My 2007 Ford Fusion turned 300K today.
- Thread starter tig1
- Start date
To be fair I think you used 5w20 in them all. Even their first product was a metal 5w20 can. That's consistency!!
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
This is why it's always good to have a bit of humility, particularly when in regard to subjects you aren't an expert on. It's really not OK that we disagree because that means that there are multiple defendable sides to an argument, but with respect to the OP and his vehicle, that's not the case. He has 40+ years of experience doing the same thing with successful results, that's not up for debate or disagreement on, follow? There's nothing really to counter that with, he's not recommending others follow suit or that this is universally the case.
The only person you need to apologize to is @tig1, because you basically accused him of lying. I might have gone to bat for him here, but you don't owe me an apology.
What makes you feel you are entitled to hold a point of view on his situation though, let alone one that's seemingly baseless and overtly contrary? It's just a man sharing his (successful) experience with this maintenance regiment on this piece of equipment using this lubricant. He wasn't soliciting advice nor looking to be chastised.
Explain why, universally, that longer intervals (like 10K) are unsafe, because that's the appropriate counter and claim that requires support if you want to try and have a debate or discussion on the matter.
I've got no qualms about delving into a productive discussion here, if you are willing and able, as long as tig1 doesn't mind it taking place in this thread. I'm still not entirely sure what it is you think you are disagreeing with us on however, because it surely can't be @tig1's success and experience, and neither one of us has advocated for blindly running extended intervals in this thread.
I think you are still quite young and perhaps a bit too over-confident. This results in you stating, with conviction, conclusions that you've arrived at based on limited and/or dubious data. You also don't seem to be keen on appreciating nuance, which is why you going off half-cocked in this thread was such a spectacle.
And this is you missing the nuance.
There is no single interval. There are myriad factors that play into how long a certain piece of equipment paired with a certain lubricant can operate before requiring a change.
This is why I said claiming the oil is only good for 5,000 miles is just as ridiculous as saying it's good for 20,000 miles. Both can be true and both can be wildly wrong, it depends on all of these other factors. The problem is that you you waded into this thread with it firmly established in your head, and thus stated definitively, that no oil is good for 10,000 mile intervals, regardless of these other factors and type of equipment, and that's wrong.
As I noted earlier, if it doesn't say Mobil 1 on the bottle, the odds are extremely high that it's not Mobil 1 in the bottle. Just because the product is blended by XOM does not mean that any of the performance claims for a very specific product in their portfolio apply. They don't. Just because Michelin makes the OE tires for an econobox, it doesn't mean they are going to perform like Pilot Super Sport's, follow?
That sounds like a LOT of speculation being ceded there, that's some pretty shaky ground from which to be making some very confident and firm statements like no oil is capable of a 10K interval.
Again, you don't owe me an apology, though I appreciate you taking the effort. I think you've just over-stepped here and clearly need to do a bit more reading on what determines safe OCI length, why we have OLM's now and things like that.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
I follow you. I agree my experience may not be as much as some but that certainly doesn’t mean I don’t know anything and people here always seem to think I don’t which is why I try to state what I have found and then just talk it over. I don’t like starting arguments and that’s not my intention. I’m not sure I’m over confident I just felt comfortable answering as I’m a mechanic and as I do have some experience with consumption issues and problems in cars with extended oil change intervals. But it is possible maybe I did get some over confidence. Now sure I will say I’m not the owner of those so maybe I don’t know the driving conditions or how the car was ran in some of them not sure on the types of oil either. I’m certainly not an expert on oil and don’t claim to be. Maybe I made it sound like I was. But I’m just stating what I believe is true.
What made me make the third post is when he mentioned working on jets. Saying he took care of his cars the same way. That actually concerned me as a jet engine is different from a car engine it’s the same concept but has different interval requirements so I just wanted to make sure that we were clear on that. And what I was discussing with someone earlier was say a person who is a airplane mechanic for 30 years is changing oil in his cars and doing the 10,000 mile oil change thing and has for years with no issues then someone who has maybe been a auto mechanic for 5 years for example has had 5 cars come in with extended oil changes and now it’s consuming oil and has problems well I’m going to trust the opinion of the auto mechanic on why you should not do long changes over the other mechanic who has worked on different stuff. And I believe that would be the right thing to do and what most people would do. The member never responded after I said that so maybe he doesn’t agree with me on that either. And believe me I appreciate any advice that anyone could give me doesn’t matter what it is or if they are older, younger anything. I’m not going to post anything on a forum that I know isn’t true or that I don’t believe.
I don’t know the best way to reply to anything else because I don’t want to word it wrong. And if I have not taken something clearly here just let me know. None of this post is intended as an argument or talking down or anything like that.
And I did have a member who I was talking with, Overkill and we were upset the way you come across to me in the one post but I don’t know if you meant to be harsh and we also talked about it in posts from the past too that it’s happened with. And I hope you understand where I’m coming from on that I may have come across that way to other members like tig. And I am sorry if I did come across that way. I didn’t mean for tig to think I was calling him a liar either. I would have also appreciated if more members would have reached out to me for clarification. I know I certainly would try and talk to the member before going higher. That is one other thing that upset me.
I’m sure we can talk it over though. Maybe you can help me out figure the best way to read more on things. And I do apologize to tig as I did earlier. When I made the first post I intended to leave it at that and just say I was surprised at his results but I guess the replies I got to that are what made me say more.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
One thing to remember is it's not just about the miles on the oil, but the application. Some cars are easier on oils than others, the weather situation, and the driving style. A car that is short tripped, has GDI, and is in a cold environment is very different than say, my aunt's '16 Toyota Avalon that I maintain. She drives it 33 miles on the freeway to work and back everyday, almost no traffic just set the cruise control at 75 mph. While it only has 86k miles on it, I've changed the oil every 10k miles with Mobil 1 AFE 0w20 every 10k miles since new, and have no doubts it would hit 300k miles effortlessly. She won't keep it that long but it would be fine and that engine would be clean as a whistle too.
As a mechanic, you're also only put into situations where there's a problem, it's a different perspective. You likely aren't seeing the many successes of those doing longer OCI's. You also don't know the daily habits of the driver and what they're putting the vehicle through.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Exactly!
Which is why one can't make sweeping generalizations like "no oil can do 10,000 mile intervals". It's not just about the oil, it's about the myriad other factors that contribute to what a safe interval ends up being for that piece of equipment.
My truck has always had cleanish looking oil towards the end of an oil change interval. I had a minor amount of oil usage (about 1 qt in 2500 miles) and blue smoke occasionally on startup (especially after running it hard the previous drive). I originally thought it was valve seals until I read about all the valve cover issues. Eventually I ordered a replacement valve cover and removed it finding the PCV completely plugged inside and plenty of sludge. It used conventional the first 180-190k miles, every 3-4k miles from somewhere around 140k miles, but probably based on olm before that (my boss used to drive it and in my early days here he would ask me to take his truck for an oil change when the olm went off). It's possible it missed a couple of oil changes over its lifetime (before I drove it). Other vehicles I've seen that were neglected would always dirty up the new oil really quickly (just like a diesel or direct injection engine)...based on how the oil always looked in this truck I never suspected it was neglected.HEMI's are dirty running enough that I doubt I'd ever run a 10K interval with either of mine (I'm sure you saw the filter that came off the 1500). But, with my Lincoln or Expedition? Wouldn't think twice about it, they were both easy on oil.
Longest OLM OCI in the RAM has been 14,031km; 8,718 miles. That was a year we did a lot of driving and it was March to August. Subsequent OCI's have been anything from 10,000km to 12,000km.
One thing I learned from my valve cover job is that (at least once the PCV is plugged with sludge) synthetic oil even at 3-4k mile/50% of the olm will not clean it up for a long time (at least not over about 40k miles before I finally removed the valve cover).
A catch can emptied daily solved the startup smoke before I got around to the valve cover job which fixed all oil consumption. It barely moves off the full in 3-4k miles now.
If I didn't already have the sludge I would push my oil changes a bit longer but I assume it's still a little dirty inside so I will keep changing it slightly early to hopefully help with any cleaning.
I'll have to check out your filter pics, I did not see them.
HEMI's are dirty running enough that I doubt I'd ever run a 10K interval with either of mine (I'm sure you saw the filter that came off the 1500
Longest OLM OCI in the RAM has been 14,031km; 8,718 miles. That was a year we did a lot of driving and it was March to August. Subsequent OCI's have been anything from 10,000km to 12,000km.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
My dad has pretty much (not always, but almost always) serviced his Expedition with Mobil 1, at 10-12,000km intervals (6,200 to 7,500 miles). I'm now curious to see what it looks like down the fill hole, so I'll see if I can snag a pic once he gets it back from the shop (it's getting the flywheel and starter replaced). It has 334,000km on it now IIRC (207,000 miles).
As has been discussed in some other threads recently, oils aren't meant to clean, they are supposed to keep things clean. Actually removing deposits once they've been laid down is beyond the capabilities of your typical lubricant. The oil needs to be formulated with AN's and/or esters in order to be able to remove existing deposits, which is why M1 FS 0W-40 is an oil that Mobil has actively claimed, can clean, but they don't make the same claim for other products.
Unfortunately, the HEMI doesn't allow you to see anything down the oil fill hole and I'm not eager to pull a valve cover on either vehicle.
The HEMI seems to always produce pitch-black oil, which I've concluded is as a result of how dirty they run. This is the reason behind the removal of the 15K OCI recommendation by AMSOIL for the smaller Ea15K filter, the engine will actually load up the filter. This is an engine where extended OCI's would be a bad idea, which is why I use a premium oil and synthetic media filter (oversized filter on the RAM, the larger SRT filter) just running the OLM interval.
Sorry, off topic but it reminds me of one of my first experiences with sludge working at the ford dealer. A coworker and I borrowed a 99ish f150 from the used lot, that was traded in by a guy that was known to change the oil like every 30,000kms and he used it to plow. He would always trade up after like 5 years so it never hurt him.
The fake oil pressure gauge (ford started that back in 97) was dropping from normal to zero intermittently once it warmed up. We checked the oil and topped it up 1 qt (black as hell). We hoped it was just a bad sending unit but the engine started ticking and abruptly seized up after about half an hour driving (going to pick up a 455 olds I wanted to swap in my Cutlass). It went back to the dealership on the hook.
Used car dept mechanic ended up removing the oil pump pickup and cleaning all the sludge out then it ran perfect. Until the new owner had it a couple days then it threw a rod out the side of the block. I'm 39 now and I was about 20 or 21 back then. I'd see a lot more sludge over the years before I left the auto industry completely almost 10 years ago.
I am currently still using m1 0w40 and I would have changed it this weekend at just under 30% olm but I can't find it on sale so I'd rather just leave it a little longer than switch oils when it's likely to go on sale again in the next couple of weeks.
I have considered trying redline or amsoil or HPL but I can't justify the cost.
Awesome!
Good question!
Good point.
6-10 months
Sam_Julier
$50 Site Donor 2024
An excellent point!
My mechanics, Lydell Motors, spend most of their time on big problems. Most of which is the direct result of negligence, poor maintenance or oil runs based on VW, BMW or MB OLM.
Except for the occasional repairs I can’t do, they never see my cars.
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2023
- Messages
- 375
Let’s see I had a first year Ford Ranger 1983 2.8L
V-6 200K when sold a 1987 Ford Ranger 2.9L
V-6 250K miles when sold 1997 F150 5.4L 2V motor 275K miles when sold
Never spent a dime out of pocket for repairs
I bet my Dad could beat up your Dad.
And I'm pretty sure mine's bigger than y'urs.
Fords have served me well as I normally put high miles on them.
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2023
- Messages
- 375
Yes sir
I’ve never had an issue with any Fords I’ve owned and I’ve owned a lot of em
Same here. I've been driving them exclusively now for about 38 years. However my first Ford was a 69 Fairlane which was a reliable car.
Just noticed this thread, and that’s one impressive milestone. What’s even more impressive, to me at least, is that tig1 achieved this over the course of 16 years, that puts the average miles around 18k miles per year, so a little more than the average of 15k miles per year.
This wasn’t done over a 3-4 year period by some courier or Uber driver, like a lot of other high mileage stories. This is very much a story of an average person and how they would use their vehicle. So very much relatable to a lot of folks I would say.
Thanks for sharing this
This wasn’t done over a 3-4 year period by some courier or Uber driver, like a lot of other high mileage stories. This is very much a story of an average person and how they would use their vehicle. So very much relatable to a lot of folks I would say.
Thanks for sharing this
