I run Mobil 1 5W30 in the summer and Mobil 1 5W20 in the winter. the only reason Ford switched to 5W20 across the board (back to 99 I believe) was to raise the CAFE standard. all internal parts of the engine are the same. same on my Chrysler minivan, they used to run 5w30 and they switched over to 5w20 with no internal changes to the engine. I will not run that water in my engine while towing in 90 degree weather.

 

Is there a reason that most here seem to avoid the Fram oil filters?
I have always used the higher end Fram filters like the extra guard and I am using the tough guard now and have had no issues.
Just wondering because I have seen people on other sites whether it be Ford, Chevy or anything else. it seems a lot of people do not like Fram oil filters.

 

Google "Fram oil filter failure" and you'll have more than you can read in a week.

 

Bad experiences in the past.
There really is NO reason not to use the motorcraft filters. They are not expensive, sold in many places, and proven reliable.

 

Well
I Googled fram oil filter failure and I can see why people stay away from them after reading/seeing the bad stories, but I would guess that Fram is the most used oil filter in the United States at least? and most people never see anything bad about them or have bad experiences.
That being said.........I will go with a Motorcraft next oil change because I did google it!

 

I dont think you have to worry about the motor wearing out on 5-20. I used to service Crown Victoria Police cars, they ran 24/7 mostly idle time. In the hot 100* summer months with AC running and more idle time. Usually Those units would avg about 3,500 idle hours + about 80k miles. Ford justifies one hour of idle time equal to 35 miles of driving. If you factor in 3,500 idle hours x 35 miles = 122,500 equivalent to normal driving wear and tear. So add the 80k of actual mileage is 202,500 miles worth of wear and tear on the moving parts. Those units always got the FL820s and regular old Motorcraft syn blend 5-20 for years. Usually those cars then become taxis with more idling, less maintenance and go until 300k on the odometer, We used to delete the idle our meter out of the PCM on the 05+ cars for that very reason that idle time destroys any value that is left. I had one that I picked up to derby with 290,000 miles on it and just over 7,000 idle hours! Thats 245,000 miles just in idle time! Now plus that 290k is just over 535,000 miles worth of wear and tear on the moving parts. So now that my little almost pointless post is over, you should be just fine with any high quality 5-20 you choose.
(from one of my old posts)


There is noting wrong with what the manufacturer calls for. Adding lucas is worthless or any other "oil stabilizer" is just a joke. When municipal vehicles would come in for service there was no special treatment, just oil and filter and whatever else is in the schedule. We would get the occasional ambulance in for service, the only "special treatment" it received was 5-40 synthetic (diesel) and motorcraft filters. I also have an extensive racing background, mainly demolition derby but we run our motors hard and I am the one to re-build. Never once have any of us added any oil stabilizer to any motor. Usually we use 460's dry-blocked and good old 10-30, Never once has there been a failure related to "too thin of oil". Sure you can hear it sizzle off the insides of the engine after a race but just add another qt and go. I have one 460 with 5 years of derby on it and Ive maybe changed the oil once. The point is that Ford has spent 100's of thousand dollars testing in the field. I believe the manufacturer knows more about what oil to run than the backyard mechanic. I used to be the same way "oh that's just water" but after seeing what the municipal trucks went through, Im going to stick with the Ford Spec. Under normal conditions I have yet too see a failure related to "thin oil". Im not in any way insulting someone or their choice or looking to pick a fight, Im just sharing my experiences.

 

With all the view points, I follow the manufacturers recommendations, but this post jolted a synapse in my memory about my late uncle who used to work for the power company in Long Island.

He once pointed out to me that the engineers there, set the policy for the maintenance of all their trucks, and the procedure was to replace the oil filter every 3000 miles, and add a quart of fresh oil. Their thinking was that the oil never looses its lubricity, only has contaminants in it that need to be removed by the filter. The new filter would trap the contaminants, and the new oil would provide the needed additives to keep carbon in suspension, so it could be filtered out by the filter.

He adopted this policy, and kept using it for the rest of his life. He never had a car's engine quit due to oil failure. Transmission and rear end failure, yes, timing chain breaking, connecting rod failure and puncture of the engine block, even rusting the body off the frame, but never an oil related failure.

 

I think all oil will run out of the 6.8 if you only change the filter.
I'd go for filter plus oil change. Using a motorcraft filter and any oil with regular changes will make the engine outlast the rest of the vehicle.

 

My last change was M1 0w20, and this was done immediately before dragging my trailer across the country. I will change at 5,000 miles and run an oil analysis.

 

My railroad work truck is a 2004 F-350 with the 5.4l V-8. It has 237,000 miles on it but has probably close to 10,000 engine hours. (Don't have an hour meter on this one but have seen an 05 with similar miles with over 10,000 on the hour meter.) It gets 6,000 mile oil change intervals and they use a syn-blend 5W-30. This truck has been completely abused and even run low on oil more than a few times (not by me) and uses a few quarts of oil between changes but it just keeps on going. Oh, it weighs in over 10,000 pounds too.

 

Motorcraft 5W20 Full Synthetic and motorcraft filter all year round. Been running this since 22K miles on the vehicle which is equipped with the 6.8L V10, am now at 186K miles.

-Mark

 

I run Castrol Syntec 5w20... I'm burning quite a bit of oil... would switching to Motorcraft Syn blend help?

 

I've read some people changing pcv valve to reduce heavy oil usage. Tried that?

 

I use an average of 1 quart between oil changes, usually 6K miles. It depends on how much towing I did and/or how hard I worked the engine.

-Mark

 

Yes it probably would help. It's actually pretty common that these V10s can use more oil if it's full syn. I went from using just 1 quart of Motorcraft Syn-Blend to using about 4 quarts of Mobile 1 in between a 5,000 oil change.