Oil Change

[XedLos]

I have always taken my ford explorer to get an oil change but now i wana do it myself. The thing is im not sure what type of oil filters and spark plugs to use. My car has a little bit over 200,000 miles on it so im not sure if i should use any type of oil

 

[SVTmountianeer]

Well its all preferences I run synthetic oil (Mobil 1 ) and Motorcraft oil filter and sparkplugs , in my opinion

 

[aldive]

Use Motorcraft spark plugs.

I too highly recommend synthetic oil; I use Amsoil Signature Series.

Good luck ...

 

[Dallas06]

It depends on what year your vehicle is. If it is an older vehicle before 2000 you might want to go with a non-synthetic, conventional oil I know many stories about people putting synthetic in there engine and have their gasket leaks. Conventional oil is just a little bit thicker and would not cause your gaskets to leak by.

 

[aldive]

It depends on what year your vehicle is. If it is an older vehicle before 2000 you might want to go with a non-synthetic, conventional oil I know many stories about people putting synthetic in there engine and have their gasket leaks. Conventional oil is just a little bit thicker and would not cause your gaskets to leak by.

Nonsense; old wives tales.

 

[XedLos]

Well its a 96 eplorer sport.

So all i would need to do is cahnge oil, spark plugs, oil filter

 

[CHEESYPOOFS]

use motorcraft or bosh spark plugs and as far as oil, with the mileage id go with a 10w30. Penzoil, Valvoline, or Castrol should do just fine (whichever is on sale at your local autoparts store). U really dont need to spend the extra 20 bucks on synthetic motor oil. Ive changed my dads with 10w30 conventional every time and he has 350k miles on his expedition.

 

[aldive]

use motorcraft or bosh spark plugs

Bosh plugs are not recommended for our trucks.

U really dont need to spend the extra 20 bucks on synthetic motor oil. Ive changed my dads with 10w30 conventional every time and he has 350k miles on his expedition.

Why?

 

[Millertime1987]

Well from my experience after switching to synthetic all engine gaskets did leak. But that is also cause i was driving a 92 F-150 and switched to synthetic in 2002. All the gaskets were old and needed to be changed anyways. Your local mechanic thats been doing the oil changes "should" be able to let you know if you will have any issues switching.

Otherwise the switch is harmless and won't do anything but good things to the Ex, and spark plugs I fully agree with Motorcraft.

 

[aldive]

If the engine leaks oil prior to swapping for synthetic, it will definately still leak.

 

[SCB2525]

While I do personally run synthetic, from my experiences these engines (the 4.0 at least) are not that hard on oil. If you can't justify the expense in your mind, any API SM rated oil (as low as say Walmart's Supertech or an auto part's store brand) will do fine.

One danger (at that mileage) now that I think of it with synthetics however is that they are very good at cleaning. I found that out the first time I used synthetic (Mobil 1) when after a while, my filter clogged and dumped my oil pressure, making the engine run like a tractor. After limping home (it would give pressure after lettting it sit a while so I had to stop every 1-2 miles and let it sit for 20 minutes), changing the oil remedied the situation followed by some shadetree magic and several short OCI's after which synthetic hasn't caused the problem again.

Before I got the truck, my mother ran the truck for several thousand miles more than it should have on one oil change. Must have been fairly sludged.

 

[KPT]

My 95 has Mobil 1 in it and doesn't leak a drop. Just run the Motorcraft FL1A filter (assuming you have a 4.0 OHV).

Bosch plugs are fine. I ran some for 90k and only had a slight idling issue at the end of their life. I can't remember what I replaced them with but I know it wasn't bosch only because the parts store didn't have enough and I didn't feel like going to another store.

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

There really is no difference between synth and dino if you keep the junk clean. If you are operating in a heavy duty environment (commercial or emergency use/very high or low temperature/racing) then consider synth.

You have to change the dino more often but the synth costs more up front. The additional filter costs can add up but dino will be more economical for most regular daily drivers. I run dino in my Explorer and synth in my Mustang and I change them at the same intervals. I really do not see a performance difference either way and I could probably push more mileage out of the synth in the Mustang but I don't want to risk my puffed 4.6 like that.

 

[aldive]

There really is no difference between synth and dino if you keep the junk clean.

That is simply not true.

 

[gijoecam]

{rant on}

Sorry, but I've got to chime in here.... Al, you have to realize that the vast majority of the shade tree mechanics will change their oil every 3000 miles using whatever's cheap from teh local parts store. It's what we've done for generations, and will likely continue to do (especially on those vehicles which were designed with that OCI in mind.) In the absence of monthly oil analyses and an expensive bypass filtration system, a 3000 mile OCI is simply the way we do it because we can be assured that the oil is in decent condition when we change it. For most of us, it's not worth the hassle to swap filters, top off, send out the oil analysis and wait for the results when, in 20 minutes for $15, we can swap the oil and be assured we're good for another 3000 miles.

Rather than question everyone else's motives by asking 'why' just accept the fact that it's what we're told to do by the manufacturer, and in the absence of any other reliable source of data, can't you accept that it's just what we're gonna do?? Yes, you have a better way. Yes, using your setup, most people could probably go several years without an oil change. Not all of us have the time, the funds, or the desire to do anything different than what the engine manufacturer recommends.

Sorry for the rant... It just bugs me when Al chimes in and just questions everything about oil changes without actually helping the OP with his/her questions.
{rant off}
__________________________________________________________________

Now, to the OP, pick up whatever oil you want from the parts store. I personally prefer to stick with name brands myself, but so long as it meets or exceeds the manufacturer's ratings (and I haven't seen any that don't), and use a decent quality filter (motorcraft and Purolator come highly recommended) and change it every 3000 miles, it'll work just fine. Hell, I'm convinced you could run a gallon of canola oil through it in a pinch!

For spark plugs, my preference is Motorcraft. They were good for the first 100,000 miles, the second set in mine has 72,000 miles on them, and when (if?) she rolls 200k next year, she'll get a third set.

-Joe

 

[CHEESYPOOFS]

nicely put joe