New sho ahd 5w20 oil

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shoftw

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I can't believe ford is recommending 5w20 oil for the new sho , seems to thin to me ( most if not all of gm's ss models use 5w30 Mobil 1 ). I was wondering if any new sho owners will go with what ford recommends or use thicker oil?
 

typhoon5000

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Ford has been recommendeding 5W-20 semi-synthetic oil on all of their gas motors since I think it was 2003 IIRC. Newer motors', especially the EcoBoost's, tolerances are so tight that 5W-20 is required. The EcoBoost is a very complex motor and needs proper lubraication, especially to the turbos. My 2003 Crown Vic even recommends 5W-20 and I've been running 5W-20 Motorcraft for sometime now, even with 130k+ miles, and it works great. :shrug:
 

zak

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More a nod to start up and cruise fuel economy than tight tolerances IMHO.
 

jedhead

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My Honda takes 5W-20. I've used Mobil One for 117K miles with the 10K oil change interval recommended in the owners manual with no problems. I will admit I was somewhat apprehensive using such thin oil in the car, but I had a 110K warranty on the engine.

Bob
 

nothingtoseehere

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More a nod to start up and cruise fuel economy than tight tolerances IMHO.

Yep

5w20 is recommended for my truck as well. I run it, no problem. If I start getting noisy cam phasers I'll switch to 5w30.
 

RonPorter

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Folks need to keep in mind that the low # determines the room temp (or cold engine) viscosity, so 5W-20 is the same as 5W-40 in that regard. And since most (if not all) engines in the last 20 years operate on high volume rather than high pressure, it should be OK.

At any rate, I personally go to 10w-30 oil once the vehicle is over 100K, be it one of the SHO, or my work truck.
 

Andrew Tilson

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Don't know about a ford for sure but the all of dodge hemi's that have mds will set a trouble code if you use the wrong oil, newish hyundai's with variable valve timing also. probably others as well. I would stick to the 5w20 it calls for
 

PonySHO

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This is an excerpt from an article on oil on the Boss 302 website. The article is quite lengthy, but here's the link if anyone is interested: http://www.boss302.com/oil.htm

Also, thicker is not better, no matter what your mechanic or engineer told you. 20W-50 has 40% more viscosity (resistance to flow) at operating temperature than 10W-30. This means that your engine has to work 40% harder just to move the oil around inside your engine. An engine with thick 'oil' produces significantly less power, uses more fuel, produces more emissions and runs hotter, all contributing to shorter engine life. A thinner oil can more easily and quickly be 'pumped-up' to the critical parts of the engine, takes less energy to move it around, helps the engine to produce more power, less emissions, better economy. And the engine will last longer too! This has been proven numerous times in test after test, by many different and highly respected testing facilities. Unfortunately, the rule that 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' prevents many 'experts' from accepting the facts. Indeed, when I was a kid, it was Castrol GTX 20W-50 in every car I had! In the years since, I have been working in the automotive lubrication industry, (15 years now) have been on the engineering boards of several major motor oil manufacturers I feel lucky that I was able to 'see the light'.
 
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