2014 F150 Ecoboost, 5W30 Pennzoil UP - Opinions?

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Folks,

My name is Anthony - I'm a new member to the forum. To make a long story short, I have a 2014 Ford F150 with a 3.5L Ecoboost engine (V6, twin turbo). I'm using Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 5W30 with a 5000mi OCI. I performed the first oil change at 960mi and the second at 5957mi - the UOA below is of the second oil change at 5960mi. Filter is a Motorcraft FL-500s, changed every time. The report mistakenly lists my engine as a non-turbo (ignore).

I've done some research and I understand that fuel dilution can be an issue with these engines. My question is, is this level of fuel dilution (greater than 5%) NORMAL in this engine for a 5000mi OCI? Granted, the TBN and the viscosity haven't been affected to a severe degree - I'm just trying to determine if I have a mechanical problem that needs attention.



 
Looks really good wear wise considering how young the engine is. The fuel dilution is a known issue with the engines, I don't think it's going to get better. The best thing you can do is take the vehicle on a long highway cruise every now and then without heavy throttle or change the oil slightly more often.

I'd probably just keep changing it at 5k with the same oil.
 
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Looks really good wear wise considering how young the engine is. The fuel dilution is a known issue with the engines, I don't think it's going to get better. The best thing you can do is take the vehicle on a long highway cruise every now and then without heavy throttle or change the oil slightly more often.

I'd probably just keep changing it at 5k with the same oil.


90% of my miles are highway miles between 65 and 75mph - she rarely sees short trip/duration driving.

I picked a 5000mi OCI due to my research on the fuel dilution issue - the goal is to keep this truck for a long time, thus, if I have to shorten the OCI to 4000 or less, I will consider it.
 
Fuel dilution will always be a problem. Can't get around it. Great oil choice though, can't go wrong with PUP.

However, the unnecessary use of CAPITAL LETTERS in their report is quite annoying.
 
If I was changing synthetic every 5K I'd use Walmart ST syn (made by WPP in my area). I wouldn't feel so bad changing an oil that costs $17.50 for the 5 qt. jug so often..
 
If you plan on keeping your vehicle you may have to consider shorter OCI's. I think the problem here is that this problem will only get worse if everything is new and working as it should right now.

If the viscosity starts dropping below a safe level then a Xw-30 weight oil might help. I'd stay away from additives that thicken the oil and continue to depend on the oil as is to do the job and up the viscosity as needed. Keep us updated. Thanks for posting.
 
This is an issue I have been reading about on the EB engines on the specific forums (although there is a LOT of the aluminum foil hat wearing crowd on that forum so I take everything with a grain of salt). I will be doing a UOA on my current Castrol Edge 5w-30 and see what the figures are. I have yet to see a UOA with fuel dilution of ~5% that correlated to any additional wear though. Given there are over 500k F150's with the Eco-Boost and most are probably using the OLM (so 8k-10k OCI's) on semi-synthetic 5w-30...I'm inclined to think it is a non-issue.

That said, I intend to run GC 0w-40 on my next few OCI's to combat the fuel dilution.
 
The 5w30 oem recommended viscosity is there to combat fuel dilution. Had they not seen fuel issues in these engines I bet they would spec 5w20.

Either way it shouldn't matter much, might be a good candidate for Mobil 1 0W40.
 
Originally Posted By: speedyb
Can't you think for yourself? Just go with what the manual recommends, and don't think this out too much.


Are you speaking to me or someone else who responded in this thread?

I thought this forum was a place for people to be inquisitive and disseminate knowledge/information....

When I changed the oil at 5957mi, the oil life minder claimed that the oil had 45% life left - if the fuel dilution is greater than 5% at only 5000mi, I can only presume that it will be far greater at a longer OCI. Engineers don't always get it right the first time....
 
Combined about 17, heavy foot around 15, highway around 20 to 22...

With a disciplined right foot with combined driving I can achieve 18. However, as of late, I've had my foot in the throttle quite a bit :-D
 
Originally Posted By: pbm
If I was changing synthetic every 5K I'd use Walmart ST syn (made by WPP in my area). I wouldn't feel so bad changing an oil that costs $17.50 for the 5 qt. jug so often..


Oil is the only thing I buy at Walmart, because I hate Walmart. However, I buy 5qt of PUP 5w30 for $27.50
 
Originally Posted By: philosopheriam
Originally Posted By: speedyb
Can't you think for yourself? Just go with what the manual recommends, and don't think this out too much.


Are you speaking to me or someone else who responded in this thread?

I thought this forum was a place for people to be inquisitive and disseminate knowledge/information....

When I changed the oil at 5957mi, the oil life minder claimed that the oil had 45% life left - if the fuel dilution is greater than 5% at only 5000mi, I can only presume that it will be far greater at a longer OCI. Engineers don't always get it right the first time....
That's what it's suppose to be, but more and more everyday people think they need to be keyboard warriors. If I was you I'd lower my oci's to what's comfortable for me. Theres actually a thread started by dnewton on these ecoboost's I think. Search for that.
 
The 5% may stay static, as more fuel is pumped in but the existing fuel burns off. With only one UOA there is no established trend....also at under 6000 miles the engine was/is still breaking in. It will take some more miles to tell for sure where everything will settle down.

5000 sounds good to me for now, or maybe a bit.longer considering the oil's decent condition and your mostly highway driving.


Oh, and
welcome2.gif
to the forums
 
My '11 FX4 Ecoboost currently has 88 k miles on it and it's doing great. The key to long life with these things is short OCIs with synthetic oil ( to control fuel dilution and soot contamination ), premium fuel ( to mitigate the effects of low speed pre ignition ), and spark plug changes around 50-60k miles.

I am currently using Castrol Edge 0w-40 to combat fuel dilution and Motorcraft filters on 3-4k OCIs. All my DI turbo vehicles ( 2 EB trucks and a Mazdaspeed 3) get A3 rated oils as they are formulations well suited to these engines IMHO.

Just my EB experience and they haven't had one problem with any of them.
Cheers

If you want to swing by www.gf-6.com for more info on soot, LSPI and more..
 
Originally Posted By: double vanos
My '11 FX4 Ecoboost currently has 88 k miles on it and it's doing great. The key to long life with these things is short OCIs with synthetic oil ( to control fuel dilution and soot contamination ), premium fuel ( to mitigate the effects of low speed pre ignition ), and spark plug changes around 50-60k miles.

I am currently using Castrol Edge 0w-40 to combat fuel dilution and Motorcraft filters on 3-4k OCIs. All my DI turbo vehicles ( 2 EB trucks and a Mazdaspeed 3) get A3 rated oils as they are formulations well suited to these engines IMHO.

Just my EB experience and they haven't had one problem with any of them.
Cheers

If you want to swing by www.gf-6.com for more info on soot, LSPI and more..


I'm going to do another oil analysis at 5k and see how things look - granted, the fuel dilution is high, but if it's not causing a viscosity drop that's terribly low and thus increased wear in the engine, then I suppose there is no cause for alarm. When the truck is out of warranty, I may try some 5w40 full syn and see how it does.

As for the premium fuel, I haven't monitored the knock sensor to see if it's causing the timing to retard - I've been running the truck on 87 and it seems great. My finely tuned ear and butt haven't noticed any detonation - running premium fuel is significantly more expensive, and honestly, in many instances the good it does is usually in the "makes me feel good" department, especially on an engine with an OE ecu calibration.
 
Strait from the manual

Quote:
3.5L V6 EcoBoostTM engine
Your vehicle is designed to run on regular fuel with an octane rating of 87 or higher. For best overall performance, premium fuel with an octane rating of 91 or higher is recommended. The performance gained by using premium fuel will be most noticeable in hot weather or in severe duty applications such as towing a trailer.


Can you use 87...yes, absolutely. I've used both 87 and 92 and I can tell you that there is an increase in power (via the butt dyno) and fuel economy (via the on board computer) using 92. It's up to you to decide if it's worth the increase in price.

Oil wise there is absolutely no reason to run less than 5k OCI's, anything less is a waste. I have poured through many UOA's on this engine and have seen nothing to suggest there is an advantage to running short OCI's. And yes the 3.5 EB was originally spec'd for 5w-20 so when they changed spec to 5w-30 it was most likely to deal with the fuel dilution.
 
Interesting - I have run several tanks of 93 octane and have not seen any measurable increase in gas mileage. As for performance, I don't drive as spirited as I used to, thus, I haven't noticed a difference in performance, either.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm not opposed to shorter OCI's, however, if there is no tangible benefit then changing oil that often is simply wasteful.
 
premium will likely eliminate your fuel dilution. run premium (91+ octane) for an entire OCI and sample again if you want to test for yourself.
 
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