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I have recently purchased a '52' Plate Mondeo 2.0 TDCi with 57k on the clock. I want to keep this car for a good few years so want to ensure I keep the engine in the best condition possible. I do about 15,000 miles per year. The service interval is 12,500 miles, but would you recommend an oil change between services? Would this make any real difference?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 16/01/2008 at 12:46
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I have had my 2002 TDCi from new, now on 125k miles, I have had it serviced around every 10 to 11k miles without changing the oil in between.
However the general recomendation would be to change as often as possible so yes, a change every 6000 or so would be worthwhile.
Make sure you or your service agent uses oil to the correct Ford spec.
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I've seen on various sites the Oil to use is 5w30. Are all brands of this spec of oil the same. Castrol Magnatec is about £10 dearer for 4 litres than Millers, does that make it better?
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>>Would this make any real difference?
Not really. As long as you meet or exceed the manufacturer's service requirements in terms of oil quality, and change frequency you'll be OK.
There are some exceptions - if you use the car in an unusual pattern, with lots of cold starts, then extra oil changes might make a difference but at 15,000 per year I suspect not. If you hope to break high mileage records, and keep the car until it's done 500,000 miles, then extra oil changes are something you might be able to justify to yourself.
10 - 11k sounds like a very sensible oil change interval to me - what does it say in the owner's manual?
Number_Cruncher
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>>Castrol Magnatec is about £10 dearer for 4 litres than Millers, does that make it better?
Not necessarily - as well as the viscosity, 5W30, look for the ACEA grade listed on the side of the oil container, and compare with the requirements which should be given in your owners manual. If you meet or exceed the ACEA requirement in your manual, that's OK.
Number_Cruncher
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I would have a good look at small independent oil companies and the specs their oils actually *meet*.
Customer loyalty is one thing but if a web site is showing a contemporary 5w40 fully synthetic not meeting ACEA B4, or very interesting wording around the VW PD specs, time to consider why.
`accordance` is one thing `meeting Volkswagen specs` is another, but do either of these seemingly rather general sounding terms mean `meets` the actual specific oil spec?
If *meets* is not the word written directly in front of the *specific* oil specification.......
Then there seems to be room for a coach and horses to be driven through regarding what the oil actually does meet.
Regards
Edited by oilrag on 16/01/2008 at 14:20
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Ford quote there own spec, MCCsomethingorother as do VAG with 501.XXX etc, BMW and MB likewise.
It is the car manufactuers spec that is most important. More so than ACEA4 being in theory better than ACEA3 or whatever.
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I guess you mean Millers being the small independent company given that there aren't really any others in the retail market. To my mind, they always seem quite unambiguous in their claims.
They explicitly state their PD specific oil is officially approved by VW, has full VW warranty protection, and meets 500.00, 505.00 and 505.01. To me that couldn't be much clearer.
Similarly, they claim official approval from Porsche and BMW among others on various other oil types. It would seem pretty suicidal from a commercial point of view to mislead people on claims like this. I would have also though such high profile manufacturers would have been pretty quick to step in if there were any doubts, given what's at stake in terms of reputation and reliability.
Cheers
DP
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Its difficult to find a fully synthetic 5w40 engine oil that does not meet ACEA B4
Regards
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Its difficult to find a fully synthetic 5w40 engine oil that does not meet ACEA B4
"difficult"?, or did you mean impossible?
I am confused. What was the point then of your earlier posting where you said "a web site is showing a contemporary 5w40 fully synthetic not meeting ACEA B4".
More to the point, is there ANY 5w40 fully synthetic that does not meet ACEA B4?
Edited by jbif on 17/01/2008 at 08:44
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"I am confused."
Apologies for that, to explain further, beyond the attempt at irony ;)
As you go about your normal life, calling at filling stations selling own brand oil, calling at Halfords and looking at all the Fully synthetic 5w40 oil they stock, including their own brand...
you find all 5w40 fully synthetic engine oil meets ACEA B4.
Even some of the semi-synthetics.
If however you do an internet search of small oil companies, you will find one that seemingly does not.
To me that`s "difficult to find" within the general context of the ease of which ACEA B4 can be found and purchased from the major players.
Regards
Edited by oilrag on 17/01/2008 at 09:33
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Not forgetting its nearly all the same oil in different cartons imagine if all the different makes and types had to refined seperately.
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Many base stocks are generic, most blending is bespoke.
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