My latest used truck (95 F150 5.8) has been raised on a steady diet of Mobil one. I have only used synthetic blends in the past, and not a fan of full synthetics. The posts here are enlightening, and make good sense...thanks. Is Mobil 1 the best, or the ultimate synthetic or are there others that can do the job as well? What about the Valvoline synthetic? Also, from the cut open oil filter displays I have seen, the WIX filter is my choice, with the easier to get Motorcraft as my second. I also had major lack of backflow prevention problems with the FRAM, dry clattery cold starts... switched to WIX filter, problem vanished.

 

Oil is one of those things that for 99.99% of us, we will never see any problem using a particular brand, so obviously that brand is the best and that is how we get into argments about what is best.

I like syn and have used Mobil 1 syn in all my personal cars since 1980 and Valvoline syn in my truck since 1996 and Texaco Havoline syn in the wife's van since about 1999? None of the engines I have ever put syn into ever failed, but that really doesn't mean anything since I never drove the engines a bazillion miles and then tore it down. Only thing I can say is that the syn looks like it keeps things cleaner when I look into the valve cover area thru the fill hole.

I think Mobil 1 syn is probably one of the better "true" syns out there. There are a lot of oils now calling themselves syn because of a loop hole created a few years back. Some of the syns are just really good dino oil with an expensive price tag. If I am going to pay too much for my oil, at least I want it to be the real thing, a psychological and religious problem.

You would undoubtedly be in good hands with just about any of the top quality name brand syns or dino oils. Some of the dino oils are truly excellent and syn like in capabilites. I think the only areas where syn still has the advantage are temperature extremes, severe duty and longer drain intervals. If you go with 3,000 mile changes, syn is probably a waste of money and the dino will do fine.

So you could go to dino as was your habit or stick with syn. Either way will work. The oils are compatible so no harm is done switching one way or another. Some of us do recommend picking an oil and sticking with it due to tiny possiblility that the additives etc are better off when they are consistantly the same. Regular changes are far more improtant than what brand you put in, so long as it meets spec.

BTW I use Mobil 1 because that is the first syn I used way back and mentally I think of it as real syn, I am not sure since they keep changing the name. The Valvoline syn I use in my truck because I always liked Valvoline but they didn't have syn until the 90s, I am not sure if it is "real" syn tho. I use Havoline syn becuase it is cheap and I don't feel guilty about using it in "lesser" vehicles, I am guessing it is not "real" syn.

I have heard that Chevron Supreme is very near syn in performance and is priced with the rest of the dinos. The Diesel oils are supposed to be very good, like Rotella and Delo. Only thing I wonder about is the level of antiwear additives which can be bad for the smog devices on most vehicles.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Thanks for your information and opinion. I have always used Valvolene or Motorcraft in my vehicles over the years, and after reading here, I am going back to Valvolene Durablend. I used it years ago and got tired of the higher cost. Well compared to the cost of the synthetics... what to heck live large. thanks... This is a great web site.

 

Better than Mobil 1? Redline ($8 a quart).

Besides Durablend, Maxlife is very good oil too, and even better is synthetic Maxlife.

 

Ouch!! That's an expen$$$ive oil! Is it really worth the money? Or is there some usage when it's truely better than some less expensive synthetic oil, like Mobil 1, or, umm, err, Amsoil? I think the only time I paid that much for oil when I bought some synthetic gear oil for my rear diff, but that's different since I expect it to last for about 50,000 miles. Normally, I don't pay more than $2 for a quart.

 

i just use a good diesel oil or mc oil in my expy no need for the syn. tests show that too. synthetics are good for extended oci's.

 

thanks for the info, Please comment on changing oil base types? This 5.8L (51K)motor is amazingly solid, clean, and dry, to possibly mess it up with a blood type change, but I just don't like the synthetic thing, and want to get the motor on a blend.

BTW- Mobil 1 - $5.29/quart... Valvolene Dura Blend - $2.99/quart, SE Michigan, and even cheaper at Walmart. Go FORD, thanks again RZ

 

i would suggest something like rotella t in 10w30 or 15w40 or delo or mystik. all of those will outpreform any other engine oil and all are about 1.90 a qaurt.

 

forgot to mention the 2 best oils for your money have to be the chevron/texaco products right now. take a look over at bitog. but unless your enigne is roller lifter you may not want to use any sm oil.

 

I have a 1995 F150 with the 5.0 and have been using Mobil1 10w30. I tried Mobil 7500 sythetic blend and noticed no problems.

 

OK, in order (& no, I'm not trying to be a smarty-pants):

My latest used truck (95 F150 5.8) has been raised on a steady diet of Mobil one. I have only used synthetic blends in the past, and not a fan of full synthetics.
I'm confused; if your truck has been raised on a steady diet of Mobil 1, how are you not a fan of synthetics?........what am I missing?

Is Mobil 1 the best synthetic?:
In my opinion, there is no "best" or "ultimate" synthetic oil. There are too many variables under which a vehicle can be operated. Thus, the terms "best" & "ultimate" are too subjective. With that said, Mobil 1 has proven, in countless used oil analyses, to be a very good synthetic oil.

Are there other oils that can do the job as well?
Yes. Unless you are talking about extended oil change intervals, a used oil analysis would show very little difference in engine wear, regardless of what name-brand synthetic or semi-synthetic oil you use.

What about the Valvoline synthetic?
It is a good synthetic oil. For the oil change interval listed in your owners manual, Valvoline synthetic would work just as well as any other synthetic oil. It should also be cheaper than Mobil 1.

Also, from the cut open oil filter displays I have seen, the WIX filter is my choice, with the easier to get Motorcraft as my second:
Nothing wrong with those choices. I like the Motorcraft filters, myself. I wouldn't hesitate to use Wix, either, if my trusted MC wasn't available.

I also had major lack of backflow prevention problems with the FRAM, dry clattery cold starts... switched to WIX filter, problem vanished.
Same thing happened to me when I switched from Fram to Motorcraft....no start-up noise in over a year of using Motorcraft filters.

For what it's worth, I'm currently running Havoline Synthetic 5w30 in my '97 Expedition with 113k miles. I'm also using a Motorcraft FL820S oil filter. The Expy couldn't be happier.

Happy oil hunting.

 

Hey wavinwayne, Thanks for your input. I just bought the truck (previuos owners only used M1). I don't like full synthetics, but also don't like to change blood types on an established motor. Yet, I'm just too set in my 60's and 70's street racing days to buy in to the full synthetic thing. I like the idea of synthetic performance with organic protection. Used to be, back in the day, a synthetic oil run motor left stored and set too long, would rust up inside, I saw it happen in a snowmobile of mine. Yes I know the numbers are good, but I like the blend idea and the cost. The VI on Valvoline Durablend is 169, better than organics, and I like it, used it years ago and quit for some goofy reason back then. Good Luck with you Expy, and keep an eye on that cruise control switch/ connection that is by the master cylinder. GO FORD

 

Put some Red Line oil in your motor, add a bypass filter and enjoy a clean running engine. Red Line will clean your engine if need be due to the polyol ester base stock that is used, or just keep the darn thing clean if your engine is already in good shape.

 

I just purchaes a 98 explorer with the 4.0 SOHC.

The Carfax indicates oil changes every 3,000 miles. I don't know what kind of oil was used, but sisce the services are listed on the Carfax, I assumed they were done at the dealer.

Question: Any problem switching to synthetic oil at this point in the truck's life?

 

You should be fine. I switched wife's '92 Aerostar to synthetic recently (at 103,000) and have run 5000 miles that way with no problems.