I OWN A 2001 F-150 REG. CAB XL PICKUP WITH THE BIG OLE V6. AND I'VE BEEN USING VALVOLINE DURABLEND 5W30 MOTOR OIL IN MY ENGINE. THE OWNERS MANUAL STATES THAT YOUR SUPPOSED TO USE 5W20, BUT I OPTED FOR THIS OIL BECAUSE IT'S BETTER IN QUALITY THAN YOUR REGULAR DINO 5W20 AND IT COSTS LESS THAN FULL SYNTHETIC. I BELIEVE ITS ABOUT $ 2.50 A QT. AT AUTOZONE. MY ENGINE IS RUNNING GREAT WITH THIS OIL SO FAR, BUT I'VE ONLY CHANGED IT ONCE SINCE I BOUGHT THE TRUCK. WAS THIS A GOOD CHOICE? LET ME READ YOUR COMMENTS. THANKS IN ADVANCE.

 

I used to use it exclusively in all my vehicles when it was the only semi-synthetic. This included my motorcycles, van, and truck. Now I use Quaker State 4X4 semi-synthetic when I can find it as it's a tad cheaper or the Valvoline semi-synthetic when I can't. I change it about 3,000 miles in the bike, 4,000 in the van, and 5,000 in the truck.

 

Have you guys even read up on the syn. oils. Your not supost to run any type of syn. oil until at least 10,000 miles. They say to use 5w20 for a reason. It lets your motor spin up and run beter. They (Ford) have done millions of test on this. If you use anything besides 5w20 you will void your warrenty. Oil manufactures say to run syn. and not switch back and forth between non syn., and syn. It takes away the effect of having a syn. oil all together. So why anyone would use a blend of the two ????? Doesn't make much sense to me!!!!!! You asked for opinons.

 

THE SYN. BLEND OIL WORKS VERY WELL IN MY ENGINE. NO VALVE RATTLING OR ANYTHING OF THE SORT THAT I CAN HEAR, EVEN WHILE REVVING IT UP. IF THE BLEND OF THE OILS DOES'NT WORK VERY WELL TOGETHER, WHY WOULD THEY MAKE IT? IT HAS THE DINO OIL IN IT NEEDED FOR THE BREAK IN PERIOD, AND THE SYNTHETIC FOR BETTER PROTECTION. SO I THINK IT IS A BETTER OIL THAN THE REG. 5W20. I SAW A POST IN HERE SOMEWHERE WHERE A GUY USED VAVLVOLINE DURA BLEND 5W30, AND CHANGED HIS OIL AT 15,OOO MILE INTERVALS!!! NO PROBLEMS FOR HIM WHATSOEVER!!! HE EVEN STATED HE STARTED USING IT AFTER HIS FIRST OIL CHANGE AND AND IS STILL USING IT AT OVER 100,000 MILES. AND I'VE NEVER HEARD THAT USING A DIFFERENT CERTIFIED OIL WOULD VOID YOUR WARRANTY. DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS I GUESS. JUST MY .02 CENTS.

 

It's 1,000 miles to break in, not 10,000. I always go a full oil change though. I have a friend with a 2001 CBR 929 who's changed his oil 10 times, and he only has 3,500 miles on it. This is rediculous, but he does his own thing. actually, kinda scary. He's one of those guys who reads that somethings good(with extensive research mind you) and then goes to the extreme in practice. If I read that an oils good for this or that and has long mileage capabilities, I'll weight the benefits vs the cost. Like if semi-synthetic only costs a $1.90, and you can leave it in till 10,000 max miles instead of 5,000 max with regular oil, then I'll go to 5,000 with the semi. The costs aren't that much vs the gains.
BTW, my oil in the truck doesn't even get dirty till almost 5,000. But the oil in my B-12 is history with reg, semi, or full synthetic in only 3,000 and you can really feel it in the shifting!

 

I put the Valvoline Durablend in my truck after I drove it from Dallas, Tx. to Washington Dc. I could tell it was broke in when I started to get 21 mpg on the way back to Dallas. I got 16 mpg going to DC. That trip put a total of 3000 mile on my truck. My truck has been running great every since I made that trip.My Truck

 

I wouldn't worry about running that Valvoline semi. during break-in. That stuff is likely 20% synthetic (or less). A manufacturer can add a little synthetic to the mix and call it a semi-synthetic to create the implication that its a 50/50 blend. Don't expect anything approaching full synthetic protection from it.

 

I wouldn't worry about running the semi-synthetic during the break-in period, but I wouldn't run fully synthetic until I hit about 20,000 miles. If you go to synthetic, semi-or fully, you can never go back to conventional oil, or it will cause problems. I don't see any harm in running semi-synthetic for a break-in, though.

 

Check out www.amsoil.com, you can run your vehicle up to 25,000 or 1 year and change the Amsoil filter every 12,000 miles. I have it in my F150 and have 11,000 miles on it! It looks like I just put it in, does not void the warranty and my truck runs smoother, better mpg and more horse power. It is 5w-30. I asked the Ford service manager about this and he did not say a bad word about it. It is a little costly at first but compare to changing every 3-4 thousands miles it saves you money. I will be putting in the transmission Amsoil very soon.

 

I changed the oil in my brand new '01 F150 S/C (4x4, 4.6 ltr)with AMSOIL 5w-20 at about 850 miles. The stuff is like water! There is a noticeable difference in valve noise now with this watery 5w-20. This weekend I'll be draining it after only 200 miles and putting in Mobil 1 5-30. If it were summer I would use 10w-30. I have 6 quarts of AMSOIL XL7500 5w-20 I'll let you have real cheap!

HEY RPMIS....I would watch that syn tranny fluid. If your tranny calls for Mercon and you use the AMSOIL "everything" tranny fluid that states for Mercon and Mercon V, you will surely void the warranty if you have any tranny problems. Mercon V does not go well where Mercon is called for. If your tranny calls for Mercon V then the one size fits all synthetic stuff would be fine.

Natty

 

The Motorcraft 5W-20 that you say Ford has done millions of miles of testing on IS a BLEND. If you switch back to non syn you will lose the benefits of synthetic only until you put synthetic back in. Looks like you need to go back and read up on oils. The 10,000 mile wait is no longer needed on todays motors. Do you think Chevrolet drives the Vette around for 10000 miles before they put Mobil-1 in it?

 

01blkL:

You really have NO idea what you are talking about do you?

"Have you guys even read up on the syn. oils. Your not supost to run any type of syn. oil until at least 10,000 miles. "

Technically you can run it as soon as you get the truck home. Today's engines are built with much tighter tolerances than in the past. Several cars come with synthetic oil right from the factory.

"They say to use 5w20 for a reason. It lets your motor spin up and run beter. They (Ford) have done millions of test on this"

You're right about one thing...Ford has done tests. But the ONLY reason they recommend running 5W-20 is for fuel ratings ONLY!! By recommending 5W-20 oil which only netted less than 1/2% increase in mileage allowed them to passify the tree huggers. 1/2% X a bunch of cars equals less emissions.

"If you use anything besides 5w20 you will void your warrenty."

Wrong again jack...You can run just about any weight oil you would like as long as it is API service certified to the level required in your manual. That means you can run 5W-20, 30, 10W-30, 20W-50 if you would like. In order for Ford to deny a warranty claim they have to prove that whatever you did caused the failure.

"Oil manufactures say to run syn. and not switch back and forth between non syn., and syn. It takes away the effect of having a syn. oil all together. So why anyone would use a blend of the two ?????"

All it will do if you mix petro and synthetic oil will reduce the life of the synthetic oil. Any oil manufacturer will tell you it is ok, but dont recommend it.

"Doesn't make much sense to me!!!!!!"

Nothing you have said makes much sense to me. Stick to something you actually know about and quit giving out false information to someone who is looking for facts.

GOOD GRIEF!!!!

 

Norm, you are absolutely correct, Porsche, Corvette, and other high-performance cars come with Mobil-1 fully synthetic directly from the factory.