1999 Ford Expedition v8 4.6L Oil suggestions

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Oct 11, 2020
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Hello all was wondering what the best choice of oil for my vehicle would be. I currently use pennzoil high mileage 5W-20. It has over 230K miles on it. I change the oil every 4 to 5 months since I don't usually travel that often per week. Wanted to know your thought on this and if there was a better oil to use in the vehicle. Also what is the best filter for it. Thanks!
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Any good oil will be fine Castrol I have found to be really good for older vehicles and keeping them sludge free along with Pennzoil and Valvoline in second for me. For filters I’ve always been a fan of Wix or Bosch. However I don’t know if I’d run 5W-20 in it I can’t think of a V8 that would take 5W-20 oil but if that’s what it calls for then it should be ok. I have a 1994 Ford Econoline with 5.8 and we use 10W-40 in it.
 
You should probably step up to a 5W-30, that’s what Ford originally spec’d the Modular engines for and they only went to 5W-20 for a negligible increase in fuel economy.

Motorcraft is a good filter, they’re reasonably cheap and easy to find.

Pennzoil HM is a good choice, though frankly at your stated intervals you’d be fine with pretty much ANY conventional you can find on a store shelf today.

If it were mine, I’d run SuperTech High Mileage 5W-30 and a Motorcraft FL-820S. $15 out the door at Wal-Mart.

Well, actually, I would run whatever bulk oil and jobber filter we had in the shop. But you probably don’t have that option.
 
You should probably step up to a 5W-30, that’s what Ford originally spec’d the Modular engines for and they only went to 5W-20 for a negligible increase in fuel economy.

Motorcraft is a good filter, they’re reasonably cheap and easy to find.

Pennzoil HM is a good choice, though frankly at your stated intervals you’d be fine with pretty much ANY conventional you can find on a store shelf today.

If it were mine, I’d run SuperTech High Mileage 5W-30 and a Motorcraft FL-820S. $15 out the door at Wal-Mart.

Well, actually, I would run whatever bulk oil and jobber filter we had in the shop. But you probably don’t have that option.

Sweet, yeah I think I actually have 5W-30 in it now. I just went off of Google's specs because I was not sure. Thanks for the reply!
 
You should probably step up to a 5W-30, that’s what Ford originally spec’d the Modular engines for and they only went to 5W-20 for a negligible increase in fuel economy.

I certainly don't mean to steer the thread toward a CAFE discussion, but do we know when and if any tolerances were changed in these engines which would make XW-30 unsuitable? Or were they spec'd the same throughout their production? Genuinely curious as I have two vehicles running the 4.6.
 
...However I don’t know if I’d run 5W-20 in it I can’t think of a V8 that would take 5W-20 oil but if that’s what it calls for then it should be ok. I have a 1994 Ford Econoline with 5.8 and we use 10W-40 in it.
Ford and Toyota have been calling for 5w-20 in their V8's for about 2 decades
I use xw-20 in my '02 5.4 V8, as have millions of vehicles for millions (if not billions) of miles with no issues.

Depending on what you read, the change for 5w-20 was to help the hydraulic cam shaft tensioners work quicker, these modular motors have issues with them.
 
Any good oil will be fine Castrol I have found to be really good for older vehicles and keeping them sludge free along with Pennzoil and Valvoline in second for me. For filters I’ve always been a fan of Wix or Bosch. However I don’t know if I’d run 5W-20 in it I can’t think of a V8 that would take 5W-20 oil but if that’s what it calls for then it should be ok. I have a 1994 Ford Econoline with 5.8 and we use 10W-40 in it.
I have also had good experience's with Castrol
 
Ford and Toyota have been calling for 5w-20 in their V8's for about 2 decades
I use xw-20 in my '02 5.4 V8, as have millions of vehicles for millions (if not billions) of miles with no issues.

Depending on what you read, the change for 5w-20 was to help the hydraulic cam shaft tensioners work quicker, these modular motors have issues with them.
At the dealership we always put 10W-30 in the V8s usually. But that’s good to know I know that Ford had changed it at one point I was originally told it was because the epa was banning 10w-40 but I knew that wasn’t true so I researched it further and found that some of them have the setup like you mentioned. My 1989 Mazda B2200 has hydraulic lash adjusters in it and always ticks when starting up until the oil gets there.
 
You should probably step up to a 5W-30, that’s what Ford originally spec’d the Modular engines for and they only went to 5W-20 for a negligible increase in fuel economy.

Motorcraft is a good filter, they’re reasonably cheap and easy to find.

Pennzoil HM is a good choice, though frankly at your stated intervals you’d be fine with pretty much ANY conventional you can find on a store shelf today.

If it were mine, I’d run SuperTech High Mileage 5W-30 and a Motorcraft FL-820S. $15 out the door at Wal-Mart.

Well, actually, I would run whatever bulk oil and jobber filter we had in the shop. But you probably don’t have that option.

Definitely step up to the 5W30. Ford spec’d that for the 2v 4.6 motors before going 5w20.

My ’02 GT consumes much less oil on 5w30.

I’m running a syn blend HM (Havoline) right now, but I ran Mobil1 and valvoline maxlife with no issues as well.

Ive used probably a dozen different filters, my favorites being the Fram Ultra XG2 (because I don’t have to change it every time.)
 
Hello all was wondering what the best choice of oil for my vehicle would be. I currently use pennzoil high mileage 5W-20. It has over 230K miles on it. I change the oil every 4 to 5 months since I don't usually travel that often per week. Wanted to know your thought on this and if there was a better oil to use in the vehicle. Also what is the best filter for it. Thanks!View attachment 31486
Any quality high mileage will do.. just make sure to use a quality filter also. I’d go with a wix
 
Any name brand 5w20 or 5w30 will work fine. The 4.6 2V are not that picky. There are literally hundreds of thousands of these that have run like this on all sorts of weights. I ran 5w20, 5w30, and 5w40 in my 2 4.6 powered F150's. 5w40 did drop fuel mileage enough to notice it in the 4.6 2V (and didn't in a different application), so I'd not bother going heavier (though many fleet units got this treatment).
 
Be mindful of that transmission fluid....

My mom's 99 Ford Expedition went through 2 transmissions and the third was going out when it finally had to put put of service for another too expensive of a repair...

The motors on those Ford's were actually quite good.

Transmissions... Not so good.
 
I certainly don't mean to steer the thread toward a CAFE discussion, but do we know when and if any tolerances were changed in these engines which would make XW-30 unsuitable? Or were they spec'd the same throughout their production? Genuinely curious as I have two vehicles running the 4.6.
I don't believe so. I do know that for the 4.6L 2V, the Romeo and Windsor engines were different from each other BUT internal parts were completely interchangeable from Day 1 until the end of production, so long as you had parts for a Romeo or a Windsor, whichever you were working on. Main differences I can think of were heads, crankshaft, main caps and bearings but there were some others.

Most '90s engines were back spec'd to 5W-20 in the early '00s, don't remember exactly when. No correlation to any design changes, I remember that distinctly.
Be mindful of that transmission fluid....

My mom's 99 Ford Expedition went through 2 transmissions and the third was going out when it finally had to put put of service for another too expensive of a repair...

The motors on those Ford's were actually quite good.

Transmissions... Not so good.
4R70W can be a stout transmission. I've seen several over 500k on the original fluid and filter. In my experience what kills them is a broken accumulator spring for gears 1-2, at first it would manifest itself as a slightly rough shift from 1-2 but quite quickly it would just burn up the clutches. Most people first noticed the issue when they went to accelerate from a stop and the truck didn't budge, at that point the trans was done.

These springs seemed to be worst in the late '90s transmissions, I never saw a 2000+ unit have an issue.

A few earlier ones also had issues, they were originally filled with Mercon but were then back spec'd to Mercon V, and a few were serviced with Mercon V and then later switched BACK to Mercon. Clutches would pretty much disentigrate in a few thousand miles. Similar to the 6R60/6R75/6R80 with Mercon SP.

I'd go so far as to argue that the 4R70W/4R100 is one of the best light truck transmissions out there, period. If I could only have one vehicle it would be a F-150 with a 5.4 and a 4R70W actually it'd be a 3/4 ton Dodge pickup with a slant six and an NP435 but you get the point.
 
I don't believe so. I do know that for the 4.6L 2V, the Romeo and Windsor engines were different from each other BUT internal parts were completely interchangeable from Day 1 until the end of production, so long as you had parts for a Romeo or a Windsor, whichever you were working on. Main differences I can think of were heads, crankshaft, main caps and bearings but there were some others.

Most '90s engines were back spec'd to 5W-20 in the early '00s, don't remember exactly when. No correlation to any design changes, I remember that distinctly.

4R70W can be a stout transmission. I've seen several over 500k on the original fluid and filter. In my experience what kills them is a broken accumulator spring for gears 1-2, at first it would manifest itself as a slightly rough shift from 1-2 but quite quickly it would just burn up the clutches. Most people first noticed the issue when they went to accelerate from a stop and the truck didn't budge, at that point the trans was done.

These springs seemed to be worst in the late '90s transmissions, I never saw a 2000+ unit have an issue.

A few earlier ones also had issues, they were originally filled with Mercon but were then back spec'd to Mercon V, and a few were serviced with Mercon V and then later switched BACK to Mercon. Clutches would pretty much disentigrate in a few thousand miles. Similar to the 6R60/6R75/6R80 with Mercon SP.

I'd go so far as to argue that the 4R70W/4R100 is one of the best light truck transmissions out there, period. If I could only have one vehicle it would be a F-150 with a 5.4 and a 4R70W actually it'd be a 3/4 ton Dodge pickup with a slant six and an NP435 but you get the point.


Well... My mom and step father would say that the 99 Ford Expedition transmission was not very good... Being it went out quite early in terms of mileage. The replacement was a Jasper transmission... Which was actually worse. A 75k mile warranty that was used.

Ford's, GM, Dodge did not have good automatic transmissions on average throughout the 80s into and through the 90s....

The 96 Toyota Avalon has it's orginal transmission with 320,000+ miles.... Never opened. Still runs just fine. Toyota, Honda and Nissan on average had much better transmissions in those vehicles throughout that same time frame. Again.... On the average... I still routinely see mid to late 90s Toyotas, and Hondas still on the road that are 20-25 years old. Much, much, much more often than any American vehicle from that same time frame. Why?? Because the vast majority of American vehicles from that time had big transmission issues...
 
I don't believe so. I do know that for the 4.6L 2V, the Romeo and Windsor engines were different from each other BUT internal parts were completely interchangeable from Day 1 until the end of production, so long as you had parts for a Romeo or a Windsor, whichever you were working on. Main differences I can think of were heads, crankshaft, main caps and bearings but there were some others.

Most '90s engines were back spec'd to 5W-20 in the early '00s, don't remember exactly when. No correlation to any design changes, I remember that distinctly.

4R70W can be a stout transmission. I've seen several over 500k on the original fluid and filter. In my experience what kills them is a broken accumulator spring for gears 1-2, at first it would manifest itself as a slightly rough shift from 1-2 but quite quickly it would just burn up the clutches. Most people first noticed the issue when they went to accelerate from a stop and the truck didn't budge, at that point the trans was done.

These springs seemed to be worst in the late '90s transmissions, I never saw a 2000+ unit have an issue.

A few earlier ones also had issues, they were originally filled with Mercon but were then back spec'd to Mercon V, and a few were serviced with Mercon V and then later switched BACK to Mercon. Clutches would pretty much disentigrate in a few thousand miles. Similar to the 6R60/6R75/6R80 with Mercon SP.

I'd go so far as to argue that the 4R70W/4R100 is one of the best light truck transmissions out there, period. If I could only have one vehicle it would be a F-150 with a 5.4 and a 4R70W actually it'd be a 3/4 ton Dodge pickup with a slant six and an NP435 but you get the point.

There were F150s with the 5.4/4R100 combo, seems the "max tow" package and 4x4 were required. My 98 F150 has that combo, 4R100 tranny is huge.
 
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