How often do you service your AU engine?

[Sox]

Guys, as I already said, I'm not questioning the quality of the oil, I'm sure it's very good.
I'm just questioning the claims of substantial power increases over and above other good quality comparable oils.

BTW, most oils are track proven.

You know what they say about things which sound too good to be true...

[blueoval]

Very true Rick, and you have good reason to feel a bit skeptical, and I don't blame you for doing so.

At the end of the day its not going to cost me an arm and leg to try something different to see if the claims are true. That is the main reason I am going to give it a crack. Just to see for myself.

If I get a significant improvement based on what I experience, great! If not, I put it down to experience and move on. Simple as that.

[FreddyDUZ747]

Originally Posted by Sox

Guys, as I already said, I'm not questioning the quality of the oil, I'm sure it's very good.
I'm just questioning the claims of substantial power increases over and above other good quality comparable oils.

BTW, most oils are track proven.

You know what they say about things which sound too good to be true...

Sorry I meant DUZ747 track proven

I have cooked (4500km old) 10w40 ULX before after 1:00 quallify skid(750hp turbo,no oil cooler) I wont lie,I changed to 10w50 and no probs now blowing the bags and holding its quallity.

The 10w40 went in after not flushing out all the old GTX Ford spec oil so not sure if this contributed.

I also run another additive now but thats application related mainly and not street needed.

If I putted around all day id probably run a semi synthetic but due to her getting the cobwebs blown out alot a good mineral is needed uptop in these motors,im not killing another set of cams:,synthetic doesnt hang around the roller long enough at high rpm/heat

[webbiegareth]

I know you're all talking about "km" based service intervals, but what about time-based intervals?

My Commodore is driven a LOT, it gets full-synth 10W50 every 10,000kms which is roughly every 3-4 months. My girlfriend's AU Series 1 i6 is only driven to take the daughter to daycare, maybe to the shops every so often... After 6 months it's only been driven around 3,000km's.

I normally would service the car every 6 months, to play it safe (currently on semi-synth 5W40 oil, but will switch to full-synth 10W50 next service to keep the same oils between the two cars). Her car has done around 250,000km's - it needs a full new exhaust and new shocks, but the engine seems quite smooth.

But what IS the service interval time for a Ford AU? Every 6 months, or a year? (assuming you haven't reached the typical 10,000km mark).

[Sox]

Originally Posted by webbiegareth

I know you're all talking about "km" based service intervals, but what about time-based intervals?

My Commodore is driven a LOT, it gets full-synth 10W50 every 10,000kms which is roughly every 3-4 months. My girlfriend's AU Series 1 i6 is only driven to take the daughter to daycare, maybe to the shops every so often... After 6 months it's only been driven around 3,000km's.

I normally would service the car every 6 months, to play it safe (currently on semi-synth 5W40 oil, but will switch to full-synth 10W50 next service to keep the same oils between the two cars). Her car has done around 250,000km's - it needs a full new exhaust and new shocks, but the engine seems quite smooth.

But what IS the service interval time for a Ford AU? Every 6 months, or a year? (assuming you haven't reached the typical 10,000km mark).

My personal opinion on this, and it's not supported by anything other than my own logic, is time is no where near as big an issue as k's travelled.

When the engine is in use, the oil breaks down and gets contaminated.
When it sits there doing nothing, I can't see how it could break down in a time frame even as short as 1 year.
I can't even see why 2 years would be a problem.

If someone has anything solid against what I just said, I'd love to see it. Not something from an oil company either.

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by Sox

My personal opinion on this, and it's not supported by anything other than my own logic, is time is no where near as big an issue as k's travelled.

When the engine is in use, the oil breaks down and gets contaminated.
When it sits there doing nothing, I can't see how it could break down in a time frame even as short as 1 year.
I can't even see why 2 years would be a problem.

If someone has anything solid against what I just said, I'd love to see it. Not something from an oil company either.

I agree with you Rick. The only place I have seen a time interval being stated is in a car yard servicing arrangement.

Usually it's stated 'every xx,xxxkm or xx months, which ever comes first'.
And the reason they do this is make you come back to spend more money with them more often than is necessary or they void your warranty.

Personally speaking (and this is by no means gospel) if I was due a oil change after 12 months and the car had less than 5000km between intervals, it should in theory be still ok to keep that oil in it till the recommended km oil change period.

[Dave_Obsession]

Pretty sure factory recommended AU service intervals are 15,000km / 12 months...

Changed my oil on Friday night...had let it get out to just over 15,000kms since the last one changed from whatever had been put in by the mechanic at the last service...in went Fuchs Titan CFX 10w30...but first I flushed it out with some supermarket spec 20w50...even that came out really dark after flushing it for about 25 mins.

Noticed quite a resonable and instant difference with the new oil...

Will definitely be doing a full flush for the next few oil changes moving forward...will also be using some of the LiquiMoly Engine Detox stuff as well...keep going until the flushing oil comes out looking pretty much the same as it did going in I guess...

[dcburton78]

gday guys i have a 99 falcon wagon, it has 290,000klm, i change the oil every 10,000 using castrol magnatec,

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by webbiegareth

But what IS the service interval time for a Ford AU? Every 6 months, or a year? (assuming you haven't reached the typical 10,000km mark).

AU series one was every 10,000km with a recomended 5W-30 oil

AU II and AU III moved to 15,000km or 12 months with a recomended 10W -30 oil.

Sump capacity was raised from 5.0L to 5.5L for the increased interval as well.

[AU Mont]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Sump capacity was raised from 5.0L to 5.5L for the increased interval as well.

so the owners manual says, but a 5L bottle would always literally hit the full mark including oil filter in my old AUII VCT fairmont

[webbiegareth]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

AU series one was every 10,000km with a recomended 5W-30 oil

AU II and AU III moved to 15,000km or 12 months with a recomended 10W -30 oil.

Sump capacity was raised from 5.0L to 5.5L for the increased interval as well.

I've got the series 1.... the 5.0L capacity makes it easier as I only need to buy the one bottle (it doesn't seem to use any oil thankfully). For the series one, so it's every 10,000km's... but is it meant to be done every 6 or 12 months? From what people are saying it's safe to leave it in for 12 months anyway, and I'll definitely be holding off the oil change for a while as the oil still looks perfect (but after 3,000km's it should be!).

[rowan194]

Originally Posted by dave93761

but first I flushed it out with some supermarket spec 20w50...even that came out really dark after flushing it for about 25 mins.

What do you mean by flush? Putting in the 20W50 temporarily and giving the engine a good run, then putting in the good stuff... or something else?

[Dave_Obsession]

Originally Posted by rowan194

What do you mean by flush? Putting in the 20W50 temporarily and giving the engine a good run, then putting in the good stuff... or something else?

Yeah I drained the old oil, changed filter, put the supermarket stuff in with some flush additive, idled it for about 25 minutes raising the revs to about 2000 for about 5 seconds every 5 minutes...then drained everything, changed filter again and put the new oil in...

See here - http://fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11257526

[rowan194]

Still having problems with the lifters ticking (light tick - tick - tick of one lifter, not clattering) for an extended period, say 10 mins on and off worth of suburban driving when starting out from cold. I'm guessing the oil is a bit too thick when cold and doesn't really get into everywhere until the engine warms up.

Given that there are no oil leaks I think I'm going to go from the 15W-50 high kilometre stuff back down to 10W-40 Magnatec (which I usually use)... or maybe even something thinner like 5W-30 semi-synthetic or 10W-30 mineral?

[Maka]

So basically the ticking goes after its warmed up? the only thing i can think of is go to a faster flowing oil when cold like youve said but not too thick when hot eg: 5/10w 30 or 40 no higher.I think i read freddyduz747 saying he likes a minerel oil for his combo cause the oil dosent flow as fast back down to the sump as a synthetic, in other words the oil stays up top longer lubing the topend of ya motor for longer. Anyway if noise still persists after trying everything it might be off to the mechanics to inspect or replace your lifter/lifters. Good luck, hope you get it sorted asap.

cheers Maka

[blueoval]

rowan - that oil sounds a bit thick to me. I would consider using 10w40 stuff instead. Unless you are living in a hot climate there is not reason why you couldnt run a 10w40.

Freddy uses ULX110 mineral oil in his car and swears by it. But if you are currently using a synthetic oil, your engine needs to be flush with cheap mineral oil, ran for 15min idling only before putting in ULX110.

[AU Mont]

why dont you just replace the HLA's ala "lifters" ??

even just replacing the buggered one is 1/10th the price of a bottle of synthetic motor oil

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by AU Mont

why dont you just replace the HLA's ala "lifters" ??

even just replacing the buggered one is 1/10th the price of a bottle of synthetic motor oil

This is true, however it boils down to how handy the person is with a spanner to do the job. It's not a hard job but time consuming and fiddly.

[gregsAUII]

Motor just ticked over 196,000km and gets serviced every 5,000 with new oil 10W-30 Engine Armour and filter, every 10,000km i put a injector flush through a new tank of shell 98.
Ive had the gear box / diff serviced at 170,000 and still running smooth.
But then again i dont do to much crazy stuff with the AU.

[AU Mont]

Originally Posted by blueoval

This is true, however it boils down to how handy the person is with a spanner to do the job. It's not a hard job but time consuming and fiddly.

there's 3 pages talking about fixing noisy hla's with motor oil

when theyre buggered, theyre's not much else you can do to stop them ticking

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by AU Mont

there's 3 pages talking about fixing noisy hla's with motor oil

when theyre buggered, theyre's not much else you can do to stop them ticking

true. Although you have to try the easiest options first before tackling the harder ones.

[rowan194]

Originally Posted by AU Mont

why dont you just replace the HLA's ala "lifters" ??

even just replacing the buggered one is 1/10th the price of a bottle of synthetic motor oil

I had a quick glance at Gregory's and the whole process does look pretty fiddly, especially if you've never done it before. I guess you're not including time in your 1/10th valuation.

[Evgeni]

In terms of servicing, I am pretty shabby compared to the majority of posters on this thread. I have just hit 200000k's and have owned the car since 80000k's. I have only serviced it every 15000k's with Castrol 15-40w.
I recently did some work and changed the intake manifold gasket and re-torqued the exhaust manifold. I put some Gulf Western 10-30w in as I was going to flush it out after I finished the work on the sump, but what I have noticed is that the ticking noise from lifters has dropped. It is still there, but you really have to listen for it.

[rowan194]

The lifter is associated with the inlet and outlet valve moving up and down, right? Could an exhaust blockage place extra strain on it? I haven't got the $ to diagnose or fix that at the moment, wondering if maybe that's contributing to the lifter noise. It's gone from nice and smooth to sounding like an old crapheap in the past few months. :(

[robbyj]

with that whole ULX110 vid.. what happens if he replaces OLD ULX110 oil with NEW full synth. It could a case of the engine working better with new oil in it...

if it really is a 7kw power gain.. thats almost as cheap a mod as fluffy dice and chev badges

[FreddyDUZ747]

Unfortunately with marketing these days this kind of attempt at talking up ones product is all too common,I laugh at 99% of videos like these.Take them with a pinch of salt and either try the product and rate it or just stick with whats proven for yourself

Engine oil should be chosen by engine design/application imo amd this is the reason why I like to run ULX on the BA and other previous vehicles.The gear oil is also quality.

Its good at lubricating everywhere at low/high rpm,cleans engine well and holds up to the heat great for a 50 level oil....all the things my engine/turbo require.

[FS5]

Originally Posted by Sox

My personal opinion on this, and it's not supported by anything other than my own logic, is time is no where near as big an issue as k's travelled.

When the engine is in use, the oil breaks down and gets contaminated.
When it sits there doing nothing, I can't see how it could break down in a time frame even as short as 1 year.
I can't even see why 2 years would be a problem.

If someone has anything solid against what I just said, I'd love to see it. Not something from an oil company either.

hi mate,from what i've "been told" the only reason they put a time limit on servicing is that ,with short trips the oil dosen't get hot enough to burn out whatever toxins /things that get in there when its cold.its probably just some bs spool so the dealers can rake some cash out of someone.
but $50 will buy new oil and a filter + 1/2 hour of your time and the jobs done.
there was a thread on here years ago where some bloke was runnin different oils in his car and sending them away to get tested .i'l do a search it was good read!

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by FreddyDUZ747

Unfortunately with marketing these days this kind of attempt at talking up ones product is all too common,I laugh at 99% of videos like these.Take them with a pinch of salt and either try the product and rate it or just stick with whats proven for yourself

Engine oil should be chosen by engine design/application imo amd this is the reason why I like to run ULX on the BA and other previous vehicles.The gear oil is also quality.

Its good at lubricating everywhere at low/high rpm,cleans engine well and holds up to the heat great for a 50 level oil....all the things my engine/turbo require.

My diff oil is due for replacing. plan to use ulx110 for this. Have done similar and if so did u notice any improvement?

[Evgeni]

Ok - tried Gulf Western 10w-30. Great for lifter noise. After 3000km's can't hear a thing from the top of the engine.
But now there is a knock from the underside of the engine.
Ok when cold and the pressure is high, but rears its ugly head when the engine is up to temp.
Thinking I might try something like a 10w-40 or a 10w to 50.
Tried to do my bit for a small aussie company. Bought some extra bottles, which I will now use for flushing.
Anyone have any recommendations to quieten down the bottom half of the motor. Want to try something else than Castrol 15w-40.

Also, has anyone ever changed bearing shells from the bottom of the engine? Just for future reference if the knock gets worse. Figured this would be easier than putting a new motor in, if it can be done.

[Vincenzo]

Originally Posted by dcburton78

gday guys i have a 99 falcon wagon, it has 290,000klm, i change the oil every 10,000 using castrol magnatec,

S3 AU XR6 Sedan HP - 160 XXX - as above - still doable on a pension

Book recommends 15 XXX / 12 months


Cheers Vincenzo