GT350 Motor Oil Brands

[Murrish30]

Hey ladies and gents!
About a month ago I picked up a 17’ GT350. I’m getting ready to knock out the first oil change and wanted to see what oils people on this forum have used.
I’m pretty much between Lucas and Ams Oil.
I’ve heard good things about both but wanted some more intel!!
Thanks!!

james

 

[byronj]

And here we go again. Why dont you just stick with the factory recommendations? Its in your manual. Check it out if you haven’t read it yet. It’s definitely not going to hurt.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

I would have to say it is likely the majority on here run either Motorcraft or Mobil 1, with a big take towards Mobil 1, since it is often on Sale. The GT 350 does have have a swimming pool capacity for petroleum based lubricants, so that is part of the equation. The other plus , is regardless of the oil used , one will not likely follow the Manufacturers schedule for changing, since plenty of track usage means ( to most of us ) fluids get changed pretty frequently.

 

[JAJ]

When it comes to choosing between Motorcraft, Mobil 1, Lucas and Amsoil, it's really down to price. From a quality standpoint, there's no "best one" in the lot - they're all excellent.

Do pay careful attention to the filter you choose. Do not go with an aftermarket filter - Motorcraft is literally the best for your GT350. If it's an early 2017 and it takes a spin-on filter, it's an FL2069ST, and make sure it's torqued properly to 16-18 ft lbs. If it's a late production 2017, it'll take an FL2087 cartridge filter. Regardless of what anyone says, there are no workable aftermarket filters for the GT350.

 

[Ron McCall]

I've had excellent luck with the Driven FR50 .

Driven FR50 5W-50 Synthetic Street Performance Oil

Driven FR50 5W-50 Synthetic Street Performance Oil

drivenracingoil.com

Ron

 

[Murrish30]

Thanks to all! Great info.

 

[Mark Conte]

When it comes to choosing between Motorcraft, Mobil 1, Lucas and Amsoil, it's really down to price. From a quality standpoint, there's no "best one" in the lot - they're all excellent.

Do pay careful attention to the filter you choose. Do not go with an aftermarket filter - Motorcraft is literally the best for your GT350. If it's an early 2017 and it takes a spin-on filter, it's an FL2069ST, and make sure it's torqued properly to 16-18 ft lbs. If it's a late production 2017, it'll take an FL2087 cartridge filter. Regardless of what anyone says, there are no workable aftermarket filters for the GT350.

Could you direct me to any more reading on this filter discussion? I searched a bit but it seems most threads I've found are based around oil selection rather than oil filter. What is supposedly the issue with the aftermarket (say K&N?) filters? Thanks for any information, I was about to do an oil change with the K&N and hadn't heard this before.

 

[JP X]

Could you direct me to any more reading on this filter discussion? I searched a bit but it seems most threads I've found are based around oil selection rather than oil filter. What is supposedly the issue with the aftermarket (say K&N?) filters? Thanks for any information, I was about to do an oil change with the K&N and hadn't heard this before.

My mechanic suggests that I go with Motorcraft, so when he does the oil change that's what I use. I use NAPA when I do it on my own. Of course I'm in a GT, not a GT350. Motorcraft might be your only option?
This video is a fun watch. Makes me wonder how Fram is still in business, but then again the soccer moms aren't paying attention to whatever the Skippy Lubes are putting in there.

 

[Mark Conte]

My mechanic suggests that I go with Motorcraft, so when he does the oil change that's what I use. I use NAPA when I do it on my own. Of course I'm in a GT, not a GT350. Motorcraft might be your only option?
This video is a fun watch. Makes me wonder how Fram is still in business, but then again the soccer moms aren't paying attention to whatever the Skippy Lubes are putting in there.

Service provider recommendations are a reasonable guideline. Also if they are sharing in any responsibility for a build or program - you definitely want to agree with them, if for no other reason than to eliminate finger pointing if things go wrong.

To give a little background, I am in the high performance auto parts industry. My company is a fairly large distributor of many internal engine components - pistons, rods, bearings, valvetrain, oil, etc.

I am not in any way trying to suggest I am an expert on this vehicle. I'm not. I'm brand new to it, and there are instances where particular cars need particular things, and efforts to deviate from them end in sadness.

But, and again I say this without any projection or assumption, many times - especially with "special vehicles" - a community follows a (completely reasonable) path of sticking with the factory's guidelines and recommendations. Where that can become counter productive though is when it starts to limit learning and trying new things and the progression of the platform. It's extremely common with German cars, where there is a massive barrier to entry for any aftermarket part or brand, because the loyalists follow the premise that only the known, long-standing, options could possibly be the option moving forward.

I see it with engine builders who have only used one piston for 30 years, and discard the idea of using any other piston as if all others were made out of wood and square in shape.

Many (most) times the prejudice is unfounded. And many (most) times, I just keep reading when I'm trying to learn because I know that a community of people will have a propensity to act the way other communities of people act, and I just go about my way. But this particular forum has a high concentration of badasses who use their cars, and pay attention to their cars, and have mechanical empathy, and have truly learned for themselves what works.

I just joined this forum today, and even in my first 30 minutes of poking around I had already seen a handful of intelligent and helpful posts from @JAJ so when I saw him make that recommendation, it caused me to stop and try to ask for more information. With me being days away from not following his advice, I wanted to know if I was simply deviating from best practices, or if perhaps the K&N offering (in this example) wasn't considered or known - maybe it's a new part number. Maybe his comment was specifically about a known problem with both the NAPA and FRAM filters commercially available - or maybe truly all of them have a known issue that the Motorcraft doesn't. And I was just looking to figure that out.

Being new in such a well-established community like this one makes it difficult to ask questions like these, so hopefully this isn't taken with any negative connotations. They are not my intent. I'm not trying to suggest that any of the recommendations here aren't valid, I'm just trying to learn from someone who I already think is someone I should try to learn from.

 

[TMSBOSS]

Mark

Welcome.

The FL-2087 is a new part number to ford. I went to a dealer and asked for a filter and they stated the number had changed and the part for the GT-350 was different from all others with the same physical sized filter. Sure enough, I bought both and compared them side by side. The new part is noticeably different. The filter material is Not paper and appears to be a organic and or synthetic woven element. The new filter weight more than the original. Its a more solid unit.
Do I suspect K&N will soon follow with their version of the FL-2087, yes.
Here is a video which explains the difference.

 

[JAJ]

...I just joined this forum today, and even in my first 30 minutes of poking around I had already seen a handful of intelligent and helpful posts from @JAJ so when I saw him make that recommendation, it caused me to stop and try to ask for more information. With me being days away from not following his advice, I wanted to know if I was simply deviating from best practices, or if perhaps the K&N offering (in this example) wasn't considered or known - maybe it's a new part number. Maybe his comment was specifically about a known problem with both the NAPA and FRAM filters commercially available - or maybe truly all of them have a known issue that the Motorcraft doesn't. And I was just looking to figure that out.

Being new in such a well-established community like this one makes it difficult to ask questions like these, so hopefully this isn't taken with any negative connotations. They are not my intent. I'm not trying to suggest that any of the recommendations here aren't valid, I'm just trying to learn from someone who I already think is someone I should try to learn from.

Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate it.

The issue with the Voodoo engine is a bit complicated, but it boils down to vibration and oil flow when it comes to a filter choice. Look at the video in @TMSBOSS's post and fast forward to the 4:00 minute mark. The difference between the two Motorcraft filters is obvious - the 2087 is heavily reinforced and the 2062 isn't. The filter on a Voodoo has to withstand cold starts over and over with high viscosity oil being pushed by a high-flow oil pump at high pressure. The only other engine that puts this much stress on the oil filter is the GT500. What works on a GT V8 is irrelevant when it comes to a GT350. They're radically not the same.

So, in summary, the filters with plastic cores like the FL2062 (the baseline filter on the 2-liter EcoBoost) and aftermarket equivalents might collapse and destroy the engine, while the steel-reinforced 2087 won't.