Shell 5w20, Good oil for my 04 vulcan taurus?

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It should work OK. It appears to be a dino oil. I think you can do better without trying to hard. Maybe a partial syn oil like Motorcraft etc.

I have a 98 Taurus vulcan that originally showed only 5-30 as being recommended. It was later updated to the newer Ford cars and says I can run a 5-20wt.

I am going to try the new Amsoil 0-20 wt oil. I have always run 5-30 or 030 wt Amsoil.
So I am going down the thin is in route.
 
The Shell group of Formula oils are very good products & definately meet your requirements. I use the 5w30 version in my daughters Saturn. I also have 2 Ford products (2003 Focus & 2004 Sable Duretec) which I have been using Motorcraft 5w20 Synthetic Blend. Ford recommends Syn-Blend oils for most of their late model vechicles, possibly because they sell it (this I do not know).

What I do know is MC Syn-Blend comes highly recommended by many of the highly knowledgeable members of BITOG & that is good enough for me. Good luck.
 
It's a great product for the money. The base stock is Group II+ made at the Shell refinery in Port Arthur, TX and it has a good Shell additive package. I would have no problem running it at all.
 
I plan on running the car 6000 Kilometers between oil changes, would that hurt even though the car does go on about 70/30 short/long trips....
 
Recent Shell UOAs here are just as good as Motorcraft. Not a knock on Motorcraft - since I stock alot of both brands - plus Havoline and Castrol dinos.
 
I bought the car used, had 44,000 kilometers on it, it was serviced every 5000 kilometers buy a ford dealer the whole time the only owner had the car. I was amazed how well it was taken care of and the shape of the car, it was superb. I bought the car with 45,315 on it. It was last serviced at 44,115 or something like that. The car sat for a little while (maybe a year or less) but didn't think it hurt the oil to much. I checked it and the oil looked spotless when i bought it so i am running it on that same oil. I don't know if it's hurting the engine to much..... Would it? There's only about 2000 kilometers on that oil so. Engine makes no wierd noises and runs superb.....
 
I had a 99 Taurus with the 3.0L Vulcan. All it ever got was Pennzoil 5w30, and it still runs great at 175K miles now (my brother has it.)

Today, I'd probably use Motorcraft 5W-20 Syn Blend, but for a dino, it's hard to beat Pennzoil, imho.

But from what I've read on BITOG, Shell is a very good dino, too.
 
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I bought the car used, had 44,000 kilometers on it, it was serviced every 5000 kilometers buy a ford dealer the whole time the only owner had the car. I was amazed how well it was taken care of and the shape of the car, it was superb. I bought the car with 45,315 on it. It was last serviced at 44,115 or something like that. The car sat for a little while (maybe a year or less) but didn't think it hurt the oil to much. I checked it and the oil looked spotless when i bought it so i am running it on that same oil. I don't know if it's hurting the engine to much..... Would it? There's only about 2000 kilometers on that oil so. Engine makes no wierd noises and runs superb.....

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If you suspect it's been sitting for nearly a year, I'd go ahead and change it. It may be fine, but you usually don't want an oil just sitting in there that long. It's probably nothing you'd hear or see on the dipstick, but I'd bet it'd show up on a UOA...moisture.

FWIW, that 3.0L Vulcan is an outstanding engine. It's nothing spectacular as far as performance is concerned, but it keeps going and going and going and going...very solid and proven little V6.
 
Would the moisture hurt anything though? That's all that concerns me....

Winter is gettin over here now, spring is here.... Snow is going down and the warmer temps are coming....
 
How long could i go on like let's say a full synthetic 5w30 or 5w20 like pennzoil platinum? Would that be a good choice? What would be better 5w20 full syn or a 5w30
 
MC 5w20 Syn Blend, it's as simple as that!
smile.gif
 
Formula Shell and it's close cousin QuakerState are both excellent oils often sold at discount prices.

I have used both and would use either in any application calling for regular dino oil without hesitation.
 
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I plan on running the car 6000 Kilometers between oil changes, would that hurt even though the car does go on about 70/30 short/long trips....

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Bump it up to 8000 km and you'll be fine.

Are you going to be changing it yourself or getting your local mechanic to do it? If you do decide to do it yourself, I found out that Partsource sells Shell 5w20 for $3.29 per quart. So this oil is a great bargain for a great oil! And I'm pretty sure that CT's 5w20 Formula 1 is the same oil, and it's even cheaper on sale (right now this week you can get a 4.4L jug for just over $10!)
 
I prefer thicker oil in Vulcans. To me, they just seem to run smoother, quieter, and better. If you go thicker, because you're up north, full synthetic is the only choice.
If you stick with the 20wts weights, any is good enough. Grab cheapest or what is on sale!
The Vulcan is not capable of stressing an oil. The big issue would be moisture. Either the engine doesn't get the oil up to temp quick enough(compounded by short trippers) or the PCV system is inadequate. Stick with reasonable OCIs and you shouldn't have problems with any oil. 5oooKM OCI is not overkill simple because of the location.
 
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