5-20w. oil...You've got to be kidding!!

My wife has a 03 Mustang coupe w/ the v-6 motor. The owners manual calls for a 5-20 w. oil. This is only available from the dealer at an exorbitant price. I asked him what would happen if I used a good 10w-30 oil instead & he said you'd probably blow all the seals out of the motor. Was he just lying to me or has any one else used the cheaper oil w/ no ill effects?

Paul

He does not know what he's saying. Seals are not affected by oil pressure, generally.
The thinner oil is recommended primarity as a means to increase fuel economy. Thinner oil takes less energy to pump.
Try 5W 30, instead of 10W30. However, the 5W 20 may still be a good idea if you have cold winters.

Nice new seals like that could probably handle SAE 60 (although your performance would suffer). Nissan calls for special 7.5W30 in the Skyline GT-R, but nobody follows that either. If you want to retain your good mileage, get a decent synthetic and be done with it. The dealer just wants you to depend on him. They make money on the oil and a "nominal fee" for changing it for you. Put that cash to better use and pick up some Amsoil (http://www.amsoil.com) 0W30. If you want good mileage, this is the ultimate. You can go for one of the slightly cheaper synthetics, as well. The point is, don't let those nazis push you around. You're too smart for that.

Of course don't forget that if you use anything other than the recommended 5W-20 oil you may void your warantee if they find out.

I can't believe there isn't a 5W-20 oil out there that's reasonably priced...

So you want the best motor oil money can buy and as well as the best motor oil known to man? You need Royal Purple. Royal Purple is a super fine synthetic oil that exceeds any synthetic oil on the market.

For your Mustang I recommend that you check the owner's manual and see what kind of oil it takes. Once you know what weight of oil it takes this is what you do next:

Go here and find the nearest dealer for this motor oil
http://www.royalpurple.com/dealers/dealers.html

Once you do that you can find directions to this dealer by going here:
http://www.mapquest.com

They sell for about $4 bucks a quart and since your Mustang is a V6 it will probably take at least 6 bottles of Royal Purple synthethic. Now just take it to a Jiffy Lube and tell them you have your own oil and they will give you a $20 discount and you only pay $29.95.

Tell them you want to completely change the oil on your Mustang and fire it up.

So what you should do paul is buy 6 Quarts of 5W-20 Royal Purple Synthethic Oil. This oil is top grade and is better and of course SUPERIOR to Mobil One, Valvoline, Pennzoil, and any other motorl oil on the market.

I pulled up to a jiffy lube once and showed the guy the oil I had and he said. "Hey where did you get this stuff?"

I said "It's Royal Purple, I got it from this store that sold it"

He said, "Yeah this is really really good stuff. It's better than all the other motor oils we have here"

I said, "Oh really?"

He said, "Yup it's better than Pennzoil, Mobil One and pretty much anything"

I said, "Yeah I know man, I research everything before I buy"

And I did research before I bought the oil. There is a video on Royal Purple that shows you a dyno on how the car runs comparing it to other motor oils and it showed a 5 HP gain on an LS1 Camaro. It lubricated the engine so well it ran better.

If it's good for a Camaro it's good for my car.

My wife has a 03 Mustang coupe w/ the v-6 motor. The owners manual calls for a 5-20 w. oil. This is only available from the dealer at an exorbitant price. I asked him what would happen if I used a good 10w-30 oil instead & he said you'd probably blow all the seals out of the motor. Was he just lying to me or has any one else used the cheaper oil w/ no ill effects?

Paul

walmart sells 5-20 motorcrap oil (and they do not own refineries or wells)

they also at times sell pennz in 5-20

u can also get M1 0-30 which will work just as well.

update: walmart sells 5-20 from pennz, motorcraft, castrol, they sell 0-30 M1 so takes your pick.

the price was not bad, under $1.50/qt for non syn

While Royal Purple may be superior to Mobil 1 synthetic oil, the difference between Royal Purple and Mobil 1 is much less than Mobil 1 and petroleum based products. If he is just trying to avoid buying expensive petroleum based oil from the dealer for his wifes car which probably doesn't get flogged that often, then the additional cost of Royal Purple probably isn't justified. It costs considerably more than Mobil 1, from what I've seen, as 5 quarts of Mobil 1 is ~$20 versus ~$35 for Royal Purple. No doubt important for very high performance engines, but for most vehicles, Mobil 1 will provide more than enough protection when changed at regular intervales. Heck, good petroleum oils will be more than enough when changed at regular intervals.

I'd recommend either 5W-20 or if you can't find it, 5W-30 synthetic oil and change it about every 5k miles if it is being driven under "normal" conditions. Or, if you want to go the petroleum based route, use the same weights as the synthetic, just change it every 3-4k.

While Royal Purple may be superior to Mobil 1 synthetic oil, the difference between Royal Purple and Mobil 1 is much less than Mobil 1 and petroleum based products. If he is just trying to avoid buying expensive petroleum based oil from the dealer for his wifes car which probably doesn't get flogged that often, then the additional cost of Royal Purple probably isn't justified. It costs considerably more than Mobil 1, from what I've seen, as 5 quarts of Mobil 1 is ~$20 versus ~$35 for Royal Purple. No doubt important for very high performance engines, but for most vehicles, Mobil 1 will provide more than enough protection when changed at regular intervales. Heck, good petroleum oils will be more than enough when changed at regular intervals.

I'd recommend either 5W-20 or if you can't find it, 5W-30 synthetic oil and change it about every 5k miles if it is being driven under "normal" conditions. Or, if you want to go the petroleum based route, use the same weights as the synthetic, just change it every 3-4k.
The results I've seen have rather indicated that Mobil 1 is the better oil of those two oils.


My wife has a 03 Mustang coupe w/ the v-6 motor. The owners manual calls for a 5-20 w. oil. This is only available from the dealer at an exorbitant price. I asked him what would happen if I used a good 10w-30 oil instead & he said you'd probably blow all the seals out of the motor. Was he just lying to me or has any one else used the cheaper oil w/ no ill effects?

Paul

Personally I would recommend a high quiality synthetic oil of a known brand which have passed all the test norms which the manufacturer of the car specifies. For normal driving this oil should not need changing for 600-1200 miles. Today some car manufacturers even have intervals over 1800 miles.

If the car is driven much with a low oil temp or with a high oil temperature cut the interval in half. For extra safety or if the car is driven where it's dusty replace the oil filter between the oil changes.

And a final recommendation, don't try to save money on a cheap oil filter. If you fit a filter of low quility it may reduce oil flow giving oil pressure problems as well as it may not filter out smaller particles. A filter can also "blow" which means that oil will go through the filter without being filtered and the particles trapped in the filter can get out in the engine, this without any warning signs.

Originally Posted by SaabJohan:

Personally I would recommend a high quiality synthetic oil of a known brand which have passed all the test norms which the manufacturer of the car specifies. For normal driving this oil should not need changing for 600-1200 miles. Today some car manufacturers even have intervals over 1800 miles.


Do you mean 6000-12000 ? Changing your oil every 600-1200 miles is ridiculous in a street car. Most cars have at least a 3000 mile change interval. Many have a 6000-7500 mile Long trip change interval as well.

Originally Posted by SaabJohan:

Personally I would recommend a high quiality synthetic oil of a known brand which have passed all the test norms which the manufacturer of the car specifies. For normal driving this oil should not need changing for 600-1200 miles. Today some car manufacturers even have intervals over 1800 miles.


Do you mean 6000-12000 ? Changing your oil every 600-1200 miles is ridiculous in a street car. Most cars have at least a 3000 mile change interval. Many have a 6000-7500 mile Long trip change interval as well.

he suffers from 'factor-of-ten-ism', makes him a pleasure to pay wages to, but a bear to get driving distance estimates from ;-)

Hehe, apparently so.

Add a zero to the number an you will have the correct numbers.

Where I live the intervals are given in km or 10 km, so it can be easy to forget a zero when you convert the numbers.

Mobil 1 > Royal Purple. Lower friction, better detergent. It's really great if you can find the 5 quart bottles on sale at Wal-Mart (which happens from time to time).

BTW, the Amsoil 0W-30 I'm running now is API certified and recommended drain interval is 1 year or 35,000 miles, whichever comes first. Kinda blows the "every 3000 miles" bit out of the water, doesn't it?

Yeah, thats where I get my Mobil 1, from Wal-mart in those 5 quart bottles for like 19.99 or something. I've not found it any cheaper around here.

just remember, although amsoil recommends extended drain intervals, there is a catch. somewhere in the middle of those intervals, you have to change the filter. And, if you choose to run the oil that long, sampling and analysis is a good idea too.

he suffers from 'factor-of-ten-ism'

Good one....:rofl: