Simply put, Motorcraft 5w20 is mostly formulation, and Lucas oil is mostly marketing hype. Which do you want to pay for.

 

Whats "api star burst" ?

 

A voluntary marketing tool to help you choose oil that has passed several tests to show it is worthy of your money.

 

So what if you dont use your truck that often and dont put many miles on it? How often should you change it? Right now ive only got little over 19K on my 2004.. If i were to change it every 5-6k like most people do that would only be about 3-4 oil changes in 6 years for me lol.. I've been useing Mobil 1 EP and Motorcarft filters and change my oil approx twice a year, i think thats 10-11 oil changes.. Is that overkill for my miles or good to change it even though i dont use it much. Should i change it more often than 6 months, not as often?

 

I'm in the same boat. I put only 5-6K a year on my F-150 and about the same on a Honda. I have an older Ford (diesel) truck that used to get the 5-6K that the F-150 gets, but now only gets 1-2K. Plus, I have two farm tractors that get only 30 percent of their rated OCI hours in a year. I was going through gallons and gallons of oil changing oil by time alone, so I started researching and experimenting years ago to figure out a better way.

How long you can run the oil timewise depends on how you drive it when you do drive it. If your truck is stored in a reasonably climate stable building and driven a reasonable distance when it is driven, my opinion (backed up by the UOAs below) is to run your miles and/or run a year, or more. Oil doesn't really "age" or go bad just sitting there (in the context of reasonable periods of time... we're not talking 20 years), but various operational things can degrade it.

If you short hop the truck a lot and never get it fully warmed up (oil and coolant), you should change the oil more often because you are not baking out fuel and moisture that can react with combustion byproducts and acidify the oil. The additive package can fight the acidity for a while, but eventually, it gets used up and you have to change the oil.

The key is that when you drive the truck, it gets good and hot... the oil I mean. That bakes out moisture, which is one component needed to acidify the oil. On my F-150, it takes 10-15 miles of steady driving to get the oil fully up to temp (175 cold days 200-215 on hot) on a cool day. You want to keep the oil temp up 15 minutes or so and that's usually enough to bake out moisture.

Fuel dilution is another problem that can come from short hops. When the fuel injection is in enrichment mode, it tend to run a little rich as it warms up. If the engine is in that state a lot, i.e. lots of cold starts and short hops, more fuel gets into the oil. Small amounts can be "baked" out like moisture but enough fuel in the oil can reduce viscosity and have other negative effects.

To test the effects of time on oil, I have been using oil analysis and have some experts on tap to help me interpret the results. I have a bunch of reports on all the equipment, but I'll publish the latest F-150 report and just overview the other stuff. I have learned to have a virgin sample of the oil tested with each used sample. That way I am evaluating the changes from the exact oil I used. Plus, comparing your used oil to specs listed by a manufacturer is not optimal because of lab and testing variances.

My opinion is that most rigs are safe to a year if not short-hopped excessively and a good oil is used (not necessarily an expensive syn, but not "Joe's Recycled Oil" either). I have a lot more data, so my choices are not based on guesses. If your truck is short hopped, stick with six months but save your money on the expensive oil and switch to the MC blend that you can afford to dump at a shorter interval. It really is a sleeper oil and one of the few true oil bargains out there.


'05 F-150- 14 months and 7500 miles. Here is the virgin vs 7500 mile UOA. Next time, I intend to run 10K and no time limit (will be close to two years)

Virgin/7500 mile OCI (Same batch, tested at same time)

'05 F-150HD, 5.4L V8, 18,966 miles
Lab: WearCheck
OCI- 7463 mi/14.5 months
Previous Oil & Filter MC 5W20/MC FL820S
Makeup Oil: 0
OIl Used: Royal Purple 5W20
Oil Capacity 7 qts.
Oil Filter: MC FL820S

Silicon: 0/19
Potassium: 8.5/5/1
Sodium: 7.1/15
Fuel %: 0/<2%
Glycol: 0/0
Water: <0.1/<0.1
Sulfation: 0/23% of max
Nitration: 0/16 % of max
Boron: 14/5.9
Barium: 1.3/0
Calcium: 2524/2280
Magnesium: 1252/1164
Moly: 170/118
Phosphorus: 872/825
Zinc: 862/908
Vis @ 40C: 50.83/--
Vis @ 100C: 9.31 cSt/8.9 cSt
VI: 168/--
Oxidation:0/27 % of max
TBN: 13.6/10.0
Iron: 3.7/28
Nickel: 0.5/0.5
Chromium: 0/1.7
Titanium: 0/0.2
Copper: 0.1/4.4
Aluminum: 1.3/5.3
Lead 1.4/0
All other values: 0

Two farm tractors:

Ford 2810- Run 2 years and about 80 hours on Rotella-T 10W30. TBN at last test was 9.8 (10.3 new) after 2 years (TBN and TAN inverse so that indicates a strong additive package and lo acidity)

The old diesel Ford is headed for three years on it's oil. The sample taken last year showed 9.9 TBN and all other factors copacetic and a newer sample was taken recently but the results are not back yet.

Farmall 826- Going on three years on 15W40 Rotella-T. I have a two UOAs, one at 45 hours and about a year, and another at 98 hours and a bit over two years. At the end of the two years, oxidation was 21.9 and Nitration was 10.3. TBN was still 11.24 and viscosity was 15.7cSt. Soot was .814 percent. I'm gonna run this oil another season, making it three in total (been in there since 11/11/07)

'00 Honda Accord V6- 19 months and 6.8K miles. Last test had TBN at 3.0 (7 new). The Honda is now on 8K, no time limit oil changes

 

JimAllen

Thanks for your detailed reply.. Ive got little over 19k now like i said above but since about 2006 ive only put 7k miles on it, 19k total. When i do use it it's usually about every other day and yes there all "short hops" maybe 15-20 mins max for errands, even though i do warm it up. Total driving time is still never more than 20 mins.. The truck spends most of it's life outside in the elements as a driveway ornament and my garage isnt heated either..

So basically what your saying for my conditions i should keep changing it every 6 months but mobil 1 is overkill correct? I'd love to use MC oil but the problem around here is i cant find it in any of my stores, Pep boys, Autozone etc. The only place id be able to get it is at the dealership and now adays they've closed most of them in my area unfortunatley.. So what kind of oil can i sub for MC but not as expensive as mobil 1 that will protect my engine for 6 months between changes or should i just stick with M1.

Thanks again..

 

Great post, great point. I understand why you took the time and expense to do the research for your vehicle, but I appreciate your taking time to post the results here. I'll bookmark this post for future reference. Months and miles on the oil tell us nothing, its just a guess where we error on the safe side. The only way to know for sure is by oil analysis, but that cost as much as an oil change, but I think it is wise to do oil analysis at least once to see how oil actually fairs in your actual driving experience.

My truck is in the same boat. I work at home a lot, and the truck will sit for a whole day. Then in summer, my wife rides her bike to work, and I take her SUV, with the bike rack on back in case it rains, so my truck may sit for days, and the miles add up slowly. When I do drive into the office it is a 25 minute commute. Over the past five years I've put on 6k-8k per year, so a 7500 OCI would turn out to be once a year for my vehicle, which would be perfect because I can change it every summer.

I'm looking forward to your results at 10k. That is a stretch for the average vehicle, but we have 7 quarts of oil which gives our vehicle an advantage, because there are roughly 40% more additives available to use up.

 

Well, you're on the right track with your thinking. If it were my truck, I'd feel pretty confident that you could run that M-1 a year, even in your circumstances. BUT, if it were me, I'd verify it with oil analysis. I've just seen enough oil analysis now to feel fairly confident in that statement. Shooting in the dark, however, 6 months to be safe, but downgrade on the oil to save some money if you need to.

There are many oils in the general category of the MC that are as good but they are usually a little more expensive. The M1 is a LOT more expensive. When you get right down to it, all the major name brands of oil are pretty close to equal quality within the general price range. Some may have an edge here or there in some aspect or another. The MC just gives you a little more for the money and the formulation is somewhat more Ford friendly.

If you are going to dump the oil for a short interval and you don't work the truck extremely hard (e.g. high oil temps or extremely low temps), you don't gain a lot with the extra features of an expensive syn oil over the short run. Kinda like having expensive 180mph speed rated tires on a vehicle that is speed limited to 95. Yeah, the expensive tires are better in most respects but that "betterness" isn't really gaining you anything for the money if you are not utilizing their extra capability.

Any of the oils listed here will do a good job and I have looked at their formulations and seen good UOA results from all of them. If you like Exxon-Mobil products, the Mobil Clean 7500 is a great syn blend formulation similar to the MC that's usually priced pretty well. The Mobil Clean 5000 is a conventional oil, but a good one. The yellow bottle Pennzoil is a good conventional that yields good results. Ditto Quaker State, Havoline, Chevron Supreme, Castrol GTX, the Shell Formula oils... I have seen good reports on all of these oils. I'd stay away from the "house brand" oils from various stores. Some are quite good but you never really know. The stores often change suppliers according to low bids, without changing the bottle, so one year's good oil could change next year into something less good.

Overall, for a short interval, I'd stick with a conventional oil. The syn blends usually are overpriced for what you get (IMO)... though that comment excludes MC, which is a syn blend at the price of a conventional.

Above all, price shop for sales and stock up a couple of oil changes worth when you find a good deal. I guess I'm asuming you change your own.

Oh, and by the way, the MC filters are also a great deal for the money. Speaking of which, in your case, you could save money by changing the filter every other change. Some car manufacturers actually recommend that. You won't even come close to loading that filter in a short interval. With a good filter, in most cases you could go 15,000 miles easy on a filter. There are other factors at work in a fitler.. mainly heat aging some of the components, like the ADBV (Anti-Drainback Valve). In the MC's case, however, it has a silicon ADBV that holds up well to heat. So, yeah, a filter every other change too if you are gonna do 6-month changes.

 

Did you check Walmart for MC? They carry it around here.

 

Most Walmarts carry both the Motorcraft oil and filters.

 

Pep Boys also carry it here.

 

JimAllen

Thanks for taking the time to explain that in such great detail. It definately helped me understand it alot better and i will be making some changes.. Amazeing stuff.. Hopefully it also helped others that have low mileage vehicles who were wondering the same thing to. Great job.. Thanks again.

Bluejay

They just put in a Walmart here about a year ago but its approx a 40min drive compared to 15 mins to Autozone or Pep Boys where i usually got my Mobil1 and MC filters, and i never even knew they sold MC stuff there.. Looks like im going to have to take a trip over there and maybe get me a case or two. Thanks for the tip..

 

many opinions out here, as for me the "common knock you referred to (im assuming the cam phaser and or cam chain tensioner issue) i had fixed and in extensive research and questioning those mechanics and techies i run mobil 1 5/20 six pack +1 for 40 bucks for 7 qts and a 14 dollar k&n oil filter that comes with the nut on it for easy removal and the anti flowback device that is needed to keep the oil from dumping back out on startup. of course the fix for the phasers/tensioner/timing chain was two grand , on dealers dime for me to get that education. runs great and all i hear is my flowmasters now. every 5000 miles 55 bucks isnt a big chunk for peace of mind.

 

And for even less you can use the Motorcraft Syn Blend 5w-20 for the same 5000 miles or more. Even better peace of mind and some spare change for a sandwich after you are done.