Is synthetic oil worth it? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Is synthetic oil worth it?

mmartin028

Elite Explorer
Joined
March 5, 2016
Messages
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City, State
Nashville, TN
Year, Model & Trim Level
2015 Explorer XLT
I bought my 15 EX used with 28,000 miles on it and I need to get the oil changed soon (my first time to do it). I'm in sales and drive about 4500 miles per month so I change the oil every 5000 miles.

Do you think it's worth paying the extra money for the synthetic oil, or do I change it too often to take advantage of it's benefits, if any?

Also, do you think it would be safe changing it every 7500 miles since most of them are highway?
 



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I change at 3,500. Oil is cheap and engines are not.

The advantage of syn oil is that it's viscosity is stable in high heat and cold.
I use syn in my plow truck. It runs long and hard.
Aside from extra work, and unless temps are an issue, you are fine with conventional.
 






math wise - on commercial fleet veichles.

often works out like so

syn blend - or full syn product listing, quality filter - till OIL LIfe Monitor goes off.

saves money over year.

I would use either the motorcraft blend (and specified in your book) or I would use something a tick better. say Penzoil Platnium or castrol whatever. Amsoil if you wanted to - not necessary but one of their versions is cheaper than most - and I use it.

I also use penzoil platnium. so meh.


If on the other hand you want to work the other maths - basic oil - decent filter - and every 5K miles - while doing this check your OIL %. If still more than 50% remaining - kick out to 7K miles.

or rather - change your interval till you are some where under 50% remaining.

The OLM system is based on using the spec oil and filter - with is the motorcraft blend and motorcraft filter.
 






I use full Synthetic in all my vehicles, and change about every 5k miles. If I'm busy and have to go 6K, then I don't worry about it.

I use Royal Purple in my Shelby GT, especially since that one sees the track once per year and running 3,000 to 6,000 rpms for 2 days of 30 minute track sessions 8am-5pm. I also use Motorcraft Synthetic in the other vehicles. I presently use the Ford Expedition to tow the 3,700 lb Shelby on a 2000lb trailer to the track about 300 miles away....136,000 miles and counting on the Expedition with no issues.

Oil is very very important. don't skimp here is my suggestion.

Andy.
 






Also, do you think it would be safe changing it every 7500 miles since most of them are highway?

Mobil 1 5W-20 Full Synthetic, Motorcraft FL500S filter, both sourced at WalMart. 10K changes. It's perfectly safe to run 10K, when the OLM says to, or 1 year...which ever comes first. The notion of early oil changes being "cheap insurance" is just that, a notion...and a waste of $.
 






Mobil 1 5W-20 Full Synthetic, Motorcraft FL500S filter, both sourced at WalMart. 10K changes. It's perfectly safe to run 10K, when the OLM says to, or 1 year...which ever comes first. The notion of early oil changes being "cheap insurance" is just that, a notion...and a waste of $.

Haha. Every oil discussion has the same outcome. And I'm not disagreeing with 182.
It just amazes me that people will fork over 50k-100k on a vehicle, maybe another 5-10k on interest, but find it a waste what represents simple pocket change (lint included) for proactive maintenence.

My GM vehicles give us up to four free changes in the first year. You can bet that I'm going to use them.
Different strokes for different strokes.
 






Synthetic, FL500S filter and go by OLM. There's another thread on this topic(beaten to death). I had 3(or 4) oil analysis reports completed with 7500-8500 miles on them and all came back saying there's still a few thousand more miles left before properties degrade below lower limits.
 






Synthetic oil is nice, no sludge buildup. A study conducted by ConocoPhilips and Ford found that changing your oil too often increases wear. The study is SAE Technical Paper 2003-01-3119.
 






Semi-Synthetic and change when the OLM says too, because the engineers know what they are doing and Ford wouldn't recommend something that didn't cover their azz.
 






you'll notice a larger group of products marketing today as a synthetic blend of sorts.

there is very few lubricants out there today that are just oil. not like the 70's, or even the 80's.

filter is your bigger issue - if you could do it, and you can. I would find your OLM 20-10% interval, then cut that in half.

let's says you roll 9K for oil changes (about where our 2016 sits). at around 4500 - trade out the oil filter. leave the oil.

drop the filter - fill a new filter - install. start car - run for something. check oil level and top off.

why - it uses a bypass filter - if it clogs enough - the oil will bypass the filter media. so it might as well not be there. This is a safety of course so you can run till OLM triggers and the engine won't starve for oil.

unfortunately it doesn't help you and you have no idea how clogged the filter is. SO I trade them out 1/2 way through.

Or just don't. that's what most fleet op vehicles do. our commercial trucks however - have a by pass sensors and a chip detector in the oil system.
 






you'll notice a larger group of products marketing today as a synthetic blend of sorts.

there is very few lubricants out there today that are just oil. not like the 70's, or even the 80's.

filter is your bigger issue - if you could do it, and you can. I would find your OLM 20-10% interval, then cut that in half.

let's says you roll 9K for oil changes (about where our 2016 sits). at around 4500 - trade out the oil filter. leave the oil.

drop the filter - fill a new filter - install. start car - run for something. check oil level and top off.

why - it uses a bypass filter - if it clogs enough - the oil will bypass the filter media. so it might as well not be there. This is a safety of course so you can run till OLM triggers and the engine won't starve for oil.

unfortunately it doesn't help you and you have no idea how clogged the filter is. SO I trade them out 1/2 way through.

Or just don't. that's what most fleet op vehicles do. our commercial trucks however - have a by pass sensors and a chip detector in the oil system.

drop the filter - fill a new filter - install. start car - run for something. check oil level and top off.

Why would you just replace a filter?
Why would you mix new oil with old oil?
If the filter is coming off, I'm changing the oil alltogether!
 






drop the filter - fill a new filter - install. start car - run for something. check oil level and top off.

Why would you just replace a filter?
Why would you mix new oil with old oil?
If the filter is coming off, I'm changing the oil alltogether!

despite conventional wisdom the rest of the oil is mostly just fine - I'm trading out a potentially clogged filter. I don't know if it is or isn't. As such it takes all of 5 minutes (with ramps).

As I also said - it's completely not needed either - if you're willing to let the filter bypass as it's designed to.

Commercial aircraft and commercial trucks and other devices use this same methodology. you don't change the oil in a 777 engine, often. but you do change the filter and clean the chip detector. Same with a Freightliner semi or a caterpillar dump truck.

once changed the new filter is doing what it's supposed to - cleaning the oil in the stream. the filter is more critical than the oil to be honest, well provided you don't use crap oil to begin with.
 






OH and if you keep within brands and style. mixing old and new isn't an issue at all.

It's even recommended in many cases. I mean if you car was leaking the stuff you'd be mixing old with new just to keep running.

again- what people might have been taught 20 years ago isn't true today.
 






^Gotcha
I'm lazy as is already (3 vehicle household) and if i'm crawling under...I'm doing a complete oil change.
 






Looks like I'll be using the synthetic from now on since I plan on keeping my EX for well past 150,000 miles.
 






^Gotcha
I'm lazy as is already (3 vehicle household) and if i'm crawling under...I'm doing a complete oil change.

My other car the G8 - holds some 9 quarts of oil also. so that expense margin is higher. and it really does take minutes to drain clean.
 






Haha. Every oil discussion has the same outcome. And I'm not disagreeing with 182. It just amazes me that people will fork over 50k-100k on a vehicle, maybe another 5-10k on interest, but find it a waste what represents simple pocket change (lint included) for proactive maintenence.
That being the case, what's meaningful about the 3500-mile interval? Why not change the oil every 2500? Or every 500? If it's about being careful, isn't more careful better?
 






That being the case, what's meaningful about the 3500-mile interval? Why not change the oil every 2500? Or every 500? If it's about being careful, isn't more careful better?

every day before the cold start up is obviously the best.



Seriously to the OP - while concerned about the motor oil, and you ask a very valid question.

Please don't forget about the other MX fluids and functions. change that transaxle fluid before 50K miles, dump the coolant and flush at 5 years or 100K

I'd say run a can of seafoam in the gas tank about once a year but that's just me.

and at or around year 5 - or your first brake pad set - flush out the brake fluid.
 






every day before the cold start up is obviously the best.



Seriously to the OP - while concerned about the motor oil, and you ask a very valid question.

Please don't forget about the other MX fluids and functions. change that transaxle fluid before 50K miles, dump the coolant and flush at 5 years or 100K

I'd say run a can of seafoam in the gas tank about once a year but that's just me.

and at or around year 5 - or your first brake pad set - flush out the brake fluid.

Thanks Napalm. I agree about the importance of all of the other fluids, and yes, I do change those as well as changing the spark plugs and all other maintenance items necessary.

Since I use my EX as my mobile office, having a breakdown while out of town would be disastrous. So preventative maintenance is the key which is why I asked.
 



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Like the thread on oil changes, you are going to get various opinions. With today's modern oils I doubt you'd run into any issues using non synthetic. Are there advantages to using synthetic? Yes there are. Is the extra cost worth it? Like changing oil intervals, the decision is yours. In my case the answer would be NO. The dealer uses regular oil in my MKT as it is.
Have you read the 8 page thread on synthetic oil?
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=333951&highlight=synthetic

Peter
 






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