2018 Ford Escape EcoBoost

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Just picked up a slightly used 18 EcoBoost 2.0L for my wife. The manual says 5w30 instead of 5w20 like the other two engine options for this car. Is the 2.0 harder on oil and if so, what is a good chioce for 5k OCI? I was just going to use motorcraft oil and filters.
 
Originally Posted by mpgo4th
Just picked up a slightly used 18 EcoBoost 2.0L for my wife. The manual says 5w30 instead of 5w20 like the other two engine options for this car. Is the 2.0 harder on oil and if so, what is a good chioce for 5k OCI? I was just going to use motorcraft oil and filters.


No reason to stick with Ford oil and filters, but no harm in doing so either. Mobil 1 and Sbell Rotella Gas Truck both currently have mail in rebates, so could be purchased for less than Ford branded oil. The Ford 5w30 spec is an easy one to meet, most if not all synthetic and synthetic blend oils meet it. Oil filter OEM is fine, or Fram Ultra, Tough Guard, or Extra Guard will all perform well, Wix or Napa gold also are solid filters.

5k oil changes should be easily achievable on any reputable 5w30, including Super Tech, so shop for the best deal that you can find.
 
My Subaru also has a 2.0l turbo and 5W30 is also recommended for it in normal service unlike the 0W20 that is called out for most other Subies (like my daughter's Impreza).
I believe that the oil will see higher peak temperatures around the turbo itself than in a typical normally aspirated engine and this may be why an oil that is somewhat thicker at operating temperatures is recommended for these engines.

There have been hundreds, maybe thousands of posts on here about a phenomenon called Low Speed Pre Ignition (LSPI) that can occur in Direct Injection Turbo (DIT) engines like ours...it doesn't seem to be overly common, but some vehicles (like mine) have been recalled for it and there are stories about blown engines that can be found online. When the FXTs and WRXs were recalled, some folks on subaruforester.org got new engines and lots of people (like me) got new plugs way ahead of schedule...others got a thorough carbon cleaning that probably had nothing to do with LSPI but pointed to other problems with the engine. LSPI can be very violent and even blow a piston apart...
It turns out that the composition of additives in engine oil can have an effect on the occurrence of LSPI and new oil standards have been introduced to help minimize the chance of this unintended consequence of a change in engine design from affecting everyday drivers on the road. dexos1 Gen 2 (d1G2) from GM was the first, and now the more general API SN Plus standard also includes a test for LSPI. Ford has also come out with their own WSS-M2C946-B1 with an LSPI test that supersedes the old -A standard.
I'm not sure how common oils meeting the Ford B1 standard are, but it is very easy to find d1G2 and SN+ 5W30 oils now...my take would be to play it safe and use one of those, if it also meets the Ford spec that is just gravy to you.
Enjoy the new ride!

EDIT - I did some quick poking around and Mobil 1 5W30 meets the Ford B1 spec...can't find anything solid about Super Tech 5W30 synthetic on that point. Not sure if your manual says anything concrete about the Ford oil standards...
 
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Any d2g2 5w30 synthetic, even Walmart ST, should work fine for a 5K OCI in your Escape 2.0T.
 
Originally Posted by Virtus_Probi
My Subaru also has a 2.0l turbo and 5W30 is also recommended for it in normal service unlike the 0W20 that is called out for most other Subies (like my daughter's Impreza).
I believe that the oil will see higher peak temperatures around the turbo itself than in a typical normally aspirated engine and this may be why an oil that is somewhat thicker at operating temperatures is recommended for these engines.

There have been hundreds, maybe thousands of posts on here about a phenomenon called Low Speed Pre Ignition (LSPI) that can occur in Direct Injection Turbo (DIT) engines like ours...it doesn't seem to be overly common, but some vehicles (like mine) have been recalled for it and there are stories about blown engines that can be found online. When the FXTs and WRXs were recalled, some folks on subaruforester.org got new engines and lots of people (like me) got new plugs way ahead of schedule...others got a thorough carbon cleaning that probably had nothing to do with LSPI but pointed to other problems with the engine. LSPI can be very violent and even blow a piston apart...
It turns out that the composition of additives in engine oil can have an effect on the occurrence of LSPI and new oil standards have been introduced to help minimize the chance of this unintended consequence of a change in engine design from affecting everyday drivers on the road. dexos1 Gen 2 (d1G2) from GM was the first, and now the more general API SN Plus standard also includes a test for LSPI. Ford has also come out with their own WSS-M2C946-B1 with an LSPI test that supersedes the old -A standard.
I'm not sure how common oils meeting the Ford B1 standard are, but it is very easy to find d1G2 and SN+ 5W30 oils now...my take would be to play it safe and use one of those, if it also meets the Ford spec that is just gravy to you.
Enjoy the new ride!

EDIT - I did some quick poking around and Mobil 1 5W30 meets the Ford B1 spec...can't find anything solid about Super Tech 5W30 synthetic on that point. Not sure if your manual says anything concrete about the Ford oil standards...


Thanks! That's a lot of new information for me to obsessively Google. I might just stick to mobil 1 and oem filters for now untill I can get some UOA data on this engine.
 
Originally Posted by mpgo4th
I was just going to use motorcraft oil and filters.
Motorcraft oil filters have been prone to getting a hole in their filter media, as reported several times here. Ford even put out a video instructing their technicians on how to look for pieces of the oil filter that have broken off and made their way to the oil galleys and variable valve timing hydraulic circuits, clogging vital paths.

About the only other oil filters that I've seen holes torn in them have been AC-Delco ones, so ban that brand as well. Fram Ultra is the best one to pick for performance and durability. Wix and NapaGold aren't too bad. Probably a good idea to stick with the slightly premium oil filters like Fram Ultra and avoid the cheapies.

All you have to do is look for any dexos1 oil. That performance standard is better than the Ford WSS specs and better than SN GF-5.
 
Thanks for the replies. My local parts store carries a house brand filter made by premium guard. It's an extended life 10,000 mile synthetic filter for a great price. Also I checked a bottle of Napa performance oil (blue bottle) and it meets the new Ford B1 spec.
 
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I had a 14 Focus ST with the same engine. I ran MC oil and filters every 5k with no issues. I could do an OC for under $25 when buying from Walmart.
 
Originally Posted by mpgo4th
Thanks for the replies. My local parts store carries a house brand filter made by premium guard. It's an extended life 10,000 mile synthetic filter for a great price. Also I checked a bottle of Napa performance oil (blue bottle) and it meets the new Ford B1 spec.

Good info!
Your post got me browsing around on the NAPA website and they have the 5 qt jug of NAPA 5W30 Full Synthetic on sale for $16.99, which is about the price of Super Tech synthetic at Walmart. I can see from the photo on the website that it has d1G2, but nothing about Ford's B1 spec in the text. Guess it would take a look at the actual jug to figure that one out...
 
Originally Posted by tojo1968
I could do an OC for under $25 when buying from Walmart.
Exactly. Walmart has the best deals on great oil. No high priced blue-bottle NAPA low performance stuff. Fram Ultra oil filters there for the same or less than "premium guard" non-wire-backed oil filters like the OP is wasting their money on.
As already said, Ford specs are superseded by dexos1 performance levels. Walmart has Castrol Magnatec 5w30 in a 5-quart jug for less than the inferior NAPA blue-bottle.
Anybody is free to waste their own money though. Why not save the money and give the diff $$ to charity instead? There is an idea.
 
Originally Posted by mpgo4th
The manual says... what is a good chioce for 5k OCI?

Why not follow the change interval as well vs changing it so early ? It should be good for upwards of 7500+ miles (likely 9000+).
 
I suppose Motorcraft filters can get a hole in the filter media but I suspect they don't have a corner on that market. You pay your money and you take your chances. My experience with them has been good. As for oil, Magnatec seems to work well with Ecoboost engines. KJSmith has posted some stellar used oil analysis here using it in his EB F150. But as stated here just about any SN+ D1G2 oil will be fine. Personally I limit OCIs to 5k.
 
Checking WM website I can get a 6qt box of Havoline ProDS 5w30 syn and a Fram Ultra filter for $30.96 including tax. I think I may have found a winner. The Havoline is Dexos gen 2 rated.
 
Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
Originally Posted by tojo1968
I could do an OC for under $25 when buying from Walmart.
Exactly. Walmart has the best deals on great oil. No high priced blue-bottle NAPA low performance stuff. Fram Ultra oil filters there for the same or less than "premium guard" non-wire-backed oil filters like the OP is wasting their money on.
As already said, Ford specs are superseded by dexos1 performance levels. Walmart has Castrol Magnatec 5w30 in a 5-quart jug for less than the inferior NAPA blue-bottle.
Anybody is free to waste their own money though. Why not save the money and give the diff $$ to charity instead? There is an idea.


The Napa oil is $1.99 a quart as I bought it for my lawnmower. Sorry that I seem to have offend you with my reading. I'll try better in the future.
 
Oils meeting the new Ford B-1 are approved for their EB engines. As others have stated oils meeting dexos1 Gen2 specs are a good choice since they meet an even tougher standard for TDI engines, I believe. I've been stocking up on Mobil 1 5w30 at Walmart during their rollback pricing that coincides with the Mobil 1 mail in rebate. Right now I have eight 5 qt jugs that cost me ~$11 each after the mail in rebate. As a bonus Mobil 1 has been offering an additional $5 oil filter rebate at the same time you buy the oil. This way the Mobil 1 oil filters cost me $5 at Walmart, a bargain! I've done used oil analysis for Mobil 1 5w30. A summer run was for 7,000 miles and the UOA came back real good, slight shearing of the viscosity but the wear metals were great. The same with a 6,200 mile run during the winter in NJ with lots of remote starts by my wife. The choice is yours
grin2.gif
. By the way we have a 2017 2.3 EB Explorer.

Whimsey
 
Originally Posted by mpgo4th
The Napa oil is $1.99 a quart as I bought it for my lawnmower. Sorry that I seem to have offend you with my reading. I'll try better in the future.
No offense taken, and at least you did get a good deal on that conventional oil. ..... On bitog, what I've learned is to pay attention to how strict the oil specs are, and what the oil is made of (Group3+, PAO, & POE are best), and getting those rebate checks on Group3+ Pennzoil Platinum gets the per-quart price down to $2.25 for a full-syn product. Also, people are fooled by oil filters all the time. Fram Ultra beats them all for value and performance, based on the facts about construction and filtering efficiency, despite colorful cans and marketing.
 
I had (2) Ford 2.0 EBs. Both were easy on oil. I never had to add a drop. I usually used Pennzoil Platinum 5w30, and Napa Gold filters. Based on recent "cut-opens" in the OIl filter section, I wouldn't recommend MC filters.
 
Originally Posted by kkreit01
I had (2) Ford 2.0 EBs. Both were easy on oil. I never had to add a drop. I usually used Pennzoil Platinum 5w30, and Napa Gold filters. Based on recent "cut-opens" in the OIl filter section, I wouldn't recommend MC filters.


Could fuel dilution kept your oil level on the dipstick to the top? Only way to prove for it / against it, is getting a used oil analysis done.
 
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Originally Posted by Triple_Se7en
Originally Posted by kkreit01
I had (2) Ford 2.0 EBs. Both were easy on oil. I never had to add a drop. I usually used Pennzoil Platinum 5w30, and Napa Gold filters. Based on recent "cut-opens" in the OIl filter section, I wouldn't recommend MC filters.


Could fuel dilution kept your oil level on the dipstick to the top? Only way to prove for it / against it, is getting a used oil analysis done.


Yes it could. I saw before a ECU update, fuel dilution was so bad it was putting oil above the full line in the early f150s.
 
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