the debate: 5000 dino oci

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spunky

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I purchased a '99 Crown Vic a month back...

The car was very very well taken care of. I believe the previous owner had it serviced regularly at the Ford dealer with Motorcraft 5w20 and FL820S filter. When peaking under the oil cap (don't know if this means anything), there doesn't appear to be any varnish whatsoever, the engine looks fantastic. The vehicle now has 100,000 miles.

I do not know what the previous owner's OCI was but I really would like to do a 5000 mile oci. Simply because 5000 is a easy number to remember. Probably a stupid reason, but oh well.

Here's the big question. Would anything less that synthetic be able to keep the engine squeaky clean via a 5000 mile oci? I've read about good results concerning the wear metals on Motorcraft blend, Havoline, and Castrol GTX, etc. - but I am unsure of their ability to resist varnish and stuff after regular 5000 mile changes...

Is synthetic just a pure waste of money for 5000 miles?

Thanks for reading my dilemma!
 
There shouldn't really be a debate here. Any of the oils you mentioned would be fine for 5k assuming no underlying mechanical problems.
 
Many dinos have proven capable of 5000 mile OCI's, but frankly, their suitability depends on the engine and the conditions its driven under.

Pick one, try it, then run a UOA. If you don't like the results, pick a different dino or maybe a synblend, rather, rinse, and repeat until you find an oil/filter/OCI combo your comfortable with.
 
Question would be easier to answer if we knew what type of driving you will be doing. i.e. many short trips less than 5 miles? highway miles at crusing speed for a short or long period of time? Long periods of ideling in trafic and typical air temperature. Ed
 
Typical driving conditions are short 5 miles trips 5 times a week and long freeway drives (120-150 mile round trips) 2 to 3 times a week...
 
Those long freeway drives every week should keep any fuel &/or moisture well cooked out. Choose any of the above oils, run 'em for 5ooo miles, & enjoy your new ride. JMO
cheers.gif
 
Mobil 5000 is guaranteed. Use an oil that has a guarantee if you are going to do that. M-5000 sounds like your ticket.
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Any Current motor oil that meets fords specifications for your car will work fine for your application and 5k mile intervals. No need for garauntees. That's the factory OCI. I would continue to use the exact same oil and filter that the previous owner used since it has worked great so far(you really can't argue with success) and using it for 5k mile intervals (as is the factory oci)is going to be easy and simple to remember.
 
Not to be a "kill-joy" or as my son refers to me as "a buzz killer", but have you checked the owners manual for your Crown Vic? Not that your decision to go with 5,000 OCI's is a bad one, but it might give you peace of mind.
 
I think 5K on dino oil is really pushing it. At that long of an interval, you're looking at some varnish stains developing. You should go full synthetic. Just my opinion.
 
Saying 5k miles is a long interval on conventional is balderdash. I do indeed intend to be contrarian anytime someone implies so because it an unsubstantiated fear that is being spread based upon 20 year old or older information. To continue to presume that old data is true is misleading and results in wasted time, money, oil and effort when other more productive things could be done with those resources.
 
Run it for 5k and don't worry about it. I do it in my cars. You can change it earlier but all you are really doing is making yourself feel better because the oil is still working. I know alot of people who do courier work and they run 7-10k on dino and put 200+ miles a day on em, nothing siezed or spun yet. What will kill you is overheating or running out of oil. The 3k oil change is an invention of the quick change places to get $$$, its like a guaranteed customer every fiscal quarter for them. No worries with that OCI.
 
92 Sentra, 200,000 miles
My used and abused daily driver has gotten 2500-3000 mile oil changes for the past 50,000 miles due to heavy varnish. All the varnish is still there. I think the previus owner did extended OCI with cheap oil.

Change the dino in your Crown Vic every 5000 miles or 3 times a year.
 
Oil isn't going to clean off previous heavy varnish...arx is or try a flush or two.

My parents do the extended OCI's in their accord (mainly b/c the Honda dealer is an hour away and they want to use them for the warranty) and the internals seem jim dandy to me. I've started running 6-7k on my CR-V with various dinos. If I didn't have this oil killing saab as well as a compulsion to change oil....
 
If you must use dino, I'd suggest spending some time in the UOA section of this website and do your homework. There is a wealth of information right there at your finger tips. You may discover some oils that you never would have suspected to run out that long and hold up well. Havoline, M1 and Motorcraft come to mind.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Bryanccfshr:
Saying 5k miles is a long interval on conventional is balderdash.
Click to expand...
It was just my opinion. And besides that, cars and trucks these days are so expensive, I just don't see the reasoning behind taking such a monumentous risk with $10 worth of oil for 5000 miles.
 
Any decent quality conventional oil should be fine for your type of driving in that engine. 5000 miles is fine with an engine that isn't hard on the oil (such as a turbo) or heavy towing.

If you really want to know for sure (for peace of mind) then do an oil analysis at the end of your first 5K run.
 
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