What engine oil to use

[roly123987]

What engine oil is recomended for a '99 Ex. Has anyone tried Castrol Magnatec 5W-30 (it's what Castrol recomend on their website for this vehicle)?

Also, how often should I change it (again Castrol recomend every 6000 miles, is it better to change it more often or less often bearing in mind the car is gas converted and the thinking is that oil changes can be extended as gas does not cause the oil to degrade as fast as using petrol)?

 

[Howard]

Never tried castrol but it should be ok. I use Mobil 1 synthetic and I make it last 10k with no problems.

 

[trucku]

If your concerned about the 6k change interval do and oil analysis to tell you how your oil/engine is performing and its status at 3k then again at 5k. I wouldn't recommend driving your vehicle for any extended mileage without a oil analysis, even with synthetic. If at 5K your oil is doing well then go on to the 6k mark.

changing the oil more often will never hurt. with dino and short mileage change intervals you can have a very clean engine. You will just be safer than sorrier.

 

[Ian5700]

Offically the Ford UK service booklet has 10,000 mile services, so a vehicle with a full Ford FSH would have had it's oil changed at 10,000 miles or yearly. The haynes manual suggest changing it every 3,000 miles.

I have been using 5W/40 fully syn. for several changes now, 5W/40 is one of the other acceptable grade weights listed in the manual.

I would have thought using fully syn., which i lot of stuff is now, you could get at least 6,000 miles out of it. If you go down to 3,000 miles and you do a lot of miles you will just be changing it all the time, but i guess it isn't really that much of a hassle, just cost.

 

[trucku]

I would definitely let oil analysis dictate when to change the oil, so your never tossing out good synthetic. If its just Dino 3k changes won't be much of a pocket drainer.