2004 Ford Focus, Castrol Syntec 5W-20, 3300 miles

[raising_arizona]

Here is my first analysis from Blackstone. This change interval was a little over 3000 miles since my cooling fan bought the farm and the engine got a little hot (121°C). I wanted to make sure there were no ill effects, and it's also my first oil change since I got the car 4 months ago.


I'm still stuck in the last century with 3000-mile change intervals, so I'm going to go with the specified 5000-mile change on the next one.

Anyway, here's my report from Blackstone.

 

[tripleM]

Ha ha, from your title I thought you did a UOA with a 27k OCI!

 

[benjamming]

What air filter are you using? Is it the original?
So, you're saying that you changed the oil as soon as you got it 4 months ago & these are the results after 4 months?
I can understand you changing it & doing a UOA when you did. I would extend the OCI as well.

 

[raising_arizona]

Quote:

---

What air filter are you using? Is it the original?
So, you're saying that you changed the oil as soon as you got it 4 months ago & these are the results after 4 months?
I can understand you changing it & doing a UOA when you did. I would extend the OCI as well.

---

Yep, as soon as I took posession of the car, I changed the oil and filter (Bosch). These are the results four months and 3300 miles later.

My Focus is a 2.3-L Duratec PZEV (for the green states), so it came with a non-user-servicable air filter. I took that off and now have a Marcy Motorsports cold air induction with a K&N filter.

 

[Patman]

Those wear numbers are awesome! One of the lowest I've seen in a while for sure. You can definitely extend it further on the next one. It would be interesting to see the TBN next time though.

 

[pzev]

Was that UOA with the Marcy intake on? I am curious, as I have the same unit and have been debating whether or not to dump the K&N for a AEM dryflow....however your silicon numbers look good.

 

[jorton]

Good report, good oil.
Did the service dept at Ford tell you the 121c temp? I didn't know the computer in the car recorded that.

 

[raising_arizona]

Quote:

---

Was that UOA with the Marcy intake on? I am curious, as I have the same unit and have been debating whether or not to dump the K&N for a AEM dryflow....however your silicon numbers look good.

---

Yes, I put it right after I got the car. I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[raising_arizona]

Quote:

---

Good report, good oil.
Did the service dept at Ford tell you the 121c temp? I didn't know the computer in the car recorded that.

---

Presently, my car doesn't have a tach. I got a used cluster on eBay, but I have to put another 3000 miles on my car until the mileage matches and I can install it.

There's a trick I found on focusfanatics.com, where you hold in the odometer reset while you're starting the car. The odometer display then shows all kinds of diagnostic data including a digital tach and also the engine head core temperature. You can cycle through all the diagnotics info, most of which are goobledygoop unless you know what you're looking for. When my temperature gauge started creeping up, I was using the digital tach info and just cycled it a few positions until the temperature was shown.

 

[jorton]

Cool. I'm going to turn the tach on when I run erands today.

 

[jorton]

"The overheat didn't affect anything."

That's one of the main reasons some folks are scared of thin oil. I think 121C = 282F. Is this temp considered a boil over? If so, here's proof 5w-20 stands up to mechanical failure in the cooling system.