oil chemistry, not the oil's physical properties like visc. That's why ZDDP matters.

When he wrote that article the latest oil cert was SM, but now it's SL. SM oils allowed 1100 ppm ZDDP, but SL allows only 900 ppm. I'm pulling this off of the top of my head, but the #'s are close. ~1300 is considered optimal. 900 is a complete nogo. I've pulled apart 4 old BMW engines in the last year and they all had worn out cams.

Re. gas mileage improvement with lighter oils. Kit's dreaming. There is certainly a hp advantage to running a lighter oil but it's small. Small enough that very few club racers dabble in it. A single hp just isn't worth risking a motor's bearings for most folks. But if you really want to do it, look into Redline oil. Their oils have really good high temp shear #s so you can get away with a little less visc. Yet their street oils have enough detergent in them for decent oil change intervals. There's other oils with unusually good high temp shear #'s, but the others that I know of are race oriented and therefore don't have much detergent

Some general points not directed at any post in particular.....

When someone says I use <brand X> and it works great for me, burst out laughing and walk away. Oil is chemistry and physics, not childish assertions like to the affect that their motor isn't dead yet.

It can be hard to get good scoop on oils. Some manufacturers like Castroil don't publish much info on their oil. That's to be mistrusted. Other info on manuf websites is old because the oil chemistry can be changed at any time. And if you do find good hard data on an oil, last year's data may not be this year's oil.

Re. Oil filters. There's been a fair amount of independent testing lately. The really good ones are Purolator Pure One, Bosch, Mann, Wix and Mobil1.

Originally Posted by RangerGress

Oil filter addendum. I just read that Purolator makes Motorcraft filters and they use the same high quality filter material as their Pure One. So I'd use whichever one is cheaper

Originally Posted by jb3

As far as motor oil, you can run 5w20 or 0w20. Personally, I run the 0w20. Here is the difference. The 0w20 has a lower viscosity rating than the 5w20 at cold temps. What this means is that at lower temps, 0w20 flows faster than 5w20. Often times, people confuse the "W" with weight. This is not the case. Actually, it stands for "winter" or colder temperatures. The lower the first number, the faster it will flow at cold temperatures. The second number, "20" in this case, stands for the viscosity rating at operating temps.

In our case, a 0w20 and 5w20 oil would have the same viscosity rating at operating temps, but the 0w20 would have better flow at cold temps.

You can run the 0w20 during the summer or winter months because they both the same viscosity rating at normal temps. If I lived where it never dropped below, say 50 degrees, then 5w20 would be fine. However, sometimes it gets in the single digits where I live so I run the 0w20.

I would definitely run synthetic in the trans. Make sure you clean it out with the Amsoil cleaner. Do this for the engine and trans. My 04' 5.4L had a knocking noise when I first bought it (with 140k on it). After cleaning it with Amsoil cleaner and switching to the high detergent Amsoil, it no longer has the knock and runs smoother.

You can find this at my website www.jbell3.com

Clear as mud?? Wish I had time to explain more, but have to get back to work!!