Which Grade Oil

[charles]

according to the haynes manual the petrol engines need Ford Formula E 5W30. .

Is this a semi-synthetic oil?

The drivers manual advises 10W30.

In other publications 10W40 is advised, It 's quite confusing.

At this moment I use Elf evolution 5W30, but it this the correct oil? What does other drivers use?

[Guest SA Intruder]

The Ford 5W30 as used in the ZETEC engine is a very good oil.

 

I would use that in all the Ford and VW petrol engines. It meets the latest API specs too.

 

Shop around for it on price.

[Sher]

The Ford Oil has to be a decent one because they use it across their range of cars. A problem I have had is that the agent's service department used it on my 1.9TDI when it definately says 5W-40's in the BOOK.

If something goes wrong who do I argue with??

I know there have been discussions on this topic before so I dug around and found this neat little feature called a "search" the forum at the bottom of the page.

 

If you search for:- Oil?, Which ones the best??

or just Oil

 

You should find some answers.

 

P.S. I know I should have spotted it before!!! But I was too busy looking for information..

[Guest SA Intruder]

Sher, are you saying they used it on the Diesel?

[Sher]

Yes.

I just presumed that Ford provide them with one oil which is designed to cover the range. (Maybe the E in the grading has some meaning). If you look back you can see that I commented on this in the past and one member said that I should not complain because the agent had done better than they should in providing the oil they did.

I explained in more detail why I did not agree.

 

Here it is Invoice 4/R/4061* date 21/07/03 18394 miles

[Sher]

Just got this back from Ford Technical section on the web.

I rang the telephone number and they asked me to forward copies of the invoice to them!!

Will have to follow this up!! Thank you Mr Intruder for pointing me in the right direction!! :blink: ! You are better informed as usual than most of us O Imperious One!

 

22/09/2003

 

Dear Mr Sher,

 

 

Thank you for your e-mail which arrived in this office on September

22, 2003, regarding information on the oil used in the Ford Galaxy.

 

Ford would recommend that an oil viscosity rating that meets 5W-40

specification be used.

 

It is stated in the handbook and technical data provided by Ford to

the dealer network that this oil rating has to be used. The Galaxy

specification and emissions levels are based around a given set of

components, the correct oil being one of them. We would recommend

taking this matter up with your dealership.

You can also speak to the Ford Customer Relationship Centre on 0845

8411111 for further advice on this matter.

 

Thank you for contacting the Ford Information Service. Should you

require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us

again.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Donald Campbell

Ford Information Service

 

When replying please quote FCRC 12*****

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Why should YOU have to take this matter up with the dealer? If you draw Ford's attention to a problem with one of their dealers, IMHO they (Ford) should take the matter up unless it is very minor.

I find it lamentable that Ford seem to want to distance themselves from their appointed dealers.

[Sher]

I just think the person answering was covering themselves if you read the 2nd line of the posting it says about them asking for invoice copies which are on their way.

Today I received this from the same person:-

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Dear Mr Sher,

 

Thank you for your e-mail which arrived in this office on September

23, 2003.

 

The oil ratings that we recommend are as follows:

2.3 DOHC Petrol - 5W-30

2.8 24V Petrol - 5W-40 or XR+ High Performance 10W-40

1.9 TDI Diesel - 5W-40

 

Thank you for contacting the Ford Information Service. Should you

require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us

again.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Donald Campbell

Ford Information Service

 

When replying please quote FCRC 12*****

[Guest alan]

On the subject of oil

I have a 2003 seat alhambra 130tdi se and the oil spec for this engine is different from the 110 I had previously....the new engine requires a specific oil 5w 40 with an additive .. I forget the vw oil spec but it finishes with .01 check carefully be fore using the wrong oil on this engine......I could only find one stockist of the correct spec vw approved oil (other than vw/seat/ford dealerships) and that was millers specialist oils ......XFE PD abt 22.00 quid for 5 litres

 

ps anyone know how to reset the service warning on this model.... is it only resettable via the obd11 data socket perhaps?

[gazza007]

Alan,

See my piece on this thread.

http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/Forum/index.p...st=0entry2719

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Alan - we've been through this before a few times. You can use a different oil spec if you are sticking to fixed servicing intervals (12 months max interval and 10,000 miles max interval) but you must use the "rare and expensive" stuff if you intend to let the on-board computer tell you when to change oil as it can allow up to 24 months or somewhere in the region of 30,000 miles between oil changes.

Most of us agree that this is far too long to go between changes and that for peace of mind, oil should be changed at least once per year irrespective of mileage (and possibly more often if vehicle used only for short, stop-start journeys).

[kevinp]

Sorry to drag this one up again. I was just about to top up my oil for the first time (first time I've ever noticed it's used any after 6000 miles under my ownership) so I checked both handbook and this site for oil grades.

 

Handbook says SAE 10W-40 whilst previous comments from Sher (above) suggest 5W-40 for a TDi

 

“A problem I have had is that the agent's service department used it on my 1.9TDI when it definitely says 5W-40's in the BOOK

 

The oil ratings that we recommend are as follows:

2.3 DOHC Petrol - 5W-30

2.8 24V Petrol - 5W-40 or XR+ High Performance 10W-40

1.9 TDI Diesel - 5W-40 ”

 

Is 5W-40 only for the Mk2 facelift model (mine's a Mk1) etc?

 

What is the correct grade for a Mk1 1998 110 Tdi please?

[Sher]

The answer to the Question about oil for Fords 1.9TDI (according to the photocopy in front of me of Ford's recommendations to Dealers Pg 71/72 ) is SAE 10W-40 (Spec ACEA A3/B3) but an alternative is SAE 5W-40's. Perhaps it is the older handbook? My Car is the 115bhp 1.9TDI 2002 August Model.

I prefer 5W -40's ( + fully synthetic ) because I obtain it at a reasonable price ie less or the same as the the 10w-40's. Otherwise the 10w 40's would have to do.

Even with Fully synthetic I change earlier than 10,000miles.

The Local Ford Dealer Service manager has now supplied me with information with regard to the replacement oil at service for my Galaxy. The oil used in the workshop would have been automatically have been selected by the servicing mechanic, no matter what it says on the invoice and should have been the correct one. I tend to believe him as I have a friend who works there.

Also (from the Photo copy) the Formula E 5W-30 is in fact a diesel oil used for Transit 2.5l diesels so my intuition that this was a possible multi engine oil was correct(?) if this is used in Petrol engines also.

On the same sheet it says that below 10C this oil can be used for all 1.9TDI engines (Galaxy) except those with unit injector systems. This makes sense since at lower temps oil becomes thicker and a thinner oil will allow engine to turn over faster when starting and get to those drier parts quicker when cold. At worst I will have run the engine in a slightly thinner oil than specified when it was upto temperature for 9000 miles. Hopefully this has not happened but one doesn't pay main agents fees to have this happen

I could have done without the problem but compared with the nightmares I have had with Main agents of Volvo and Rover when servicing my cars in the past this is small. They also refunded me the cost of my own oil

For this reason I prefer whenever possible to do myself or my friendly Ford mechanic to do the work involved. Then I know it is done. Any faults or problems are down to us. :D Its only when the vehicle servicing was out of my hands that problems have arisen in the past.