2014 Ford Fusion, 2.0L Ecoboost, first oil change

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Long time lurker, first time poster here. I have a new 2014 Ford Fusion with the 2.0L Ecoboost engine. I plan to maintain 5000 mile OCIs due to stop and go traffic here in Atlanta. Ordinarily, I'd simply use the recommended Motorcraft synthetic blend, but since this is a direct injected turbo four, I'm curious whether I would be better off paying more for full synthetic. I've read conflicting opinions on this, with some saying the combination of dilution issues from the DI and heat issues with the turbocharger lean toward recommending a full synthetic, even with the shorter OCIs, and others saying since Ford recommends the synthetic blend, it is fine to use it. I do not drive the car hard very often in terms of driving fast or getting the RPMs extraordinarily high, but I do have a whole lot of stop and go traffic. Any advice is appreciated.
 
Motorcraft oil is a top quality Hyrdocracked Motor Oil. Its surpasses Hydrofinished base oil products like Valvoline, Kendall, Mobil and Havoline/Chevron oils. Synthetic refers to the additive package, not the base oil. So yes, continue to use Motorcraft, or a Ford Spec oil, such as Motorcraft, Pennzoil or Conoco, which are the only Motor Oils on the market that meet the Hyrdocracked Specification set by Ford Motor Co.

I hope this helps ^_^
 
Thanks KimikoYuuki, for the quick and helpful reply. I actually assumed oils like Mobil 1 would meet Ford's specifications, for example, so it is good to know that Motorcraft exceeds such oils.

My question, though, is more whether I should use the Motorcraft synthetic blend versus the Motorcraft full synthetic. Can you comment on whether there is any reason to use full synthetic versus blend?

Thanks again!
 
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Not with 5k oil change intervals. If you were doing a lot of highway driving and racking up the miles quickly then using a full syn would be worth a second look.
 
Originally Posted By: satinsilver
Not with 5k oil change intervals. If you were doing a lot of highway driving and racking up the miles quickly then using a full syn would be worth a second look.


I likely will not be. It's mostly local, stop and go driving. Even on the interstate in Atlanta, you aren't really running the car at 60-70 mph for very long.

Thanks!
 
Originally Posted By: DGarner211
Thanks KimikoYuuki, for the quick and helpful reply. I actually assumed oils like Mobil 1 would meet Ford's specifications, for example, so it is good to know that Motorcraft exceeds such oils.

My question, though, is more whether I should use the Motorcraft synthetic blend versus the Motorcraft full synthetic. Can you comment on whether there is any reason to use full synthetic versus blend?

Thanks again!


In the U.S. there is a base oil difference between synthetic and conventional oil; it's more than just the additive pack. Almost any SN oil onto shelves will meet the Ford spec for warranty purposes (WSS...946 or something like that - look at the manual).

However, the 2.0 EcoBoost hasn't been in the US for that long and long-term durability is not quite proven. With a turbo and direct injection and chains for the camshafts, this engine has characteristics that suggest it could be hard on oil. From my point of view, being overly cautious about oil selection is a good idea. I think Pennzoil Ultra would be a good choice as would Mobil1. Both may offer a bit better protection that Motorcraft semi-syn.

Your Fusion has an intelligent oil life monitor. Does it allow you to see "oil life remaining" or does it only communicate when a change is needed? If you can check on oil life remaining and want to be careful, changing oil when the monitor says 30 or 40% life remains would be a better strategy than a simple months/miles interval.

Enjoy your new car!
 
Originally Posted By: Danh
In the U.S. there is a base oil difference between synthetic and conventional oil; it's more than just the additive pack. Almost any SN oil onto shelves will meet the Ford spec for warranty purposes (WSS...946 or something like that - look at the manual).

However, the 2.0 EcoBoost hasn't been in the US for that long and long-term durability is not quite proven. With a turbo and direct injection and chains for the camshafts, this engine has characteristics that suggest it could be hard on oil. From my point of view, being overly cautious about oil selection is a good idea. I think Pennzoil Ultra would be a good choice as would Mobil1. Both may offer a bit better protection that Motorcraft semi-syn.

Your Fusion has an intelligent oil life monitor. Does it allow you to see "oil life remaining" or does it only communicate when a change is needed? If you can check on oil life remaining and want to be careful, changing oil when the monitor says 30 or 40% life remains would be a better strategy than a simple months/miles interval.

Enjoy your new car!


It does, and it can check "oil life remaining." At 1800 miles it's at 85% remaining. If that maintains, that would have me changing the oil at 7500 miles. What I might do is switch to a good full synthetic that meets Ford's specs at 5000 just to get the original oil and filter out to account for any break-in particulats, and then change at 40% oil life after that, which will likely get me more than 5000 per OCI.

Thanks!
 
Based on my experiences with my turbocharged Cruze, a good semi-syn oil is good for 5000 mostly highway miles. I use full synthetic in my turbo engine since it can go 7500 mostly highway miles without issue.

Given that stop and go is harder on oil than highway driving and you have a DI/turbo engine, I'd use full synthetic.
 
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Based on my experiences with my turbocharged Cruze, a good semi-syn oil is good for 5000 mostly highway miles. I use full synthetic in my turbo engine since it can go 7500 mostly highway miles without issue.

Given that stop and go is harder on oil than highway driving and you have a DI/turbo engine, I'd use full synthetic.


That seems to be the safer bet. Thanks!
 
Originally Posted By: KimikoYuuki
Motorcraft oil is a top quality Hyrdocracked Motor Oil. Its surpasses Hydrofinished base oil products like Valvoline, Kendall, Mobil and Havoline/Chevron oils. Synthetic refers to the additive package, not the base oil. So yes, continue to use Motorcraft, or a Ford Spec oil, such as Motorcraft, Pennzoil or Conoco, which are the only Motor Oils on the market that meet the Hyrdocracked Specification set by Ford Motor Co.

I hope this helps ^_^


Wow, there's so many wrong statements here I don't know where to start. In the US most of your information is false. Motorcraft is a synthetic blend, group II+ and group III. Second Kendall is made by Conoco Phillips and is better than motorcraft which is also made by Conoco phillps. Almost EVERY conventional and synthetic meet ford's specs here, Mobil, Shell, Castrol, Valvoline, and more. Also synthetic and conventional refers to the base oils NOT the additive package like you said.
 
Originally Posted By: DGarner211
Originally Posted By: Danh
In the U.S. there is a base oil difference between synthetic and conventional oil; it's more than just the additive pack. Almost any SN oil onto shelves will meet the Ford spec for warranty purposes (WSS...946 or something like that - look at the manual).

However, the 2.0 EcoBoost hasn't been in the US for that long and long-term durability is not quite proven. With a turbo and direct injection and chains for the camshafts, this engine has characteristics that suggest it could be hard on oil. From my point of view, being overly cautious about oil selection is a good idea. I think Pennzoil Ultra would be a good choice as would Mobil1. Both may offer a bit better protection that Motorcraft semi-syn.

Your Fusion has an intelligent oil life monitor. Does it allow you to see "oil life remaining" or does it only communicate when a change is needed? If you can check on oil life remaining and want to be careful, changing oil when the monitor says 30 or 40% life remains would be a better strategy than a simple months/miles interval.

Enjoy your new car!


It does, and it can check "oil life remaining." At 1800 miles it's at 85% remaining. If that maintains, that would have me changing the oil at 7500 miles. What I might do is switch to a good full synthetic that meets Ford's specs at 5000 just to get the original oil and filter out to account for any break-in particulats, and then change at 40% oil life after that, which will likely get me more than 5000 per OCI.

Thanks!


Just curious, why are you going to change at 40%? Why not run it down to 10-15%?
 
Originally Posted By: glock19
Originally Posted By: DGarner211
Originally Posted By: Danh
In the U.S. there is a base oil difference between synthetic and conventional oil; it's more than just the additive pack. Almost any SN oil onto shelves will meet the Ford spec for warranty purposes (WSS...946 or something like that - look at the manual).

However, the 2.0 EcoBoost hasn't been in the US for that long and long-term durability is not quite proven. With a turbo and direct injection and chains for the camshafts, this engine has characteristics that suggest it could be hard on oil. From my point of view, being overly cautious about oil selection is a good idea. I think Pennzoil Ultra would be a good choice as would Mobil1. Both may offer a bit better protection that Motorcraft semi-syn.

Your Fusion has an intelligent oil life monitor. Does it allow you to see "oil life remaining" or does it only communicate when a change is needed? If you can check on oil life remaining and want to be careful, changing oil when the monitor says 30 or 40% life remains would be a better strategy than a simple months/miles interval.

Enjoy your new car!


It does, and it can check "oil life remaining." At 1800 miles it's at 85% remaining. If that maintains, that would have me changing the oil at 7500 miles. What I might do is switch to a good full synthetic that meets Ford's specs at 5000 just to get the original oil and filter out to account for any break-in particulats, and then change at 40% oil life after that, which will likely get me more than 5000 per OCI.

Thanks!


Just curious, why are you going to change at 40%? Why not run it down to 10-15%?


Just being cautious due to the issues mentioned above -- turbo, DI, lots of stop and go driving. If the current pattern holds that would be 7500 miles or so between changes. I want to avoid any issues down the road by being careful now.
 
Originally Posted By: ChrisD46
+1 ... Pennzoil Platinum 5W20 every 5K miles / or 30% oil life is a safe play .


Gotta be 5W30 for this motor, but thanks for the recommendation. 30%/5K sounds like a pretty good compromise. I'm frankly leaning toward a 5K schedule unless the oil life starts getting low.
 
Called the dealership. They'll do a BYO oil change for $21 including the filter. So I got over to Wal-Mart and got 6 quarts of Pennzoil Ultra 5W30 for $40, and I'm sending in the $25 rebate tomorrow. Total out of pocket will be under $40.

I'll be doing this for every oil change.
 
Why not DIY? You'll save time, hassle, and $21. Is the oil change a pain on this motor? I hated the 2.3L, but I still did it.
 
No, it should be a piece of cake, but it's worth the $21 for me not to have to deal with it. Plus with a new car, I prefer to have the dealership service it so they can apply any recalls, TSBs, etc. and have a service record.

Once my wife's Sienna is out of warranty I'll probably DIY her oil changes. While it's under warranty, I'd rather have the dealership do it assuming they have a good service department (and mine does).
 
The dealer did the first two oil changes on my grandmother's 2013 Fusion, which she bought as a demo. It has the 1.6 EcoBoost. We used Napa 5w-20 Synthetic and a Gold filter on her third.
 
Originally Posted By: Red91
The dealer did the first two oil changes on my grandmother's 2013 Fusion, which she bought as a demo. It has the 1.6 EcoBoost. We used Napa 5w-20 Synthetic and a Gold filter on her third.


Does the 1.6 Ecoboost call for 5w20? I know the 2.0 and 3.5 require 5w30, but I'm not sure about the 1.6.
 
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