Oil and oil changes

[jwolsen]

My owners manual for my 99 continental calls for motorcraft 5w30 every 5000-7500 miles. I've been doing it every 3000 miles, am I wasting money? Thanks, Bill.

 

[bradyelich]

As long as you are still feeding the family and not going in the hole during these desperate times, you are not wasting money. Your engine is in great shape and giving you optimum performance because of it.

 

[brentalan]

You can put 5W-20 in it. Or even 0W-20. You'll get a bit better fuel mileage.

If you put a good 0W-20 synthetic with a high-quality filter you can go 7500.

Ford issued a service bulletin that says a 20 weight is prefferred.

 

[ground_zero298]

i use 5-20 every 3000-3500 also. Engine will last forever like that.
My 150 had 174k on it when i sold it, still ran like new, changed that one every 3000 also. I always use valvoline regular. Im not spending extra on syntetic, waste of money IMO.

If your calls for 5-30, i would stick with that.

 

[JiChan]

Brentalan,

Can you please give the TSB number for that reference? I've searched but have come up short. Thanks!

 

[LinkBro]

Go with whatever the manual says. Usually, if you don't put something ridiculous in there, you'll be okay.