Frequency of changing motor oil

[javon7065]

Hey everyone. My recently acquired 2015 PP SHO will not be a daily driver. More like twice a week or so. I won't be racing or leadfooting (well maybe a little of the later) and use it in both highway and city traffic. I am in the Philadelphia, PA area so no real extreme climate. I will be hitting the 3 month mark more often than the 3000 mile mark so does the old 3 months/3000 miles oil change rule still apply?

Thanks for any info!

 

[Majestic]

If you are running a full or synthetic blend and a good filter, 3k is overkill. I go 5k and that's usually about 6 months for me, maybe even a bit longer.

 

[BradM]

I agree as well, 5k normal driving on full synthetic.

 

[javon7065]

If you are running a full or synthetic blend and a good filter, 3k is overkill. I go 5k and that's usually about 6 months for me, maybe even a bit longer.

Thanks for the response! Sounds reasonable.

 

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

I agree with @Majestic I had a little scare of oil pressure dropping when I first bought my car and upped the intervals to 3k and tried different oils. I landed on Valvoline advanced full synthetic with a quart of Lucas non synthetic additive, not a popular choice here by any means but the lucas gave me an extra 2lbs of oil psi over synthetic oil alone at hot idle and I reasoned that it was like having a synthetic blend that the car recommends anyway. once I found my formula I bumped the intervals to 5k, oil was still super clean. only concerning issue I personally had was how much oil landed in the catch can.

 

[SHOdded]

all lucas does is thicken the oil. move up to 10w30 and you should see the same results. get an oil from the "thicker" end of the viscosity spectrum like supertech/warren, castrol, etc. no additives required. may solve the catch can issue as well.

 

[javon7065]

I agree with @Majestic I had a little scare of oil pressure dropping when I first bought my car and upped the intervals to 3k and tried different oils. I landed on Valvoline advanced full synthetic with a quart of Lucas non synthetic additive, not a popular choice here by any means but the lucas gave me an extra 2lbs of oil psi over synthetic oil alone at hot idle and I reasoned that it was like having a synthetic blend that the car recommends anyway. once I found my formula I bumped the intervals to 5k, oil was still super clean. only concerning issue I personally had was how much oil landed in the catch can.

Is there anyway to add an oil pressure gauge to these cars? I played around with the dash display to the left of the speedometer and could only find a tachometer and temp digital gauge

 

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

Is there anyway to add an oil pressure gauge to these cars? I played around with the dash display to the left of the speedometer and could only find a tachometer and temp digital gauge

unfortunately no easy way, cant even enable it with forscan. the only way Ive seen adding a permanent gauge is to drill and tap the area right next to the low pressure switch on the engine block and add a mechanical gauge. I had to check my pressure with a gauge in place of the low pressure switch, once with used oil cold, used oil hot, fresh oil cold, fresh oil hot, fresh oil with lucas cold, fresh oil with lucas hot, up down up down up down, thankfully a friend had a lift and didnt mind the mess. there are some vital stats I wish I could monitor on the fly, boost, oil pressure, tempuratures for the drivetrain, forscan will read some but not all, from what I understand things like boost and oil pressure are not monitored by the car in any capacity, just a trigger switch that lets you know the oil pressure is below a threshold, I believe it was 7psi

 

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

all lucas does is thicken the oil. move up to 10w30 and you should see the same results. get an oil from the "thicker" end of the viscosity spectrum like supertech/warren, castrol, etc. no additives required. may solve the catch can issue as well.

Ill give it a go for sure next oil change, the car was okay on the 5w30, I concluded the ford **** tech put the wrong oil in the car because I didnt have a light after changing it to the 5w30 but the gauge showed 11psi with lucas and 10 without at idle(I just checked the thread this whole thing went down in Oil Pressure Issue Poll) just sounded low to me so I kept putting in the lucas to bump it up

 

[javon7065]

unfortunately no easy way, cant even enable it with forscan. the only way Ive seen adding a permanent gauge is to drill and tap the area right next to the low pressure switch on the engine block and add a mechanical gauge. I had to check my pressure with a gauge in place of the low pressure switch, once with used oil cold, used oil hot, fresh oil cold, fresh oil hot, fresh oil with lucas cold, fresh oil with lucas hot, up down up down up down, thankfully a friend had a lift and didnt mind the mess. there are some vital stats I wish I could monitor on the fly, boost, oil pressure, tempuratures for the drivetrain, forscan will read some but not all, from what I understand things like boost and oil pressure are not monitored by the car in any capacity, just a trigger switch that lets you know the oil pressure is below a threshold, I believe it was 7psi

OK, I thought so. It's a bummer that they didn't give you those types of gauges as even an option on these cars, given the demographic of who they were targeted for.

 

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

OK, I thought so. It's a bummer that they didn't give you those types of gauges as even an option on these cars, given the demographic of who they were targeted for.

the "dont care how it works as long as it works" mentality seems to be the direction they took with this platform, the lincoln variant was geared towards wealthy and older, the explorer and flex were geared towards busy parents, and the standard taurus was aimed at the elderly (for any who argue that look at the color pallet of choices) plus the PI cars needed to be cheap to build, so the tech was just left out, and it didnt take long for ford to realize the real sale potential for the platform was the explorer so it would seem ford left the taurus alone to slowly die. If they had let SVT take control of the SHO I think things wouldve been very different, special gauge lay outs, added tech, maybe bigger war whistles, theyre amazing cars but there was potential left on the table. imagine all the party tricks of a mustang in a practical sleek 4 door sleeper

 

[BradM]

You can easily add an oil pressure sender to an existing port found on the oil filter mount (I did it). There is an adapter which converts the opening to 1/8 NPT. See Setrab 22-M22NPT18. You just need to replace the o-ring with a thicker one (one from the Harbor Freight kit worked). Then just add a gauge/sender. I used Glowshift GS-W704. From my research, the Ford spec is minimum oil pressure 30 PSI @ 1,500 RPM with engine hot.

 

[javon7065]

the "dont care how it works as long as it works" mentality seems to be the direction they took with this platform, the lincoln variant was geared towards wealthy and older, the explorer and flex were geared towards busy parents, and the standard taurus was aimed at the elderly (for any who argue that look at the color pallet of choices) plus the PI cars needed to be cheap to build, so the tech was just left out, and it didnt take long for ford to realize the real sale potential for the platform was the explorer so it would seem ford left the taurus alone to slowly die. If they had let SVT take control of the SHO I think things wouldve been very different, special gauge lay outs, added tech, maybe bigger war whistles, theyre amazing cars but there was potential left on the table. imagine all the party tricks of a mustang in a practical sleek 4 door sleeper

I agree with you on this given the timeline of the death of the Big 3 sedan in the USA. Were many changes made from 2010 to 2019? I saw a review of a 2011 I believe and noticed that the dash looked to be all analog. If no big changes were made then you are correct that ford "left the taurus alone to die" I've seen some videos of people tuning these cars to get more HP which I would be interested in but I'd need a performance shop I guess to do that? I don't do any work myself.

 

[Junkyard_Mad-Scientist]

I agree with you on this given the timeline of the death of the Big 3 sedan in the USA. Were many changes made from 2010 to 2019? I saw a review of a 2011 I believe and noticed that the dash looked to be all analog. If no big changes were made then you are correct that ford "left the taurus alone to die" I've seen some videos of people tuning these cars to get more HP which I would be interested in but I'd need a performance shop I guess to do that? I don't do any work myself.

in 2013 they did a "facelift" changed the bumper, headlights, tail lights, rear bumper (I think) made some minor changes to the dash including the gauge cluster to go from 3 pods to one mainly digital unit. beyond that I think they added sync 3 to the mix in the later years, changed color options, minor stuff. i think from 2016 to the end theyre basically unchanged. they roped the focus and the fusion into the death sentence but those cars were still getting updates, fusion had the sport, focus had the rs and the st, the taurus was left behind long before the decision was made to **** all sedans.

as for a performance shop, there is a lot help here to find one, which ones to try, which ones to avoid, maybe even some in your area, I personally dont have much knowledge about shops or tuners for these cars, I was a big SCT fan but these cars take more than the stock tune or "box tune" options you get with your standard tuner. from what I've seen you will need a custom tune and supporting parts to start your horsepower journey, you can make reasonable power with a decent list of parts but I couldnt even begin with the price tag. all depends on how far you want to go and what youre willing to do to get there, the 400AWHP mark always sounded appealing to me but that takes a good bit more than a tune and a CAI to achieve. I'd search the threads and if you come up with nothing helpful for a shop in your area post a new thread to ask around.

 

[javon7065]

in 2013 they did a "facelift" changed the bumper, headlights, tail lights, rear bumper (I think) made some minor changes to the dash including the gauge cluster to go from 3 pods to one mainly digital unit. beyond that I think they added sync 3 to the mix in the later years, changed color options, minor stuff. i think from 2016 to the end theyre basically unchanged. they roped the focus and the fusion into the death sentence but those cars were still getting updates, fusion had the sport, focus had the rs and the st, the taurus was left behind long before the decision was made to **** all sedans.

as for a performance shop, there is a lot help here to find one, which ones to try, which ones to avoid, maybe even some in your area, I personally dont have much knowledge about shops or tuners for these cars, I was a big SCT fan but these cars take more than the stock tune or "box tune" options you get with your standard tuner. from what I've seen you will need a custom tune and supporting parts to start your horsepower journey, you can make reasonable power with a decent list of parts but I couldnt even begin with the price tag. all depends on how far you want to go and what youre willing to do to get there, the 400AWHP mark always sounded appealing to me but that takes a good bit more than a tune and a CAI to achieve. I'd search the threads and if you come up with nothing helpful for a shop in your area post a new thread to ask around.

Great Info, thank you. I need to see if there are any updates to the Sync2 that I have in this car. My other two cars have CarPlay and Sync looks so cluttered in comparison

 

[Texas Marauder]

Great Info, thank you. I need to see if there are any updates to the Sync2 that I have in this car. My other two cars have CarPlay and Sync looks so cluttered in comparison

Check here for SYNC updates:

https://www.ford.com/support/sync-maps-updates/

Don't be surprised if there are none or it directs you to a dealer to update.

 

[Ta2dResqr]

Check here for SYNC updates:

https://www.ford.com/support/sync-maps-updates/

Don't be surprised if there are none or it directs you to a dealer to update.

Or do a Sync 3 conversion. Completely different setup on screen. You can source all of the parts used or on Amazon for ~$250-300. Then you can use CyanLabs to update whenever an update comes out.

 

[javon7065]

Or do a Sync 3 conversion. Completely different setup on screen. You can source all of the parts used or on Amazon for ~$250-300. Then you can use CyanLabs to update whenever an update comes out.

Thanks for the info. I recently was pricing out that coversion and just the parts that I found were ~$1500. I wouldn't do the install so that additional $$$ Does the new screen you get for Sync3 as mushy as the one for Sync2? My DD is a 2024 Hyundai Kona and that screen feels like an iPhone screen which is quite nice.

 

[Majestic]

Look up Cory Cunningham on the Ford Flex FB group and he can sell you one of his kits. It’s an awesome upgrade, fairly easy to swap out and gives you apple car play. I think it's under $700 for everything. It's not difficult to install.

 

[Ta2dResqr]

Thanks for the info. I recently was pricing out that coversion and just the parts that I found were ~$1500. I wouldn't do the install so that additional $$$ Does the new screen you get for Sync3 as mushy as the one for Sync2? My DD is a 2024 Hyundai Kona and that screen feels like an iPhone screen which is quite nice.

~$1500 is insane. Most likely found a kit on a retail site. If you do research on the DIY, you can piece the parts together and there are how-to videos on YouTube. Other then a custom shop, I do not know anyone that would do the install. Especially if you don't use a kit. At $1500, it is not worth it. There is no telling how much longer there will be things like map updates because Sync 4 is out. If you are not going to piece the kit together. I would abandon Sync all together. I would look into a Maestro RR2 and a compatible radio of your choice. A custom stereo shop would be well versed in the Maestro RR2.