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2002 FE Explorer, V8. Synthetic oil question.

Hi-

I've been changing my oil myself for about the last three oil changes and have been using a synthetic blend of 5w30 (Castrol something or rather).

I was told today by an auto parts store that Ford requires synthetic-only oil in this model and when the dealer changes your oil, air filter, etc that thats what they put in.

So I have two questions here.

#1)- Although the car is "supposed" to require synthetic oil only, does putting a blend in it lessen the life of the vehicle?

#2) Purely synthetic oil is $4-5 a quart around me. My car takes 6 quarts of oil. If my oil change is $20 at my dealer including both the oil and air filters, how can they possibly do this? I understand they must pay a lot less for the oil but *that* much?

Finally, on another thought-

How often should the air filter be changed and how hard is it for one to do it? Is it any harder than changing an oil filter?

Thanks!

Cheers,

-sd

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Reply to
Some Dude
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Ford specs 5W20 motor oil for these motors. I don't know of any full synthetic 5W20s on the market. Additionally, I have yet to see where Ford has spec'd any full synthetic motor oils - at least up to model year 2004. As always, your owners manual is your friend......

I just have to wonder where some of these parts wienies get their ideas from.......

Reply to
Jim Warman

Do you have the owners manual? What does it say about the type of oil to be used? The manual will also answer your question about the air filter change. Bill Funk Change "g" to "a"

Reply to
Big Bill

Yeah thats what I meant--5w20 (its on the oil cap, you really can't go wrong) :)

Sometimes I also wonder where these parts stores get their ideas from. I know they're low paid and typically clueless but it seems unfair to provide such innaccurate information, especially when you're there buying things from them.

oh well..

Thanks for the 411..

Cheers,

-sd

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Reply to
Some Dude

OK... FYI, if a customer insists on FULL synthetic oil, he gets 5W30....

Reply to
Jim Warman

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