I was using valvaline 5w20 durablend oil, motorcraft oil filter, changing every 3k. A little lucas fuel system cleaner every oil change until i heard some recent facts. First of all ive never been a fan of a product that says they are the best in every category tested. After I read about Amsoil, when they admit that other products do better at certain things, im impressed. Also when i here all these oil companies are recommending 3k mile changes but FORD says 5k.... I wonder, is it just a oil company scam telling us our engines will die unless we us just their oil every 3k miles. So i asked a mechanic friend and he said a poor old lady brought her 2000 caddie with 45k mile in for tires and they recommended an oil change. She said she had NEVER had one. Now im not saying that motor will see 200k but point being, Her oil and filter have done their job for more than 3k. I might try Amsoil oil (25k mile intervals) and do 2 changes a year. Oh and NO MORE LUCAS. Fuel additives from my research are a JOKE!!!

 

oil changes are cheap insurance. that said, you can waste a lot of money on oil changes. Unless your a racer who abuses the heck out of your engine, change the oil at 5k with motorcraft 5w20 and motorcraft filters. Your engine will live a long and happy life. The synthetic craz is crazy. For normal use you will see no benifit but a lighter wallet. If you tow a lot and put serious load on your equipment, then synthetic MIGHT help some.

 

Synthetic keeps the inside of an engine much cleaner than dino oil, & definetly lubricates better..........if you plan on drivin your rig forever, run Synthetic, if not run dino...........

 

Don't mean to hijack your thread, but would it be ok to use synthetic in my f150 even though it has almost 100,000 miles?

 

The only thing with a motor with that high of miles it may burn a little. But if it had a good life of high maintaince then you may not burn any at all. I switched to synthetic just for the winter because it really helps with cold starts. Dino is for summer!

 

I run Mobil 1 Full synthetic and ny truck has 256,000kms. I do a oil change and by the time a go to change again (8000kms) It's only down half a litre I like synthetic, and will continue to run it, but from all I've heard I strongly believe in running the motorcraft filter.

 

Before i joined this site i had never heard of something like changing the oil every 3000mls. Over here are for sure a lot of carcrazy people, and vehicles really get driven fast. Lot of small displacement engines with high rpm. Regular oil changes are somewere between 15 and 30000km. I don´t think in the average the vehicles here have a shorter livespan than anywere else. Sure won´t hurt to change sooner, but durability related, in normal driving circumstances not needed.

 

I am presently using Top formula synthetic oil sae 20w-50.
Is it okay ? Thanks guys!

 

It's very "old school" that thicker oil gives better protection, and that you should use a thicker oil in an older engine because that engine works harder. You should think about a lighter weight oil. But first, take an oil sample and send it in for analysis.

An online store for Ford Mustang parts, http://www.americanmuscle.com, sells Royal Purple @ $6.49 per quart with free shipping.

http://www.amazon.com has a pretty good price for K&N Filter.

 

Too thick at the bottom end for a modern engine. If you have the 4.2 V6 you shouldn't have problems but with a Triton V8 it's not a good idea.

 

Autobahn, where you are at the oil standards are set by the ACEA and allows much more in the formulations than the API standards we use. For the US, it comes down to the emmissions controls that you don't have and the damage that some of the additives can do should they gas in the engine. Your ACEA oils can have up to 3 times the ZDDP that we can have in a formulation which makes the oil last much longer but won't be allowable in the US. The Amsoil PAO synthetics are loaded, for API standards, with this additive and as they advertize- "It exceeds the requirements" of the manufacturers specs. That's why it isn't API approved, it has far too much in additives that could do damage to the engine. I'll be the first to tell you I've never seen the science on this but the API and ILSAC says that the ZDDP must be limited and Amsoil is well over the allowable limits. There is no more lubrricity in synthetics and should a formulation have a lubricity advantage, that same formualtion can be used in a dino basestock with the same results. There really isn't much reason to pay for a "full" synthetic today and few are left that are a REAL synthetic. The Ford spec 929 and 930 is so strong that oils are not allowed to shift from their respective viscosity ranges or create many deposits. They are a much cleaner oil than the oils you used ten years ago and much, much stronger.
Barry, you need to quit using an oil in that viscosity range. Years back when we had carbs that washed a lot of gas in the oil and the base oils were weak, we used the heavier oils for "heavier" applications. The viscosity was used to keep the parts from wearing against each other. Now the technology is film strength. You don't have to use a heavy oil and it is much easier on the engine to use a lighter oil. The thicker the fluid, the more heat it will attract and hold whereas a thinner viscosity fluid will absorb more heat and release it quicker. Your engine uses the oil as a coolant as well as a lubricant. I'd suggest backing up to a 5w-30 minimum and if your engine is rated for the 5w-20, give it a try.

 

Thanks guys, I really appreciate everything. Actually, I'm having a problem since I bought my f150 xlt 1999 just recently. I don't have the manual with me. The mileage is only 30T kms. I'm not sure what oil specification it needs, so I rely too much on other owners here in the Philippines. Thanks again

 

Dino oil provides more than enought protection and easily goes 5M miles between changes. I do, however, use synthetic because I believe it provides better lubrication at start-up under extremely cold conditions. (It was 18 below zero here in Minnesota this morning). Also, I think that I get about .5mpg better fuel mileage on average. Since cold starts comprise the bulk of the wear on an engine, I like to use the synthetic. Maybe it just makes me feel better!! : - )

Like so many issues on this board, there is no one right answer.

 

Barry, you should be using 5W20 or 5W30 in your 99.

 

Ford has backed spec'ed earlier F150s to 5W-20. The engine tolerances were not changed from 00' & older vs 01' & newer modular engines, but Ford claims that the slightly lighter oil will improve upper valvetrain lubrication.

I doubt Ford would back spec older F150 engines for just fuel economy reasons since they no longer have any effect on CAFE numbers.

As for the original post, I used to live in the UK, and the service intervals there are completely different. Here severe duty is done every 3,000 miles, over there it's every 7,500 miles to 1 year.

My brother's Philippine spec Expedition, which is exactly like a US spec one, has a 6200 miles severe duty oil change interval, and up to 10,000 miles.

So I agree that the 3,000 mile interval in pretty much just a North American ingrained interval that the oil companies encourage. But like mentioned above, a $25.00 oil change service at the dealership is cheap, and makes me think I'm doing the right thing, even though it's probably a little conservative.