Ford recommends semi synthetic. Why not full???

[Kruse]

If you are on RIM/RAPID, you will get nailed hard on loyalty if you don't have purchase history from a Motorcraft vendor for oil.

I used to be a Ford tech also. I remember the dealership got their oil from an outside supplier and it wasn't Motorcraft. I could be several
different brands, it just depended on who the owner decided to place the order from. Although I'm sure it met Ford's spec.
One of the biggest reasons for a 40%-50% yearly tech turnover at this dealership was that there was virtually no inventory of parts
on hand. They had to order it from a warehouse that was about 90 minutes away. Anyone here like to get flat-rate wages when
you have almost a zero parts inventory? I guess the 40%-50% who left every year didn't like it either.

 

[bdcardinal]

I used to be a Ford tech also. I remember the dealership got their oil from an outside supplier and it wasn't Motorcraft. I could be several
different brands, it just depended on who the owner decided to place the order from. Although I'm sure it met Ford's spec.
One of the biggest reasons for a 40%-50% yearly tech turnover at this dealership was that there was virtually no inventory of parts
on hand. They had to order it from a warehouse that was about 90 minutes away. Anyone here like to get flat-rate wages when
you have almost a zero parts inventory? I guess the 40%-50% who left every year didn't like it either.

So our oil is delivered by a company called Reladyne, formerly Orange Line. They carry a bunch of different brands of oil, Motorcraft being one of them. Dealer Principals can dictate whatever they want, just know that they are giving up anything on RIM.

Inventory can be a touchy subject. We stock what sells (ideally) and now with RIM we get to return after collecting dust for 9 months. At 9 months the chance of selling that part is 12%, and once it is past a year on the shelf the chance of selling it is around .1%. That is why dealers won't stock stuff just to collect dust, plus it hurts our IQA numbers.

 

[PontiacHO]

I used to be a Ford tech also. I remember the dealership got their oil from an outside supplier and it wasn't Motorcraft. I could be several
different brands, it just depended on who the owner decided to place the order from. Although I'm sure it met Ford's spec.
One of the biggest reasons for a 40%-50% yearly tech turnover at this dealership was that there was virtually no inventory of parts
on hand. They had to order it from a warehouse that was about 90 minutes away. Anyone here like to get flat-rate wages when
you have almost a zero parts inventory? I guess the 40%-50% who left every year didn't like it either.

Did you have more than one bay?

 

[Faawrenchbndr]

Cause it’s not needed. Just like most 1000mg vitamins c tablets at the store are way overdosed, it’s likely just overkill in most use cases. Of course we’re on an OCD oil forum so we all think that we need some specialty oil to run for 5k miles. The reality is, most car manufacturers known for longevity have 99%+ of owners maintaining their cars at OEM intervals using store-bought or bulk oil.

Have ya ever heard of insurance?

GOOD oil is cheap insurance for an expensive engine

 

[OilStainedNapkin]

Fordtechmakuloco would like to have a word with you. With the amount of cam phaser issues and other valve train issues he's seeing, maybe a better oil and/or a higher viscosity oil with shorter oci may have helped.

Couldn’t care less what a shop monkey’s opinion is. I’ve seen ASE certified master techs spew the biggest BS in terms of oil throughout the years.

 

[Danno]

Couldn’t care less what a shop monkey’s opinion is. I’ve seen ASE certified master techs spew the biggest BS in terms of oil throughout the years.

He's showing the damage, as facts. Nothing about oil.
I'm suggesting, in my opinion, higher viscosity, more frequent oil changes, "full synthetic" oil may delay, or stop some of the damage he's seeing.
If you haven't seen his YouTube channel, check it out. I find it to be quite good.

 

[Intelligent Molecule]

Couldn’t care less what a shop monkey’s opinion is. I’ve seen ASE certified master techs spew the biggest BS in terms of oil throughout the years.

Fordtechmakuloco is far from a "shop monkey". One of the best mechanics you'll find on youtube.

 

[gfh77665]

The Zetec in my little Focus is low stress. I have run M1, Castrol Edge, Redline, Royal Purple and Pennzoil Ultra for many many years. It runs fine on 0w20 to 5w40 and everything in between. It is still on the full mark every 5,000 miles when I change it. I don't think there is a bad oil out there as long as it meets the specs for the motor that is calling for it. I have 72 quarts from the AD and Advance clearance a while back.

Simular experience for me with my 2017 1.6 Ford Fiesta. It either gets the Ford dealer OC, or I run QS Advanced Durability conventional (because I have a ton of it). 85K and the car does not use a drop.

Sure, full syns have some advantages like extended intervals, but no quality oil, conventional, blend or syn, will hurt most ordinary engines.
The exceptions are engines with design flaws like cam phasers. Those might need certains oils to try to help cover the design issue up.

 

[OilStainedNapkin]

Fordtechmakuloco is far from a "shop monkey". One of the best mechanics you'll find on youtube.

My point is…I trust the judgement of the engineering teams that developed the vehicle u drive far more than some guy that maintains it

 

[RevvCats]

Maybe part of the reason Ford bumped the viscosity up from 5W-20 to 5W-30 on the Coyote. Ford isn't going to throw away CAFE credits by specifying a thicker oil for no good reason.

The change seemed to happen as the Mach-E sales took of. I’ve run 5w-20 multiple times for 10k miles in my gen 3 coyote and never saw any signs of the oil breaking down or excessive engine wear.

I just finished a long-ish 8k mile run with castrol edge ep 5w-30 and I’m waiting for the results to come back. I did a similar run the other year with the regular edge 5w-20 so we’ll see if the slightly thicker viscosity and beefed up additives made any noticeable difference.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

My point is…I trust the judgement of the engineering teams that developed the vehicle u drive far more than some guy that maintains it

Engineers build according to government mandates. DIY maintainers aren't restricted that way.

There are plenty of engineers that don't always agree with the way things turn out under the hood of the vehicle. They sometimes see / invent alternative methods that improve, but cannot get implemented.

So the final product may not always be what's best for the engine. But it turns out best for supply chain, health and environmental reasons, listed on a few pages of what our law makers set into Law.

 

[Glenda W.]

My point is…I trust the judgement of the engineering teams that developed the vehicle u drive far more than some guy that maintains it

Problem is the engineers are given parameters to work with based on cafe and cost of ownership. If it was solely up to the engineers things would be much different. No lifetime fluids and viscosity charts based service type and temperature ranges would be used again.

 

[Kruse]

Did you have more than one bay?

Each tech had only one bay. So you do your diagnostic and then wait for parts. And wait. And wait. All while getting flat-rate pay.
We also had to work almost every Saturday. A FULL day. The work done on a Saturday was the same work done as on a weekday.
Each tech actually managed to get about four Saturdays off each year.
Not a great environment when you have kids growing up that had events on a Saturday.
Several years later, I actually bought a car from a different Ford dealership in the same state as I did Ford tech work. The Ford dealership where I purchased my car was very small and the salesman and the co-owner was the same person. He got REAL interested in the former dealership as he told me they had the worst reputation in the state. That reputation was true.