Last oil change I went to synthetic oil. Seeing how expensive it is, is o. k. to go back to regular petroleum based oil, or am I better off sticking with synthetic. Thank you; Danny
Check your owners manual. If it says that Synthetic is required, then continue to use the synthetic. If synthetic isnât required then go with dino. Make sure you change it at the requisite interval and check it regularly
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Not a problem to go back to petroleum oilâŠ
But you are better off sticking to synthetic even if your manual does not require it. I have used synthetic in every engine I own for over 30 years. Even if synthetic is more expensive than regular oil, it is waaaay cheaper than rebuilding an engine.
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Synthetic oil was used exclusively in my 2001 Silverado, and it had 247,000 miles on the engine when I got rid of it in 2105. I changed the oil every 10,000 miles as an experiment, and it would burn a quart of oil every 10,000 when it was new and the same usage in the end. If your engine has turbos, use only synthetic (Ford says to use a synthetic blend).
Tester
Check your Ownerâs Manual, I believe the minimum requirement is the Ford 5w-20 Synthetic Blend. I use this in my 2003 Taurus. Price wise itâs not much more than dino oil.
Ed B.
Not a problem if you follow the recommendations in the manual. Read and decide if the Severe Service description includes your conditions.
I just try to change it at about 20% life left and use the Ford synthetic blend.
Thatâs if you change the oil yourself. If you pay someone to change it, they might charge $20 more than mineral oil for semi-synthetic and $40 more for full synthetic. Thatâs highway robbery.
Semi synthetic/synthetic blend?
What does that mean?
Is it a blend of 5% synthetic/95% dino, 10%synthetic/ 90% dino, etc�
It doesnât say on the container.
But it really doesnât matter.
A semi synthetic/synthetic blend oil is only as good as its lesser component. Which is the dino oil.
Tester
It is a confusing issue. Iâm not a scientist and have read only a very little on the subject. I know, from your responses to other questions are highly knowledgeable.
Seems neither API, nor SAE, nor the courts have developed any standardization of what is âsyntheticâ.
This is NOT an endorsement of any particular brand of oil, and I certainly do not know who produces oil for Ford.
From the back of the label-part science, part ad department.
The first word I see on that label is, Recommended.
It doesnât say, Required.
To me, that means I could use a full synthetic oil, or regular dino oil.
Tester
Itâs critical with variable valve timing engines (which I presume yours is) to use an oil meeting the spec Ford requires. If your truck does anything weird like dropping out cylinders in low load conditions to improve mpg, even more so. From what I see, at least for the 5 liter F150 engine, any oil meeting WSS-M2C945-A and has API Certification mark will do. It is not mandatory to use a synthetic or synthetic blend, just an oil that meets the above spec. Still, if I had that truck myself Iâd use the oil they recommend, Motorcraft 5W-20 Premium Synthetic Blend Motor Oil at the minimum. I have a 46 year old Ford truck w/near 200K miles and have nearly always used the Ford recommended oil (Motocraft 10W-30 dino oil for my truck), so far so good.
If you have the Ecoboost 3.5L, then a semi-synthetic is required IIRC. If you have the 3.7L N/A V6 or the 5.0L V8, then you can use a dino oil that meets Fordâs spec.
Actually I was trying to comment on synthetic vs dino vs blend
issue! Not what I do!
If I still changed my own oil, yes I would probably use âfull syntheticâ,
but the mess and hassle of doing my own changes (especially taking the use oil in) just isnât worth it to me.
Thanks to all, Iâve got my answers; Dan