[ZX3TUNR]

I think im going to start putting in syntheti oil. Any one got a fav brand?

[Focus Is Art]

thabrat,Oct 20 2004, 04:47 AM Wrote:I think im going to start putting in syntheti oil. Any one got a fav brand?

I tried almost all brand you can get except Amoil and Royal purple. My ranging is
M1, valvoline, G2000(Walmark brand) are all good, but motorcraft and Q-state are ok too. I just use whatever is on sales when I need it, they're all 10x better than dino oil anyway. Just my opinion, don't flam.

[Focus Is Art]

01-yellow-ZX3,Oct 19 2004, 11:34 PM Wrote:I drive about 30,000 kms a year. Change the oil at every 5000. Equals 6 oil changes a year.

My car, my money, I'll change the oil when I want, and thats at the recommended 5000 kms that I signed when I bought my ESP.

I have 165000km on my car since feb 2k. Approx 35000km per yr, and my engine is still going strong. ;)

[ZX3TUNR]

Im going to try Mobil 1 this weekend..

[Frost__2001]

I don't have a choice about putting the Foci away for the winter......... & i just fixed the front end too........ But5 i just use regular oil that ford provides.

BTW I'm back from Louisiana !

got some cool shots of an american foci all smashed up in a parking lot in New Orleans & not to mention a few stories to tell.

[scoobasteve]

Ive used.... (In order of prefrence)
Royal Purple
Amsoil
Mobil 1
Castrol Syntec
Quakerstate Synthetic
Motormaster.

over the winter ill be storing the car with regular oil, or maybe a synthetic blend. because as soon as the car comes out of storage, its gonna be changed again.

EDIT: as for oil change intervals

I change the SVT every 5-5500km, i try to keep it at 5000 or under, but sometimes it doesnt work out. so far that would make 6 oil changes since I got the car in april.

My winter car, 1993 acclaim, this used to be my first car, before focus #1. i changed the oil with regular quakerstate every 5000km. Since my dad has been driving it for construction it hasnt seen an oilchange. ( filterchange ) in 40,000km ( it consumes and leaks about 2 quarts every 5000km) Im surprised the car is still going strong. 310,000km on the odometer..

My dads last work car. 1988 Toyota camry. Changed the oil at the end of every summer and once in the winter.. 50,000km in the summer 10,000 km in the winter. when we got rid of it 2 years ago. drove it to the dump with 401,536 on the odometer. even with 50,000km oil changes. the engine outlasted the body.

[Jays2000ZX3]

I "used" to be the same, change it every 5000km...but I had a turbo. :P

A stock motor on a daily driver, even with the occasional spirited driving, IN A GOD DAMN FOCUS, oil should not be changed at 5K...let alone 4K?

I know if makes you feel better.....but.....what the hell? What a waste of money. Especially if you are using Synthetic.

The Echo they recommend 8000km / 6 months, first oil change I'll do it at 8K, put in Synthetic and then laugh all the way to AT LEAST 10K before changing the oil.

This are very much different nowadays as Andrew mentioned, the Zetec is by all means not a performance motor of any kind, no sense is over changing the oil. :blink:


And For sure the most obvious reason they "recommend" you change the oil every 3months or 5K km is to make money. That's why Jiffy Lube, Canadian Tire, Wal Mart, Dealer..etc. all recommend the same thing.

Imagine driving up to the Jiffy lube, the tech asks when the last oil change was, you tell him 5000km, he says "Oh well, we recommend 10000km intervals..come back in another 5000km's" LOL

[scoobasteve]

Meh, Sometimes I should get one of those Engine life timers. The ones that display the hours the engine has been running. because of the 550-600kms i do a week for work it probably takes 13-15 hours. I'm pretty sure that would classify as severe duty.

[Jays2000ZX3]

That would be an interesting test.

[K_OS]

Jays2000ZX3,Oct 20 2004, 10:32 AM Wrote:Imagine driving up to the Jiffy lube, the tech asks when the last oil change was, you tell him 5000km, he says "Oh well, we recommend 10000km intervals..come back in another 5000km's" LOL

I`ve actually heard of this happening once with a guy who used to work here he had a Mercedes Coupe with 10,000k`s and the dealer refused to do the oil change untill the car had 16,000k`s to do it`s 1st oil change.

[2001 ZTS]

scoobasteve,Oct 20 2004, 03:54 PM Wrote:Meh, Sometimes I should get one of those Engine life timers. The ones that display the hours the engine has been running. because of the 550-600kms i do a week for work it probably takes 13-15 hours. I'm pretty sure that would classify as severe duty.

I wouldn't consider 550-600kms "severe" even if your average speed works out to 40 something km/hr.

When calcluating maintenance intervals the rule for engines is that 1 hour running stationary is the equivalent to 50km on the road.

I used to put on 1500km a week for an entire year and this was a much older car than a Focus. It never complained, I used the 10,000km rule and gave it away with 300,000km on the ticker.

So few of you even own your cars because you're in leases and even fewer will keep them past 5 years anyway so I don't understand what you frequent changers expect to gain?

Changing oil frequently does not prevent catostrophic failure, complete oil loss does that. Oil changes reduce long term wear and I mean long term as in decades.

[scoobasteve]

Thats just work kms... in the end im looking at roughly 5500-6000km per month.

[ZX3TUNR]

I got the money to waste lol

Hey Jay when you ran your turbo did you find any diff with oil brands. Also is 5k when your supposed to change with a turbo or is that just your pref..

[D-Dub]

my ex had a TDI and the recomended oil change was 15,000km. I asked why she was doing the oil change at 9 grand........"because daddy said so, daddy also said I have to put this oil in". I looked at the price and it was 20 bucks for a quart. What a waste of money...... :unsure: :blink:

[yeloZX3]

i will be driving my focus in winter just like the past few years, and i'll just continue using the amsoil 5w20 just like normal.

i usually change the oil around every 9000km to 10000km interval =) no problem at all, oil filter was not as dirty as expected, oil was not dirty, and that's also what amsoil recommanded.

[guilty]

What about for warranty issues? Since the dealerships suggest that a regular maintanence schedule including oil change every 5000km should be followed, could they not hassle you hard if you have something go wrong with the engine and want a warranty repair? I guess this doesnt apply to some of the old timers, but the people who still have warranty left, or extended warranty might want to be a little more concerned with keeping the maintanence records on the right interval.

[CanadaSVT]

guilty,Oct 21 2004, 04:54 PM Wrote:What about for warranty issues?  Since the dealerships suggest that a regular maintanence schedule including oil change every 5000km should be followed, could they not hassle you hard if you have something go wrong with the engine and want a warranty repair?

I was at the dealer yesterday checking out the 500 and I grabbed a maintanance brochure from the fastlane garage. Normal is 10k/6months, extreme is 5k/3months. Warranty would not be an issue, as long as you have your receipts.
My friend/co-worker was at the warranty repair breakdown facility Ford has in Oakville, and he said anyone could tell if it's the part or the owners fault for the breakdown. Then my friend got bored working there, so now he's back in the plant with the rest of us monkeys :D

[2001 ZTS]

CanadaSVT,Oct 23 2004, 02:53 AM Wrote:Normal is 10k/6months, extreme is 5k/3months. ...anyone could tell if it's the part or the owners fault for the breakdown.

Exactly, from what I've read here people are changing their oil more frequently than they check their oil.

If people actually do weekly checks of all fluids as prescribed in the manual then nobody should be "surprised" at an oil change to find their oil is black and filthy, they'd catch it long before it got to that state.

If anyone here has "black and filthy oil" in less than 5000km/3 months there is something seriously wrong with your car (not your type of driving) that a new filter and a couple litres of oil will not resolve no matter what kind of oil it is.

If that it is indeed the case that you have filthy oil in 3 months you had better find out where your coolant resevoir is located and check it for milkyness and/or discolouration because you have serious mechanical issues, likely blown gaskets.

By changing too often you may actually flush away evidence of oil starvation somewhere in your engine. If you did your oil changes with normal changing frequency (6mo/10,000km) and regular checks against a white tissue you'd be able to tell: "thats funny, something ain't right". Flush it away like some of you do then you'll never know, till it is too late.

[boost til'bust]

2001 ZTS,Oct 23 2004, 03:21 AM Wrote:

CanadaSVT,Oct 23 2004, 02:53 AM Wrote:Normal is 10k/6months, extreme is 5k/3months. ...anyone could tell if it's the part or the owners fault for the breakdown.

Exactly, from what I've read here people are changing their oil more frequently than they check their oil.

If people actually do weekly checks of all fluids as prescribed in the manual then nobody should be "surprised" at an oil change to find their oil is black and filthy, they'd catch it long before it got to that state.

If anyone here has "black and filthy oil" in less than 5000km/3 months there is something seriously wrong with your car (not your type of driving) that a new filter and a couple litres of oil will not resolve no matter what kind of oil it is.

If that it is indeed the case that you have filthy oil in 3 months you had better find out where your coolant resevoir is located and check it for milkyness and/or discolouration because you have serious mechanical issues, likely blown gaskets.

By changing too often you may actually flush away evidence of oil starvation somewhere in your engine. If you did your oil changes with normal changing frequency (6mo/10,000km) and regular checks against a white tissue you'd be able to tell: "thats funny, something ain't right". Flush it away like some of you do then you'll never know, till it is too late.

I think its stupid to wait to 10,000kms.
you obviously dont know much about cars.
heres proof:
1. The black filthy oil would not be a sign of coolant entering the engine. It would have signs of a white milky residue the complete opposite of the black oil in which you stated.

2. obviously the oil will eventually become black, it is exactly what oil is supposed to do, suspend the dirt particles so that the filter can pick them up. so it doesnt neccessarily mean there is a problem...the only problem that would indicate is that you have left your oil change too long, because the filter cannot trap the particles anymore, and it is probably bypassing at that point.

3. by changing too often you are flushing away signs of oil starvation???? what the hell are you talking about???????? you change it so that you can continue to clean the engine internal parts so that your engine doesnt fill up with sludge!!!

[2001 ZTS]

boost til'bust,Oct 24 2004, 05:2 Wrote:I think its stupid to wait to 10,000kms.

...and I think it is "normal" and in accordance with the maintenance frequency recommended by Ford. To each his own.