'18 Ford Flex, Mobli 1 5w-20

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Hello, I have a 2018 Ford Flex with the 3.5l V6. It has about 15,250 miles on it and I have changed the oil since new (three times) every 5k miles. I used Mobil 1 5w-20 and a Mobil 1filter as well. I am not sure why they put a 6800 mile change interval, I kept it at every 5k. Take a look at the report let me know what you think:

(image removed; personal data. see below)
 
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I think they compared your engine to a typical 3.5 with 6800 miles on an oil change. SIlicon is a little high, but that can still be break-in occurring, but it's always a good idea to make sure your air filter & plumbing isn't leaking. Think I would hide your personal info, myself, the internet can be a dangerous place!
 
Oh shoot! Totally slipped my mind! Thanks!

I think Im hosed.. cant figuee out how to get my personal info off. Thanks again, I feel dumb!
 
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Ask the mods to delete the image from your original post and replace it with the one attached to this post (or delete the original post and create another one with the attached image instead):

18-FLEX-190126.jpg
 
The wear itself is OK and nothing alarming. Keep an eye on the Si and make sure it's coming down; if not, look for air leak in the intake tract.

There's no need to run a syn for 5k mile OCIs; that's a total waste of money. Any decent brand conventional oil will do just fine; these engines don't need anything special.

The 3.5L Duratec is a good engine, except for the placement of water-pump inside the timing cover. Keep an eye on the coolant bottle and the UOAs for coolant. That may or may not give indication of pump failure. If you're lucky, the pump will fail outwardly and leak out the weep hole near the alternator and let you know things are amiss. If you're not lucky, the shaft seal will fail and it will leak internally into the sump and contaminate the oil. Unfortunately, at times it happens so quickly that you'll not see it in the UOA because it can go bad in 100 miles, and you'll never sample often enough to catch the data shift. Other times it's a slow degradation and you'll see evidence of coolant in the oil. Some pumps have been known to last 150k miles or more; others have failed as early at 60k miles. No rhyme or reason to it. Some hate the engine for this, because a water-pump job can cost around $1500 on this engine. That is admittedly expensive, but it's mostly all labor.
 
It probably wouldn't hurt to step up your coolant changes to something more than the normal 5 years. How about 3 years? Also make sure to flush or dilute the old stuff out. I just did a post showing you have to fill and drain more than once with distilled water to get most of it out.
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Thank you for removing my image and re posting it without my personal info, I'm still shaking my head I did that!! And I have heard about the water pumps on these engines, it makes me nervous, but I will keep an eye out for it.
 
Originally Posted by Redright9
And I have heard about the water pumps on these engines, it makes me nervous, but I will keep an eye out for it.


I think you are okay on the water pump for your Flex. They changed the drive design to a double sprocket from single sprocket, I suspect they upgraded the bearing within the pump. One would hope this would remove concerns....but you will have to monitor the 2 external weep holes for water pump that are part of this engine.

My 2009 Flex is at 200,000 km and is not yet leaking, but I plan to do the water pump pro-actively this Spring.
 
I was unaware of the water-pump upgrade re: the drive design. Surely would like to think they did something at least, specifically for the bearings and seals. Did they make a different chain drive to match the dual roller drive on the pump? Would like to learn all I can about this as I just got a new 2018 Taurus with the same engine, so I have skin in the game!
 
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