Oil & Filter Change At 3000km Service.

[Redhawk]

Ford put a mineral based oil in at build for the XR6 Turbo, so stick to that for the first 15,000km at least.

[DavoWA]

Ford recommend a 15w/40 for this engine and it is definitely worth changing before the 15000km service, and worth holding off the synthetic until at least the 15000km change. I am a technical person with an oil company (I won't say which 'cause I'm not advertising) and I do know a little bit about the subject.

New engines are not able to be cleaned sufficiently to justify not changing the oil before 5000km, so it is just plain good common sense to do it. I will be changing to a synthetic at the 3000km mark, because if you have at least "tried" the right foot a bit, then you should have no problems with the rings not having already been bedded in. It is primarily for this reason that synthetics have had a bad name in new engines. I have also learned that this engine will not particularly like low viscosity oils. Stay with a 10w/40 or 15w/40 or higher. High cylinder pressures from boosted engines put a lot of load on big end bearings and the oil viscosity is the primary "protector" of the bearings and other things.

[Guest]

Silverhawk , I read a thread on here about oil additves from some uni study , said they are all crap , no good proof they work . Deep down I thought this might be the case . Even Ford say dont use any . Just like octane boost , Ive never found any to work. 15k and Ill go Mobil 1 I think.

[Redhawk]

Vik, as most car companies have deals with oil companies they will push these brands. I used to use Slick 50 up to my EL XR6. The personal experience was in my mates Toyota Land Cruiser, driving back from Walgett after a good few days pig shooting, the radiator had a small pin hole leak, needless to say the car ran hot!!!. By the time we got to Coonamble the heat haze from the bonnet was worse than the heat haze from the road (summer time). Car didn't miss a beat, let it cool down (counter lunch time )

Put some bars leak in once radiator was filled up, car didn't miss a beat back to Sydney, and no long term effects. This was back in early 80's (before it became politically incorrect to own sporting firearms) :D

But that said..I won't be putting Slick 50 in 'the Bird'

[Guest Mr Walker]

DavoWA - I'm confused! (or I'm reading your post wrong). You say hold off the synthetic before 15,000km then you say you will be changing to synthetic at 3000km - what gives?

I got my dealer to change the oil at 2900km stating that I wanted a mineral based 15w-40. I just found out they put in a semi-synthetic!!!! I was considering dropping this out, it's only been in for 4 days.

[HellionXR6T]

What do they fill the 'Barra 240-T' with, is it Castrol Magnatec? I think that's what they use up here (Brisbane).

Just wondering as I'm sure Ford (Byrne/Bryan Byrt......blah, blah) use Castrol Magnatec for anything that has wheels.

I'm dropping the oil in a couple of days for the second time (7,500kms). Thinking of going to synthetic either at 15,000 or 22,000kms.

[DavoWA]

Sorry guys, I made a typo. I will be putting the synthetic in at 3000kms. If the car has had a little bit of "exuberant" driving, there should be no problem with possible glazing of bores or excessive oil consumption. If the car has been "pussied" around, there is a good chance it will glaze the bores anyway, but I'd reckon that any XR6T wouldn't be bought to "*beep*" around with.

In respect of what oils Ford use in the factory, most manufacturers put out their supplies to tender and whoever wins the tender gets the deal for 1,2 or 3 years, depending on the manufacturer. Most of the factory oils would be mineral, except for some of the higher spec performance types. I'm not sure what goes in the XR6T engine at factory, but the auto trans and diffs have a synthetic in them. This is a different deal to the actual retail dealerships, as these guys go with whatever they think is the best commercial deal for them, provided the product that they select is an approved grade from the manufacturer. This means that even 2 nearby Ford dealers could be using different brands, but a number of the dealerships are now in "groups" and they may structure a deal for all their dealerships.

Just a quick note regarding additives, whilst there are some good individual cases showing evidence of additives having solved or prevented a problem, there are NO manufacturers (as opposed to dealerships)anywhere in the world who recommend the use of proprietary additives in addition to the original spec oils. The main reason for this is that there can be no product performance guarantee from the oil manufacturer as there is no way of knowing how the additives may interact with the original oils. It costs lubricant manufacturers approximately USD$350000 to pass ONE oil type through the API system. The API is the American Petroleum Institute, and it is they who dictate the performance requirements of oils, mostly after a serious amount of input from a number of auto manufacturers. The API rating can be found on any literature from the oil manufacturer. This will likely be something along the lines of API SJ/CF or SL/CF. In addtion to that, there is also a bunch of European specs which can influence the performance specs of oils. These are the ACEA specs, and a good ACEA A2/B2 or (better) A3/B3 is the go for the XR6T.

Hope I haven't bored too many people.

[Redhawk]

Spoke to Ford Customer Service and the guy said definately mineral oil in XR6 Turbo.

DavoWA, not boring at all, hope to see you in Mandurah one day, what colour 'T' should I be looking out for B)

[Cashie]

Had my 3000km "service" yesterday and requested the oil and filter were changed at the same time.

Also had the pollen filter installed.

Noticed a sign at the Westpoint Ford Service desk stating "Rotors are only covered under warranty until 50,000kms", I was a bit surprised to see that. If mine go after 50,000 kms and before the factory warranty expires I'd be arcing up at the service guys!

[Guest]

DavoWA I thihk you just saved a lot of people a lot of money. I remember as a kid you had to pour Red X down your carby, make a big cloud of smoke , and bang your bomb was a real goer,,, except it was the same pile of sh!t you started with. The placebo effect !