second guessing oci.

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My new 2014 fofocus calls for 10,000oil changes. I don't mind spending money to keep it Like new and lasting a long time. I currently have 4600 miles on it and am running pp 5w20. I am 3,000 into the oil change and am second guguessing 10,000 mechanics and others think 10 is way to long. It's longer than I have ever gone. Being a di engine and I run highways everyday but am udually do 80mph or so. Would you do the 10,000 would you do a shorter interval and use a Dino or maybe shorter and use pp like I currently am. What would you do if it was your personal vehicle?
 
If you're not short tripping, then 10K might be doable with quality synthetic such as PP. If it was me, I'd do a UOA at around 10K miles to see whether I'd be comfortable with that OCI going forward or whether I'd cut it a bit.

But at the end of the day, if this is going to bother you to the point of losing sleep, then just change it early and find something else to worry about.
 
The focus is super easy on oil. 10k/1year OCI and be done with it. Just use a high end synthetic if you want to go the extra mile.
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man
What would you do if it was your personal vehicle?


If I had a car that called for 5W-20 (and I have two), I would and do use the least expensive name brand xW-20 and I would and do change it every 5k miles (or 3k on our Acura, due to lots of short tripping). I have a stash of Valvoline MaxLife 5W-20, some PYB 5W-20, and some Peak 0W-20 waiting in the wings. The most expensive of all of it was the Peak, at $3.15 on clearance at Pep Boys.
 
For 36 years now I have done 10K OCIs with M1 oils in all types of engines. Never a dirty engine or one that showed any sign of unusual engine wear.
 
I have the 2012 version and have settled into the 6 months/5,000 mile routine, using my remaining stock of the old formula Pennzoil Ultra.

Ford suggests a longer interval is OK, but: 1)as DI is still fairly new to Ford generally and to the Focus specifically and 2) manufacturers are still sometimes surprised about lubrication issues in DI engines (e.g. GM), being a little conservative makes sense to me.

Another approach would be to run the IOLM down to, say 30-40% oil life remaining, but the Focus IOLM won't disclose what it's thinking until it's time for a change.
 
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My first new car was a 1966. The OCI was 2K miles along with checking valve clearance, points and timing. Access in the engine compartment was easy, this took all of 15 minutes. This was my first new car and nothing was too good for my car.

Today my OCI is 5K miles and I check the valve clearance on the Honda every 30K miles and don't there are no points and I don't check the timing. On the 4Runner I change the oil every 5K miles and that's it. I don't go to 10K because of dust, dirt roads and short trips. I discovered that changing the air filter was as important as the oil changes. I figured out the OCI through UOA's and you might do it too, not because it's cost effective but because it's interesting to know, for sure.
 
Solution: Run M1 EP 5w20 or 0w20 and a Fram Ultra (or comparable quality filter) and run for 10k and dont worry about it. Thats what id do
 
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Solution: Run M1 EP 5w20 or 0w20 and a Fram Ultra (or comparable quality filter) and run for 10k and dont worry about it. Thats what id do

+1......If your not doing a considerable amount of short tripping, a 10K OCI should be easily achieved with a quality synthetic like M-1. Theres no sense in wasting good oil and $$$. If Ford recommends 10K, I think they know what their talking about.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Changing it every 5k or 7.5k sounds good to me


X2.
 
engineers and mechanics are wrong all the time. Change the oil now then at 10,000 miles. Then 1 year or 10,000 miles whichever comes first. Syn oil lasts a long time. what about the trans oil?
 
I am curious about the DI + timing chain in this car and what it will mean for oil longevity. I plan to do a UOA at some point but I haven't yet.

There is an OLM on this car. It may tell you to change your oil before 10K. It could be as soon as 3000 miles if you trust the owner's manual (page 472).
 
Originally Posted By: Tabor
I am curious about the DI + timing chain in this car and what it will mean for oil longevity. I plan to do a UOA at some point but I haven't yet.

There is an OLM on this car. It may tell you to change your oil before 10K. It could be as soon as 3000 miles if you trust the owner's manual (page 472).


There are UOAs on this engine already. It is VERY easy on oil and hasn't shown the fuel dilution propensity, yet.
 
The last OCI on my Cobalt was 10K and my Blackstone report showed no negative issues. If you are concerned with 10K, try 7.5k and send a sample to Blackstone. I'll bet the results will be fine. Then next time you may feel comfortable with going 10K
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man
My new 2014 fofocus calls for 10,000oil changes. ....


Well that made me chuckle! So much for the lowest total cost of ownership. For the cost of all of those oil changes you could have bought a Bentley.

Like some of the other posters have already said, the UOAs show that this engine is pretty easy on its oil and a 10k mile OCI is reasonable especially with your mostly highway driving.
 
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