Just so you Ford guys know.....

If you can't find the Motorcraft 5w20 anywhere, you can use the regular old 5w20 Pennzoil in the yellow bottle...

Believe it or not, the Pennzoil 5w20 is a synthetic blend just like the Motorcraft 5w20, even though the bottle does not indicate so. I ran into a guy who works for Quakerstate/Pennzoil and he said that any 5w20 that meets Ford requirements is at least a 33.3% synthetic blended oil just like Motorcraft. All the base anti-wear and viscosity resistors are synthetic like Ford requires.

They do not advertise it on the bottle because they don't want to give up sales on their other synthetic blends that cost more, but only contain up to 40% synthetic blend.

He gave me a list that shows all the synthetic blends and the ratios of the blends. Kinda neat stuff.....

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'05 Zuki z400
'06 Raptor 350 (wife's)
'00 Honda Rancher 350 4x4

It is clear that the car manufacturers switched to thinner oils, only after being forced by the government to meet arbitrary fuel efficiency (CAFE) standards. This has all been done at the expense of engine protection and longevity!

Good article on the pros and cons of running "thin" oils:

http://www.machinerylubricatio...0Economy%20vs.%20Wear

Seeing we are doing product commercials here....my advice is that if you insist on believing Ford and running 5W20, that you use Red Line ester synthetic. Not only is it API SG/SL/SM (SG is almost impossible to find these days...except in motorcycle oils!), so that means it has a great additive package to protect high pressure areas like the cam. Also Redline has very high film strength. A typical Red Line oil has the film strength of the next higher weight of oil. In other words, even though you are running 20 weight, you are getting the protection of a 30 weight.....

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Southern California Deserts and Mountains....

Desert: 450R, 400EX
Technical Trail: Rancher 420 and 350 4X4's
Kids: Two 250EX's and TRX90
Dual-Sport Bikes: KLX250S and XT225

Past rides: 300EX, 2wd Rancher 350, Recon, TRX90, Z400, LT160, LT80, Warrior, Blaster, CRF230F

Well the oils are getting thinner and thinner all the time..... now Ford is using ZERO weight oils in some of the new cars.....

I used to buy into all that "thicker is better" stuff too.... but going on REAL WORLD results and not controlled data, it is not making a difference in scale.

I see plenty of 5.4 and 4.6 liter Ford engine that have been running on 5w20 for 300K with no breakdowns or engine problems at all.... Several of the local police forces are using 5w20 in their Ford cars, and have been since around 2000. We used to see tons of them in the shop for non engine repairs with well over 200K of VERY hard use.....

So really, what is the danger of following what Ford is recommending?

From the data I've seen it is better to use a synthetic blend at 5w20 then it is to use a 80-90% crude based 5w30. So again, at what point are you shooting yourself in the foot?

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'05 Zuki z400
'06 Raptor 350 (wife's)
'00 Honda Rancher 350 4x4

P.S.

Don't forget it was none other than Honda (not ford) that started the march to semi-synthetic 5w20 oils. If you don't trust Ford, you don't trust Honda...... being a Honda guy I doubt that is true in your case .....

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'05 Zuki z400
'06 Raptor 350 (wife's)
'00 Honda Rancher 350 4x4