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Finally doing a 3L

PurpleMystique said:
Even though it's run for 40K miles doesn't mean it's going to run for another 200K.
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Fair enough, but I think his point was, and the fact of the matter is, if there was a tune-related problem, it would have shown up LONG before 40k via a CEL.

The problem with this topic is that most people don't understand the programming strategy, or adaptive capabilities of the PCM. Fuel trims are monitored upon startup so, even if there IS a fuel-related problem, it is immediately seen and adjusted for by the PCM. It is literally impossible, (again given properly functioning & matched components), to overfuel a cylinder to the point of engine damage once the car is running. Underfueling that is bad enough to cause engine damage WILL throw lean codes and initiate the fail-safe fueling strategy.
 
Its about the time again for me to get an oil change, but I had a couple questions I figured I'd post here.
Do I still need to get 6qts with the 3L or is the spec 5 and change enough?
Also is there a huge benefit going with a synthetic oil?
Thanks
{J}
 
yes, keep synthetic in it. the stock fill from ford is synthetic. the benefits of synthetic far out weigh the benefits of fancy brands, ie wal-mart synthetic > mobile dinasaur oil.
 
PurpleMystique said:
On my '01 3.0 with '99 Contour oil pan, 5 qts puts it right at the full line on the dipstick.
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Well the same thing with the 2.5 but i still put 6qts in because of the drainback issues. I'm guessing since I don't have that issue with the 3.0 I should be ok with 5qts. Am I guessing right?
 
Your 3L uses the original 2.5L dipstick & tube, and has an YL8E pan on it- 6 qts. I haven't seen a non-VVT Duratec YET that doesn't take (or should have) 6 qts.
 
KAOS_2.5M said:
yes, keep synthetic in it. the stock fill from ford is synthetic. the benefits of synthetic far out weigh the benefits of fancy brands, ie wal-mart synthetic > mobile dinasaur oil.
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And just when did Ford start using synthetic for factory fill?

The only Ford's I can think of that came from the factory with synthetic ate the newest series of Cobra and the GT. Do you know something that no one else does?

The ONLY benefits of synthetic are in temperature extremes (especially cold) and if you intend to use extended oil fills.
 
Big Jim said:
And just when did Ford start using synthetic for factory fill?

The only Ford's I can think of that came from the factory with synthetic ate the newest series of Cobra and the GT. Do you know something that no one else does?

The ONLY benefits of synthetic are in temperature extremes (especially cold) and if you intend to use extended oil fills.
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I heard that from terry haines, since he was an engineer on the CDW project, I assume he knows more about the stock ford specs than almost anyone. he could probably post a scan of some internal ford document to back it up if you ask him.

and yes, temperature extremes, like a car owned by an enthusiast. the extended change is because it breaks down slower. you think your oil just suddenly turns to crap at 3k miles? nope, that engine has been runnin frothy burned up sludge for a while at that point. keep synthetic in it, change it every 4K, and since the oil doesn't even start to break down till around 6K your good to go, no sludge, oil never even turns black.

mind if I ask what oil your running?
 
KAOS_2.5M said:
I heard that from terry haines, since he was an engineer on the CDW project, I assume he knows more about the stock ford specs than almost anyone. he could probably post a scan of some internal ford document to back it up if you ask him.

and yes, temperature extremes, like a car owned by an enthusiast. the extended change is because it breaks down slower. you think your oil just suddenly turns to crap at 3k miles? nope, that engine has been runnin frothy burned up sludge for a while at that point. keep synthetic in it, change it every 4K, and since the oil doesn't even start to break down till around 6K your good to go, no sludge, oil never even turns black.

mind if I ask what oil your running?
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I buy what is on sale. When Pennzoil Platinum was $1.99 a quart I stocked up. I also stocked up when Shell dino was $.49 a quart. Currently it has a 50/50 mix of each. Last oil change was Shell dino. The one before that was Pennzoil Platinum. The first 190,000 miles were nearly exclusively Mobil dino. At 190,000 miles I started using synthetic when I found it on sale so it has had Mobil 1, Valvoline High Millage (or whatever they call it) full synthetic (I didn't like it, it is thicker, on the high side of 30 spec and the engine was slightly sluggish until I get rid of it). Pennzoil Platinum, and Shell dino. Prior to 190,000 miles I changed the oil every 3,000 miles. Currently I change it every 5,000 miles, synthetic or dino. It has always had 5W30. By the way, I really, really like Shell dino. Inside of engine is spotless and not even any sign of light varnish.
 
Big Jim said:
I buy what is on sale. When Pennzoil Platinum was $1.99 a quart I stocked up. I also stocked up when Shell dino was $.49 a quart. Currently it has a 50/50 mix of each. Last oil change was Shell dino. The one before that was Pennzoil Platinum. The first 190,000 miles were nearly exclusively Mobil dino. At 190,000 miles I started using synthetic when I found it on sale so it has had Mobil 1, Valvoline High Millage (or whatever they call it) full synthetic (I didn't like it, it is thicker, on the high side of 30 spec and the engine was slightly sluggish until I get rid of it). Pennzoil Platinum, and Shell dino. Prior to 190,000 miles I changed the oil every 3,000 miles. Currently I change it every 5,000 miles, synthetic or dino. It has always had 5W30. By the way, I really, really like Shell dino. Inside of engine is spotless and not even any sign of light varnish.
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oh man, all that brand swaping is going to cause all kinds of deposits. the additives in different brand oils are different and they react with each other.

I was running mobil1 extended, but since I lost a head gasket on a 70 oil change with less than 2k miles on it I decided the 3.0 should just get supertech synthetic. so far I'm happy with it.
 
KAOS_2.5M said:
its an amsoil site dude, no kidding they picked amsoil as the winner...
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Or you could possibly look past that and read the info have when looking at synthetic vs. dino. Isn't that what we were debating for a while, or is your goal just to be right all the time?
 
KAOS_2.5M said:
I heard that from terry haines, since he was an engineer on the CDW project, I assume he knows more about the stock ford specs than almost anyone. he could probably post a scan of some internal ford document to back it up if you ask him.
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Ford's oil, Motorcraft, is a synthetic blend, or semi-synthetic. Ford chose to use some Group III basestock in the blend when 5W20 was introduced. Later, 5W30 received a similar dose of Group III basestock. I can't get an official answer on how much Group III is used, but convential wisdom in the oil industry is that it is probably around 15% to at the most 20%.

It is certainly not full synthetic (100% synthetic basestock + necessary additives). It is also not "real" synthetic (Group IV or Group V).

Motorcraft Synthetic Blend certainly is a very good oil and it produces excellent results. It is made by Conoco, is apearently is identical or nearly identical to other Conoco products (Trop-Artic, Union 76, and Kendall).

Motorcraft Full Synthetic (hard to find) is required for warranty for the Ford GT and the latest verson of the Mustand Shelby is Group III. That puts it in the same catagory as Castrol Syntec, Valvoline, and Pennzoil Platinum. It is not in the same catagory as Mobil 1, Amsoil (top of the line, Amsoil also has a Group III product), or Red Line.
 
elraido said:
And this is their Group IV stuff, correct (since it is what I use...and it has been going up like mad in the last year or two...from $5.50 a quart to $7.98)
http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/asl.aspx
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I'm not big Amsoil fan so I don't follow it that much. My understanding is that the XL product line is Group III

http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/xlf.aspx

I don't have anything against the product itself, in fact all reports is that it is very good, I just have issues with their marketing scheme (multi-level) and advertising (if Amsoil paid for the testing they always come out on top even if they try to make it look impartial).
 
Big Jim said:
Ford's oil, Motorcraft, is a synthetic blend, or semi-synthetic. Ford chose to use some Group III basestock in the blend when 5W20 was introduced. Later, 5W30 received a similar dose of Group III basestock. I can't get an official answer on how much Group III is used, but convential wisdom in the oil industry is that it is probably around 15% to at the most 20%.

It is certainly not full synthetic (100% synthetic basestock + necessary additives). It is also not "real" synthetic (Group IV or Group V).

Motorcraft Synthetic Blend certainly is a very good oil and it produces excellent results. It is made by Conoco, is apearently is identical or nearly identical to other Conoco products (Trop-Artic, Union 76, and Kendall).

Motorcraft Full Synthetic (hard to find) is required for warranty for the Ford GT and the latest verson of the Mustand Shelby is Group III. That puts it in the same catagory as Castrol Syntec, Valvoline, and Pennzoil Platinum. It is not in the same catagory as Mobil 1, Amsoil (top of the line, Amsoil also has a Group III product), or Red Line.
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thats interesting man. I wish I could find the pages I got linked to a long time ago when I we went over all this on the other site. I knew penzoil and castrol were bad choices but I was under the impression valvoline synpower was comparable to mobile 1. the resounding answere from terry was mobile 1 or amsoil too though.

thats funny the motorcraft stuff gets sold under the kendall brand though, I went to middle school with a kid who was related to some big guy for them.

since you guys are so in the know about the oil bussiness, anybody know who manufactures the wal-mark supertech products? I've been curious for a while. the oil doesn't seem bad, but it smelled a little sulfury when it was new out of the bottle.


PurpleMystique said:
There's something you should know about KAOS...
He's totally teh smare!
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:shrug:
 
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