New owner of 2015 Mustang Ecoboost - Some general questions regarding maintenance

[Blackbeard27]

What's up everyone! I recently purchased a certified pre-owned 6sp 2015 Mustang Ecoboost with 29.5k miles on it. From what I've been told (and what I can tell) the previous owner babied the shit out of it and kept up to date with all maintenance intervals.

As you can imagine, I've practically been living on Mustang forums for the last few months just trying to absorb all the information that's out there on the car. One question I did have however, was how well these cars respond to slight deviations from the factory recommended fluids/parts. In other words, I've always been taught that turbocharged engines have much tighter tolerances than normal engines, and thus following the factory recommendations was crucial in order to keep the car happy into the 60k+ mileage range. The reason I ask is because I recently took it for its first oil change at the most reputable Ford dealer in my area (unfortunately an hour of bad traffic away from my house), and I was kind of surprised Ford recommends a synthetic blend rather than a full synthetic. It was my understanding that you should always go full synthetic, and even more so if you're turbocharged. I'm somewhat concerned about any long-term effects of using a blend rather than full syn. Obviously Ford knows what they're talking about when it comes to these recommendations, and obviously I'm sure they make that recommendation based on extensive stress-testing. However, the hard-head in me still wants to switch to a full syn oil at my next interval (changing every 3k).

Maybe I'm being too over-analytical about the whole thing (the fact I owe the bank 17k on the car still has a lot to do with it), but as I intend on doing my own oil changes from here on out, I'm wondering if I risk anything by switching to say a Royal Purple full syn. I'd love to go Amsoil, but holy shit that stuff's expensive and hard to get. Any advice from you seasoned Stang vets there?

On the same token, given that I'm coming up on 30k, I've been looking at getting the plugs changed, as well as swapping out the MT tranny fluid. I've noticed a slight catch going into 2nd here and there, and I've heard great things about people that switched to BG Syncro Shift II. I've also seen a lot of people switch to NGK Iridium plugs as well. Any thoughts there about once again possibly deviating from Ford's Motorcraft recommendations? Again, a lot of this comes from my nervousness about turbocharged engines being super finicky.

Anyway, that's about what I got for now. Thanks in advance for any info and tips. Have a great weekend, my dudes.

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[Billy1]

It's good that you want to maintain your car properly, but stick to the Ford recommended syn. blend. Ford spends millions on engineering so they know what they are saying with it comes to lubricant recommendations.Keep all your receipts when you do your oil changes so you have proof of maintenance in case the engine ever lets go. It's out of warranty but you still want to be able to say you maintained the car properly. Try the BG Syncro Shift II to see if it improves the shift characteristics, you can always go back to Ford gear oil if you don't see an improvement.

I would stick to the stock plugs unless you plan on doing mods i.e. tune etc. I had tried other plugs but went back to stock after having some issues.

 

[engineermike]

Technically, your owner’s manual recommends synthetic blend but also states full synthetic is optional. This is most likely to keep maintenance costs lower.

If you’re one that is anal about following ford’s spec, then the manual lists it as wss-m2c946-a. Something like pennzoil platinum and ultra platinum both specifically list this spec on the 5w30 bottle so you really can’t go wrong and they are “full synthetic” by most definitions.

I’m not a fan of “boutique” oils but there are some other obscure oils I would use in that motor for various reasons.

 

[Maggneto]

Congratulations on your 2015 Ecoboost. Make sure you use the highest octane gasoline available to get the best performance.

The engine is under factory warranty for 5-60 so definitely keep receipts if doing your own maintenance.

My car is Ford dealership maintained and they recommend the blend. Some owners switch to full synthetic so it depends on your preference.

If you are following the recommended maintenance schedule I don't see how.switching to full synthetic is going to make any difference, other than cost.

My engine has been absolutely flawless for 3.5 years and 28k miles.

 

[Darkstar]

I've had the dealer put Pennzoil Ultra Platinum in my 15 the last couple of times and I haven't really noticed much difference. I wanted to go with a full synthetic since the engine is tuned, for peace of mind at least. I also went with NGK 6510 plugs since I'm tuned but I'd probably stay with stock ones if you aren't going to tune it. Congrats on the Ecobeast. Have fun.

 

[Shifting_Gears]

There’s no reason to not use a full synthetic. There’s also nothing wrong the Motorcraft but a high quality full synthetic will allow great protection and extended change intervals, should you choose to do that.

In my ST, which was a 2.0 Ecoboost I only ran Mobil 1 if sometimes Castrol Syntech. I used to run strictly Motorcraft in my old 2V 4.6 mustang and never had any issues even when it was on nitrous.

 

[Blue Moon]

I'm at about 28k and have been using Royal Purple since my first change at 1200 miles (breaking in). No issues or problems at all.

As for plugs, I put in the Iridiums at the same time that I swapped in aftermarket coils. My butt dyno didn't notice any difference in performance, but it definitely idled much smoother.

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