There are industrial and fleet situations in which oil goes 20K miles or more between changes and the engines remain healthy. I've seen oil analysis reports show synthetic oil good for 10-15K miles of passenger service. I wonder if the oil filter is still effective into five figures

Sixto
93 E150 Chateau 5.8 189K miles

 

Filters! They are the weak link . Many cannot hold up that long . The other problem with extending service... many drivers do not know there is a problem untill they break down . Those are the main reasons I do not sudgest extending oil changes at my shop

 

4 mpg when you're starting at 43 mpg is a much smaller gain than 4 mpg on a truck that gets 12 mpg... I have kept mileage records of every tank of fuel that I have put in my van since it was brand new--over 120k miles. The 35k miles during which I used full syn oils (5W20 Quaker State Torquepower, Valvoline Synpower, and Pennzoil Ultra) showed no noticeable mileage improvement or change in oil consumption. I do see a 1-2 mpg change with summer vs winter fuels, I lose mileage with a new set of tires (of the same brand and type) because of more rubber squirm, and I can see these trends.

I also have been using full syn in my Subaru since it had 10k miles--and it's now at 75k miles. As an experiment. I just decided with the last change to revert to non-synthetic and I see no mileage decrease.

I am not going to get deep into change intervals but believe that 5-10k is totally fine with today's good oils and tight engines. I usually change slightly more often than the mfr "non severe" recommendation although I used to religiously change oil at 3k miles.

Let me ask a rhetorical question about your suggestion that Amsoil has some magic gas mileage improver. Auto mfrs live and die by CAFE standards. They will put an aluminum hood and/or trunk lid on a car or truck to save maybe 25 lbs at an extra cost of maybe $50 (or whatever figures you think might be a reasonable guess). Is the gas mileage improvement from saving 25 lbs even measurable when you're dealing with a 2.5 ton vehicle? Maybe under 1%, I'd think.

Amsoil buys its base stock from one of the major companies, and I doubt that they have any secret or patented additive packages that couldn't be reverse-engineered by a major auto or oil company's labs. If an Amsoil-type full syn formulation would give even a 1% mpg improvement, I firmly believe that auto companies would use that oil as a factory fill--it would cost a lot less than an aluminum hood and give a much larger mileage improvement.

I'm sure that Amsoil is good oil, but I don't believe it's better than any major brand premium synthetic oil. And the religious devotion of its users and dealers frankly turns me off. I have put in my time on BITOG and have hobbies that are way more fun than splitting hairs over motor oil minutiae.

George

 

Yep!

Motorcraft FL-820S = $4, reman'd 5.4L motor round 'bout $4500 turnkey complete---I choose option 1!

If we really wanna geek out on oil and wear etc Boeing once did a study of oil pressure rise vs component wear and found no less than 50% of all wear occurred in those first few seconds where oil pressure was less than optimal, ie: start ups. For this reason alone a pre-oiling system would extend the lives of our engines to insane mileages. Not a bad thing even if a bit off topic---or is it?

As to the ADV etc I'll perhaps foolishly assume since Ford spec's and sells a filter with one of the better ADV's they find it beneficial. As often as some claim "the factory" drops the ball or over spec's things as a gimmick for sales we forget the massive amount of design, testing and evaluation they do before something like the Modular Motors are unleashed on the public.

Besides as I've already said a premium quality filter of the proper spec for $4---can NOT beat that price with or without a good ADV!

IMHO of course!

 

There is a lot of marketing hype on oils. I bought Penzoil Platinum 100% synthetic on sale for about $30 including a motorcraft filter. My mileage on my e150 went up by 2 mpgs. I think this was due to the change from winter fuel to summer fuel. I flushed the tranny too at Jiffy lube right before the fill up. Oh BTW, I rotated the tires too and added the correct air pressure. At the end of the day my old 4.2 liter v6 still averages 15 mpg all around.

I have done some really stupid things to increase fuel economy. I tried the platinum gas saver fuel system-mpg went down. I add a K&N air filter-zero difference. I tried one of those Tornado devices that fits inside the air intake box and I ended up denting my hood when I removed the device because I left it on top of the box! Fuel economy did not change at all. 15 years ago I put in one of those after market ignition systems and it burned out the cap and rotor on Isuzu and left me stranded. I don't ever seem to learn that most of fuel saving gimmicks don't work. Common sense driving along with combining my day to day driving to save miles driven saves more than anything.

I try to use top of the line oil to protect and lube my engine and don't expect any fuel savings. I have the Blackstone Kit to analyze my oil when I get back from a 5000 mile trip from San Francisco to British Columbia and back. Maybe it will tell me something that I don't already know.

 

Thanks for the $20 something oil changing tip. I think I will go back to changing the oil every 4k regardless of what I do. I forgot about using Amazon and having the oil delivered. I still think I am going to do an oil analysis of both my tranny and engine to learn more about what is going on. I bought the van used 2 years ago with 86k. It just hit 100k.

 

Sam Memmolo was in a commercial selling those tornado things on 2 guys garage. I lost all respect for him after he sold out his integrity. ..jack

He is still on youtube. if you would like to see for yourself.

 

I have no problems with oil analysis for giggles and grins---my "gripe" would be the extended life stuff requiring this in order to rest assured all is still well.

Amazon is a good site for guys like me who stock up on things when the price is right. I'll admit to being a bit of a tight wad and impatient however things like oil and filters can be shopped for and purchased when the price suits me. Even though I've had a few customer service issues with Amazon lately they still perform very much to my liking.

I'm glad you too can find some value in them!

 

I used 6 quarts of the ford semi synthetic from ford and their filter. about $30 & 1/2 hr later, done. Does anyone know if the s at the end of the filter stands for short or standard?

 

I believe that S means it has the silicone anti drain back valve.

 

Yup, S stands for silicone ADB valve. Ford seems to be down to a smaller number of filter types these days--I found this handy chart on the Internet listing oil weights, capacities, and filters for recent Ford vehicles and it looks like virtually all of their current filters have the S suffix:

https://www.fcsdchemicalsandlubrican...f/oilchart.pdf

George

 

YoGeorge that's one handy damned chart---reps for posting it!

Might have to approach our esteem moderator and see if it could be/should be included in the Tech Folder.

Wouldn't hurt to have it forum-wide in fact---not sure where it would go in that instance.

 

My '03 has had nothing but the Motorcraft 5w20 and Motorcraft filters from day one. 150k and the best running vehicle in the yard. Walmart was out of the oil yesterday and I almost used another brand. Would it have really mattered? Doubt it, but it just felt too darned strange. Lucky me, when I asked at the auto counter they found me 2 jugs.

 

That iPhone "keyboard" giving you fits huh? Good gosh I'm soooooo glad I'm old skol!

I tend to stick with the brand and type of whatever I've had the most or best success with, mostly because I'm a creature of habit. I will keep up with my choices in case there's a recall or legitimate problem.

I don't think a one time switch in brand would matter too much, especially if its the same API designated type oil. Do pay attention I'm buying my stuff through Amazon. It comes to the front door, is very fairly priced and they're almost never out of stock on my favorite brand!