What is the absolute best mainstream full synthetic oil?
- Thread starter taurus3.5v6
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We buy the vehicles any way.
Oil and coolant changes may help slightly extend the life of the seal in question, but they will not prevent failure. The best thing you can do is to keep an eye out for coolant loss at the weepholes, and monitor your oil level to make sure it isn't rising. If seal failure happens and is caught early enough, the engine my be salvaged.
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
Ford Tech Makuloco on youtube suggests the new Yellow Ford Coolant to help with the water pump issue. In fact he recommends it for all Ford Vehicles.
4WD
$50 site donor 2024
He’s an interesting Tech - what’s the origin of his name ?
This engine sounds like one of the few engines that is a good candidate for regular UOA's looking for coolant specifically.
Drive the car to 50K then sell it. Or if you love it, fix it when it fails. Just start saving now.
My buddy has a two post lift in his barn, do you have a buddy or a friend of a buddy who has this? Then you can do the repair some weekend if it fails. Dropping the complete front engine cradle may be the way to go; Take out the powertrain the way it went in
There is no "best" oil for this, something with an aggressive DP might cause more issues than it solves in this case,
Must have been designed by the Porsche engineers that put selected a roller bearing supported intermediate shaft instead of a pressure lubed plain bearing. Unspeakable.
Good luck enjoy the car. Don't worry or fret, instead just plan ahead.
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
Not sure. Might be shark related. Truly enjoy his vids. He recommends mostly Ford lubricants, except motor oil. He is a Pennzoil Platinum guy. He thinks the GTL's hold up better in Turbo and GDI apps and recommends 5K OCI's with Motorcraft filters, for the proper bypass. The yellow coolant video is not too old so should be easy to find. See I found it
Wrong engine. The Duratec 2.5/3.0L is a completely different animal. Those engines had the water pump located externally on the opposite side of the engine (flywheel side), driven by a tiny belt which ran off the front cam.
You are better off paying for a preemptive water pump replacement than to obsess over maintenance items that have no impact on the water pump's lifespan.
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Don't let anxiety get the best of you. While there are plenty of claims of the pump failing on people, the sample of those horror stories you hear from is an amplified claim as those folks are Facebook/Internet Forum affluent. Think of the other 75% of 3.5 Cyclone V6 (this engine is technically not a Duratec) that have high mileage candidates who do little to no maintenance.
To be proactive, I would suggest draining every ounce of the Dex-Cool clone Ford/Motorcraft Orange Coolant and switch to the newer Ford Yellow. My '21 F150 has this as it's factory fill and I actually have my '05 Suburban on it. It is a good coolant.
Your oil change frequency and and condition will have no impact on a coolant -> Oil cavity breech. Coolant is the only fluid that can keep the pump and it's containment seals happy. However, I am not saying to completley disregard the oil as quality oil and frequent changes can keep these 3.5 Timing Chains happy.
I would do this:
- Choose a reasonably priced oil, my vote is Mobil 1 5W-20/5W-30 at Walmart. Less than $25-30 for 6 quarts
- Change oil with FL500s every 5k
- Spill and fill of Trans with Mercon LV approved fluid every 20k
- Convert to Ford/MC Yellow coolant
- Drain and fill from Radiator/bottle every 2 years. Buy a Lisle Spill Free funnel
I would greatly expect you to have 100k on an OE pump with good (but not obsessive) maintenance. Perhaps at 100k, have a mecahnic do a pump. Yes it isn't cheap, but budget and plan for it. If you like the car, why not? If you do not neglect the car, I very much so have a hard time seeing the pump failing out of nowhere. It isn't like it's going to puke all of the coolant into the pan when you stop to grab a Slim Jim and can of Fresca at the local Delicatessen.
To be proactive, I would suggest draining every ounce of the Dex-Cool clone Ford/Motorcraft Orange Coolant and switch to the newer Ford Yellow. My '21 F150 has this as it's factory fill and I actually have my '05 Suburban on it. It is a good coolant.
Your oil change frequency and and condition will have no impact on a coolant -> Oil cavity breech. Coolant is the only fluid that can keep the pump and it's containment seals happy. However, I am not saying to completley disregard the oil as quality oil and frequent changes can keep these 3.5 Timing Chains happy.
I would do this:
- Choose a reasonably priced oil, my vote is Mobil 1 5W-20/5W-30 at Walmart. Less than $25-30 for 6 quarts
- Change oil with FL500s every 5k
- Spill and fill of Trans with Mercon LV approved fluid every 20k
- Convert to Ford/MC Yellow coolant
- Drain and fill from Radiator/bottle every 2 years. Buy a Lisle Spill Free funnel
I would greatly expect you to have 100k on an OE pump with good (but not obsessive) maintenance. Perhaps at 100k, have a mecahnic do a pump. Yes it isn't cheap, but budget and plan for it. If you like the car, why not? If you do not neglect the car, I very much so have a hard time seeing the pump failing out of nowhere. It isn't like it's going to puke all of the coolant into the pan when you stop to grab a Slim Jim and can of Fresca at the local Delicatessen.
Go buy a Chevy.
Duratec water pump failure / replacement, what a PIA!
www.fordedgeforum.com
Read the later posts, guys have been running these for 200k miles with no failure. Change the coolant with the recommended Motorcraft every 30k and hope you get the same long life out of the water pump that 95% of owners do.
Care to elaborate?
My brother has 180k miles on his 08 Taurus. He uses whatever oil & filter bundle is on sale at AutoZone. The oil is lucky to be changed once a year & he's an aggressive driver. Yes, it's funny & scary to follow him places (he has 4 kids & 3 of those lil a-holes are not allowed in my car, only the one that has my bday 
). Poor car just won't die
). Poor car just won't die- Status
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