I've now covered a few thousand miles and soon I am going to change the oil. To date I have been using SAE 5W/30 but the oil pressure seems to be quite low at tickover - sometimes less than 0.5 bar and the oil light flicks on occasionally.
Is 5W/30 ok for the V6? Should I go a little thicker for summer use? SAE 10W/40 maybe?

Most engines of that age would run nicely on fully synth 10/40

Cosco did a good deal on Mobil 10/40.

Check the book in case but I think 5/30 is too thin and the bearing clearance will mean a loss of oil pressure.

run my 2l on10w 40

I checked the Haynes bible and it states that 5W/30 is ok but it is the thinnest recommended oil, the thickest being 10W/40 which I will change over to. The 5W/30 is like water! I'll probably go for semi-synthetic because I like to do frequent oil changes and fully synthetic isn't exactly locost

According to Ford, the prefered oil for the 2.5 V6 Duratec is the 5W30 - this is what I run my Mondeo on and it's been fine. You can also use 10W40 and 5W40.

HTH

If the engines are anything like the old Zetech ones they can be sensitive to thicker oil. I've heard quite a few stories (and had a friend suffer from) valves sticking due to using 10W40 rather than a decent synthetic 5W30. These were the earlier mondeos though so perhaps engine improvements have resolved this since.

Same here stay away from cheaper thicker oils they are trouble for these engines. 5W30 may be more expensive but not as expensive as engine trouble could be.

Good points guys - perhaps I will stick with 5W/30 and try full synthetic next oil change. I'm still a bit puzzled by the low oil pressure at tickover though, usually after a long run.
Maybe I should think about an oil cooler to be on the safe side.

Oil at running temp is about the consistency of paraffin. 0.5bar is about 7psi, you could just have a sensitive sender. An oil cooler might be a good idea as it may be a temperature issue with the engine in a different situation.

As a matter of interest, what oil pressure should I be seeing on a Duratec?

I seem to be running between 2.5-3.0 bar when cruising but it appears to spike between 1.0-4.0 bar when running around town. This might be due to my digital gauge which doesn't smooth out the readings.