My new Ford 2011 Fiesta will be due for its first oil change soon (3000 miles mark). I’m told Ford ships with a synthetic blend of oil. Can I use regular oil? And if I do how often should I change it. The car is mostly used on short city drive trips.
What does your owner’s manual say? Take it out and read it.
Synthetic blend is not that much more than normal, why not use it? I know that it is required on my 04 and 06. I suspect that it is required on yours, but your owner’s manual can and will answer this for certain.
Short city drives are the worst on the car. You need to use the severe service schedule, which you must be doing if you are changing it at 3K miles. So, you know you are hard on the car, but you want to use slightly cheaper oil?
One of the best oils for this application is the Motorcraft brand of oil that Ford recommends. It is basically a synthetic blend. I use it (5W20) in my youngest Ford truck with good success. Relatively inexpensive and available at Walmart.
See owner’s manual for oil change frequency and adjust if necessary to your particular situation.
It’s the old dinosaur versus synthetic oil question that has been hashed to death here so many times we’ve lost count.
Fords ship with their Motorcraft branded semi-synthetic. It’s not much higher than “regular oil” if you are planning to change it yourself. I run it in my wife’s Ford with just over 100K. It’s all it has even had in it. If I’ve done 33 oil changes in that period, I’ve probably spent an extra $75. Why argue with success. Any good parts store will have it, even Wal*Mart.
OTOH, ANY good oil with the correct specification will work just fine.
Is that what the dealer told you or is it what is written in the owner’s manual. Believe what is in the owner’s manual. Chances are it recommends something more like 10,000 miles.
It will also say what kind of oil is needed. Likely it will say something like SAE-S4 20w40 synthetic. Follow the instructions in the manual. Oils have changed a lot in recent years and using the wrong oil can damage your engine.
It’s kinda sad that a vehicle can be ruined by a $30 oil change, but it does happen. coughjiffylubetypescough
Here’s what the manual says:
“5W-20 or an equivalent SAE 5W-20 oil meeting Ford specification WSS-M2C930-A. SAE 5W-20 oil provides optimum fuel economy and durability performance meeting all requirements for your vehicle?s engine.”
So, any API certified 5W-20 motor oil will be fine - even the store brand, as long as it has the API starburst seal on it. Read the oil life on the dash board monitor. Ford says it could be up to 10,000 miles before you need to change the oil. My daughter has a similar car and her first oil change came at 9000 miles with about 15% remaining on the oil life monitor. I’d start thinking about an oil change when the OLN gets to 20% remaining.
One more thing: You can change at 3000 miles if you want. Oil changes will cost about 2 to 3 times what they would if you follow the OLM, and there likely won’t be any difference in longevity. We have over 100,0000 miles on our Olds and I’ve used the OLM since new. It doesn’t burn oil at all.