08 Ford 5.4 3v 138k oil consumption 5w30

[billt460]

The 5.4L 3-valve engine needs to have 5k oil changes. End of story.

I would say that is good, common sense medicine for ANY engine. Can you possibly stretch it further? Sure, people do it all the time.

But what's to be gained against what could be lost? Saving $30.00 on a jug of good, high quality synthetic oil, and $7 on a filter, and gamble the longevity of an expensive engine in the process. That doesn't stack very well with me. Especially in the risk vs. reward category.

Add up all the money that's been "saved" by people stretching out oil changes further than they should, against all of the expenditures going for unnecessary major engine work because of it. It's highly doubtful you'll have a + column.

Now, if you lease, or trade in every 4 or 5 years, this isn't going to apply much, if at all. Because you'll rid yourself of any potential problems before they occur.

But with the cost of new vehicles being what they are today, and interest rates going higher and higher all but weekly, it's becoming much less of an applicable scenario today.

 

[Patman]

Add up all the money that's been "saved" by people stretching out oil changes further than they should, against all of the expenditures going for unnecessary major engine work because of it. It's highly doubtful you'll have a + column.

There are PLENTY of members of this forum who have done longer OCIs on their cars for decades and haven't had major engine work and have also kept their cars well beyond 200k too. You don't have to do 3-5k oil changes just to prevent engine problems. This isn't 1970 anymore.

 

[billt460]

What year it is has nothing to do with it. I don't think there is much, if anything to be gained by stretching oci's beyond 5,000 miles. And most all professional engine builders would agree with me. There is a reason they hold that opinion.

 

[OVERKILL]

There is a reason they hold that opinion.

Yes, because it's extremely conservative and likely to be "safe" regardless of the circumstances and lubricant used. If Jed doesn't check the oil, it's unlikely it will get dangerously low with that OCI length. If the oil is the cheapest possible stuff that can meet the API requirements, it's unlikely to produce significant deposits over the interval.

It's not an endorsement of considerable investigative work and statistical analysis performed to arrive at this arbitrary figure. Rather, it's the opposite. With no controlled analysis or statistical data and with no control for other factors that actually work to determine what a suitable OCI length would be, such as operating conditions, engine hours, idle hours, oil temperature, load...etc, picking a conservative distance-based limit is an easy CYA requiring the least amount of effort.

 

[Patman]

What year it is has nothing to do with it. I don't think there is much, if anything to be gained by stretching oci's beyond 5,000 miles. And most all professional engine builders would agree with me. There is a reason they hold that opinion.

Extending your oil changes beyond 5k has monetary benefits, and if people have been doing it for decades and not having to spend money on repairing engines, what would they have gained by following 5k oil changes all these years? Absolutely nothing. Instead, these people have saved hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars. The old "it's cheap insurance, oil is cheap and engines are expensive" mantra just doesn't fly with me. I haven't been doing those short oil change intervals in probably twenty years now and I've spent exactly ZERO dollars on engine repairs. If I had followed your idea of 5k oil changes it would have just been like flushing my money down the toilet.

 

[billt460]

I can spin this the opposite just as easily. Long "recommended" OCI's are largely due to CAFE environmental reasoning. Just as these water thin oils are.

Long OCI's produce less waste oil, and lessens the demand for oil production in general. Which the government has pushed for years. The government hates fossil fuels.

And many consumers like long OCI's because it involves less maintenance, hence less cost.

Thin oils achieve a slightly higher fleet MPG rating.

While both do nothing to increase engine life. Where as a mechanic who has 30 years of experience building engines under his belt, wants his product to last.

His advice is far more in my best interest to heed, than what the government is by twisting the arms of today's automakers by "recommending" not only super thin oil, but leaving it in the crankcase as long as possible.

 

[Patman]

I can spin this the opposite just as easily. Long "recommended" OCI's are largely due to CAFE environmental reasoning. Just as these water thin oils are.

You can spin it however you want, but me and many others on this forum have proven that you don't need to do short oil change intervals in order to prevent engine repairs. Period. You can't argue with that kind of success and try to tell us that we would have benefitted in any way from changing our oil earlier, because we wouldn't have. It really doesn't matter what the initial catalyst for longer oil change intervals was, the fact of the matter is that they still get the job done.

 

[tcp71]

I ran castrol 0w40 in my 2009 and never burnt a drop. You are correct on the PCV valve built it. Just make sure the ball in there moves freely if there is one. 5k miles to keep the phasers and solenoids happy...along with the chain tensioner.

 

[billt460]

And when it comes to protecting a $50+K vehicle I intend on keeping for well over a decade, I would agree far more with being "conservative and safe", as opposed to pushing a lousy $30 dollar jug of oil out to 10,000 miles. But then I've never been that interested in, "what I can get away with". YMMV.

 

[kschachn]

And when it comes to protecting a $50+K vehicle I intend on keeping for well over a decade, I would agree far more with being "conservative and safe", as opposed to pushing a lousy $30 dollar jug of oil out to 10,000 miles. But then I've never been that interested in, "what I can get away with". YMMV.

It's highly dependent on the specific engine and your driving conditions. For example my old 1MZ-FE that's over two decades old has nearly 500K miles would likely not have made it this far with 10K oil changes regardless of the oil. But my almost equally old 1NZ-FE is entirely different and I posted pictures here of the valve train after 300K of 10K changes which showed a very clean interior. Two very different engines.

 

[ripcord]

2008 was the first year that Ford extended the OCI interval. In 2007 and older models, the oil minder came on at 5k miles after the previous reset. Using 5k changes worked well for our 08 Expedition, BTW, with over 260k miles without any engine repairs or timing component issues. I haven't noticed any difference in consumption between brands and it's pretty much always used between a half and three quarters of a quart over a 5k change since new.

 

[billt460]

It's highly dependent on the specific engine and your driving conditions. For example my old 1MZ-FE that's over two decades old has nearly 500K miles would likely not have made it this far with 10K oil changes regardless of the oil. But my almost equally old 1NZ-FE is entirely different and I posted pictures here of the valve train after 300K of 10K changes which showed a very clean interior. Two very different engines.

It's easier to play it safe, regardless of what engine resides under the hood. As ripcord stated, it's only recently that the bulk of these automakers have started upping all of these OCI's in general. They're being pressured into it.

The government couldn't care less how long your engine lasts. They want less oil production, period. It's the whole reason they're pushing EV's to the max.

And I don't base my oil change intervals on a government driven agenda.

 

[kschachn]

It's easier to play it safe, regardless of what engine resides under the hood. As ripcord stated, it's only recently that the bulk of these automakers have started upping all of these OCI's in general. They're being pressured into it.

The government couldn't care less how long your engine lasts. They want less oil production, period. It's the whole reason they're pushing EV's to the max.

All right but I don't really understand the connection.

 

[billt460]

All right but I don't really understand the connection.

It all boils down to who do you trust in regards to your best interest involving the care of your vehicle?

1). The government, who thru CAFE has pushed auto manufacturers into water thin oils, along with extended OCI's. By financially compensating them if they meet their politically driven agenda.

2). Or mechanics and engine builders with years of experience, who want to see their work last as long and as trouble free as possible for their customers.

It's really quite simple if you think about it. And who got away with what in which engine doesn't enter into the equation.

 

[kschachn]

It all boils down to who do you trust in regards to your best interest involving the care of your vehicle?

1). The government, who thru CAFE has pushed auto manufacturers into water thin oils, along with extended OCI's. By financially compensating them if they meet their politically driven agenda.

2). Or mechanics and engine builders with years of experience, who want to see their work last as long and as trouble free as possible for their customers.

It's really quite simple if you think about it. And who got away with what doesn't enter into the equation.

So it’s the government that dictates manual recommendations for OCI?

 

[billt460]

So it’s the government that dictates manual recommendations for OCI?

Not directly. But certainly thru CAFE. They want less oil consumed, so less can be produced.

They are already forcing water thin oils on manufacturers as a means to boost fleet MPG ratings. What do you think?

 

[billt460]

Or you can look at it another way. If OCI'S doubled from 5K to 10K, (which they have), how much less motor oil does that involve in just this country alone in one years time?

I can't give you an exact amount, but whatever it is, it's going to put a big smile on the government's face, along with the people who are pushing their "eco friendly" agenda.

And about the last thing any of them care about, is how long your vehicle lasts.

 

[donnyj08]

The 5.4L 3-valve engine needs to have 5k oil changes. End of story. Even at that you will need to monitor the timing chain and phasers.

At the 5k interval mark, it would be very typical for that engine to use 0.5 up to 1 qt of oil.

PCV maint is a good idea, and I have found the factory ford PCV will work a little bit better than the fram.

Heavy towing? Do you cruise in OD cancel? Any heavy loads?

Any 5.4 3V that hasn’t had phasers, chains, guides, and oil pump updated by 138k miles is way past due.

This is one of the worst engines Ford ever built IMO. I’ve helped do about 5 of these at a family member’s mechanic shop and I don’t even turn wrenches for a living.

This particular shop has done dozens of these repairs and about the same amount of 5.4L replacements.

3k or 5k OCIs marginally help. It’s a poorly designed cam/phaser/guide setup.

 

[ripcord]

Any 5.4 3V that hasn’t had phasers, chains, guides, and oil pump updated by 138k miles is way past due.

This is one of the worst engines Ford ever built IMO. I’ve helped do about 5 of these at a family member’s mechanic shop and I don’t even turn wrenches for a living.

This particular shop has done dozens of these repairs and about the same amount of 5.4L replacements.

3k or 5k OCIs marginally help. It’s a poorly designed cam/phaser/guide setup.

260K+ miles on mine without touching engine internals and the valve train still isn't noisy. I guess we got lucky.

 

[billt460]

How many different motors has Ford had in the Raptor? Didn't they have a 7. something V8 at some point?