Ford Recommends 5w50 Now?

[Timeless]

This turned into what oil and weight is the best thread lol.

I'll bite. I use 0W-30 in mine. The 0 weight oils are fairly new "tech" and I consider them higher "quality."

Don't see where NC could get cold enough for a zero weight....and probably not worth the hassle with a dealership if anything happens warranty related.

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[Ebm]

Don't see where NC could get cold enough for a zero weight....and probably not worth the hassle with a dealership if anything happens warranty related.

Engine is past the warranty period. Plus, a 0w-30 and a 5w-20 are similar enough that the oil wouldn't be the cause of a problem. I wanted something a little thicker than 5w-20, but didn't want to go on the opposite side of the spectrum and use 5w-50 either because my car is mostly street driven. I feel like the 0w-30 oils I've used have been higher quality as well.

 

[shogun32]

I feel like the 0w-30 oils I've used have been higher quality as well

How exactly are you defining "higher quality"?

 

[Ebm]

How exactly are you defining "higher quality"?

0w-30 oils I've used have a higher percentage of PAO vs Group III. That's what I meant by higher quality.

Of course, with regular OCI, you can use whatever you want(within reason) and you wouldn't see a difference.

 

[Mazman]

I was at a dealer to sort out some paperwork I asked the shop manager to check in the system which oil is to be used.

We checked in the system and it still said 5w-20

 

[Timeless]

Engine is past the warranty period. Plus, a 0w-30 and a 5w-20 are similar enough that the oil wouldn't be the cause of a problem. I wanted something a little thicker than 5w-20, but didn't want to go on the opposite side of the spectrum and use 5w-50 either because my car is mostly street driven. I feel like the 0w-30 oils I've used have been higher quality as well.

Your sig and profile details do not say what Mustang you have or the year...but my comment was in general. Your car is beyond even the powertrain 5y/60k?

 

[Ebm]

Your sig and profile details do not say what Mustang you have or the year...but my comment was in general. Your car is beyond even the powertrain 5y/60k?

Sig and vehicle details updated

 

[gimmie11s]

If youre worried about a warranty, crawl into the fetal position each night before bed due to the "tick", and need to ask your wife for the keys to your Mustang every Saturday before you go for a drive, then follow the owners manual with precision and continue to make threads like this.

If you can think for yourself, run a quality synthetic, take it to 7800 rpm regularly and forget about it.

 

[Bullitt0819]

FWIW, I'd be careful diverging from the manufacturer's recommendations for motor oil. I bought an '08 Bullitt new, and did my own oil changes from Day 1. I had a case of Chevron 10W-30 on the shelf and thought 'Why not?' But, I started searching the internet for 'advice'--best taken with a huge grain of salt--and saw a post by a credible Modular engine rebuilder who stated the timing chain guides on those engines are plastic and, apparently, underengineered. Using a thicker oil delayed oil getting to the top end on cold engines, preventing the tensioners from pumping up as quickly as they should resulting in broken guides. I stuck with Ford's 5W-20 and the engine was running perfectly, only using a quart every 6K miles or so, with 135K miles when I traded it in on a '19 Bullitt.

I've also seen where upgraded timing chain guides are recommended for boosted Coyote builds, along with better oil pumps, etc., so the guides are likely still a weak point.

 

[shogun32]

'xWy' notation is so grossly imprecise it's a joke. Pull the product data sheets for the brand and grades you're interested in and compare. Part of the problem is that practically nobody lives where it's -30degC when they start their car in the morning. Here's a quick Pennzoil example:

Viscosity, cP (degC) ASTM D-5293
5w-20 = 5,200 (-30)
5w-30 5,800 (-30)
10w-30 5,900 (-25)
10w-40 6,090 (-25)
20w-50 6,890 (-15)

So the 5w30 is roughly 11% "thicker" than it's 5w20 counterpart at -30C (-22F) despite having theoretically the "same" base stock. Notice how close this example of 10w30 and 5w30 are at the extreme cold limit.

The number that matters for cold-engine wear and pumping pressure on timing chain adjusters et. al. is what the various oils do at say -5degC (20F) which is where the majority of folks north of the Mason-Dixon line fall under if they drive their cars in the winter. For those who live in warmer climates or only crank their garage queens when it's over 50F (10C) the companies don't publish those figures so who the hell knows. I would bet there's barely any difference between any of them at such 'temperate' values.

Moral of the story - unless you're at extreme temps use whatever you want and don't hammer the engine till it's warmed up. Ford engineers did not write the 5w20 recommendation. Lawyers and CAFE credit eligibility rules did.

 

[Stonehauler]

-30 C is -22 F
-25 C is -13 F
-15 C is 5 F

Even in DE where I live now, we hit 5 at least once or twice a year. Where I am from near Chicago, I have seen -15 quite often in the mornings. In fact, there are some days it does not get above 0 for a high.

I've traveled a lot, and I've been to places like Watertown SD and Loveland CO in January/February timeframes. In both of those instances, I was there for multiple days and only once was it above -10 in the morning. Most of the time when I left, is was -15 to -20. Since I was in a hotel, I had no parking garage to keep it a little warmer. I've also been to Minneapolis/St. Paul several times and on multiple occasions morning have been sub 0. Those are the days you plug your car in. Interestingly enough, I found that many of my co-workers who originated in the Atlanta area had no idea what I meant when I told them to go plug their car in before they got breakfast. After all, they were driving a gasoline fueled car, not an electric or a hybrid.

Just because you've never been to a cold place doesn't mean it doesn't exist or happen regularly. In those places that are used it it, cold weather does not shut down schools, businesses, or governments. You put on another layer, break out the heat reflecting socks to go under the wool socks, and you go to work. Yes, they had an extreme cold snap that did so this year, but most years do not produce 50 below temps/windchills.

Surprisingly, the Dakotas also get really hot in the summer, often breaking 100+ deg.

So, I would challenge you on the "nobody lives there" statement. Lots of people do. It may not be every day, but there are a significant number of people that experience these types of temperatures just in the continental U.S.

 

[choate]

You guys spend way too much time on this. Just put Mobil 1 5w30 or 5w20 and forget it. You’ll be fine either way. If it was a blower car I’d use 30. Either one will be fine as long as you check the level

 

[shogun32]

Just because you've never been to a cold place

I used to live in Chicago. I've been to Minneapolis during the winter more times than I care to count. My vehicles are stored outside, uncovered. I've ridden my motorcycles in howling 9F temps. Mustangs are rarely the only car a person owns and rarely cranked up at extreme cold temp. Yes single digits can happen as far south as NC and low teens even as far as Alabama. When it's extreme cold out (below 20F, let alone 0F) the number of people who take the Mustang to work at o-dark-thirty is downright tiny compared to the total population of owners. And the people that do very likely have an indoor garage or engine-block heaters. I did not suggest running 5w was a bad thing, just that given the distribution of ambient temps, way overkill for a very large cross-section of owners.

 

[GT Pony]

You guys spend way too much time on this. Just put Mobil 1 5w30 or 5w20 and forget it. You’ll be fine either way. If it was a blower car I’d use 30. Either one will be fine as long as you check the level

The supercharger manufactures recommend 5W-50 when their SC is put on a Coyote.

 

[choate]

If youre worried about a warranty, crawl into the fetal position each night before bed due to the "tick", and need to ask your wife for the keys to your Mustang every Saturday before you go for a drive, then follow the owners manual with precision and continue to make threads like this.

If you can think for yourself, run a quality synthetic, take it to 7800 rpm regularly and forget about it.

Are you an old SVTPERFORMANCE guy. These young kids have no idea how bad we could roast them. BBQ tick. Ticking. Typewriter noise. Rattle. Piston slap. Lots of keyboard mechanics around here

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