I came across Ford oil info page when I was looking for an oil filter for the new Focus I just picked up. Don't know if it'll be useful for anyone, of if it has been posted before, but I decided that I might as well post the link.

http://www.ilma.org/resources/chart_...mendations.pdf

Nobody had the right Motorcraft filter in stock, except the local Ford dealer - $6.25 seems a bit steep. Apparently this particular filter has some sort of flow restrictor built into it, which makes it fairly unique...not sure if I believe that or not.

On another note, how the heck to people with these little cars change their oil? No way can I get under it, and all my ramps are too steep & tall to be able to drive up onto them. I have a few paving stones sitting around, I'll probably drive the front tires on a couple of those and see if it's high enough.

LK

 

As silly as it sounds, I normally use a 1.5' section of 2x4 to create a ramp to the ramp on each wheel. In lay mans terms, I put the section of 2x4 infront of the ramp to decrease the angle of asent.

Side Note:

Anyone notice that the GT requires a 5-50 oil! Man, talk about a whole pile of VI improvers!

 

LK, thanks! Just the chart I was looking for.
Larry

 

I'm a little confused on the charts. For example, my '94 Taurus SHO (3.0L DOHC) is only listed under the 5W-30 chart, but there is no coloring in the year columns associated with it. So does that mean the 5W-30 is not recommended?

 

It's a confusing chart, for sure. Notice that the "year" column starts with model year '96. True, there is no red block for your 3.0L SHO (as the '94 SHO is not represented in this chart), but there IS a red block for the '96 3.4L SHO. While your Maybe by the year '96, ford used only the 3.4 engine in the SHO. At least that's my guess. I think your '94 needs a different era chart. Good luck.
Larry

 

I'm not familiar with the focus but have had several Escorts '83 to '95. I could change the oil on all of them by reaching the drain plug by reaching under the side or the front. Filters I could get from under the hood.

No ramps needed for the '93 F-250 either <grin>. But I did have to make platforms to stand on when working under the hood.

 

There are ramps made specifically for cars with limited ground clearance. Though I don't think I need such a ramp anytime soon with a Bronco.

 

Yeah, the chart isn't the easiest to read - and it only applies for the newer vehicles. I wasn't able to find one for the the earlier Fords, though it's probably out there on the 'net somewhere.

I noticed the 5w-50 oil spec for the GT...I wonder if that means that we'll have a Motorcraft 5w-50 we'll be able to special-order through Ford dealers. The only other 5w-50 I can remember seeing was the Castrol Syntec...and I've never found that oil to be very impressive.

As far as my Focus, I found that I could get far enough underneath it by driving up on two paving stones - the extra 2" helps quite a bit. Luckily, I can reach the drain plug without having to get very far under the car, and the oil filter sticks straight down and is right behind the bumper...pretty darn convenient. However, without the paving stones I could hardly even get my drain pan under it.

Why does Ford insist on putting the oil filters and drain plug on so tight, anyway? The Focus was just like my last couple trucks - I had to completely crush the oil filter to pull it off, and you could hardly get the drain plug out without rounding the head. I swear, the factory must tighten the oil filter to 50 ft-lbs.

At this point I've changed the oil twice (at 500 and 2,000 miles) and I still can't find anyone but the Ford dealer who stocks the FL-910 Motorcraft filters. They appear to be made by a different supplier from the other Motorcraft filters - they're made in England, and the label is completely different from all the other Motorcraft filters I've seen. Odd thing is, the box says "FL-910" but the filters say "EFL-910" - not sure what the extra letter means, but the factory filter was also an EFL-910. It seems to be a very well-made filter, probably better than the other Ford filters I've used.

I didn't realize how much Ford dealers varied in price - the identical filter ranged from $4.69 to $8.75 depending on which Ford dealer I went to. When I told the parts guy at the dealer who was selling them for $8.75 that I could buy them at another dealer for less than $5, he said that he couldn't understand how another dealer could sell them so cheap - because he said the dealership could hardly buy them for that. All I know is that I'm buying my filters at the dealership that sells them for $4.69.

Here's an odd thing - the air filter in these isn't meant to be serviced, just 'checked' at 75,000 and 150,000 miles. Instead of a replaceable filter, it's a sealed unit with an air-flow meter - so you can check the meter to see if the filter is clogging up. I've heard that the big rigs use something similar - and they don't normally change air filters unless the flow meter indicates that they need to. I'm not very comfortable with this setup, and I'm planning to get the oil tested to see how good the filtration is.

LK

 

The sealed air filter has been in the works for a very long time, I remember reading about this in a engineering publication awhile back.

 

Yeah, it looks like I'm one of the guinea-pigs in that experiment. At least, I'm not aware of any other production Ford cars or light-duty trucks that are using this type of system - though there might be a few. However, if it works I expect that we'll see it over their whole range of vehicles...though it'll be more difficult in trucks, because normally they see more dusty conditions than the average car.

It'll be a while before I get enough miles on the car to do an accurate oil analysis, but when I do I'll post how it turns out...I'm pretty curious about the silicon level. In theory, a sealed unit should work quite well...but I'm not sure how they'll work in the real world.

From what I gather, the permanent air filter is partly related to emissions rules. I think they've been using them in California for a year or two, in order to qualify as a PZEV (partial zero emissions vehicle)...though I'm not very familiar with the regulations. All I know is that the Focus probably has less emissions than my Superduty, seeing as it uses 1/3 as much fuel.

LK

 

I find I get better oil analysis results from air filters that have been left in a long time, as the holes of a new filter get plugged with dirt. However, there is a point of performance degredation when it gets saturated and silicon readings on the oil analysis actually go UP as the loose dirt comes free, then it's time to change it out. On my F150 I just sold (4.2 V6) the silicon reading was down to 8 ppm on my last analysis. The filter had been in there for 47,000 miles.

I can see the logic behind this, so long as the filter flows good you'll actually get better filtration from a slightly dirty filter.

 

LK, check a Mazda dealer for price on that filter. If your Focus is a 05 the 2.0 enging is a smaller version of the 2.3 and they both are MAzda/Ford design. Mazda uses these enginens in the 3 and 6 models as well as the 4cyl. Tribute.

I bought a 92 Escort GT new and that had the Mazda Protege 1.8 twin cam engine. Ford was getting $8 a filter and I bought them for $5 at the Mazda dealer across the street. I kinda miss that car, my best friend bought it from me a few years back and it has 270,000 miles on it and still runs great and uses NO Oil...
Dan

 

So much for the theory (myth) that mod motors dont work with higher viscosity oil.

 

The 6.0 powerstroke diesel uses a vacuum guage on the air filter. I have also seen them on lawn equipment. The John Deere tractor filter would clog in a season and the meter would get to the red line and need replacement. Worked real good.

 

About the SHO discrepency. The 3.4 was the small V8 that was dropped into Taurus's for a little bit before it went the way of the dodo. The 3.0 was a Yamaha V6. This is for those that didn't know - I know an owner of one such car would obviously know that the 3.0 was a Yamaha.

Cool thing about the SHO's with the 3.4 V8 was the fact that they had a reverse flow cooling system. Heads got cooled first...allowing for better control of knock and higher compression.