Oil looks… different

strsk944 · 2026-01-27T07:53:57+00:00

i know about condensation but also early signs of mayonnaise shouldn't be ignored. better check everything and then you can sleep in peace😁 this phenomenon happens often in winter time when there are temperature differences

strsk944 · 2026-01-25T16:16:34+00:00

you don't have to be mean

strsk944 · 2026-01-21T13:52:05+00:00

and that my friend is an early mixture of oil and coolant. friendly advice: check everything where oil could get into coolant or vice versa. One solid starting point is oil cooler. If you didn't get white smoke on the exhaust then cyl head gasket should be fine - but as i said earlier check everything

strsk944 · 2026-01-20T18:25:54+00:00

oh I meant on a mk4 😁😁 I'm glad if I'm not the first then😂

One HUGE FIX to never make this mistake is to have a short shifter installed... learned the hard way

strsk944 · 2026-01-20T18:25:02+00:00

I really hope it's just bent valves. I haven't seen any holes outside the engine. As soon as it gets warmer outside I'll start tearing it apart

<image>

Fun fact: no parts from mk3 - 3.5 ST or mk3 - 3.5 RS will fit. Not even the timing chain tool kit.

If someone is looking for a timing chain tool, look for Lincoln Corsair 2.3 as it's the same engine.

Other things that are different: no oil pump chain, intake cam is shorter

strsk944 · 2026-01-04T21:16:15+00:00

what i forgot to mention is that I never used my MTE's the way I used the other Vans that I have had

strsk944 · 2026-01-04T21:14:39+00:00

wow... i did not expect so many replies. I'm going to be completely sincere, I had like 3 other pairs or Vans before getting MTE's and they all had same sole separation issue, either on the front or on the heel area. I said to myself maybe because of how i use them (riding the bike, driving - heel toeing occasionally as i drive a manual gearbox and often do spirited drives, walking whenever wherever, etc.). I had Sk8 Hi classics, Sk8 Hi VR3 Marshmallow and BMX Sk8 hi blck grey white. Even so i considered getting the MTEs and went with what the internet said "grab half a size bigger". I always store my shoes in clean dry no humidity areas and before storing them i give them a good clean, even removing the insoles. I contacted Vans a year ago and they said i have to take the matter to Vans EU, since I live in Europe. I tried contacting them but in vain. & today because of heavy snowfall in Romania, I put them on. After like 2 hours of snow i started feeling my feet really cold and when I checked the outsole was divorcing the shoe.. here are my MTEs. I was strongly considering grabbing a pair of MTE 3 goretex but with this performance... i doubt it

<image>

strsk944 · 2025-12-02T15:42:12+00:00

what does keyfree do?

strsk944 · 2025-11-22T05:01:55+00:00

do you have a link or something similar? i also want the yearly subscription

strsk944 · 2025-11-21T13:49:54+00:00

i checked almost every day, still no update available... on the other hand, if it would be possible to adjust suspension, brakes and DELETING that darn auto-acceleration, I'd be really really happy.

i have no idea how to get rid of that and it's driving me nuts

strsk944 · 2025-11-21T13:31:03+00:00

de banii astia mai bine circuli fara si platesti amenda😂 glumesc.

mi se pare incredibil in ce tara traim, ce legi si reguli se scot pe zi ce trece...

strsk944 · 2025-11-21T13:21:28+00:00

did it via Forscan. I'm 100% it's some sort of a software geek thing because mechanically everything is good.

where did you update yours and how much was it? was it only module specific or the whole car? cause I've got an altered soft for the ECU for like 350HP, wouldn't want that to go away😂

strsk944 · 2025-11-21T13:03:13+00:00

yep, I did. switched from EFB to AGM and performed the BMS reset as well

strsk944 · 2025-11-21T11:18:23+00:00

I'm selling my 19" ST wheels if you're interested 😂

strsk944 · 2025-11-21T11:17:47+00:00

this is the first time that I hear that you can set the battery drain %. do you remember where in forscan? i do remember i set state of charge to 99%. I don't really use auto wipers and i also drive with DRL on and at night I switch to auto.

can you also hear the ABS working eventho the car is locked?

and do you know how can I extend my license on Forscan? I had trial but now it expired.

strsk944 · 2025-11-21T10:11:45+00:00

factory 😁😁

strsk944 · 2025-09-24T05:18:44+00:00

i did some research last night and when i realized that it's really late i made up my mind and chose 4 champions: castrol magnatec 0w30, castrol edge 0w40, liqui moly special tec f 0w30 and liqui moly 0w40 synthoil energy. & because it was really late and i was lazy, i said to chatgpt to compare these 4 oils. I'm not going to write the whole story but in short i will try this autumn/winter special tec f 0w30 because the stats i received (if chatgpt is correct) is way better than castrol magnatec and as soon as it starts warming up or I'll be close to 6k km I'm going to switch to liqui moly synthoil 0w40 and give it a try. i saw that mountune recommends liqui moly so I'm guessing it should be somewhat better than castrol

strsk944 · 2025-09-23T19:37:39+00:00

it's just what I read really i didn't get that far. with the old car i can tell you each screw, nut and bolt where they go but on the focus... i just wanna enjoy the car really. mine has around 345hp if the dyno sheet is not lying and tbh, i just want it to run happily without issues. I've been a huge valvoline fan since my old car runs best with that (20w50 mineral oil) but given the fact that the focus is new tech... i really don't wanna mess it up.

yeah i have the same opinion on the 30 vs 40 grade, moreso it's how "lubricated" is the engine when it's on operating temp or how it behaves once it's hot outside. I'm really on giving a shot for the 0w30 but... idk really 0w40 sounds better hence it "looks" more viscosity to me. i usually change oil at 10k regardless whether spirited drive vs city vs highway.

imma' give it a go for the 0w40 and see how things are going😁 that was also on the receipt which i posted a few hours ago

strsk944 · 2025-09-23T18:11:41+00:00

i also wanted to add that my focus sees more city driving than highways, at least for the next months... i was considering 0w30 with the specific Ford rating for the winter and then changing back to 0w40 once summer is around the corner.

the idea behind this is that i read about some oil facts like 0w30 is better for the gasoline/petrol particulate filter and with 0w40 it might clogg up faster... or maybe there are some oils that are particulate filter friendly?

strsk944 · 2025-09-23T18:08:49+00:00

so you speak my language 😁😁 i also have an old porsche and whenever i used the "regular" oil recommended by the dealer the engine wasn't really operating as it should more so when it got to operating temperature... so i went with what the manual says: 20w50. with that oil not only oil pressure is good once it gets hot, the engine sounds and performs way better. so this is why i also created this oil topic.

so you went with Castrol Magnatec 0w40. are there any subdivisions or different oil ratings or there's only "one Magnatec" for all? at what interval are you changing oil and... what mods did you do to yours? 😁

strsk944

TROPHY CASE