07 Ford Freestyle Recommendation

[Oscar_Ruitt]

Greetings,
I drive a 2007 Ford Freestyle with 112K miles and put on 25K per year for work. Obviously a lot of highway miles. I'm thinking about extending my OCI on motorcraft 5w20 because I'm changing every 1.5 to 2 months at 5k. I have a feeling that 6000 to 7000 would probably be pretty safe. What do you all think? Should I use a full synthetic if I want to try longer OCIs? By the way I'm too cheap to seriously consider a UOA.
Thanks

 

[sciphi]

That's about as perfect a scenario for extended drains on synthetic oils as one could realistically hope for.

10k miles/3 months with full syn would be about right for mileage and time for your use pattern. Take your pick and have at it.

 

[JOD]

The car is really, really easy on oil. Not only is the engine easy, but with the transmission the RPM's are always in a moderate range. I do about 22K a year and now that my 100K warranty is over I'm going to do 10K in the winter, 12K on the summer on a GIII synthetic. While I'm doing a UOA (I'll post the results later), I expect that it'll be more than fine.

I think you could use any number of GIII synthetics for 12K with no problem unless you're doing a bunch of short trips.

I'd worry a lot more about doing regular changes of the CVT fluid. What's been your fluid change interval for the transmission?

 

[HTSS_TR]

I would go with M1 5W20 EP and do 15k/6mo OCI.

 

[Oscar_Ruitt]

JOD- I bought the car at 90K with no record of transmission service. I did the case filter and fluid change right away. I did a fluid change only just last week (112K). I'll probably do the case filter with fluid change again by 150K.

 

[FMC]

Mobil 1 EP & M1 filter, split it right down the middle, 12,500/6mos, 2x a year OCI, air filter 2x/yr also, don't forget about the fuel flter.

 

[tig1]

Try M1 5-20EP. For the miles you are driving 12-15 K would be fine.

 

[Will]

I loved my Freestyle, miss it. 5th vehicle owned with a Duratec V6, still have the 4th.

I ran Amsoil oil and filter at 6 month intervals, which to me averaged out to around 12,000kms and had no issues, the oil came oil pretty clean. My wife's Ecotec with similar OCI is much harder on its oil.

Good that you changed the CVT fluid and filter. They seem to last forever if they have clean oil running through them. Never an issue with mine with the scheduled maintenance.

 

[Kuato]

If you plan to go beyond 8-10k, then a UOA will start to get more imperative for you to do.....just sayin'.

 

[Oscar_Ruitt]

I guess my real question is this: with my ideal driving conditions, how far beyond 5000 miles is safe with motorcraft synthetic blend?

 

[volk06]

If it is mostly highway miles, you could possibly go 7-7.5k but I would not push it any further than that. Its a great syn blend but its still mostly conventional. You don't want your TBN to get to low. I think 7500 would be the borderline for all highway miles.

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted By: Oscar_Ruitt
JOD- I bought the car at 90K with no record of transmission service. I did the case filter and fluid change right away. I did a fluid change only just last week (112K). I'll probably do the case filter with fluid change again by 150K.


That seems pretty reasonable. You should have 75-80% new-ish fluid in there now, depending on how much you got out. With the number of miles you're doing, I'd think a drain/fill every 30K and the filter every 60K would be fine.

As far as the oil, I'm using Toyota's 0W20, and given your location you may want to consider a thinner oil, at least in the winter. If you're doing twice a year OCI's, I'd think M1 0W20 would be a good choice; it's now available in 5 qt jugs at WM, and viscosity at operating temp is closer to the MC you've been using. I really don't think you need M1EP for twice a year OCI's on that engine with your driving conditions. Another option would be Pennzoil Ultra 5W20, which seems to hold up really well over long-ish OCI's.

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted By: Oscar_Ruitt
I guess my real question is this: with my ideal driving conditions, how far beyond 5000 miles is safe with motorcraft synthetic blend?


I think you could easily to 3 changes a year, 7.5K and have plenty of headroom. Ford switched the factory recommendation to 7.5K on that same engine in later years anyway. I don't think there are any UOA's on the new SN-version of MC5W20, but I'd be confident to run it at least that long.