Synthetic Blend?

[Tim d]

So I'm loving my brand spankin' new FX4, but have a couple concerns already.

I live in extremely cold country, below zero temps almost every night through our long ass 6 month winters. We see -30 and even sometimes -40 nights aren't unheard of or unusual. We're already seeing low single digits overnight, and I've noticed when starting the truck the next morning there's more steam coming out of the exhaust than I'm used to or like seeing. Enough to get the gravel underneath wet. There is no antifreeze, gas or oil smell to the steam, and after about ten minutes of running it seems to stop. After driving to full operating temps it is not apparent, so I'm thinking it's condensation. After warmup I always drive a good 25 or 30 minutes minimum. So. I'm wanting to get the factory 5w-30oil out of there! It only has a few hundred miles on it, but I purchased a new Purolator Boss filter and want to replace the oil with the recommended 0w-30 weight before the brutally cold temperatures set in.

I digress, back the topic question. The manual is recommending a synthetic blend. Why? I have been a synthetic guy for decades now.

I would stick with the factory recommendation. I would hope ford tests for conditions like this. Also curious if you've been having any battery issues that I have been seeing on this site?

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[TrailMaster]

Had to put a charger on my battery yesterday after noticing my keypad was dead. I've had the truck less than two weeks now.

 

[Ozarkbeard]

If the truck sat a long time between the time it was built and the time you took delivery, perhaps the battery never got fully charged, especially if you mainly take short trips.

 

[Jeff D.]

Had to put a charger on my battery yesterday after noticing my keypad was dead. I've had the truck less than two weeks now.

Trailmaster, is your's the hard wired keypad or the wireless type? Just wondering if there's any chance it has it's own battery and that's dead?

 

[Bob The Builder]

Hands down synthetic motor oil is better than conventional or blended oil. Synthetic oils have much lower oil volatility. This reduces the amount of oil vapor and the possibility of carbon deposits forming on the intake valves. This alone is well worth the price of admission in using synthetic oil on direct injection engines such as the EcoBoost 2.0 which is NOT a dual ported engine.

Find a better place to cut your maintenance costs on the 2.0 engine than in using blended oil.

 

[TrailMaster]

Trailmaster, is your's the hard wired keypad or the wireless type? Just wondering if there's any chance it has it's own battery and that's dead?

Nope, mine is a 2023 model with the hardwired keypad. Sucks because the nearest dealer is an hour and a half away. I'm sure they would want to test and verify the battery is bad before I could get a new one under warranty.

 

[Montana]

Nope, mine is a 2023 model with the hardwired keypad. Sucks because the nearest dealer is an hour and a half away. I'm sure they would want to test and verify the battery is bad before I could get a new one under warranty.

That's the dilemma I went through in my Escapen Hybrid. Twice they charged it instead of replacing it with the newer one that was supposed to solve the issue. Finally I just gave up. I have not had any issues in the EB, but the battery drain is present in way too many FORD's currently. Too much stuff trying to communicate after you turn the truck off.

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