Oil recommendation?

[10thanniv]

Hi, I am new to this board. I am purchasing an '03 Cobra convertible with only 1500 miles. I believe the oil is the original so I want to start off fresh with a new filter and fresh oil. My question is do you recommend synthetic and if so what brand is preferred? Should I go with the standard FoMoCo filter? Any suggestions you may have regarding my new car would be appreciated, i.e. with 1500 miles would you consider it broken in completely?
Any minor "must have" performance enhancement such as K & N air filter?Basically I want to keep fairly stock.
Thanks

 

[04gtdrop]

i use ams oil on my GT. not sure what everyone else runs. 1,500 miles on ur stang?? uhh not sure but i have been told that it takes about 5-6k to break in a new car. they have an SVT board here, hope this helps.

p.s. congrats on getting a snake. nice choice

 

[csledd]

congrats on the cobra purchase!

I use the Motocraft oil filter

 

[COBRA90GT]

Motorcraft oil filter 820S, works just fine and won't break the bank. You'll be fine with any of the reputable synthetics out on the market. Congrats on the new snake.

 

[pgreenlaw]

i did royale purple full synthetics in my motor, trans, and rear end. made the car feel brand new again! i swear by that stuff. if you look around online you can see some tech shows were they used royal purple in a motor, trans, and rear end and gained like 4 h/p! not much but still impressive for just a lube change.

 

[AdRock]

I run AMSOIL 5w-30 with the Motorcraft filter.

Stick with the Motorcraft filter and either, AMSOIL, Redline, or Royal Purple IMO.

 

[rjstaaf]

Hi, I am new to this board. I am purchasing an '03 Cobra convertible with only 1500 miles. I believe the oil is the original so I want to start off fresh with a new filter and fresh oil. My question is do you recommend synthetic and if so what brand is preferred? Should I go with the standard FoMoCo filter? Any suggestions you may have regarding my new car would be appreciated, i.e. with 1500 miles would you consider it broken in completely?
Any minor "must have" performance enhancement such as K & N air filter?Basically I want to keep fairly stock.
Thanks

The Motorcraft FL820S filter is a good one, they can be found at WalMart for a decent price.

As to Sythetic oil if you are going to be doing the typical 3K oil change interval I would just pick up Mobil 1 and be done with it. To me there just isn't that much of a difference between the various synthetic oils to justify the expensive boutique synthetics on such short oil change intervals. If you were looking to do extended oil change intervals than I would probably go with Amsoil.

I typically do 3-5K oil change intervals on Mobil 1 and from used oil analysis that I have done annually I know the oil will easily go longer.

 

[sgarlic]

If it's under warranty still, make sure you run the factory recommended weight, or if something breaks down the road, it could come back to haunt you. I.e. 5w20 vs 5w30 is enough for Ford to reject an internal breakage claim.

After the car is properly broken in as stated above, you should run whatever brand name synthetic you are comfortable with. If you haven't yet, first change the oil with regular dino oil (motorcraft with a motorcraft filter.) Then once it hits 3k or 4k miles, change to synthetic. I prefer Mobil 1 as it is easy to find, and doesn't break the bank. Lots of people will argue AMS Oil, or Royal Purple. They all have their advantages, but they all will better protect you than regular dino oil will.

Filterwise, motorcraft performs very well and is relatively inexpensive. I've had issues with Mobil 1 filters, although they are supposedly one of the best.