M1 5w30 - 3815 OCI , 29113mi, 2011 F-150 Ecoboost

[tspangle88]

As you can see, my fuel is quite high. The truck has been used for a lot of short trips lately, but honestly, that's how it is mostly used these days. When I had my previous UOA done, it was just after a long trip. I wanted to see what it looked like after more typical use. Anyhow, I'd love some recommendations. Shorter OCIs? Complain to Ford? Higher viscosity oil? Miscellaneous info, it's a 2011 F-150 Lariat 4x4 Ecoboost, it's had M1 5w30 and Motorcraft filters since 1000 miles, I am the original owner.

 

[dave1251]

Is this report from 2 years ago?

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: dave1251

Is this report from 2 years ago?

The left-most column says June 2014...

 

[dparm]

To answer OP's question: 2.5% dilution is crazy high. I would either (A) ask Blackstone to retest, or (B) check for mechanical problems. Even if you are doing lots of short trips I can't see it being that high. I think the truck is running extremely rich or has a leaking injector. Is your gas mileage suffering lately?

 

[dave1251]

Thanks for the updated report. Now you know why Ford recommends 5W30 for this engine. It can use the viscosity reserve and it served the engine well from what a limited view we have here.

 

[Zaedock]

Dang, that's a lot of fuel. Even my trail Jeep which sees nothing but trail time had a max of .3%. The short trips in this design are a killer. I would probably take the data and at least talk to Ford. Shorter OCI's while you short trip is what the doctor ordered.

 

[tspangle88]

Originally Posted By: dparm

To answer OP's question: 2.5% dilution is crazy high. I would either (A) ask Blackstone to retest, or (B) check for mechanical problems. Even if you are doing lots of short trips I can't see it being that high. I think the truck is running extremely rich or has a leaking injector. Is your gas mileage suffering lately?

Nope. We just completed a long road trip and it got the same 18-19mpg it always gets on the freeway. Doesn't smell rich, no extra soot on the tailpipe, none of the other signs of it running rich. Could it be Blackstone misreading the fuel level? Maybe I should go with Polaris next time.

 

[tspangle88]

Originally Posted By: dave1251

Is this report from 2 years ago?

Yeah, sorry, I linked to the old image at first. I corrected it, but you saw the old one.

 

[OneEyeJack]

It would be interesting to hear what Ford has to say, not the service manager but someone in a tech position with the factory. I would keep good records of any conversations and faithfully document my maintenance in case of a future warranty claim. Gasoline is not a good oil additive and you have a bit of gasoline in that sample. I would repeat the sample looking for a trend.

 

[Merkava_4]

If you keep making short trips like that, you're gonna have to move up to 10W-40. 7.69 cSt is too thin. You should be at least in the 9 range with 10 range being better.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: tspangle88

Originally Posted By: dparm

To answer OP's question: 2.5% dilution is crazy high. I would either (A) ask Blackstone to retest, or (B) check for mechanical problems. Even if you are doing lots of short trips I can't see it being that high. I think the truck is running extremely rich or has a leaking injector. Is your gas mileage suffering lately?

Nope. We just completed a long road trip and it got the same 18-19mpg it always gets on the freeway. Doesn't smell rich, no extra soot on the tailpipe, none of the other signs of it running rich. Could it be Blackstone misreading the fuel level? Maybe I should go with Polaris next time.

Call them and ask for a retest.

 

[itguy08]

Are you "making" oil? There were a few HPFP failures this winter that were seen on the F150 forums. There also is a TSB if you makr oil or have a gas smell that may help as well. The IOLM is supposed to take into account short trips in its calculations - what was it reading when you changed the oil?

 

[nitehawk55]

My son has an 2011 F150 EB as well and likes it but I know he has never had a UOA done on it so I may suggest this to him . Now your truck should still be under warranty ? , I would be showing this report ot your dealer and getting there opinion and also have them put it on file just to protect yourself . Hopefully they will take this seriously and check into the system , it may be as simple as a different setting on the OBC . Otherwise it might not hurt to look at running Rotella T6 in the 5W40 ?

 

[hattaresguy]

UAO data like this isn't that helpful without a trend. Sample again in 4k miles and see where fuel levels are. If it holds 2.5% that seems a bit high, but maybe it won't. Blackstone makes mistakes like everyone else.

 

[badtlc]

The engine is designed to run on 91+ octane. They run super rich AF ratios as a bandaid to let people run on 87 octane. You can try premium to see if it helps. I'm betting it would reduce the dilution noticeably. Either way, no real harm being done so don't fret about it.

 

[gregk24]

These direct injected engines just don't seem to be made for us short trippers. Frequent oil changes are a must if this is how they behave.

 

[spasm3]

With the fuel and the shearing. I would be tempted to run a hdeo 5w 40.

 

[tig1]

Why did you do a UOA at 3800 miles? How long was this OCI?

 

[edyvw]

I would not go yet to 5W40, but try some Euro spec 5W30 or 0W30. I would go with Castrol 0W30 (cst 12.21) and NOT M1 ESP 5W30 just because Castrol is Full SAPS. That is until you figure out is that actually problem or just the way Ecoboost runs. If there is nothing wrong with engine, stick to Castrol 0W30 or get in Wal Mart Castrol 0W40 or M1 0W40.

 

[gap599]

tspangle88, have a look at the UOA's I have posted from my ecoboost. My first UOA showed 3.3% fuel, the next 3 UOAs were <0.5, 0.8, and <0.5, so having high fuel dilution in one sample may not be indicative of a problem. I would continue on as normal, and do another UOA or two to establish a trend before I got too excited about it. Note that the UOA with the 3.3% was during break-in, so that could be the reason for the high reading.