Taurus 3.0 M'craft 5w-20 vs. M1 0w-20, 5k

JohnnyO · Dec 6, 2004

2003 Taurus 3.0 OHV, 30k on car 5k on both oils.

Motorcraft 5w-20/Mobil 1 0w-20/Univ Avg
Alum........2/2/3
Chrom.......1/1/1
Iron........7/8/16
Copper......3/2/5
Lead........6/9/5
Tin.........1/0/1
Moly........45/48/34
Nickel......0/0/0
Manganese...2/2/0
Silver......0/0/0
Titanium....0/0/0
Potassium...0/0/1
Boron.......12/114/48
Silicon.....20/24/17
Sodium......5/6/10
Calcium.....2997/2988/1981
Magnesium...0/11/251
Phosphorus..899/734//766
Zinc........1149/872/910
Barium......0/0/1
Sub Vis should be 48-58, was 56.4
Flashpoint should be >370, was 405
Fuel % should be Antifreeze % 0, was 0
Water % should be Insolubles % should be
Motorcraft FL400S filter used on both.

Blackstone: Says basically all good stuff.

My take: Might as well save a few bucks and run the Motorcraft instead.

ToyotaNSaturn · Dec 6, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by JohnnyO:
Might as well save a few bucks and run the Motorcraft instead.

I agree. Other than silicon being a bit high, keep the money in your pocket rather than giving it to the parts store.

Would you consider running other 5w-20's for comparison's sake such as PZ or Havoline?

doubleshockpower · Dec 6, 2004

Numbers like that are the same reason I quit paying up for synthetics as well...was wondering what sort of driving you do? TBN?

Congratulations, nice work.

JohnnyO · Dec 6, 2004

I did not have a TBN done. It is the wife's car, she has a 25 mile mostly highway commute each way, plus assorted trips of all kinds to visit clients (she installs and fixes software) so it gets good and warmed up daily.

quote:

Originally posted by ToyotaNSaturn:
Would you consider running other 5w-20's for comparison's sake such as PZ or Havoline?

Probably not, but if I did it would only be with a blend. Ford's recommendation is a blend and I recall a UOA here in a Ford 4.6 with Valvoline dino that was not all that good. Okay so it was Valvoline, but still....
Also AFAIK every other 5w-20 costs a lot more than the Motorcraft and this stuff did as well as Mobil 1, so why mess with success? (I'll tell you why, the wife likes syn and she might make me keep buying it.

)

[ December 07, 2004, 11:22 AM: Message edited by: JohnnyO ]

Whimsey · Dec 6, 2004

Another report where Motorcraft 5W-20 destroyed an OHV engine. Da*n that thin oil! It's the scourge of engines! Oh wait, it was a real good report? Darn, another preconceived notion shot down

. I have to admit unless you're going to go to much long OCI's the Motorcraft 5W-20 is a real good oil at a great price. It's interesting how this is an "old" style/design pushrod engine and yet the Motorcraft 5W-20 oil kept wear metals low. I guess "thickerer ain't always betterer"

.

Whimsey

chucky2 · Dec 6, 2004

Was the Mobil-1 run before or after the Motorcraft run?

If the Motorcraft was after the Mobil-1 report, then it would have the benefit of having had Mobil-1 in it beforehand.

If the Mobil-1 was after the Motorcrafy report, then it would have the disadvantage of having the Motorcraft being run beforehand.

What I'm trying to get at is that you'd need to do something like 2 back to back runs of each oil, over the same conditions, in the same vehicle, to really draw any conclusions.

An argument for the Mobil-1 could be that it was the first run of it, and that it could be cleaning up what was in the engine previously.

A cool test would be:

1. Do the appropriate Auto-RX clean with Motorcraft.
2. Make 2 runs of the Motorcraft oil, get results from each.
3. Switch over to Mobil-1 and make 2 runs under the same conditions the Motorcraft was run in, get results from each.
4. Compare results of the Motorcraft and Mobil-1 runs.

Obviously, it would take a long time to do this, but I think it be the most reasonable test the average user could perform.

Chuck

JohnnyO · Dec 7, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by chucky2:
Was the Mobil-1 run before or after the Motorcraft run?

The Mobil 1 was run before the Motorcraft. On the other hand, I don't think it makes much difference.

quote:

Originally posted by chucky2:
A cool test would be:
1. Do the appropriate Auto-RX clean with Motorcraft.
2. Make 2 runs of the Motorcraft oil, get results from each.
3. Switch over to Mobil-1 and make 2 runs under the same conditions the Motorcraft was run in, get results from each.
4. Compare results of the Motorcraft and Mobil-1 runs.

No problem, send me $107 and it's a go (4 x $20 for Blackstone + $27 for ARX).

The additional fly in the ointment however is that with each UOA the engine has accumulated an additional 5000 miles. I think it's about impossible to do it perfectly outside of a laboratory environment. What I did is good enough for me.

Bryanccfshr · Dec 7, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by chucky2:

If the Motorcraft was after the Mobil-1 report, then it would have the benefit of having had Mobil-1 in it beforehand.

If the Mobil-1 was after the Motorcrafy report, then it would have the disadvantage of having the Motorcraft being run beforehand.

Is that objective?

jthorner · Dec 7, 2004

Motorcraft 5W-20 did a great job. I see no reason to spend the extra money on Mobil-1 or to replicate various versions of the experiment.

John

C4Dave · Dec 7, 2004

MC 5w20 has shown excellent results time after time. For your service, stick with it and save a few bucks. BTW, did you notice any fuel mileage difference?

jsharp · Dec 7, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by Whimsey:
Another report where Motorcraft 5W-20 destroyed an OHV engine. Da*n that thin oil! It's the scourge of engines! Oh wait, it was a real good report? Darn, another preconceived notion shot down

. I have to admit unless you're going to go to much long OCI's the Motorcraft 5W-20 is a real good oil at a great price. It's interesting how this is an "old" style/design pushrod engine and yet the Motorcraft 5W-20 oil kept wear metals low. I guess "thickerer ain't always betterer"

.

Whimsey

This stuff if still a high 20 weight too. This seems preferable to me vs. a thin 30 weight that shears down to this viscosity in a few thousand miles...

JohnnyO · Dec 7, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by C4Dave:
BTW, did you notice any fuel mileage difference?

No, but the wife doesn't track it all that much. With the hills and weather and wind here it would be hard to say anyhow. If it was a big difference she'd notice. A small difference would never show up IMO.

Whimsey · Dec 8, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by jsharp:

This stuff if still a high 20 weight too. This seems preferable to me vs. a thin 30 weight that shears down to this viscosity in a few thousand miles...

Gotta agree with you. I was thinking about going to Mobil 1 0W-20 in my 2002 F-150 4.6L. But since I usually change before 5,000 miles due to time intervals and my type of driving I'm going to stick with the Motorcraft 5W-20. With the money I save I can afford to do an Auto RX at 60,000 miles and still be a head cost wise and no worse off protection wise

Whimsey

mettech_2001 · Dec 10, 2004

I just switched to MC 5W-20 in my '03 Dodge 2500 Ram, 5.7L, from M1 0W-40.. So far the engine sounds the same with only 100 miles on it.. I will change back to M1 0W-40 next spring when I tow more.

I figure that between the two types, I should get the best benifit that both have to offer.. I also run MC 5W-20 in my 89 Honda and 03 Sable. The dealership has MC 5W-20 SL in bulk.. I had to check it out to make sure it wasn't something else.. It appeared that the dealership pride itself that that's all it use. Hope it doesn't have a lot of crud in the tank...

Any thoughts?

JohnnyO · Dec 12, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by mettech_2001:
Any thoughts?

Does your Dodge call for 5w-20? I would not recommend using it if it isn't.

mettech · Jan 31, 2005

It is my understanding that the 5.7 Hemi calls for 5W-20 for the '05 model year... I now have 3100 miles on this OCI. Still full and runs great..

Jay · Jan 31, 2005

Thanks for this comparison, JohnnyO. I've been waiting for someone to compare these two oils.

NewGuy · Feb 1, 2005

JohnnyO -

This was great data and a good comparison. I have a newer GM car and I want to give the MC 5W30 oil a try vs. Castrol GTX and Castrol Syntec.

I think the MC is a great oil for your application and the data supports your conclusion. You seem to be getting comparable results at 5000 mile OCIs at 1/3 the cost.

Taurus 3.0 M'craft 5w-20 vs. M1 0w-20, 5k

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