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Oil and Filter opinions
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Posted by: langod

Ok All,

I'm probably going to (and hoping to) light a firestorm of opinion. speculation and controversy with this question.. but, hey... what's a forum without some spice....

Seeing as my area of the country is heading into winter (New England) what brand and viscosity of oil and what make of filter should I use on my 02 GT when I change my oil this weekend?

I've heard bad things about FRAM filters and Quaker State Oil.

What are the best and worst oils and filters in your opinions?

Posted by: Mustang5L5

Fram does suck.

If you feel like reading, have a go at this

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html

Then this as the conclusion:

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters.html (make sure to scroll to the bottom)

and for future reference:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html

Then this as the conclusion:
http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters.html (make sure to scroll to the bottom)

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

The Motorcraft 820S is actually a VERY good oil filter. There really isn't any other reason to use anything else. It's cheap too.

As for oils, i think synthetics are overrated in terms of engine oils. I use Castrol GTX conventional oil since it's refined from Penn. based oils which have slightly better lubricating properties than TX based oils.

Also, i run 5W-30. Ford suggests 5W-20, but that's mainly for fuel economy. You get an extra 0.25MPG with the 20 weight, but since they didn't change enginer tolerances in the SN95 version 4.6L, i'll stick with the weight it was designed around

Posted by: xufima

On my engine it says 5W20 in one spot and 5W30 in another spot. I don't really change my oil for/during the winter as I don't drive my car, I just change it in the spring when I start driving it again.

Posted by: bullitt5177

First off, when it comes to viscosity, stick with OE year round. Manufacturers spend lots of money deciding what works best for effeciency and longevity in their cars, and for good reason. Newer cars have much smaller tolerances to thicker oils than older cars due to their thinner bearing clearances. However, in this case, you can switch to 5W-30 because Fords can tolerate that the same. 5L5 is correct in my opinion about the filters and the fuel efficiency of the oils. GTX is an excellent brand. The broad majority of GOOD mechanics that I know (believe me, I know plenty) as well as myself, use GTX. In my Mustang, though, I use the Motorcraft FL-820S filter and Syntec 5W-20. Using any other viscosity other than 5W-20 or 5W-30 in a modern Ford will make it run poorly.

Posted by: langod

I've read that "minimopar" oil filter study. Good stuff there. I just wish he had continued the study. He stopped in 2003. He had a list of "coming soon" filters. I would really have like to have seen the results of the K&N. It's expensive, but seems like a high quality filter. I don't mind spending $12 on a filter since I only change the oil a couple times a year, but I'd like to know if the $12 is getting me anything significantly better.
I'm glad to see the Castrol recommendation. I've always thought that it was a quality brand. Any opinions on whether the "Castrol GTX Start Up" is any better than the regular GTX formulation?

Posted by: 81maroonhatch

mobil clean 5000 if you have it right now i run Quaker state and a motorcraft filter its suxthe filter is great but i hate the oil also DO NOT run synthetcs after 50,000 miles if our car ran on a standard oil (you will leak like crazy)
your best bet is either mobil or castrol GTX

Posted by: Amanda

Quote:

Originally Posted by 81maroonhatch

mobil clean 5000 if you have it right now i run Quaker state and a motorcraft filter its suxthe filter is great but i hate the oil also DO NOT run synthetcs after 50,000 miles if our car ran on a standard oil (you will leak like crazy)
your best bet is either mobil or castrol GTX

With the changes made in the newer synthetics and seals used in cars these days, there is actually no scientific evidence to support this claim - although I thought it to be true for a long time.

It should be fine to mix most synthetics (such as mobil 1) with mineral based oils with the exceptions of true synthetics or polyglycols as they don't mix with "regular" oil.

Now if you're driving around in an older car with original seals, you don't have the advantage of the new technologies that go into creating the seals found in cars these days...

I've run Mobil 1 5W-30 with a Motorcraft filter for the past 5 years and the car is still running strong 163,000 miles later. I'd attribute that to regular changes though, more so than the oil I'm running.

Posted by: Mustang5L5

My opinion.....synthetic fluid is highly overrated

Posted by: bullitt5177

Synthetic oil is in fact a better oil. It's more resistant to breaking down at higher temperatures. However, if not recommended by the manufacturer (on a basically stock motor), it's almost pointless, because you don't need that protection. Also, it is a bad idea to run synthetic in an older car that's not accustomed to it. It's for the same reason you can't run DOT 5 or 5.1 in a DOT 3 or 4 rated car. The seals expand and begin to leak.

Posted by: Amanda

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullitt5177

Synthetic oil is in fact a better oil. It's more resistant to breaking down at higher temperatures. However, if not recommended by the manufacturer (on a basically stock motor), it's almost pointless, because you don't need that protection. Also, it is a bad idea to run synthetic in an older car that's not accustomed to it. It's for the same reason you can't run DOT 5 or 5.1 in a DOT 3 or 4 rated car. The seals expand and begin to leak.

holy snikeys.... is this really scotty?!?! He actually sounds.... intelligent!

UTI can teach anyone it seems!

Posted by: Mustang5L5

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullitt5177

It's for the same reason you can't run DOT 5 or 5.1 in a DOT 3 or 4 rated car. The seals expand and begin to leak.

You shouldn't run DOT 5 brake fluid period in a normal street car. It's glycol based and isn't hydroscopic. It won't absorb water in the system so you'll end up with drops of easily boiled pure water in your brake lines. One good hard stop and boiled fluid! DOT 5 needs to be changed EVERY race event

Posted by: Mustang5L5

Personally i feel that you should run the same oil put in from the factory. Those engineers designing the engine aren't stupid. They have taken into acount the viscosity of the fluid when designing the tolerances and have designed the engine around it. They conduct high-milage tests on this oil and for the most part they pass with flying colors before being put into production. Therefor there is no excuse why conventional oil cannot be run for the life of the engine without any problems at all.

If you want synthetic fluid, then go ahead, but i will never put syn engine oil in any of my cars unless it came that way OEM

Posted by: bullitt5177

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustang5L5

Personally i feel that you should run the same oil put in from the factory. Those engineers designing the engine aren't stupid. They have taken into acount the viscosity of the fluid when designing the tolerances and have designed the engine around it. They conduct high-milage tests on this oil and for the most part they pass with flying colors before being put into production. Therefor there is no excuse why conventional oil cannot be run for the life of the engine without any problems at all.

If you want synthetic fluid, then go ahead, but i will never put syn engine oil in any of my cars unless it came that way OEM

100% agreed. However, for reasons I don't understand, I still run synthetic in the Bullitt.

However, the Grand Am gets a healthy change of mineral 5W-30 every 3,000 miles year round!!

Posted by: bullitt5177

This is an annoying topic to me. All the "mechanics" of the days of yore believe that you should run 10W-30 in the winter and a thicker weight in the summer for every single friggin car. And unfortunately, this crap has been leaked to the automotively inept public. I had a guy come into Advance the other day with a brand spanking new Mustang GT. He came up and bought the cheapest brand oil filter we had (ughhh), then bought six quarts of 10W-40 synthetic blend. I looked at him and said, "Please tell me this isn't going into that Mustang." He said it was. So then I told him that newer Fords are very intolerant to anything besides 5W-20 or 5W-30, and that basically it would run like crap. He took the six quarts and said, "Alright, then I'll get 10W-30, 5W-20's way too light to run in the winter." I told him again that it wasn't, and he wouldn't believe me. Oh well, I hope Ford finds out that he's running that shit during the warranty period and voids out his warranty.

Posted by: Mustang5L5

I know, i dunno where this whole "buying oil based on weight without even knowing if the engine takes that" trend came from.

Posted by: langod

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustang5L5

I know, i dunno where this whole "buying oil based on weight without even knowing if the engine takes that" trend came from.

It comes from the school of "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing". And plain old "male stubbornness". Years ago (20!) I used to see this all the time when I worked at Radio Shack. A guy would come in to buy a computer or Stereo system, and say I want this one, blah, blah, blah. Even if I would tell him that the one next to it, that was cheaper, did more of what he was describing, he would be unconvinced and buy the one he had picked out before coming into the store. A woman customer, on the other hand, would come in, basically announce that she had no idea about anything in the store and to "please help me choose." And well, she would walk out with exactly what she needed. (I was never the type to over sell an unsuspecting customer -- I'd rather have repeat sales, then one big sale.)

Posted by: 81maroonhatch

what about shell cuz im thinking about running 5w-40 in the 4.6 merc would this cause problems it has 5w-20 motorcraft

Posted by: Jarhead46

I run 2 stroke engine oil works great

Posted by: 2000stang

wow ive never heard of that, how does ur engine respond to it?

Posted by: Jarhead46

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2000stang

wow ive never heard of that, how does ur engine respond to it?

Awesome gained almost 200rwhp and 230rwtq

Posted by: bullitt5177

Kev, you better tell him you're joking. He may think you're serious.

Posted by: Mustang5L5

Quote:

Originally Posted by 81maroonhatch

what about shell cuz im thinking about running 5w-40 in the 4.6 merc would this cause problems it has 5w-20 motorcraft

WHat reason do you have for wanting to run 5w-40?

Posted by: sitnlopro99gt

I personally run 5w-30 mobil 1 synthetic with a K&N filter to each his own.