Today I changed the oil and filter on my FEHL for the first time. I've made all the oil changes on my '05 FEH and found the '09 holds 5qts and the '05 holds 4 1/2 qts. Just before adding the new 5-20W Mobil 1, I thought I'd better check the owner manual just in case there was a change. This makes it easy because I buy the 5qt container and now won't need to remove 1/2 qt before adding. The filter is the same and you need a 6mm allan wrench to remove the filter drain plug. I use a set of steel picks from Sears to remove and install the 2 O-rings and oil them after I put the new ones on. The oil pan drain plug still takes a 13mm wrench and all access to the filter and drains are easy to get to like prior models.

I have a set of standard steel ramps and the front spoiler got a small nick as it scraped driving up the ramps. You have to look real close to see it but I'll put a little grease there the next time.

I have just under 8,000 miles and when I reset the oil life it said I had 21% of oil life left. The old oil still looked fairly clean but it was most likely the Motorcraft blend oil. It will be interesting to see if my mileage increases with Mobil 1. My last 5 tanks averaged 51.6mpg in about 3,500 miles.

GaryG

 

It appears the oil change to Mobil 1 5-20W has lowered my MPG. I'm wondering if the Motorcraft Dino blend is better for MPG than the full synthetic oil. Could it be the synthetic oil has to break-in First?

At any rate I need to fill-up today and start a new tank again which should give me another look at my MPG. We've also seen a warming trend to ~80F the past few days that may be causing the drop in MPG. I'll need to watch for condensation from the battery A/C when I park.

GaryG

 

Keep us informed Gary,

The wife is just under 11k on the 09 and she had her 1st oil change done at 10k.
We had it changed at the local dealer. This dealer does not stock bulk oil, so they pour the motocraft blend in from the orange quart containers.
We saw no noticeable change in fuel economy, she averages 41, all city, no highway. She doesn't know what the word hypermiler means, she just drives the thing.

BTW, don't forget to rotate your tires if you haven't already for even wear.

 

In my experience on non-hybrids Mobil One will increase fuel mileage a few percent. It is "slippery-er" than dino oil.

It reduces wear in two ways: first it adheres to things like cylinder walls longer so the dry start wear is reduced, and second it just reduces the amount of wear products floating around in the oil (which translates to less power needed to run the engine along with longer engine life).

My experience: A 92 Suburban was put on Mobil One at about 5k miles. It is now at 374k and still gets 17 mpg at 60-65 and 15.x mpg at 75 on the interstates along with about 5-6k per quart.

 

Bill, I don't disagree as far as the wear issue but you've got to understand that after the oil change I did not expect a reduction in mileage. Today in fact I got up early for a colder commute to see if my mileage went back to normal (56mpg) for me. No luck, 52.6mpg was all I could squeeze out of her. I'm to the point of draining the Mobil 1 5-20W and replacing it with Motorcraft blend to get to the bottom of this change in mileage. This is a 5.8% reduction in mileage ( around 3mpg) for me and a 2mpg reduction for those that average 35mpg. Any other suggestions?

GaryG

 

Gary: Make certain that you don't somehow accidently have a little too much oil in the truck. That would cause the lower mileage you are seeing in a heartbeat. As long as the viscosity indexes are the same, mileage shouldn't be affected.

 

Sounds like a good test to me Gary, I am very interested in the results.
Maybe you could also save the mobil 1 and use it later in your 05?

 

Mark, I'm sure I didn't overfill the oil and put in exactly 5 Qts. Some hypermilers use a little less oil than the manual states to improve mileage but I don't do that either.

There may be a slim chance Ford is using a special thin oil for break-in but I've never heard of that before.

Sean, I think that draining the Mobil 1 is my only choice to confirm my findings and possibly save some gas for me and others in the future. The cost of the Mobil 1 will for sure not be worth it to me if I'm right. I'll save the Mobil 1 in a clean container and reuse it if I'm wrong, but I will change to Motorcraft blend in the '05 if I'm right. I may dump the Mobil 1 in the '02 Explorer later because it's a gas hog anyway.

Who knows, the Mobil 1 oil may have a chemical reaction in the combustion chamber with gas and ethanol. At any rate, I'm going with the oil that gives me the best mileage. I'll pick-up the Motorcraft blend at Walmart and exchange the Mobil 1 ASAP and let everyone know what I find out.

GaryG

 

You added a tad too much oil.
You never got 100% of the old oil out.
Thus, if you added a full 5 quarts, you are at least a quarter quart over.
Drain SOME out, before doing it all and see what happens.

I'm very skeptical the oil is to blame in the first place.
Too much causes foaming, not a measureable drop in MPG.
I'll bet you $100 it is the warm up that is doing it.
You won't take me up on it, since after reading the following, you know I'm right.
My FEH runs the A/C for the battery after 12 minutes of stop n go driving on a 60 degree day. It won't get hot enough to disable EV, but the drag on the compressor = 3 MPG easily. The battery pack is well insulated. So parking with a hot or warm battery, on a warm night, will not cool the pack very much at all. You are starting with a warm battery the next day. This is why I am now working on manual control of the fans. The fans don't blow when you are standing still for noise reduction, which is silly, and a big disadvantage. I now have manual control of the fans in my Insight, and it helps more than you can imagine.

Mobil 1 is FAR superior to any syth blend which can be as low as 5%.
I would change the motorcraft twice as frequently as Mobil 1.

 

I'm skeptical at the loss of mileage being caused by the oil.

I did not realize the increase in mileage on my cars until I looked over the plots of mileage I keep.

I find my self skeptical at 50+ mpg. I keep mpg records and if I cannot show a given number over several thousand miles and tanks of gas I don't report it. Maybe the newer models are doing better.

I would say follow it and don't waste the oil for now. When change time rolls up (or at least a few thousand miles go by) decide then what to put in. There's much around that can also affect mileage. Boy, does temperature affect mine.