Ford Engines - Maximum 20 wt OCI's?

[Best F100]

I've got a son who's first car (of his own), is a new Ford Focus. He is not the type to be concerned about upcoming oil change intervals (in a timely basis).

I have heard of older Focus's going well past 300,000 miles. With this Focus 4 cylinder engine being in the mix among the lowest wearing engines around - Questions:

1) What 20wt oil can be run the furthest (past the manufacture's recommended 7500 miles), without dire consequences?

2) Would he be better off, running a 30wt synthetic?

3) Can Kendall 5W20 GT-1 FULL Synthetic, or Motorcraft 5W20 FULL Synthetic be run further than the more commonly found blended products? Most folks run the blended product up to 6 or 7,000 mile OCI's.

In older posts, I have noticed that Tig 1 runs Mobil 1 5W20 Extended Performance @ 10K intervals. Someone else used Red Line 5W20 over 12K miles in another Focus. (UAO was Super). I was going to recommend that he stay with something like Amsoil 0W20 or Mobil 1 0W30. Almost 2/3 of his miles, that he racks up will be city commuting miles.

What do y'all think?

 

[dgee]

you should run the recommended weight @ the recommended intervals to keep that warranty

Motorcraft

 

[2oldtommy]

If the car is new, he will want to change the oil in accordance with the service interval in the owner's manual.Give him some guidance ( if you can) until the end of the warranty so that you don't end up with a blown engine and a dealer who claims the warranty is not valid because the oil changes were not done. It's a great car, but a 5k to7k OCI must be done. Any SM, 5w-20 oil will do the job IMO.--Oldtommy

 

[CourierDriver]

On the road a guy was explaining u must use 5w20 oil in newer fords because if u dont and use a 10w30 or 10w4o it will ruin camshaft bearings, engine bearings and cause heads to blow. The dealerships stress only 5w20 wgt oil and no subs. Thats what I hear out in the expediting world

 

[Ben99GT]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
On the road a guy was explaining u must use 5w20 oil in newer fords because if u dont and use a 10w30 or 10w4o it will ruin camshaft bearings, engine bearings and cause heads to blow.


Complete myth, most Ford OHC engines don't even have cam bearings. That should be the first clue as to how much this guy knows.

 

[bluestream]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
On the road a guy was explaining u must use 5w20 oil in newer fords because if u dont and use a 10w30 or 10w4o it will ruin camshaft bearings, engine bearings and cause heads to blow. The dealerships stress only 5w20 wgt oil and no subs. Thats what I hear out in the expediting world


That's ridiculous. Why do the same Ford engines in Europe spec a 5W30?

 

[beast3300]

Originally Posted By: dgee
you should run the recommended weight @ the recommended intervals to keep that warranty

Motorcraft

+1

No 30wt wouldn't kill it however under warranty stick with Motorcraft 5w30. In fact you may stick with MC 5w20 it's entire life. I don't see anything wrong with it.

 

[Panzerman]

Are you a bad parent or what, I have to ask because I just asked my 12 year old son when should you change oil and he said 4,000 miles or 4 months depending on how you use the car. So apparently I am raising mine correctly. Not to be nasty, but you need to get it through your kids(technically a adult) head, if he does not change his oil or practice good maintence he's gonna be walking. Too many parents now days, provide a net for their children and think they are doing them a favor, when the exact oppisite is the result. You should emphasize that synthetic is a great idea, but not the reason to be irresponsible.

 

[Eddie]

Maybe because they run peddle to the metal often and use a typical 15,000 KM OCI. They expect the 5w30 to shear down to a 20 during the 15,000 KM run.

 

[modularv8]

They don't. As for the focus, same displacement different power rating. No one has ever proved that these are the same exact engines, but the idea that engines in other markets are identical to whats offered in the USA gets perpetuated as if it were truth.

 

[Ben99GT]

Originally Posted By: modularv8
No one has ever proved that these are the same exact engines, but the idea that engines in other markets are identical to whats offered in the USA gets perpetuated as if it were truth.


When the word comes directly from the engineers behind them, it is pretty well proven.

 

[modularv8]

What engineers? Ford engineers on BITOG? Is this something that someone posted that someone else who knows an engineer said?

 

[wgtoys]

Originally Posted By: modularv8
No one has ever proved that these are the same exact engines, but the idea that engines in other markets are identical to whats offered in the USA gets perpetuated as if it were truth.



The various critical dimensions and clearances are all published in service manuals. The reason US market Fords say "5W-20 only" is because that is part of their agreement with the government. Ford can only use 5W-20 oils in their fuel economy tests if they do everything possible to ensure than real users will also be using 5W-20 oils. I'm not going to spend the next hour doing the search and document thing for you, and I doubt you would believe me if I did.

Carl Sagan said: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof." What would be extraordinary would be for Ford, Honda, etc. to make engines with different internal mechanical dimensions for the US market compared to other markets.

Now to the original question. If I were concerned about the timeliness of projected oil changes, I would choose any of the well known synthetic brands of oil as a bit of extra safety margin.

 

[dave1251]

That is a nice little car I bought one for my wife on valentines day. The engine is very easy on the oil. It should not be hard for your kid to do 6K oil changes and you should be fine with any 5W-20 and a quality filter.

 

[Ben99GT]

Originally Posted By: modularv8
What engineers? Ford engineers on BITOG? Is this something that someone posted that someone else who knows an engineer said?


Scott Whitehead, not on BITOG.

 

[Ben99GT]

Originally Posted By: wgtoys
Originally Posted By: modularv8
No one has ever proved that these are the same exact engines, but the idea that engines in other markets are identical to whats offered in the USA gets perpetuated as if it were truth.



The various critical dimensions and clearances are all published in service manuals. The reason US market Fords say "5W-20 only" is because that is part of their agreement with the government. Ford can only use 5W-20 oils in their fuel economy tests if they do everything possible to ensure than real users will also be using 5W-20 oils. I'm not going to spend the next hour doing the search and document thing for you, and I doubt you would believe me if I did.

Carl Sagan said: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof." What would be extraordinary would be for Ford, Honda, etc. to make engines with different internal mechanical dimensions for the US market compared to other markets.


+1

 

[tig1]

With Mobil 1 5w20 Extended Protection 10-12K is easy to do with the Focus depending the miles per year you are driving. I started with Mobil 1 5w30 Extended Performance in the Focus and the engine ran fine. In Feb this year I switched over to the 5-20 and the engine is very smooth with it. Will stick with the 5-20 for the near term at least.

 

[mechtech2]

Best - Your problem is not which oil, or some minor OCI difference.
It is to get your son to realize that oil changes are important.

Ben - All cams have bearings, BTW. Some are integral with the caps, and some are separate. Of course they have bearings.

 

[Ben99GT]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Ben - All cams have bearings, BTW. Some are integral with the caps, and some are separate. Of course they have bearings.


No they don't.

The cam journals are line bored at the factory and have no bearing inserts.

From Clevite:
Quote:
Inspect the cam bearings for wear and signs of fatigue. Be especially concerned if you are replacing a camshaft that failed prematurely. The cause of the camshaft failure may have had an effect on the cam bearings. If you find the cam bearings need replacement or if you have an Overhead Cam (OHC) engine that does not use cam bearings, check the housing bores for proper size and alignment. Install new Clevite 77® cam bearings when required.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I think what mechtech2 meant is that the finished bored journal IS the cam bearing. I am not aware of a definition that a plain bearing has to be "seperate, removeble" though in common practice it is replaceable/removable.