2002 Ford Explorer 4.6 V8 - M1 EP/M1 mix, 9500 miles

[JMK3rd]

Hi,

This is my 1st ever UOA and I'd appreciate any and all comments!

(sorry for the poor formatting. I tried!)

2002 Ford Explorer
4.6L V8
61,000 miles on the truck.
9,500 miles on this oil sample.

This Explorer 4.6 calls for 5W-20. I ran a 50/50 mix of M1 EP 5W-30 and M1 5W-20 (6 quarts total capacity). This oil was run for approx 9,500 miles with a filter change at 5K into the OCI. A quart of M1 EP 5W-30 was added at that filter change and an additional .5 quart was added at 7.5K into the OCI. This vehicle is primarily driven by my wife with a 50/50 mix of highway/suburban traffic. This oil was in use from early April 2005 to the beginning of August 2005.

Blackstone's Comments:
Silicon was the only unusual finding in the sample from your Explorer. This may show some excess dirt getting past your air filter, so we suggest having a closer look at that. Or, it may not be from dirt since wear looks so good. Universal averages show typical wear from the Ford 4.6L after about 4,400 miles on the oil. You ran this oil longer, yet almost all wear read at or below averages. No fuel dilution or anti-freeze was found. The low insolubles show good oil filtration and the TBN was still okay at 2.6. 1.0 is low. Try 11,000-12,000 miles on the next oil.

............UNIT....Universal
ALUMINUM-....3.........3
CHROMIUM-....1.........1
IRON-.......10.........15
COPPER-......9..........6
LEAD-........0..........1
TIN-.........1..........0
MOLYBDENUM-.97.......52
NICKEL-......0.......1
MANGANESE-...0.......1
SILVER-......0.......0
TITANIUM-....0.......0
POTASSIUM-......0.......1
BORON-........57.......49
SILICON-......21.......16
SODIUM-.......113.......6
CALCIUM-..2247.......2184
MAGNESIUM-...11.......185
PHOSPHORUS...652......768
ZINC-.......873.......926
BARIUM-.......1.........1

VISCOSITY-58.1
FLASHPOINT-410*F
FUEL- COOLANT-0
WATER-0
INSOLUBLES-0.3
TBN-2.6

MAKE-UP OIL ADDED-.5 quart + 1 quart at filter change halfway through this OCI

[ September 09, 2005, 07:07 PM: Message edited by: JMK3rd ]

 

[Whimsey]

Hail fellow Spartan

! Your UOA looks fine. But you did add extra oil at 5,000 miles and at 7,500 miles so you "refreshed" your oil during the OCI. I ran the same engine for 5,179 miles with Motorcraft 5W-20 and a Motorcraft FL820S oil filter for 8 months with no additional oil added. And my UOA was decent. The UOA is posted on this site.

What brand oil filter are you using?

Whimsey

 

[TR3-2001SE]

This is as excellent a report as you can ever expect. I would not change a thing and continue with what you did this time. You should win an award for the most excellent oil blender on this site.

 

[chucky2]

JMK3rd- Off topic...but Explorer's have a 4.6L V-8 option now????? Or, is this a custom swap?

Chuck

 

[JMK3rd]

quote:

---

Originally posted by chucky2:
JMK3rd- Off topic...but Explorer's have a 4.6L V-8 option now????? Or, is this a custom swap?

Chuck

---

Factory option since the 2002 model year. Nice engine for this truck. A bit of a gas hog though...

 

[Whimsey]

quote:

---

Originally posted by JMK3rd:

quote:

---

Originally posted by chucky2:
JMK3rd- Off topic...but Explorer's have a 4.6L V-8 option now????? Or, is this a custom swap?

Chuck

---

Factory option since the 2002 model year. Nice engine for this truck. A bit of a gas hog though...

---

My wife traded in her 2002 4.0L XLT for a 2005 4.6L Eddie Bauer and her gas mileage is the same with the V-8 as it was with the V-6

. Maybe because the V-8 engine doesn't have to work so hard because of the weight of the Explorer. So it doesn't suffer a real mpg penalty. It sure hauls butt a lot better

.

Whimsey

 

[chucky2]

Why Ford Why....Why have you abonded the North American Ranger owners.....if you can't give use the South American deisal w/ crew cab Ranger, can't you at least give us a V-8?

I mean, the Ranger and Explorer are so close together, would it be that hard to do? Just a little re-design is all I'm asking for...surely if do it yourselfers can do it, Ford engineering can?????

Chuck....wanting more power than his stock V-6 puts out...

 

[Whimsey]

quote:

---

Originally posted by JMK3rd:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Whimsey:
Hail fellow Spartan!

---

Wanna race on West Mountain Rd.?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Whimsey:
Your UOA looks fine. But you did add extra oil at 5,000 miles and at 7,500 miles so you "refreshed" your oil during the OCI.....

What brand oil filter are you using?

---

I used a MC 820-S at the initial oil change and at the mid-oci change. It looks like the price is well worth it considering the pretty low wear and the 9,500 OCI.
I'm not sure I'm going to change the filter midstream this time. When I cut open the Motorcraft after 5K miles, there was absolutely nothing in there except pretty clean oil. Nothing...

---

Naw, but I'll knock back a few pub brews at Krogh's

. I'd leave the Motorcraft FL820S for the entire OCI. They are well made and I've had them hold up for 8,000 and 10,000 mile OCI's. The antidrain back valve was still good and not leaking. Plus I had no unusual spikes in wear metals indicating a possible oil filter failure. My additude is If I'm getting under the vehicle to change the filter them I'm going to change the oil for all the aggravation anyway.

Whimsey

 

[Al]

Obviously replace the Air filter and check for leaks around the filter and also in the duct jto the intake. Great wear numbers. I assume the sodium is from the anti-wear additive. I would change oil filters midway. But that's just me-see your insolubles are a low .3 so I think that changing may have helped. Great flashpoint. Picture perfect analysis. Don't change a thing.

 

[JMK3rd]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Whimsey:
Hail fellow Spartan!

---

Wanna race on West Mountain Rd.?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Whimsey:
Your UOA looks fine. But you did add extra oil at 5,000 miles and at 7,500 miles so you "refreshed" your oil during the OCI.....

What brand oil filter are you using?

---

I used a MC 820-S at the initial oil change and at the mid-oci change. It looks like the price is well worth it considering the pretty low wear and the 9,500 OCI.
I'm not sure I'm going to change the filter midstream this time. When I cut open the Motorcraft after 5K miles, there was absolutely nothing in there except pretty clean oil. Nothing...

 

[JMK3rd]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Al:
Obviously replace the Air filter and check for leaks around the filter and also in the duct jto the intake. Great wear numbers. I assume the sodium is from the anti-wear additive. I would change oil filters midway. But that's just me-see your insolubles are a low .3 so I think that changing may have helped. Great flashpoint. Picture perfect analysis. Don't change a thing.

---

I replaced the air filter a few months ago (early in this OCI) with a fresh Purolator. I'll check that it's seating well. If I get high silicon next time I'll go to either a Motorcraft or a Wix filter. I'll also check for any leaks in the air intake system....not that I'm likely to spot anything obvious.

This time around I went with all M1 Extended Performance. No mix this time. I plan on taking this OCI to 10,000 miles and I plan on leaving the filter on the whole time. It pains me to do this but I'm interested in the results.

If all goes well with the M1 EP for the 10,000 interval using one oil filter and just topping off as needed every 2K miles, I'll probably just stick with that for the life of the truck. I like not having to change the oil every 5K. And, I'm encouraged to see that I can protect the engine at the same time with low wear. So far...I'm impressed with M1 EP.

This site is beginning to drive me nuts! LOL

 

[TooSlick]

Typical ford silicone leaching from the seals and oil pan gasket. First time use of a high detergency synlube will do this even with a fairly high mileage engine.

I don't see a serious issue here, given the Cr/Fe/Al/Ni levels....

Tooslick