new used Bronco 2.7, looking for some advice.

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Jan 15, 2025
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Hi everyone, first post, i’ll introduce myself a bit and make a little more of a post besides just the (whats the best oil) normal questions that come up.

I’ve worked on, built engines, and motorcycles and atv’s. I consider myself fairly well learned when it comes to engines, what makes them work, and at a basic level, lubricants.

I’ve had extremely good luck for years with Motul lubricants. I’ve seen first hand what those oils are able to do, and motors that Motul could keep together that no other oil could do. I used to work on Cannondale atv’s and the shop I worked at used Moutl 5100 and also Motul 300v. They were notorious for camshaft lobe wiping/failure and we never had a lobe/bucket failure with Motul that i’m aware of.

With all of that being said, I usually gravitate to Motul for most things, but I feel like i’m in over my head on figuring out what’s ok and what’s not ok additive pack wise, or maybe what’s optimum to use in these new DI/turbo engines. I’ve also been on the Amsoil train, and these days i’m not so sure i’m really getting my value for $ spent, or if it’s even the best all around lubricant for a passenger vehicle.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of youtube watching on different oils, reading here on the forums, etc.There’s so much information, either from oil testing, personal experience, etc and so many things to consider that it’s hard to sort through it all. There’s fuel dilution, high temps, low speed pre-ignition with these small turbo engines making lots of torque at low rpm, everything.

I see a lot of folks talking about Penzoil UP, Mobil 1, HPL and others as good go-to oils for a lot of motors, including 2.7 ecoboost. My question is, what are some premium options? $ aside, what would be the best long term protection for the engine in my Bronco I just bought?

2021, 52k miles. Been well serviced based on carfax maintenance records. Approx 5k oil changes, first change was done at 2k miles. My use case is a mix. I sometimes drive 4 mile trips into town, sometimes 40 mile trips, Sometimes 2000 mile trips out west from Ohio. I’ll be towing, off road, everything. I’ve read some forum posts on bronco6g of guys seeing 265f oil temps towing in the mountains. Those temp’s don’t really scare me, I just wanna make sure i’ve got the best protection I can, regardless of the $ (within reason).

What are premium options for a street car (not racing oils) that will just give good all around oil life and wear prevention?
 
My brother has an f150 with the 2.7 Ecoboost.

Used several different kinds of name brand synthetics ranging from Castrol to valvoline

Just use pretty much any full synthetic with a decent oil filter and change it regularly and I don't think you'll have an issue.

The 2.7 seems more dependable than the 3.5
 
I'm completely open to using a 0W40 instead of the oem spec 5W30.
The 5W30 that Ford recommends is ILSAC GF oil, meaning energy conserving. So, the HTHS of those oils is around 3cP.
HTHS of Euro stuff with MB229.5, etc. approvals, ACEA A3 or C3 is minimum 3.5. So, Euro XW30 oils have HTHS almost or, in some cases, higher than some XW40 oils, and HTHS is actually what matters.
That being said, I just remembered that local Wal-Mart carries Mobil1 ESP 0W30. That would be my choice.
 
In the case that my local walmart/auto parts store does not carry M1 ESP 0w30 or 0W40, or Castrol, or really any of those Euro oils, should I shop for the same oils online, or are there any other brands that I should look at? Schaffers? Motul? Amsoil? HPL? Redline? I normally buy a case at a time or more if buying online. It just makes it easier to have that next change ready to go and buy 2 changes at once.
 
In the case that my local walmart/auto parts store does not carry M1 ESP 0w30 or 0W40, or Castrol, or really any of those Euro oils, should I shop for the same oils online, or are there any other brands that I should look at? Schaffers? Motul? Amsoil? HPL? Redline? I normally buy a case at a time or more if buying online. It just makes it easier to have that next change ready to go and buy 2 changes at once.
You will definitely find some Euro flavor in WM. M1 ESP 0W30, M1 0W40, Castrol Edge 5W30 Euro, Pennzoil 5W30 Euro L.
You can find all those oils in AZ or AAP. They also carry M1 ESP 5W30, which would be more shear stable than 0W30, maybe. 0W30 still packs PAO and some ester, unlike ESP 5W30. In those stores, you can also find Castrol Edge 0W30, which is my favorite, and sometimes they have a $37 sale with a filter for 5qt on all oils.
Also, don;t get surprised, but some Euro oils will be API SL! That is bcs. their additive package (phosphorous) is higher than what API allows for API SM and later in XW30 flavor.
What you want is to look in the back and see if oil is approved for MB229.5 or MB229.51/52. That is pretty much gold standard.
 
The idea that Motul is somehow better is in error. They often use Mobil base stocks, and at least in the past, some of their oils were in fact nothing more than repackaged Mobil 1 products. The 2.7 is a very robust and reliable engine. Among quality synthetic oils, your oil choice won't matter anywhere near as much as performing frequent oil changes.

I know someone with a 2.7 F150 (not me) who is performing 20,000 mile OCI's with Amsoil, mostly because he is lazy. I did an oil change for him and it was obviously awful as the fuel and sludge, er, ah, I mean oil drained into my drain pan. Unsurprisingly, the engine sounded A LOT BETTER with fresh oil. Don't do that, please. While I did not perform a UOA for him, what I drained out did truly look terrible.
 
The idea that Motul is somehow better is in error. They often use Mobil base stocks, and at least in the past, some of their oils were in fact nothing more than repackaged Mobil 1 products. The 2.7 is a very robust and reliable engine. Among quality synthetic oils, your oil choice won't matter anywhere near as much as performing frequent oil changes.

I know someone with a 2.7 F150 (not me) who is performing 20,000 mile OCI's with Amsoil, mostly because he is lazy. I did an oil change for him and it was obviously awful as the fuel and sludge, er, ah, I mean oil drained into my drain pan. Unsurprisingly, the engine sounded A LOT BETTER with fresh oil. Don't do that, please. While I did not perform a UOA for him, what I drained out did truly look terrible.
Which if their products were repackaged M1?? I really want to hear that.
And yes, most companies buy base stocks from several large suppliers. Doesn’t mean it is same thing inside. Doesn’t mean M1 uses those stocks.
 
This was 15 years ago, and it Motul 5100 and also Motul 300V in a racing 450 atv. High rpms, high compression, etc, not an automotive application. Extremely high heat. we had a 6 hour atv race that we did in Georgia, we used 2 riders on the same bike. The quad got it's radiator pluged sometime around hour 4 into the race, and we made it to within 10 minutes of the end of the race, bike finally quit running due to overheating. Later we tore the bike down, the COOLANT overflow tank melted to the frame oil tank, which tells you how hot the oil got if it was hot enough to melt the tank that holds the normally 240+ degree coolant. This bike completely lost compression and ring tension because of the heat, it ran for over an hour at race pace with 0 coolant but it did not lose it's camshafts with god knows how high oil temps.

After that, I really believed in Motul just because of what I had seen first hand, and also you see a lot of racing (rally, GP, etc) using/recommending it, guys doing Track days recommending it, etc.

I have no idea if they are re-packaged M1, does not really matter to me. Their web site says they are a French company founded in 1853. I just like to think they have at least some kind of idea what they are doing based on my first hand experience + other users i've seen use the oil.

With all of that being said, it may not be the best for a twin turbo DI passenger car engine, that's why I come here to help sort out the data sheets and the science of it; they have several lines of passenger car oils.
 
The idea that Motul is somehow better is in error. They often use Mobil base stocks, and at least in the past, some of their oils were in fact nothing more than repackaged Mobil 1 products. The 2.7 is a very robust and reliable engine. Among quality synthetic oils, your oil choice won't matter anywhere near as much as performing frequent oil changes.

I know someone with a 2.7 F150 (not me) who is performing 20,000 mile OCI's with Amsoil, mostly because he is lazy. I did an oil change for him and it was obviously awful as the fuel and sludge, er, ah, I mean oil drained into my drain pan. Unsurprisingly, the engine sounded A LOT BETTER with fresh oil. Don't do that, please. While I did not perform a UOA for him, what I drained out did truly look terrible.

I think it really just depends on the use case and the engine. I ran Amsoil SS in my 2016 Tundra with the 5.7. I sent it to blackstone for UOA after 13k miles, and I think it had 2.0 TBN left. BS said I could go another 2k next change and see what it looks like, but I drove 10 miles each way to work, and also once a week 90 miles to my moms house. Also, I can't imagine the toyota 5.7 is very "hard" on oil compared to an ecoboost. The oil that came out of the tundra after 13k miles honestly didn't even really look dirty, it was dark brown, not black.
 
I've been doing similar research and it seems that Mobil 1 ESP 0W-30 may be the best option. The reason is that the 2.7L ecoboost has a tendency to dilute oil with fuel in the 2-5% range depending on driving habits. The ESP 5W-30 would also be fine unless you need to cold start below about -10F, but it is rarer and more expensive for reasons unclear to me.

I'm completely speculating, but if you don't drive more than 30 minutes at highway speed every day, do a lot of cold starts, and/or do a lot of idling to keep the vehicle at a comfortable temperature while parked, I would expect 2-5% fuel dilution on 5000 mile oil changes. As a result, the oils meeting the European ACEA C3, VW 504/507 and MB 299.52 approvals appear to be better than oils bearing only API or ILSAC approvals, to use in the Bronco 2.7L & 2.3L Ecoboost applications.

I know this is an oversimplification, but oils bearing only Ford/API/ILSAC approvals are usually thinner (lower HTHSV and KV100 specifications) than ACEA C3 Euro spec oils. This is, in part, to comply with API/ILSAC resource conserving requirements. All else being equal, this lower HTHS/KV100 leads to less protection against engine wear after dilution occurs. I would like to know just how much additional wear results from using, for instance, the OEM "recommended" motorcraft 5W-30 syn. blend and if it is consequential in terms of reducing vehicle lifespan.

I don't know that there is a definitive answer, but based on what little I've learned, it's not going to hurt anything to use Euro oil, especially if the oil you chooses "meets the engine test requirementes of API SP" as does M1 ESP 0W/5W-30 (5W actually bears the SP approval donut).
 
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I've been doing similar research and it seems that Mobil 1 ESP 0W-30 may be the best option. The reason is that the 2.7L ecoboost has a tendency to dilute fuel in the 2-5% range depending on driving habits. The ESP 5W-30 would also be fine unless you need to cold start below about -10F, but it is rarer and more expensive for reasons unclear to me.

I'm completely speculating, but if you don't drive more than 30 minutes at highway speed every day, do a lot of cold starts, and/or do a lot of idling to keep the at a comfortable temperature while parked, I would expect 2-5% fuel dilution on 5000 mile oil changes. As a result, the oils meeting the European ACEA C3, VW 504/507 and MB 299.52 approvals appear to be better than oils bearing only API or ILSAC approvals, to use in the Bronco 2.7L & 2.3L Ecoboost applications.

I know this is an oversimplification, but oils bearing only Ford/API/ILSAC approvals are usually thinner (lower HTHSV and KV100 specifications) than ACEA C3 Euro spec oils. This is, in part, to comply with API/ILSAC resource conserving requirements. All else being equal, this lower HTHS/KV100 leads to less protection against engine wear after dilution occurs. I would like to know just how much additional wear results from using, for instance, the OEM "recommended" motorcraft 5W-30 syn. blend and if it is consequential in terms of reducing vehicle lifespan. I don't know that there is a definitive answer, but based on what little I've learned, it's not going to hurt anything to use Euro oil, especially if the oil you chooses "meets the engine test requirementes of API SP" as does M1 ESP 0W-30.
I agree with you. i'm also not worrying about losing 1% fuel mileage if I get some greater percentage of better wear protection, especially at 250+ oil temps which i'm finding this engine can regularly get to.

Speaking to your short trips, i've noticed that oil temp does come up quite quick on the bronco. Both the transmission and engine have oil to water coolers which help with warmup drastically. The other morning it was 15f here and I remote started from inside, it ran for about 4 minutes and I went outside and hopped in, oil temp was at 100f already, drove 3 miles at 60mph to town and it was already at 160f, and coming up to a normal 180f shortly after. Driving on the highway when it's 15f outside at 70mph, I see 185-190 oil temps even in the dead of winter after just 10 minutes or so. I try to limit idling unless necessary, and also I don't hop straight into driving on a completely cold engine. To me, "warmed up" is 80f or higher and ready to hit the freeway. It does not take long at all to get there.

When it's cold here I give it a short warmup, but i'm not a fan of the 15 minute every day idle sessions, I think it does more damage than good, but I think a short warmup has benefits.
 
I agree with you. i'm also not worrying about losing 1% fuel mileage if I get some greater percentage of better wear protection, especially at 250+ oil temps which i'm finding this engine can regularly get to.

Speaking to your short trips, i've noticed that oil temp does come up quite quick on the bronco. Both the transmission and engine have oil to water coolers which help with warmup drastically. The other morning it was 15f here and I remote started from inside, it ran for about 4 minutes and I went outside and hopped in, oil temp was at 100f already, drove 3 miles at 60mph to town and it was already at 160f, and coming up to a normal 180f shortly after. Driving on the highway when it's 15f outside at 70mph, I see 185-190 oil temps even in the dead of winter after just 10 minutes or so. I try to limit idling unless necessary, and also I don't hop straight into driving on a completely cold engine. To me, "warmed up" is 80f or higher and ready to hit the freeway. It does not take long at all to get there.

When it's cold here I give it a short warmup, but i'm not a fan of the 15 minute every day idle sessions, I think it does more damage than good, but I think a short warmup has benefits.

The oil temperature indicator does rise fairly quickly, I have not seen 250 yet that I know of but I am in Alaska where ambient is seldom over 80F. It can get to 220 just sitting in a drive-thru line for 20 minutes even when it's 10F ambient. One would think this would help get the fuel out of the oil more quickly but I've had no such luck.

If you're wondering if you have fuel dilution or not, you can always check the dipstick. I fill oil to the proper range on the dipstick with about 6.25 quarts during changes but the level is routinely over the top circle indicating overfill when I check the cold oil level, and reeks of gasoline. I also started to do Used Oil Analysis with Horizon/Oil Analyzers test kits which came back at 3.3% fuel dilution on my latest report after 4000 miles. As a consequence the oil I was using (M1 AFE 0W-30) had slipped a grade to 20 w/ 8.9 KV100 because of the dilution. AFE starts at 10.7 KV100 with a 3.0 HTHS compared to ~12.0 and 3.5 for ESP. I've tried 3 labs so far and Horizon/OA is the only one that *seems* to give accurate fuel dilution results.

I am still running M1 AFE 0W-30 for one last interval, seeing if keeping auto start/stop off the whole time makes a difference on Fuel dilution, but after that will be likely switching to something else with higher starting HTHS/KV100 so that it will still be a 30 grade after the dilution.

If you wanted to stick with MOTUL it seems like maybe the 8100 X-CLEAN+ would be promising? I'm not an expert on additive package nomenclature but it appears to be low SAPS (good) with ~1500 ppm calcium (OK) with 3.5 HTHS and 11.8 KV100, with BMW, Porsche, VW, MB approvals.
 
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I use Motul, I like Motul, but not sure price justifies purchase.
Personally my favorite if Castrol Edge 0W30, available on Amazon for $49 for 6qt.
Or you can go for Mobil1 0W40 FS in Wal mart for $27 for 5qt.
ENgines with turbo, I would stick to Euro stuff.
Do those euro oils have reduced Ca? Thats what’s stopping me from switching to a euro from my current dexos oils
 
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