Doing my first oil change this weekend. How many quarts does the L take to fill her up? Has anyone been able to find that new 0w20 mobil 1 oil? I can't find it anywhere. Talked to a tech at Mobil and he said it is being made and shipped, but no one in my area seems to have it yet.
Scott

 

6 quarts........

 

why do you want something that thin

10w-30 or 15w-40 is the way to go, IMHO

 

As Spankdog says, 6 qts with filter change.
Would not even consider 5-20, I use Moble 5-30 which
is sold everywhere

 

Mobil just developed that oil specifically for ford and honda motors that call for 5w20. It is approved by ford motor company, so there will be no warranty issues over using the wrong oil. With all the voided warranties lately, I'm trying to be as careful as possible, but I want to run synthetic oil.

 

uhhh great, but still 5-20 is waaaaaayyyyy to thin.

they won't void your warranty for something like oil weight unless you give them a reason to

BTW i work at a dealership

 

I noticed you mentioned switching to synthetic on your first oil change. I like to do the first oil change the first time my car rolls into the driveway. My theory here is to get any dirt and dust from production out as soon as possible. Then I install a magnet on the drain plug. I typically wait until about 10,000 miles, at which time I use Mobil 1 15-50. (even with Mobil 1 I change my oil every 3000 miles in my truck) I know there are all kinds of ideas on this. Some people claim that rings may not seal if a slipery synthetic is used before the rings have seated. But then corvettes come from the factory with Mobil 1. People also claim that if the correct honing stones ang piston ring package are used that synthetic from the start is just fine. I know it has been proven that rings will not seat/seal at all if the wrong rings and honing are used. I get nervous with thin oil on these Ford over head cam engines (I have a 5.4 2 valve and a 3.0 4 valve) because the camshaft actually rides on the aluminum cam towers of the cylinder head casting. Not on babbit bearings like rods and mains or traditional pushrod engines do. The head pressure can be very low by the time the oil gets to the last journal, especially on a 4 valve (more journals). That is the biggest reason I like heavier oil on these engines. I am willing to give up some mileage and power for longer engine life. These are just my opinions and thoughts. Darin

 

I beg to differ with you .

My 01 L has had nothing but 5w20 in it--first 1,000 miles(with a change at 500 miles), Motorcraft's 5w20, and since then, Royal Purple's #11(5w20) Synthetic Racing oil. It now has 48,900 miles on it--daily driven, 1/4 miled, and dynoed a few times, with no problems--no start-up eng. 'noises'--none.

A 'thin' oil(synthetic is all I'm referring to) get's to the valve train/cams quicker than a 'thick' oil. And, a synthetic oil leaves behind a coating on all the bearing/bushing surfaces to further protect the eng. at cold start-up. It doesn't drain completely back to the oil pan.

Here is a quote taken from a Lubrication study paper:


"Aside from those small but noteworthy environmental concerns, there are selfish reasons you might want to switch to synthetic oil. The most important is that, for most cars, synthetic seems to work better on several levels. Refined crude oil is an odd mixture of different-sized molecules, and it still contains some impurities even after the refining process. Synthetic oil has molecules of a consistent size and no impurities. In other words, on a molecular level, refined crude oil would look more like a mixed pile of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters mixed in with some of your pocket lint and the odd breath mint; synthetic oil would look more like a pile of clean pennies.

The more consistent the molecular structure, the longer the oil resists breakdown, and the better it does its job: protecting engine parts from friction. Friction is one of the main forces your car must work to overcome—particularly when you start your engine. Some sources claim that as much as 60% of engine wear occurs during start-up—when there is direct friction between metal parts, made worse by the fact that oil has not yet circulated enough to lubricate and provide a cushion between those parts. Metal-to-metal contact without that cushion results in engine damage, which leaves small flecks of metal floating around in your lubricant, free to scrape and harm other parts of your car. This is one reason conventional oil must be changed frequently, along with its filter; the metal flecks plus impurities in the oil result in the black sludge that comes out of your car during an oil change.

The properties of synthetic oil enable it to leave a film of lubrication on metal parts that stays in place. This means there is some lubricant present at the moment you start your car, resulting in less wear and tear on metal parts. Less wear and tear means a better-functioning, longer-lived engine, and one that doesn't have to work quite so hard. And if your engine doesn't have to work quite so hard, it uses less fuel. Users of synthetic oil have claimed increases in their fuel mileage ranging from 2-5%.

There's also the question of temperature and viscosity, or thickness of the oil. You can buy different weights of oil designed to work better in different temperatures, of course, but there will still be a variance in that oil's thickness depending on the car's operating temperature and outside weather conditions. Oil that is too thick takes longer to work its way through your car; oil that's too thin does not lubricate as well, and is more likely to slip out of imperfections in your seals, gaskets and joints, resulting in small oil leaks. Synthetic oil remains remarkably stable under extreme temperature conditions. In cold weather, you can still easily pour synthetic oil at temperatures that would render conventional oil thicker than the proverbial molasses in January. In very warm weather or in cars with high operating temperatures (common with newer cars), synthetic oil retains an effective thickness, while regular oil thins quickly and doesn't do as good a job."

Dan

 

New York city taxi cabs did a test on oil and found very little differences between quality petroleum oils and also found very little difference between quality petroleum oil and synthetics. Use what makes you feel comfortable, but rest assured, your engine will probably survive just fine to a ripe old age by using a good quality oil and filter and changing oil at a decent interval.

 

I use 5W30 Mobil 1. Have 1/4 miled, dynoed, drive it pretty agressively at times, etc etc.

 

Straight from the horse's (Consumer Reports') mouth:

"Motor oil. To evaluate motor oil and we went down to New York City, commandeered 75 taxis, changed their engines, and put oil in religiously every 3,000-6,000 miles. Then we took the engines out of the taxis, looked at the engine parts to see how much wear there was on the pistons and how much carbon buildup there was and concluded that they all did fine for 60,000 miles. There was no sign of wear on any of them. So our advice was you can change your oil every 6,000 miles rather than 3,000. And we said you can buy the cheapest oil you can find. You don't have to worry about the $2-a-quart whiz-bang oil, because that's what we tested and it wasn't any different.

Now it's very simple to say in a paragraph, but when we did the test it was very scary because we entered into something that cost us well over $300,000. Suppose the experiment failed? I was very pleased about that motor oil project because it answered a burning question. All the ads about the best oil—you don't need to spend that money and you don't need to change it as often because our experience with these taxis demonstrated fairly conclusively that it's not necessary."

I still use synthetic. If for no other reason, synthetics have been proven time and again to add significant HP. And that test did not involve WOT extended-time racing, which I do.

 

M1 0w-20 is starting to hit the shelves. It may be a while before people start using it and posting oil analysis. The analysis on the oil straight from the bottle has shown high levels of boron, moly and ZDDP.

It's interesting how many people have formed the opinion that it is too thin before even looking at an oil analysis from one of our engines. That may be an indication that this oil may not sell well, especially in the southern states.

I'll wait for some oil analysis to form my opinion. Expectations seem to be that this oil will do very well. It looks like you will have to use another oil this change anyhow.

You can use a synthetic, but wear metals are high on a new engine, and I like to go with short change intervals the first year and don't see the need for an expensive synthetic oil when I want to drain it out shortly.

You could stick with Motocraft this oil change and find an analysis of this oil and stock on the shelves with the next 3,000 miles or 3 months.

 

Did the first oil change last night. Stuck with the motorcraft 5w20 for the first change, will probably switch to synthetic next time. Thanks for all the info guys.
Scott

 

go look at the 2000 cobra R and what oil it came with from the factory???????????

sure thin oil is good for somethings, but i mostly do high speed runs which requires a thicker oil