I have a first gen with about 130k on it and I was wondering if you guys had any particular oil you like to run or if you felt a certain brand or type was better than another....THanks alot.

the rave around here is mobil 1 be it the regular kind or synthethic.

then again some may telll you oil is oil just change it regularly

but i use castrol syntec. Its just about as good as mobil 1, but 2 bucks cheaper per change. :)

I am fond of Amsoil as well as Mobil 1. By all means use synthetic.

Good luck.....

i think I myself plan on switching to Valvoline durablend for my car,


but my ex, well i have to add about a quarter quart every week and half or so cause it leaks, and well synthetic is quite expensive!

There are several good conventional oils. Pennzoil, Castrol, Chevron, and Motorcraft are the best, with a slight nod going to Pennzoil. The best over-the-counter synthetic oil is Mobil 1. The main advantage of synthetic is extended drain intervals. If you are going to change your oil every 3-4k miles, use convential. If you want to go beyond that, go Mobil 1.

Also keep in mind that conventional 5w30 oils shear down to a 20 weight, and that Ford doesn't recommend a 20 weight for the 4.0 ohv engine. So if you use convential, use a 10w30.

why is 5w30 suggested for my 92 then?

why is 5w30 suggested for my 92 then?
The 5w30's shearing down to a 20 weight started happening with the SL oils. SL oils have been out only a couple of years. Prior to that, the 5w30's didn't have that problem.

According to the tech at Royal Purple, Mobil 1 is sueing Castrol because they claim their oil is synthetic and it's only a PAO 3. In other words Castrol's oil should not be labeled as Synthetic as it doesn't met the criteria for being a synthetic.
He explained to me the why's of it but it was a wee bit over my head in Chemistry 104.


the rave around here is mobil 1 be it the regular kind or synthethic.

then again some may telll you oil is oil just change it regularly

but i use castrol syntec. Its just about as good as mobil 1, but 2 bucks cheaper per change. :)

According to the tech at Royal Purple, Mobil 1 is sueing Castrol because they claim their oil is synthetic and it's only a PAO 3. In other words Castrol's oil should not be labeled as Synthetic as it doesn't met the criteria for being a synthetic.
He explained to me the why's of it but it was a wee bit over my head in Chemistry 104.
That lawsuit was settled several years ago in Castrol's favor. There are 5 groups of oil, Group I-V. Group one is the worst, and Group V is the best. Syntec started out as a Group IV polyalphaolephin (PAO), which is made by chemically linking (synthesizing) short hydrocarbon chains (usually ethlyene) into longer ones of the desired exact length. This is how Mobil 1 also started out, and still is today. But then Castrol started using a Group III oil, which is made by taking crude oil and chopping long chains into shorter chains. Not as exact as synthesizing a molecule, but not too bad. Its a cheaper way to getting a product almost as good, but not quite. But they still priced it as if it were a "true" synthetic PAO.

Mobil sued, claiming that Castrol was not "synthesizing" a molecule. But the court ruled that there is no legal definition of "synthetic oil", and Castrol could therefore call it synthetic if they wanted to. And they did. And they continued, to this day, to sell and price it as if it were a PAO.

A lot of people felt cheated when they learned of this. Currently, all over-the-counter synthetics are Group III except Mobil 1, and 0w30 Castrol Synthetic made in Germany (check the back of the bottle for place of manufacture). So my recommendation is that if your going to pay synthetic prices, get a "true" synthetic and buy Mobil 1.

Thanks for the excellent explanation!

Kurt




That lawsuit was settled several years ago in Castrol's favor. There are 5 groups of oil, Group I-V. Group one is the worst, and Group V is the best. Syntec started out as a Group IV polyalphaolephin (PAO), which is made by chemically linking (synthesizing) short hydrocarbon chains (usually ethlyene) into longer ones of the desired exact length. This is how Mobil 1 also started out, and still is today. But then Castrol started using a Group III oil, which is made by taking crude oil and chopping long chains into shorter chains. Not as exact as synthesizing a molecule, but not too bad. Its a cheaper way to getting a product almost as good, but not quite. But they still priced it as if it were a "true" synthetic PAO.

Mobil sued, claiming that Castrol was not "synthesizing" a molecule. But the court ruled that there is no legal definition of "synthetic oil", and Castrol could therefore call it synthetic if they wanted to. And they did. And they continued, to this day, to sell and price it as if it were a PAO.

A lot of people felt cheated when they learned of this. Currently, all over-the-counter synthetics are Group III except Mobil 1, and 0w30 Castrol Synthetic made in Germany (check the back of the bottle for place of manufacture). So my recommendation is that if your going to pay synthetic prices, get a "true" synthetic and buy Mobil 1.

The 5w30's shearing down to a 20 weight started happening with the SL oils. SL oils have been out only a couple of years. Prior to that, the 5w30's didn't have that problem.



hmmmm, maybe its time to go to 10w30 then