2016 F-150 3.5 Ecoboost - Valvoline Extended Protection 5w30 - 7,319 mi

Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
71
Location
FL
70/30 Highway/city mileage on this run. It's smooth stuff which has been my experience from Valvoline. Not liking the iron even though I know it was not bad at all. I like that it stayed in grade and didn't use any oil. Long highway runs up and down FL coast for work. Would have like to see Iron closer to 15. Current fill is Castrol EP 5w30 (5 qts) and 1 qt of Edge 0w40. Wanted to see if the little added thickness would help on these high heat turbos. I still think Silicon is from the oil pan swap. But I changed the used MC to a fresh Wix XP air filter for good measure. Not a bad run but I still feel that Castrol Edge and Edge EP are a match for this motor. Next run will be Platinum Ultra 5w30 for our bitter cold FL winters.

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May want to consider trying PP Euro L 5w30. Good oil that held up best in my kids Volvo C30 T5 for 7-8k oci's. Never used a drop for the whole oci vs Castrol and Mobil1 he previously used in it, they used 1-1.5qts per oci.
 
Make sure you're getting what you intended, slightly thicker oil, when you added 1 qt of 0w40 to the remainder 5w30. Sure, at 212 F, the 40 weight is technically thicker, but, since it is using more VII's, at higher temps, the 5w30 may actually be thicker than the 0w40 at higher temps. You'd have to compare the HTHS values between the two. Furthermore, adding only 1 quart out of 6 total...if you're doing any 'thickening', it's not much!
 
Make sure you're getting what you intended, slightly thicker oil, when you added 1 qt of 0w40 to the remainder 5w30. Sure, at 212 F, the 40 weight is technically thicker, but, since it is using more VII's, at higher temps, the 5w30 may actually be thicker than the 0w40 at higher temps. You'd have to compare the HTHS values between the two. Furthermore, adding only 1 quart out of 6 total...if you're doing any 'thickening', it's not much!
Agreed. I didn't want heavy thickening. 0w40 is at 12.7 at 100c. So bumps it up a tad. Was trying to see if it would get it near an avg of 10 cSt at 100c on next OCI. Hoping the ad pack is similar enough being both Castrol Edge that they would work well together. We'll see on next OCI. I'm at about 4500miles now, mostly highway. Will probably change and sample it at 7,000 if I continue with highway trips for work.
 
May want to consider trying PP Euro L 5w30. Good oil that held up best in my kids Volvo C30 T5 for 7-8k oci's. Never used a drop for the whole oci vs Castrol and Mobil1 he previously used in it, they used 1-1.5qts per oci.
PP Euro L is on my list to try. That's a very thick 30 wt. These Ecoboosts seem to do well with thin oil. I think it was originally specd for 20 wt but bumped up due to the high heat of the turbos. It seems to shear a lot of oils but doesn't show negative affects on wear on UOAs.
 
70/30 Highway/city mileage on this run. It's smooth stuff which has been my experience from Valvoline. Not liking the iron even though I know it was not bad at all. I like that it stayed in grade and didn't use any oil. Long highway runs up and down FL coast for work. Would have like to see Iron closer to 15. Current fill is Castrol EP 5w30 (5 qts) and 1 qt of Edge 0w40. Wanted to see if the little added thickness would help on these high heat turbos. I still think Silicon is from the oil pan swap. But I changed the used MC to a fresh Wix XP air filter for good measure. Not a bad run but I still feel that Castrol Edge and Edge EP are a match for this motor. Next run will be Platinum Ultra 5w30 for our bitter cold FL winters.

View attachment 124021
You motor "liked" the previous run better. Stay at 6-7k ocis. .02
 
PP Euro L is on my list to try. That's a very thick 30 wt. These Ecoboosts seem to do well with thin oil. I think it was originally specd for 20 wt but bumped up due to the high heat of the turbos. It seems to shear a lot of oils but doesn't show negative affects on wear on UOAs.
It was spec'd up to 5w30 due to all the cam phaser and timing chain problems. Look up Fordtechmakuloco and the Ecoboost 3.5 on YouTube, lots of good videos on these engines and the problems they have.
I personally would run a 0/5w40 Euro if I had that engine and change the oil at 4-5k miles max.
 
You motor "liked" the previous run better. Stay at 6-7k ocis. .02
I know, that's a tough one to beat. It was Castrol Edge EP 5w30. Did some hard miles on that run, mostly city driving with only a 5 mile work commute, some towing and off-roading, all in the summer. I was impressed with that run and the low iron numbers out of a direct injected twin turbo known for dilution and shearing any oil down a grade. That UOA matched my Mazda 6 numbers almost line for line and that's a naturally aspirated Japanese 4 banger known for boring UOAs.

Not impressed with the Valvoline tripling iron numbers with only a 2k extra miles. I know there are a gazillion variables and UOAs are for watching trends and oil interval extensions yada yada yada, been lurking heavily on here for 16+ years. I still was expecting maybe 12-15 ppm for iron. I'll try it again if I catch it on sale. It has Castrol Edge EP 5w30 (5qts) and Edge 0w40 (1qt) in there now. I've been doing heavy highway miles for work and wanted to see if the 1qt of 0w40 would keep the viscosity up over 10 cSt through the interval. A lot of guys run Edge 0w40 in their ecoboosts with good results. I figured it was a safe frankenoil recipe to try and am hoping the add packs play well with the Edge EP. We shall see.
 
It was spec'd up to 5w30 due to all the cam phaser and timing chain problems. Look up Fordtechmakuloco and the Ecoboost 3.5 on YouTube, lots of good videos on these engines and the problems they have.
I personally would run a 0/5w40 Euro if I had that engine and change the oil at 4-5k miles max.
I thought about that early on but I know the engine doesn't mine thinner oil and the shearing doesn't seem to affect wear metals in any way. I think the phaser issue is a design flaw and the extra oil pressure and pre-oilers that people are using to offset the issue is more of a band-aid fix than the root solution. Luckily, I've never heard start-up rattle on mine. Even when it sits for a week. They did ok on this final iteration (2016) of this first gen ecoboost, only to launch the gen 2 with major cam phaser issues. They even solved the limp mode issue when the oil and water vapors condense in the intercooler and get sucked into the motor under heavy load. They installed automated air dampers that open and close in front of the intercooler so they can control the air temps and "overcooling" causing condensation. My catch can helps with that also.
 
Looks like a fair bit of fuel, based on the 385F flashpoint, probably 2-3%.

This oil started out at 10.7cSt, you made 17% of the mix 0W-40, which is 13.2cSt, so the KV100 of the blend was around 11.1cSt. With your KV100 at 9.67cSt, that's ~15% viscosity loss, most of which I'd attribute to the fuel.
 
Make sure you're getting what you intended, slightly thicker oil, when you added 1 qt of 0w40 to the remainder 5w30. Sure, at 212 F, the 40 weight is technically thicker, but, since it is using more VII's, at higher temps, the 5w30 may actually be thicker than the 0w40 at higher temps. You'd have to compare the HTHS values between the two. Furthermore, adding only 1 quart out of 6 total...if you're doing any 'thickening', it's not much!
In this case, Edge 0W-40 has an estimated BO KV100 of 7.34cSt vs 6.87cSt for the 5W-30, so the 0W-40 is indeed heavier all around.
 
Looks like a fair bit of fuel, based on the 385F flashpoint, probably 2-3%.

This oil started out at 10.7cSt, you made 17% of the mix 0W-40, which is 13.2cSt, so the KV100 of the blend was around 11.1cSt. With your KV100 at 9.67cSt, that's ~15% viscosity loss, most of which I'd attribute to the fuel.
So this run did not have the 0W40, that's what's in there now and I'll sample that in a few weeks from now. This is 100% Valvoline EP 5w30, so not as much fuel or shearing.
 
So this run did not have the 0W40, that's what's in there now and I'll sample that in a few weeks from now. This is 100% Valvoline EP 5w30, so not as much fuel or shearing.
Well, the fuel figure doesn't change, I'm just guessing the percentage based on the flashpoint, since Blackstone doesn't measure it. Thanks for the correction on the other bit.
 
In this case, Edge 0W-40 has an estimated BO KV100 of 7.34cSt vs 6.87cSt for the 5W-30, so the 0W-40 is indeed heavier all around.
OK, maybe I’m brain dead but what is “BO” KV100? And where did those 7.34 and 6.87 figures come from?

I presume this Castrol 0w40 (not UOA’d yet) is the Euro? if so, it will have a higher HTHS than US Castrol 5w30 (assuming the 5w30 is not also Euro)…as well as higher KV40 and KV100.

I’ve thought about mixing these two grades myself, but so many say not to. still, very tempting. I know some people run the Euro 0w40 100% in their EB’s, but not sure of what it does to inlet valves or LSPI. I’ve also wondered if a ACEA C3 oil would strike a good balance, it I were to run shorter OCI’s In my EB.
 
OK, maybe I’m brain dead but what is “BO” KV100? And where did those 7.34 and 6.87 figures come from?

I presume this Castrol 0w40 (not UOA’d yet) is the Euro? if so, it will have a higher HTHS than US Castrol 5w30 (assuming the 5w30 is not also Euro)…as well as higher KV40 and KV100.

I’ve thought about mixing these two grades myself, but so many say not to. still, very tempting. I know some people run the Euro 0w40 100% in their EB’s, but not sure of what it does to inlet valves or LSPI. I’ve also wondered if a ACEA C3 oil would strike a good balance, it I were to run shorter OCI’s In my EB.
BO = Base Oil, it's a calculation made by @Gokhan who setup a spreadsheet with estimates:
 
PS, I wish my UOA’s were better. Well, my iron usually is @ 2ppm per 1k miles, but my copper sux @ nearly 3ppm per 1k. I feel blessed if my fuel dilution comes in at 3%, too often 4-5%, even higher once.
 
BO = Base Oil, it's a calculation made by @Gokhan who setup a spreadsheet with estimates:

Well, not sure I’ll be able to wrap my head around all that (though I tried some time ago). The danger is I jump to conclusions, and perhaps there are occasional errors, and I certainly don’t understand all his assumptions. But just to play along, it seemed like HPL’s 0w30 PCMO might be outstanding…if BO KV100 is the ultimate guide (there could be others, but I picked up on its high BO KV100….among oils which MIGHT be out of the ordinary yet close to Ford’s recommended viscosity). I imagine this is not how to use this info though.
 
The older generation Ecoboosts had only GDI and it was common to have some dilution. My 2.7 Ecoboost has the newer dual fuel injection and I try not to go much over 5,000, no matter what brand or formulation of 5W30 oil.
 
Well, not sure I’ll be able to wrap my head around all that (though I tried some time ago). The danger is I jump to conclusions, and perhaps there are occasional errors, and I certainly don’t understand all his assumptions. But just to play along, it seemed like HPL’s 0w30 PCMO might be outstanding…if BO KV100 is the ultimate guide (there could be others, but I picked up on its high BO KV100….among oils which MIGHT be out of the ordinary yet close to Ford’s recommended viscosity). I imagine this is not how to use this info though.
It's not designed to be a guide, just provide some insight into base oil viscosity and VII content.
 
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