I recently moved to Las Vegas and have not had the my car thru the summer heat here. 97 Contour, Duratec, ATX, 161K and yes...still on the original water pump!
I was debating as to go to Mobil1 for oil. I've always run regular oil with the last oil change with 10W-30 instead of 5W-30. I don't know if with the advanced age of the motor if synthetic oil is best. I've always changed the oil every 3K and if I switch to synthetic, how often should I now change it?

I would really like to hear from owners in the desert southwest as to what they do presently!
Thanx!