I've got the same oil question for anyone in Canada. My warranty is up right away so I'll be doing my own oil changes, and wondering if there's a preferred oils anyone uses. I plan on full synthetic, but the chart basically says we can use either 5w30 or 5w40 (I live in an area that regularly sees -30c in the winter...). I use 5w30 on our car, just wondering if there's an argument for 5w40 since this is a diesel? I don't do any hauling or heavy duty type driving in the winter, although I do pull the holiday trailer all over the place in the summer. Any insight is appreciated guys!
Just to be sure, I hope you are not implying that anything labelled as 5W30 is compatible with this engine. With rare exceptions, if it's rated for your car, it is likely not rated for this F-150 diesel. Ford permits use of their FA-4 5W30 oil, but every indication that I have is that is is designed for 1.) DPF longevity 2.) EPA fuel economy cycle 3.) engine protection, in that order. I personally think the 5W30 oil would save most money on fuel, if you intend to trade in at 130,000 miles or less. Ford WSS-M2C171-F1, either as a 10W30 or 5W40 would be better if engine longevity is more important, is what I prefer. For this specification, there are over 300 specific oils that meet the requirements, of which only one is a 5W30. I ran a 5W30 in my diesel 3.0L Volkswagen until the warranty expired at 120,000 miles and immediately switched to Rotella 5W40 after that, based on my Blackstone oil analyses.
I have no idea why Ford specifies a 5W30 as a base oil and then jumps to 5W40 for severe applications. 10W30 and 15W40 appear to be the current factory fills for Volvo, Detroit, and Cummins. I believe both the Ram and Ford 6.7L diesel pickups are 10W30 from the factory.
The 0W40 is pretty specific. I just picked up almost 40 liters of it, but only because I routinely drop far below -30C and am not necessarily plugged into a block heater. If my vehicle overnighted in a garage when it was less than -30C or was even plugged in to a block heater, I would stay with 5W40.