2.0L Ecoboost - which oil?

[RWS123]

I just traded in a 2012 Range Rover Evoque 2.0L Turbo for a 2014 Ford Fusion Titanium 2.0L Turbo. Interestingly enough, the engines are the same, exactly. They are mounted to different transmissions, tuned a bit different, but they are both Ecoboost 2.0L. Ford started the Evoque project prior to selling the company. They tune the Evoque to about 250HP and 250lb-ft of torque. Many of the other parts, brakes etc, even have the "Ford" stamp on them. Range Rover uses Castrol Syntec Full Synthetic oil when it comes from the factory. Guess what the recommended oil change interval is, 16,000 miles. Why the difference? I am not sure, but I could not bring myself to go a full 16K miles between oil changes. I did go 10 to 12K miles though. I did the oil changes myself as Range Rover charged $300+ to do it. Oil still looked pretty good after 12K miles. I am not sure what I am going to do concerning the Fusion with respect to oil changes, I suspect I will see how it goes after the first one. I will definitely go full synthetic though.

 

Rob

[junehhan]

Actually what you stated confirms that synthetics can go the distance in terms of extended drains. Lots of European vehicles including many British have always had very long oil drain intervals. I used to have a Land Rover Freelander a long time ago that had 12k oil change intervals. The problem with Land Rover is that they have traditionally specified which oils are appropriate for use as they maintain a list. They also use very weird viscosities which I never understood as I would be scared to use an oil that has such a large viscosity spread such as Mobil 1 0w40 or Castrol Syntec 5w50. That kind of spread is achieved by heavy use of viscosity modifiers.

[jeff711981]

From the testing that has been seen over the years, Mobil 1 has one of the best filters for extending oil drain intervals. My concern with Pennzoil is weather or not it is a full synthetic or not. Since 1998, most of the mainstream synthetics other than Mobil 1 have gone the way of utilizing hydrocracked base stocks versus traditional fully synthetic PAO's. In essence, it is more like a highly refined synthetic blend than a full synthetic such as Mobil 1 or Amsoil.

 

I believe Mobile 1 is technically a Group III oil and has been ever since Castrol won a lawsuit allowing them to call their Group III oil a "full synthetic," whereas Amsoil, Royal Purple and I believe Lucas are some of the only Group IV (PAO) oils. I could be wrong, though.

Edited August 1, 2014 by jeff711981

[jeff711981]

Actually what you stated confirms that synthetics can go the distance in terms of extended drains. Lots of European vehicles including many British have always had very long oil drain intervals. I used to have a Land Rover Freelander a long time ago that had 12k oil change intervals. The problem with Land Rover is that they have traditionally specified which oils are appropriate for use as they maintain a list. They also use very weird viscosities which I never understood as I would be scared to use an oil that has such a large viscosity spread such as Mobil 1 0w40 or Castrol Syntec 5w50. That kind of spread is achieved by heavy use of viscosity modifiers.

 

... which can be done with full synthetics because the base oil is so much better at lubricating - it can be "diluted" with more additives to give it longer life and better resiliency to extreme temperatures without reducing the plain ole lubricating properties of the oil.

Edited August 1, 2014 by jeff711981

[naielah]

I have a 2013 Titanium, All Wheel Drive, with 128K miles. I'm starting to experience hard cold starts due to carbon build-up on the back of the intake valves. The problem occurs because the carbon isn't traditionally sprayed off the back of the valves with port injection. Because direct injection sprays directly into the cylinder, the carbon isn't removed from the back of the valve; therefore, I periodically have a hard start (car acts like it's not getting fuel) that requires me to press the gas when starting. You're probably saying what does this have to do with oil? A full synthetic brand of oil will burn completely and reduce the chance of carbon build-up on the valves. BTW, the only remedy for my problem is a manual cleaning of the intake manifold ($1K). I hope this helps. Watch videos of direct injection cold starts to learn more.

[drolds1]

I have a 2013 Titanium, All Wheel Drive, with 128K miles. I'm starting to experience hard cold starts due to carbon build-up on the back of the intake valves. The problem occurs because the carbon isn't traditionally sprayed off the back of the valves with port injection. Because direct injection sprays directly into the cylinder, the carbon isn't removed from the back of the valve; therefore, I periodically have a hard start (car acts like it's not getting fuel) that requires me to press the gas when starting. You're probably saying what does this have to do with oil? A full synthetic brand of oil will burn completely and reduce the chance of carbon build-up on the valves. BTW, the only remedy for my problem is a manual cleaning of the intake manifold ($1K). I hope this helps. Watch videos of direct injection cold starts to learn more.

At 128K miles you'd have carbon build-up on the valves in any engine. How is cleaning the intake manifold going to remove carbon from the intake valves? Ford doesn't officially recommend this as a remedy. In fact, Ford does not officially recommend any method for cleaning intake valves in EB engines. The only remedy they have to date is replacing the cylinder head. See this video.

 

WRT oil fumes, a catch can would solve this problem but as he says, this would void the warranty; obviously not a concern for you. He does recommend full synthetic oil for EB engines.

 

The industry is working on a new ILSAC GF-6 oil spec with DI and GTDI engines in mind.

[MightBeASynth]

I am using AMSoil with a stock motorcraft filter ATM. Used AMSOil for years, have been a fan since I did testing on an old v6 years ago

[ChristopherB]

If you are wondering what oil to use or how long to wait in between changes, you can always use Blackstone Labs and send them a sample for analysis.

 

Below is a sample analysis from my 2008 Mustang GT. I did two weekends at the track track(4 days total on track which was 5 to 6 30 minute sessions on track per day at VIR and NJMP), two trips to the local 1/4 mile drag strip for the Friday night street legal drags, and my usual driving to and from work, etc.. It sends up the semi synthetic 5W-20 Ford uses holds up well. However I can't say how it holds up in other cars without an analysis.