Ecoboost F150 on the wrong oil??

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A guy with a 2013 Ecoboost F150 stopped by to pick up a horse and we talked vehicles.

He's got just over 200K miles and all of them with conventional Castrol 20w-50 at 5K intervals with Motorcraft filters. All his driving has been in the desert, high desert or mountains and mostly towing. He's had nothing done except routine maintenance. What he called 5w-20 oil can't be repeated here so I take it he prefers a bit thicker oil. He's had trips where he's towing maximum weight for 8-10 hours in the desert with temps in the triple digits and he won't risk his rig to thinner oils.

He also changes his air filter based on a delta gage and he's added a really big gas filter/water separator with a warning light and a coolant filter with a sacrificial anode along with an extra really big tranny cooler and a spin on filter with synthetic tranny fluid with a drain and refill every 30K miles. The diff also gets a heavier synthetic oil changed every 30K miles.

As hard as he works his truck I'd say he's doing okay with his changes.

I just thought BITOG members might like to hear what someone is doing with their Ecoboost in a real working truck.
 
If your getting accurate information it just goes to prove that the concern a dealer, Jiffy Lube, Walmart, Pep Boys, or your average neighborhood mechanic putting in the wrong oil and the motor blowing up is a little unfounded.

And one reason why this excuse (putting in the wrong oil) should be scratched off the list of reasons why one should change their own oil.
 
A friend has a 2012 F 150 ecobost and it's his work truck as well. He is a contractor and pulls a tandem wheel trailer that serves hauling all his equipment. Often he travels long distance to jobs. He also pulls a 32 ft camper for extended stays. He uses MC 5-30 at factory spec OCIs.
 
Originally Posted By: CKN
If your getting accurate information it just goes to prove that the concern a dealer, Jiffy Lube, Walmart, Pep Boys, or your average neighborhood mechanic putting in the wrong oil and the motor blowing up is a little unfounded.

And one reason why this excuse (putting in the wrong oil) should be scratched off the list of reasons why one should change their own oil.


A person I know, his sons engine did blow up after an oil change at Jiffy Lube. Reason was the drain plug was cross threaded and leaked the oil out in two days. JL replaced the 40K engine with another used 40K engine.
 
I was very specific in collecting the information I listed. I'm not making any recommendations but if I were working my Ecoboost engine I'd use a "thicker" oil, too. And I'd do some or all of the other things he did.

This truck gets worked really hard, harder than most pickups except for those other individuals that actually use their trucks for work. From all the desert driving his body work looks like he's been on a campaign with Rommel across the African desert. In his case, if it goes or stops it gets taken care of. Besides the a/c and the lights everything else only gets fixed when it breaks.
 
I think this oil weight theory is way over rated.
I have never used the specified oil weight in my Dodge I bought new and is still under warranty.
I know it would not be a issue because it got changed regularly and that would be evident in a clean motor.
I know a guy that has 326,000+ Miles on a Ford F150 with a 4.6 that all he ran was Havoline 20w50. Never had a engine issue.
Oil weight in the manuals, I take as a suggestion not a rule. 10w30 will work in anything.
 
'10w30 will work in anything' but not up here in January, and 40 or 50 might do better under duress.
 
That's another rumor thats over hyped. Cold weather starts. I am originally from Pennsylvania where in the winter it would go well below 0. What do you think equipment does out in the middle of nowhere where starting on 15w40 or even straight 40 wt in the detroits start? Middle of the woods in strip cuts, no electricity to plug them in.
Cars and trucks have been around alot longer than 0w20 motor oils and never was oil a issue in cold weather. Fuel and air were, not oil.
 
I more entertain the idea of using the correct oil the manual specifies, Mine has always got 0-20 but its been proven around here from multiple people its really a myth people use whatever they get their hands on....mix it or not mix it. UOA still shows decent results.
 
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Why another thick vs thin argument? So if i find someone who used 5w20 and not the other precautions and hits 200k miles, what would that prove? I guess I dont understand the argument of 1 person doing something and getting a result that doesnt prove anything. We all know that engines outlive most cars. Proof of ones success does not make fact.
 
I am not really arguing thick is better than thin.
My argument is it doesn't really make any difference.
The thin is to get better gas mileage not necessarily long life but oil changes are more important than oil weights.
Longer living engines are due to on board computers monitoring all systems. No fuel dumps and constant corrections to optimize operations leads to longer living motors.
 
Whenever I hear stuff like this I get suspicious of how true it is. Guy is an expert but doesn't know that Ford did not spec 5w20 for the 3.5 EcoBoost?
 
Originally Posted By: Gasbuggy
Whenever I hear stuff like this I get suspicious of how true it is. Guy is an expert but doesn't know that Ford did not spec 5w20 for the 3.5 EcoBoost?


In all fairness, alot of dealers probably assume 5w20 as well, it happened a couple of times with my ex's Ecoboost. 20w50 is Overkill but likely not harmful either. The mechanic I used to go to (retired) used 20w50 in literally everything because he believed it was the best. He serviced many cars with 200k+ and some town cars with 300k+. Not to say the 50w got them there as the specd oils would have to, but it didn't hurt anything.

Some people are too stubborn to stray from old ways but no worries, their vehicles will still last a long time! I use specd oil mostly but some circumstances I use thicker. My brother's 07 F150 5.4s cam phasers are quieter with thicker oil for example.
 
Originally Posted By: Panzerman
That's another rumor thats over hyped. Cold weather starts. I am originally from Pennsylvania where in the winter it would go well below 0. What do you think equipment does out in the middle of nowhere where starting on 15w40 or even straight 40 wt in the detroits start? Middle of the woods in strip cuts, no electricity to plug them in.
Cars and trucks have been around alot longer than 0w20 motor oils and never was oil a issue in cold weather. Fuel and air were, not oil.

When I was going to university in Saskatoon I had to start the car my room-mate had borrowed from his parents - a 4 year old Cadillac Sedan deVille. Nice car. It was Sadie Hawkins week and when you've been invited out (in this case by a student nurse), you have to go.

It was about -30F, maybe -35F. We had to dig the car out of a snowbank for a start. We had it plugged in for several hours. I didn't know it, but it still had summer weight oil, in those days 10W-30.

When it started it thump-thump-thumped in a most alarming way. And the oil light stayed on for 3 or 4 minutes. I was all for turning it off but my room-mate said let it run. I would never do that to any car again. When it's that cold, you need a 5W- or 0W- oil for a cold start.

In those days pretty much everybody used 5W-20 oil in the winter.

I've also worked In Fort McMurray. When it was really cold (meaning -30F to -40F most days), we generally didn't shut our work vehicles off except to change the oil. So cold starts weren't an issue. You just made sure it was running again before the engine got cold. I can't say how well they would have started with a straight 40 weight oil because our on-site mechanic would have been "run off the site" for putting that in any vehicle in the winter.

It comes down to what you mean by "cold". Just below 0F would be considered a nice winter day on the prairies. A "cold" day on the prairies might be anything below -20F. Around here (coastal BC) +20F would be considered "cold". I have my winter coat in long term storage! And I run 0W-30 and 5W-20 year round in my vehicles.
 
Like I said cars have been around alot longer than 0w oil. I remember when 5w30 came out and I am only 48.
I seen alot of cold days below 0, -40 below with wind shield factor. Never plugged a gasoline engine in although I remember electric dipsticks.
That was typical in starting a car in Sub zero temperatures.
Nothing to be alarmed about.
I remember when I first saw 0w it was Polaris came out with 0w40 for thier new line of 4 stroke ATVs. It was about 1995. Before that I never seen it.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
A guy with a 2013 Ecoboost F150 stopped by to pick up a horse and we talked vehicles.
I just thought BITOG members might like to hear what someone is doing with their Ecoboost in a real working truck.



How long have you been a paid shill for Ford?

If that weren't the case, or if you didn't already acknowledge problems with ecoboost, then there would have been no reason for you to present this as you did.

You pretty much showed your hand and failed miserably. Please try to be less biased next time.
 
Originally Posted By: Panzerman
That's another rumor thats over hyped. Cold weather starts. I am originally from Pennsylvania where in the winter it would go well below 0. What do you think equipment does out in the middle of nowhere where starting on 15w40 or even straight 40 wt in the detroits start? Middle of the woods in strip cuts, no electricity to plug them in.
Cars and trucks have been around alot longer than 0w20 motor oils and never was oil a issue in cold weather. Fuel and air were, not oil.


So true. Back in the late 70's we didn't have these "0" weight oils and cars started fine. I will say though, my cars used to "scream" at -10 F. And I do mean scream until they started to warm up. I don't know what was the cause but it never sounded pleasing.
 
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