For a person untrained in engineering & tribology: True.

Many people do not have the background to make reasonable engineering decisions regarding these things. No sweat. So they should buy the car and maintain it as Ford specifies. They’ll get about 100-150,000 miles out of it.

That’s what Ford wants so they can then sell another car to them. Again no sweat.

On the other hand, for a person with engineering training & experience, some reasonable changes can be made in order to lengthen the life of the car.

With regard to warranty claims, Ford won’t mind if you change oil when you get home from the dealers (as I did with my 01 Mustang & tried to do with the Escape). So long as you replace the oil with a good quality oil it’ll make no difference to Ford.

I believe that the benefits of a fully synthetic oil, and there are only a very few, far outweigh the cost to change oil & filter quickly on delivery.

My track record is:
1992 Suburban – 387,000 miles & shifted to Mobil One at ~5,000miles
2001 Mustang 4.6 L DOHC 258,000 miles & shifted to Mobil One at 8 miles
2006 FEH 57,000 miles & shifted to Mobil One at 78 miles

The engineering, design, and machining of engine internals and lubricants has progressed far beyond the days of the 5,000 mile breakin periods of the 60s & 70s. The stuff about glazing cylinder walls is out of that era.

I have no issue with someone who wants 100,000 or so miles out of their car and follows the ford recommendations. I am speaking from my experience and efforts to make cars last far longer than normal. I helped put three sons through college by doing virtually all of my work. So far my track record is clear.

Have you seen those Fidelis auto repair insurance TV commercials? They advertise an alternator repair as $825… I can get a lifetime alternator from NAPA for about $85 and put it in myself. Detension the serpentine belt (2 minutes), two bolts, one plug & one cable, and then retension the serpentine belt. Fifteen minutes plus time to get it from NAPA. That’s the shorter job.

Foolish? Hardly my friend. I find it amazing how much stuff from that era continues to show up in these websites… Once true, but like the internet and cell phones, the world has passed that stuff by.

Of course it won’t hurt to do that, there’s just better ways to do things for those who want to make their car last.

 

At AUTOZONE this week you can get 5 quarts of Mobil 1 ( any flavor ) and a Mobil 1 brand oil filter ( for any car ) for $29.99 package price.

This is a good deal folks.

The oil is normally $6.79 per quart and the filters are $5-$10 additional.

Never bought a Mobil 1 brand filter before, but it claims to "catch 99% of dirt" where most filters catch 94%. Whatever. It's at least as good as any other, and was better than Free.

BTW, sythetic oils don't wear out, they just get dirty. Looking into the "bypass" filters Bill has spoke of in the past. Truckers swear by them.... and go 100,000 miles per oil change or more. ( But they hold 6-10 gallons of oil too... )

I run 0w-20 year round. Ford told me that was OK for the 2005-2008 models.

 

Did you get a Mobil 1 brand oil filter for the FEH? My local Autozone said there is no Mobil 1 oil filter available for my '07 FEH.

 

Sorry. No, I didn't get the filter for the FEH.

But since you can mix any oil wt. and any filter, and I have a Honda and a Dodge too... I got the oil filter for the Honda in this case.

I figure most people out there will have a car other than the FEH. You can get the expensive oil at a discount for your FEH and get a filter for any other car just to get the package price.

HTH,
-John

P.S. Colorado Stores now carry 0w-20 Mobil 1. I used to have to go further north to get it.

 

Got it, thanks John.

I decided to try Castrol full synthetic 5w-20 this time as it was on sale at Autozone. They also had the FEH Motocraft oil filter so I bought that as well. I did mix 1/2 qt of Mobil 1 from the last oil change with the Castrol but don't see how that can be a problem.

BTW, I decided when changing the oil and filter yesterday that this is my last DIY oil change, just too messy. For a once a year change I'm going to pay a shop to do it.

 

I'm watching the "oil life" indicator and it dropped from 73% down to 60% over 1400 miles. Using that as an estimate puts it around 10000 miles. Most likely at 30% I will swap with amsoil 25,000 mile synthetic though and change that out every 15k.