Oil Change Question DI MK5

[vana mana]

Sounds silly , but just wondering is the oil & oil filter changing routine on a DI engine same as Pinto ?

Drain old oil, new filter smear with oil on seal ring re fill ?
Or is there anything I need to be aware of ?

Always been a pinto petrol head so diesel engines are new to me

Thank you

[Aardvark]

No probs with that. Just the same petrol or diesel. Use the recommended 5w30 oil if you want easier starting in freezing weather.

[vana mana]

Thank you

[finnon]

i always use an engine flush before i drain the old stuff.

drain it out. new sump plug as the old ones are often knackered. usually a quid or so

i always take the seal ring out then a few drips of clean oil and refit the seal and smear the oil all over it. then obv fit it hand tight. after ive cleaned the crappy old oil off the side of the engine where the filter mounts.

then fill it with 10w40 (this was recommended to me by 2 shops as taken from their oil books. )

poor starting in winter is more likely knackered battery or starter. also clean up earths. imo that is.

[vana mana]

Thank you for more input

[MinorMatt]

the correct oil is 5w30 not 10w40. Motor Factor books are often wrong regarding oils... The comma ones where I worked certainly had mistakes! I would far rather listen to Ford

[awdriver96]

To be fair I wouldnt put Comma in anything, there is more to that story. But Ford have standardised on 0w30 and 5w 30 for all the late stuff and dont want to be bothered with anything else and like most manufacturers are pushing the fully synthetic stuff too, Remember they have warehouses full of the stuff and want to sell it!!
In reality in the climate we have here the 10 w40 mineral or semi synthetic is a good compromise between ultra thin and sensible oil, not forgetting also, the 2.5 Di engine is a now thirty year old Peugeot design with no tight clearances or overhead cams to get the oil to as quickly as possible. I buy the 10-40 semisynth in 205 litre drums and use it safely in cars and vans both winter and summer without any issues at all. If you look at the recommendation charts from Ford and the other makers it falls right in the middle of their recommendations based on the usual temp ranges. If you change at sensible mileage intervals it should never need flushing oil at all and #I have seen more than one or two problems with that stuff!!.
As for starting in winter, if the starter is in good condition and the battery and wiring, it should start easily even in low temperatures, mine certainly does just as it says on the box
mt

[oldyellar]

Peugeot design

di? dout that very much

[F111ORY]

Hi, I have been doing some viscosity tests on various grades on oil. At 100 deg C they are all about the same viscosity as water!

Please tell me more about the Di being designed by peugeot ? I have not heard that one before!

Regards Rick

[Mr RVM]

In 2000 i purchased a brand new metrocab (i know dont laugh) they were then still being fitted with a Di and Ford warranted the engine for 100,000 miles on condition that only 5/30 fully synthetic oil was used from day one ! I tried to blowit up during the warranty period but couldn't did 49k in 9 months of hard work with no issues sold it and bought a new vw t4 and used same oil in that for 360k sold that 6 years ago and its still working the streets today fook knows how many miles its done now Having said all that i'm a great believer in 10/40 semi synthetic for anything, i use it in my bike that will (and often does) rev to over 10.000rpm, ive used it in all my cars and vans (petrol and diesel) and never had a starting problem or any other oil related problems, I personally wouldn't use fully synthetic oil in an engine unless i was 100% sure it had always used it, tried it once and the engine rattled its pratts off when it was cold so dropped it and replaced with 10/40 semi and quietened it down loads but each to their own i think at the end of the day its more of a personal preference than a manufacturers recommendation once the warranty is finished
Peugeot designed the Di did they ? i was led to believe the Di was based on the york engine and that Ford did go to the french for a bit of assistance when they wanted to improve the design as the french were leading the way with small diesels at the time.

[hoofhearted]

Peugeot design

di? dout that very much

I don't know about the Transit engines but Ford did use a Peugeot designed engine in the MkII Granada.

Wikipedia (which is not always correct) states on the Ford Granada page -
"The coupé was discontinued when the new model began production, although there was a two-door saloon version in certain European markets. A relatively low number of vehicles were also produced with the Peugeot 504 / 505 four-cylinder diesel engine in 1.9-, 2.1- and 2.5-litre capacities."

Wikipedia states in the Ford Transit page -
"In 1984, the York diesel engine was redesigned into the 2.5 L "DI" (direct injection) unit." which from this makes the Transit engine and the Granada engine two different engines.

I have always used mineral oils in all the cars and vans I have owned, that was Duckhams. Almost impossible to find it now so I'm presently using Castrol GTX.

.

[awdriver96]

Yes it did have roots in the york engine, but ford didnt exactly have a good history with small diesels and the French government had give Peugeot many millions to develop small diesel engines as they saw it as the future. So Ford went to them as world leaders and they came up with the Di and it has to be said they did a good job, it is a good extremely reliable engine ( we all like it ) but it is now and old design. As for the oil read my original post, Ford and all the others want to sell you what they have for sale and there is nothing in the Di design which needs super thin oil or synthetics. I dont want to go into a discussion on the molecular make up of oil as most will be bored stiff with that. Ordinary Mineral oil starts to break down after quite a short mileage ( 2-3k) hence the old 3k oil changes and 6k oil and filter. When synthetics came to the market, one of the advantages was the fact it would go longer before the breakdown started and for the repmobile and commercial market this meant fewer services could be claimed in the blurb and so money savings!! So it goes on there are alot more factors at play here than which is the best oil, for instance, even now for high temperature and racing applications there is still nothing gives the same protection as the Castor based oils ( like Castrol R ), but it has disadvantages for the ordinary user and oil company investment means even Formula 1 cars use the latest racing alternatives for sponsorship reasons from the oil companies etc.
So get the best of both worlds the semi synthetic mix is a good safe compromise and 10-40 or 15-40w oils will preserve you Di perfectly and not cost you silly money. As mine does loads of short runs ( as do most vehicles ) I change oil and filter every three months or 4k whichever comes first and have no issues at all, my toyota L/cruiser has now done 640k and runs great despite working hard for a living. So lets not get to anal about all this, sensible oil changes and any decent semisynth will preserve your pride and joy long past its body life and the sightly higher low temp viscosity of 10 or 15 / 40w helps to reduce wear and keep it quiet!

PS as always ,like with the Perkins engines Ford like to put their own stamp on and fiddle a bit round the edges
mt

[MinorMatt]

Mine (95 non turbo) was run on 15w/40 from its first oil change. And I have no problems carrying that on.

I just recommend what ford recommends to anyone else... Although the Di will reliably operate on almost anything

This has been superceeded by a TSB stating they should be run on 5W/30 but you get the idea

[linsey_young]

Does anyone know what the oil capacity is? I should be doing mine, just not sure how much I'll need...

[MinorMatt]

about 6.5L