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Synthetic Blend or Full Synthetic?

bigb

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Nope. We just have different priorities than Ford.
Yep, the manufacturer's today prioritize meeting EPA standards and getting you through the warranty period as cheaply as they can.
 

superj

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my truck falls under sever duty because i live in the city in south texas so lots of stop and go in 110+ temps (probably closer to 125 on the asphalt in the sun). sever duty is also city life, if you really get into it
 

Ron Quixote

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my truck falls under sever duty because i live in the city in south texas so lots of stop and go in 110+ temps (probably closer to 125 on the asphalt in the sun). sever duty is also city life, if you really get into it
It feels like pretty much everything constitutes severe service unless you just take your truck out on the weekends for a drive in the country. 😂
 

dajo

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The owners manual also lists FS, so that is an invalid argument. The additive packages between Q1SP and Q1FS are nearly identical, that's now common practice in the industry. Valvoline did an engine test using two Ford 2.3L Ecoboost's from Explorers and ran them for several hundred k miles on their blend and then full synthetic.

Side by side, in parallel, to determine the differences. The cams, bearings etc. all looked good in both, so the anti-wear additive packages worked well in both the blend any full synthetic. BUT the blended oil had CONSIDERABLE sludging and MULTIPLE stuck piston rings, it also suffered more failures during testing that required repair than the Full Synthetic oil.

The chain tensioner was also frozen on the Ecoboost engine using the blend because of sludging. So the base oil purity MATTERS over longer timeframes, especially for engines that see hot environments, towing or hard use (WOT). If you do mostly highway driving at light loads, the blend is probably fine (average use cases), but for everythign else, Full Synthetics are much better under severe conditions and especially as the mileages pile on.

1767796908262-tu.webp


Testing Different Oils Over 4 Years and 1 Million Miles

This test took them 4 years, 500k miles per an engine! They do complete teardowns of each engine side by side. It is what it is, but shows there is a significant difference. On that same token, my buddy has a 2021 Escape ST with the 3.0L, he's used MC Blend since it was new, now at 130k miles, no mechanical issues, no oil consumption, runs it out to 10k mile intervals, but changes it on the dot and always is careful during warm-up (no WOT or heavy throttle til the oil / trans is up to temp).

Most of his driving is highway, not city. He plays around with it frequently but doesn't tow anything and normally only has 1 passenger, so lightly loaded. Blend worked fine, but he recently switched to FS to try and make it to 200k before any rebuilds after seeing the potential for sludging as the miles continue to pile on.
Never heard of an Escape St with 3,0l I have a Edge ST with 2.7L.
 

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Jason B

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Read the owners manual .under certain conditions you need to change it more often . And guess what change intervals same no matter what you use . Of corse you guys know more about this than ford .
do as you please …..
Well, if you go by Ford's recommendation, you should change oil up to 10K miles or at least once a year. No professional mechanic thinks that's a good idea, no matter what the engineers say.
But since you trust Ford so much, just wait and do oil changes every 10K. Let us know when you engine fails.
 

mos

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Read the owners manual , what you are saying is not completely true . Also there are a number of other manufactures that recommend 10,000 mile oil changes also .
If you think ford is full of crap , them why did you buy one
 

Ron Quixote

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I think it’s pretty clear we don’t accept “Ford sez so” as a convincing argument. We have offered arguments and examples of why we believe full synthetic and shorter OCIs are a good idea. If you’re just going to keep saying “Ford sez so,” then we have to just agree to disagree.

“Read the owners manual” is not persuasive to many of us because we have reasoned through the options and have reached a different conclusion than what the manual suggests.
 

Lion77

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Item #1

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I’ve used Motorcraft Synth Blend for break-in, then switched to full synthetic Pennzoil. Here’s oil tests so far!
 

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ColeTrainsRR

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I’ve used Motorcraft Synth Blend for break-in, then switched to full synthetic Pennzoil. Here’s oil tests so far!
yep i changed out my OEM oil at 1500(roughly) miles after break in to mobile 1
 

Item #1

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yep i changed out my OEM oil at 1500(roughly) miles after break in to mobile 1
I went a bit extreme and completed the first oil change at 727 miles, using a Motorcraft filter and synthetic blend oil. Then I did another change at 2687 miles, using Motorcraft oil but switching to an AMSOIL filter. On the next oil change at 5127 miles, I switched to Pennzoil Ultra Platinum and completed a double flush when switching oils.
 

Jason B

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Read the owners manual , what you are saying is not completely true . Also there are a number of other manufactures that recommend 10,000 mile oil changes also .
If you think ford is full of crap , them why did you buy one
Correct, it says 'Up to 10,000 miles'. Regardless, I'll still do every 5K for peace of mind. It's cheap insurance.
 

Ron Quixote

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Correct, it says 'Up to 10,000 miles'. Regardless, I'll still do every 5K for peace of mind. It's cheap insurance.
Very cheap insurance. But some people love to fetishize saving a few bucks on an oil change, or extending the OCI to five digit distances.

And I know I can be guilty of overthinking the issue in the opposite direction. I probably pay too much for my boutique oils and mil-spec filters. The bottom line is that you could go with Mobil 1 and Motorcraft filters ever 5,000 miles and your engine would run great for a long time.
 

bonjo2

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The two most important things to remember are with direct injection you need a high quality LSPI/API SN+ Synthetic oil, and Clean oil = longer life. I’m using Valvoline Clean and Protect exclusively for the ford. Mobil 1 FS 0-40 for the LS3. Dealer does the Toyota, so regular Mobil 1 drain and fill in between factory service.

A lot of XP/extended filters 15-20k fine, no need to always change filter.

5-7500 probably best given turbo. My other cars, always 10k Mobil 1, now have 200k no issues. One family car hit 400k.

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