2000 Ford Focus oil

[GOPHER FREAK]

I picked up a 2000 Ford Focus yesterday. It's a decently nice car with 219,000 miles and seems to run pretty well. I bought it for $500 and will basically use it to keep miles off of my Suburban. When I picked it up I changed the oil right away with Formula Shell in a 5w30 as I had some laying around in the garage. Would that be a good enough oil for a 5000 mile run? The car is going to see 80% long highway driving. Basically, it's for running up to my cabin all summer. Once my boat is on the boat lift I have no need to tow anything so it makes little sense to me to run the Burb up there. For the $500 I paid for it, I'm hoping to run until late fall and try to sell it. It still books out at like $2000 for I think I might be able to triple my money. It's nice enough that someone would snap it up as a winter beater.

 

[chubbs1]

Formula Shell is a fine oil and I would compare it closely too Quaker State Conventional. If you feel comfortable with that in your engine for 5k intervals then you have it. 5k should be pretty darn easy for that oil to take.

 

[Tdbo]

That will work just fine.

 

[147_Grain]

Oil is fine for 5K OCI, but I'd change it early due to not knowing the maintenance history.

How does the inside of the engine look (under the valve cover) when looking down through the oil filler cap?

IF you're planning on keeping the Focus, then extra TLC maintenance is prudent.

 

[JR]

Any 5w-20 at 5k oci's the engine will outlast the car. My cousin works for a large company delivering adult beverages, they use ford focus for hoparounds, pricing and etc. They run quick lube 5w20 namebrand conv oil. They run 300-350k and people i know buy them up and still put tens of thousands of mile. No large repairs.


Ken

 

[Hollow]

Formula Shell is a solid oil. May no hold up for extended intervals, but should be able to do 5K easily in your usage.

 

[dave1251]

I have done 3 OCI's with FS 5W20 on my wife's Focus in 7-9K intervals and I have posted my used oil analysis on it in my F150 in 7-7.5K intervals and each UOA shows that there is plenty of life left in the lube.

5K should be well within the service level of this oil

 

[tommygunn]

That will work well. Any 5w20 will work for that interval.

 

[sdude2k2000]

Is your Focus a SOHC or DOHC? In 2000 they used both motors... the SOHC is spec'd for a 5w30 whereas the DOHC is spec'd for a 5w20. The SOHC was commonly found on the SE trim package, whereas the DOHC was on the ZTE package. The SOHC engine is an "older" 4-cyl design that REQUIRES the thicker 30-weight for proper protection.

Just FYI.

 

[Zako2]

I would avoid anything with unnecessarily thin low temperature viscosity (like 0W20, 0W30). In fact, I'd also avoid all synthetics. Synthetic oils tend to sip more through old gaskets and seals. Sometimes they are not worth replacing on a car this old.

I'd try Valvoline Maxlife of whatever grade it needs.