Rant: no more jiffy lube / penzoil for me...

[The Stigenator]

I had penzoil put in by jiffy lube the last time i did an oil change on the focus. This was 2500 miles ago. Ofcourse my mechanic while doing the 60K service put in valvoline.

For that 2500 miles on penzoil (2nd time i ever put that crap in) the car ran like crap & sh*t. I mean i didnt see more than 270 miles to a full tank of gas(reserve). Today on my drive down to LA from Sacramento, I hit reserve at 350miles. This was with teh aircond going on and off periodically as needed.

Some how penzoil seems to make my engine run really rough when started and then after teh engine is warm it still runs like crap. With valvoline it seems to run so much better. Power is so much more available and i can seem to actually feel the engine run smoother.

THe last time i ran Penzoil was in June of last year, and i changed it out within 1500 miles. This time i got to 2500. I usually do 5000 mile oil changes.. god had i kept going for 5000 mile oil changes it might have ended up doing more harm to my engine.

I also noticed the car runs cooler with things other than penzoil. At warmed up engine (proper operational temp) the water/coolant temp sits a tad bit on the right of center. With every other oil I have used (mobil 1, valvoline, motorcraft etc) it sits on the left of center. It seems penzoil makes the car run a tad bit hotter, dont know why. Today it came down all the way with the temp a tad bit to the left of center.

I think the only thing penzoil is good for is when you rebuild an engine and use it as break in oil.

oh well that's my rant for this evening..

TGG

 

[tranceport]

they prolly used crisco.....

 

[Colt45]

smoke another rock

 

[Shockwave]

Penzoil sucks. Ever since they mislabelled some oil a LONG time ago and caused some engines failures I've said piss off to Penzoil. I flat out refuse to use it, and if a shop only has it I go elsewhere

 

[TechnoKid]

BITOG

penzoil has asctually shown good results on used oil analysis. Perhaps you had the wrong grade put in by the jiffy place. Valvoline has show ok results. The best results out of conventional dino oils has been from chevron/havoline, and castrol gtx.

As for the 5w20 oil that i think your focus takes, Motorcraft 5w20 has shown great results, as well as castrol gtx. I would take the motorcraft or castrol over the vavoline. Motorcraft is availible at your local walmart, as well as castrol gtx. Walmart is carrying less and less of chevron/havoline.

With mostly freeway miles, you should be ok with 5k dino oil change intervals. With a used oil analysis, you may be able to stretch it longer. Of course, if you use sythetic, you could make the interval even longer.

Perhaps the 60k tune-up/maintenence had something to do with fixing the roughness?

 

[masterxfob]

both my friend (ex-head mechanic at an acura dealership) and i swear by valvoline , i've got boxes of it lying around the garage

as for penzoil, i'm not sure if they make their own oil or they 'rebadge' it with another brand. anyhow, i don't think it was the oil so much as the filter they used. those type of places are notorious for using the cheapest, crappiest filters available.

 

[The Stigenator]

nah the mechanic didnt have to do much.. the biggest thing he did was the oil change.. rest of it was just visual checking of stuff.

that should be another rant.. ford wanted 400 bucks for the 60K oil change, this guy charged me around 60. Most of it was checking and visually making sure everything is to spec. The only thing he didnt do was an fuel filter change but that was because i told him not to. He even checked my AC to make sure it was running fine..
I like honest mechanics.

Actually I was told to run 5K on dino from ford until i hit 100K and then 3K oil changes. My car takes 5W30 not 5W20. Ford did change the specs for it for the later models. I can run 5W20 but i run 5W30 as for what came with my car's manual. When it goes to the dealer they put 5W30 and i asked them about it, and my local dealer (galpin ford) said for older focuses they still put 5W30, only teh 2002 and above they put 5W20.

JiffyLube did put 5W30, so its not an oil weight issue. However from the seat of my pants and the fact that gas mileage has gone up, the used oil analysis doesnt do jack. Try paying $2.11 for a gallon of regular gas and then you will realise that every extra mile you get out of a gallon actually makes a big difference on your pocket books.

I use Castrol GTX 10W40 for my motorcycle and so far I like it. Castrol i know is a very good oil. I know the motorcraft stuff is also good. I havent tried halvoline, but i may later on. I like Mobil 1 but its expensive to get an oil change with that. And since i dont do my own oil change, i havent put mobil 1 in a while. THe standard Mobil/Exxon dino oil is worse than the Castrol stuff (going by the vibrations on my bike). Castrol seems to take a better load at higher rpms.

 

[TechnoKid]

Valvoline isn't a bad oil, its just that it hasn't shown great UOAs compared to gtx or chevron. Also, valvoline shears down (viscosity goes down) more so than chevron and gtx, and valvoline has a lesser additive package than chevron or gtx.

One oil I would hesitate to use is mobil's drive clean dino oil/exxon superflo. It's uoa on average has not been shown to be that great compared to chevron or gtx.

 

[Shockwave]

LOL! Good guy you dumbass. Do you know what they DO on a 60K checkup? I'm taking my Expedition in to Pep Boys or some place like that for my 60K. Runs me almost 400 bucks. They do EVERYTHING. Oils, coolants, filters, lubes, hoses, spark plugs, PVC valves, etc etc
The 60K checkup isnt just a simple "Well I tellyuh, I pooped dat der hood an she looks good boss!"

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: The_good_guy

The only thing he didnt do was an fuel filter change but that was because i told him not to.

Why no fuel filter? at 60k miles, that's about the right time to do so. Think about how much gas you engine has used in 60k miles.

Oh and yeah california gas prices are killer. I drive my father's car to and from school, its an audi A6 and takes premium, which is currently at $2.19 a gallon in Manteca.

 

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by: TechnoKid

Originally posted by: The_good_guy

The only thing he didnt do was an fuel filter change but that was because i told him not to.

q]

Why no fuel filter? at 60k miles, that's about the right time to do so. Think about how much gas you engine has used in 60k miles.

Oh and yeah california gas prices are killer. I drive my father's car to and from school, its an audi A6 and takes premium, which is currently at $2.19 a gallon in Manteca.

Amazing job of qouting...

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: Shockwave

Originally posted by: TechnoKid

Originally posted by: The_good_guy

The only thing he didnt do was an fuel filter change but that was because i told him not to.

q]

Why no fuel filter? at 60k miles, that's about the right time to do so. Think about how much gas you engine has used in 60k miles.

Oh and yeah california gas prices are killer. I drive my father's car to and from school, its an audi A6 and takes premium, which is currently at $2.19 a gallon in Manteca.

Amazing job of qouting...

you too

 

[The Stigenator]

actually i got the list of stuff to be done for the 60K service, both from ford's website and from quixfire.

There is no PCV valve change on mine at this stage, just check that it works. The spark plugs arent to be changed until 100K. The coolant is still green (it was done at 30K or something past that). The battery is fine. THe air cleaner element for the engine is a K&N. As for lubing, there is not much you can lube. Most of the bearings are sealed, if you have to lube them you got to take them off to lube them which means rebuild. My tranny is sealed, and so is my diffrential. If you want to replace them you got to rebuild it. The steering system and half shafts were lubed, but it still was just a squirt or two. Nothing major. The wheel lug nuts and stuff were checked and it was checked for noise. He checked my brakes, and its fine. He cleaned out the brake dust. He didnt rotate my tires causei had more tread up front than back, it was no use putting the lesser tread tires out front. He did mention i need new tires in about 10-15K or so. The rear is wearing fast (must have been from that towing i did). He also mentioned when i do my brakes i need new rotors. The rotors cant be resurfaced, and they got grooves on them a bit so on braking i got a slight shimmy. Otherwise the brakes are fine. My timing belt is fine, i dont need to replace it until 120K.

My fuel filter wasnt changed because 1). there was plenty of fuel pressure (it was easier for him to check that than pull the fuel filter). 2) the fuel filter is behind the fuel tank but above it. Which means you got to drop teh fuel tank to get to it. Labor about an hr or more. He will replace it at 90K or when needed. In anycase I got ford's recall notice for the fuel pump/filter issue. So if i need to take it in, i will let ford fix it once for all. Also my fuel filter was changed at 25K by ford when they did the original fuel pump related issue.

So technically teh amount of work he did was much lesser than what ford claimed it to be. I mean some of the stuff that ford recommends doing does not refer to my car (auto tranny fluid flush - mine's a manual). And the lubing of bearings cant be done, its sealed. Even so he did more than what was needed for 60K. He checked my AC for pressure and he checked if it was running alright. He also checked my suspension linkage (because i recently towed). He checked my gear box for an issue i was having. He said its not needed to fix, however he will get the part later on (its one of those parts that is hard to get hold of) and replace it later for me. Frankly he is right of the gearbox running fine, i just was nitpicking about the gearbox. Its just an adjustment he has to make. he will do it later for me.

I made sure i knew what was going into my 60K service, and frankly i rather pay 60 something or even 150 bucks for something that gets done by someone who knows what he is doing than getting pepboys to do something that is not needed.

 

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by: TechnoKid

Originally posted by: Shockwave

Originally posted by: TechnoKid

Originally posted by: The_good_guy

The only thing he didnt do was an fuel filter change but that was because i told him not to.

q]

Why no fuel filter? at 60k miles, that's about the right time to do so. Think about how much gas you engine has used in 60k miles.

Oh and yeah california gas prices are killer. I drive my father's car to and from school, its an audi A6 and takes premium, which is currently at $2.19 a gallon in Manteca.

Amazing job of qouting...

No, MY qoute is what his looked like before he edited his. Check his post... he edited...Check mine, no edit...
Me > j00!!!
you too

 

[TechnoKid]

As for the K&N filter, that could possibly be a problem. The K&N does not filter as well as a conventional filter does, and therefore, lets more dirt into you engine and into your oil. It's a tradeoff; more airflow and less fitlering or more fitering and less airflow. I don't know if the focus' have MAFs but if the K&N filter is improperly oiled, the excess oil can dirty up the MAF sensor and cause you engine to run crappy.

Although not ford related, GM has already issued a service buletin to deny fixes under warranty for damaged supposedly caused by excessively oiled K&N-type filters, Corporate Bulletin Number 04-07-30-013.

Often times your timing belt will last to the specified "120k" mark or whatnot of todays average car, but your waterpump can go sooner than that. At 90k an above, I'd be a little more careful with the engine if the waterpump or timing belt hadn't been changed by then.

The fwd focus with a manual tranny has a replaceable fluid, does it not? Oh, lifetime fluid doesn't mean lifetime, maybe the lifetime of the tranny.

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: Shockwave

Originally posted by: TechnoKid

Originally posted by: Shockwave

Originally posted by: TechnoKid

Originally posted by: The_good_guy

The only thing he didnt do was an fuel filter change but that was because i told him not to.

q]

Why no fuel filter? at 60k miles, that's about the right time to do so. Think about how much gas you engine has used in 60k miles.

Oh and yeah california gas prices are killer. I drive my father's car to and from school, its an audi A6 and takes premium, which is currently at $2.19 a gallon in Manteca.

Amazing job of qouting...

No, MY qoute is what his looked like before he edited his. Check his post... he edited...Check mine, no edit...
Me > j00!!!
you too

my reply is aligned with the left side is what i was trying to point out. And yes i did edit it, but i did so at the same time you posted the quote of my non edit.

 

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by: TechnoKid

Originally posted by: Shockwave

Originally posted by: TechnoKid

Originally posted by: Shockwave

Originally posted by: TechnoKid

Originally posted by: The_good_guy

The only thing he didnt do was an fuel filter change but that was because i told him not to.

q]

Why no fuel filter? at 60k miles, that's about the right time to do so. Think about how much gas you engine has used in 60k miles.

Oh and yeah california gas prices are killer. I drive my father's car to and from school, its an audi A6 and takes premium, which is currently at $2.19 a gallon in Manteca.

Amazing job of qouting...

No, MY qoute is what his looked like before he edited his. Check his post... he edited...Check mine, no edit...
Me > j00!!!
you too

my reply is aligned with the left side is what i was trying to point out. And yes i did edit it, but i did so at the same time you posted the quote of my non edit.

Oh God now I'm confused....

 

[The Stigenator]

actually like i said "its a sealed system".. you cant change the oil until you strip the thinge apart to rebuild it. Maybe lifetime of the tranny, but under an more experienced driver that tranny can last for ages and wont need a rebuild.

As for teh K&N execess oiling I am still on the factory oiling.. i got a while. As for the increased particles.. you cant really prevent spores and stuff, they go thru even on the paper filter. I had my concerns with the K&N when i first put it in, but it definately runs a lot more powerful than before. A good airfilter is to prevent the harmful stuff from going in. YOu cant prevent everything from going in, otherwise air wont flow and you will run lean (on a carb system - or on a EFI you will run lower powered). As for the MAF, it so far does not have crud on it (i checked it a while back). When the time comes I will put in a new K&N filter rather than reoil (if i do not feel that confident in reoiling).

As for the timing belt, it says 120K. I will probably replace it at 100K with everything else. The water pump will blow when it has to go.. there is nothign you can do about it. YOu can replace it as a precaution, but i have known cars with water pumps that are yet to blow and they have over 150K. So it really depends. I have blown two water pumps on my previous car with 25K in between them. So it really depends. You can do an coolant change and hope the coolant's lubricant thinge will keep the water pump running forever, but frankly if it has to fail it will.

 

[Shockwave]

Good Guy....Ok, I took your post to mean you just took it to Tom down on the corner. Seems you did your homework on what needs to be done :beer:

 

[TechnoKid]

If you were to do a used oil analysis with both the regular filter and K&N, you'd see higher silicon levels in the interval with the K&N filter than with the regular filter. Silicons are an idication of how much solid particles (dirt) are getting past the air filter; in terms of engine wear, the lower the silicon the better.