Ford EcoBoost Oil Spec

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Dec 22, 2002
Messages
4,812
Location
The Garden State
We have a 2017 2.3 EB Explorer. The Ford oil spec is WSS-M2C-946-A. As far as I can tell the only properties needed to meet this is the oil have the API Star, The API Donut with API SN service, 5W-30 wt, energy conserving and also meet ILSAC GF-5. This encompasses just about every major brand 5W-30 oil whether conventional, synthetic blend or synthetic. It appears that synthetic 0W-30 oils meeting the above specs also meet the Ford specs. With the EcoBoost engines being DI and Turbo and "being able to go 10,000 miles" OCI's via their OLM's what makes this Ford oil spec good enough to go up to 10,000 miles using conventional or even synthetic blend oils? Personally I'm skeptical of this. This past Summer I did 7,000 miles highway driving in 2 months using Mobil 1 5W-30, I was at 30% oil life left. The wear metals were low, lots of life left in the oil, the flash point was still good but the viscosity was almost a 20 wt oil. Blackstone showed no measurable fuel in the oil. Although when I changed it there was fuel smell in the oil. It just seems that following Ford's oil requirements and using the OLM with conventional or even synthetic blend oil is not conducive to to long engine life. This is just my ramblings
grin.gif
.

Whimsey
 
The Castrol Magnatec 5W30 semi-synthetic did very well in the Ford EB engine according to some great UOAs posted here. About 9,000 miles seemed to be the max distance on that oil, the iron wear was still good but the TBN was getting very low.
 
Your Explorer came from the factory with 5W30 Motorcraft Synthetic Blend. I don’t see a thing wrong with continuing with that oil or any other top shelf synthetic blend. I have chosen to run a synthetic 5W30 in my Ecoboost. I don’t do extended oil changes or rely on the oil life monitor.
 
IMO … 7k is enough with an ecoboost …
That’s all I put on the high priced M1 5w40 or better priced 0w40 …
Can’t imagine those engines being on a 30 in other places …
 
Quote:
The Ford oil spec is WSS-M2C-946-A. As far as I can tell the only properties needed to meet this is the oil have the API Star, The API Donut with API SN service, 5W-30 wt, energy conserving and also meet ILSAC GF-5


Yes I too have wondered about the Ford M2C-946-A spec, it seems to be the North American oil spec while the rest of the world gets the Ford WSS-M2C913-D spec for the same engines.

This Ford WSS-M2C913-D spec is based on the Euro ACEA A5/B5 spec with a few extra tests added for
- Greater TBN (>10)
- Ford Chain wear test
- Daimler Oxidation test
- ROBO test (Seq IIIGA)
- Extra seal tests.

All the oils I see with the Ford WSS-M2C913-D spec are high SAPS, high TBN and high zinc / Phos oil. Their Phos levels are so high that in North America they would not pass as SN or GF-5 and would have to be classed as API SL oils.

I think they contain a lot of ZDDP which acts as both an anti-wear agent and anti-oxidant. This probably help the oil pass the extra engine chain wear test and the extra oil oxidation resistance test. They are also typically right at the thin end of the 30 grade with their viscosity, but being A5/B5 it needs to pass a stay in grade shear stability test, which to me means they must be very well formulated to be a shear stable thin 30 grade.

I think Ford WSS-M2C913-D spec is the oil to use if not bound by ILSAC Phos limits.
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4543378/
 
I too am concerned about fuel dilution in these EB motors, but I can’t think of one UOA on the forum that I’ve read the past year that shows elevated wear metals. And most of the UOA’s showed th oil thinned down into the 20w spec.

I honestly think Ford’s OLM is pretty accurate. It does max out at 10,000 miles if you drive it easy. Mine was showing 10kmiles this summer when I was doing a lot of easy freeeway commutes. But in the winter months, it drops to around 6,500 with all my city driving and idling.

If you are worried, change the oil early. But with your low wear metals, I see no reason to go longer if you want to.
 
Originally Posted By: MParr
Your Explorer came from the factory with 5W30 Motorcraft Synthetic Blend. I don’t see a thing wrong with continuing with that oil or any other top shelf synthetic blend. I have chosen to run a synthetic 5W30 in my Ecoboost. I don’t do extended oil changes or rely on the oil life monitor.
 
I have seen plenty of ecoboost drivers use valvoline conventional and go 10k miles between service (only using the oil life %). The cars are still on the road and they don't turn into horrible oil burners.
 
7k in two months usually means lots of highway miles, which are easier on oil. Now, if it took you a whole year to rack up 7k, that would be a different story
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Whimsey
This past Summer I did 7,000 miles highway driving in 2 months using Mobil 1 5W-30, I was at 30% oil life left. The wear metals were low, lots of life left in the oil, the flash point was still good but the viscosity was almost a 20 wt oil. Blackstone showed no measurable fuel in the oil.

Mind sharing the link ?
A mineral 5W30 Ford 946A with TBN 9.5-10 ish (thus carrying some ACEA AxBx specs) may be able to do >10,000 miles , not sure if one such oil is available though.
blush.gif
 
Originally Posted By: SR5
The Castrol Magnatec 5W30 semi-synthetic did very well in the Ford EB engine according to some great UOAs posted here. About 9,000 miles seemed to be the max distance on that oil, the iron wear was still good but the TBN was getting very low.

This semisyn is SN GF5 rated but not A3B4/A5B5 right ?
Any indication on its virgin/paper TBN as 9 and below ?
 
Originally Posted By: Whimsey
This past Summer I did 7,000 miles highway driving in 2 months using Mobil 1 5W-30, I was at 30% oil life left. The wear metals were low, lots of life left in the oil, the flash point was still good but the viscosity was almost a 20 wt oil.

It just seems that following Ford's oil requirements and using the OLM with conventional or even synthetic blend oil is not conducive to to long engine life.


How many miles did Blackstone say you could go next time ? You get an analysis, it shows good results, yet you question what Ford says while your results show that Ford probably knows what they're talking about....

Originally Posted By: Whimsey
Blackstone showed no measurable fuel in the oil. Although when I changed it there was fuel smell in the oil.


Me thinks you wanted to smell fuel even when there was none....
 
Originally Posted By: zeng
Originally Posted By: SR5
The Castrol Magnatec 5W30 semi-synthetic did very well in the Ford EB engine according to some great UOAs posted here. About 9,000 miles seemed to be the max distance on that oil, the iron wear was still good but the TBN was getting very low.

This semisyn is SN GF5 rated but not A3B4/A5B5 right ?
Any indication on its virgin/paper TBN as 9 and below ?


It was the North American API SN & ILSAC GF-5 & Dexos1 (Gen1) stuff, Not the Australian A3/B4 stuff.

Here is a typical UOA for the iLSAC-Dexos Magnatec 5W30 semi-synthetic in a F150 Ecoboost:
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3940342/

It's a very impressive UOA.

The oil is regular ILSAC-Dexos stuff, think TBN 7 to 8, Zinc 700 to 800 and Sulphated Ash at about 0.8%. As a rough guess of typical starting values.
 
Last edited:
I think the dilution issue in the EB engines is overblown personally. I have had 3 of them (2 now) and all of them show fuel dilution but never have elevated wear metals.
I routinely go close to 10k miles on my fills with little issues. Both my 3.5's have UOA on this forum, I guess I should post some of my 2.3's results.


I will add that I personally don't trust Blackstone dilution numbers. I think Polaris is much more accurate.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top