5w20? Apparently not for this 5.4L

Pennzoil motor oil
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To add another dimension to this thread, the 5.4 engine is noisy by nature at start-up. It is piston slap. I had a customer come in complaining bitterly about the noise on his three month old truck. He heard it for the first time a few days earlier. He was not content until he started several new trucks in stock and heard the same noise.

Now I'm not saying that the truck in question wasn't noisier than normal or that it did not quiet down with a fresh fill. I'm only saying that piston slap is a fact of life on a Ford 5.4. It is inherent in the design. It doesn't hurt a thing.
 
Originally Posted By: Liquid_Turbo
Hey Overkill,

Didn't you make a post a while back that said an oil change came out REALLY clean when you first bought the Expedition? Now the 5w20 came out filthy?


It IS his DAD'S expedition....
 
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
Originally Posted By: Liquid_Turbo
Hey Overkill,

Didn't you make a post a while back that said an oil change came out REALLY clean when you first bought the Expedition? Now the 5w20 came out filthy?


It IS his DAD'S expedition....


I think that he's referring to OVERKILL'S Expedition that showed visible grit in the filter after using M1 in the 20 flavor. He since moved on to T&TD 5w-40 ..but at the time remarked how much cleaning it did. I imagine it was a difference in chemistry. It didn't result in consumption ..but obviously disrupted some coke-like formations in the process.
 
Originally Posted By: Big Jim
To add another dimension to this thread, the 5.4 engine is noisy by nature at start-up. It is piston slap. I had a customer come in complaining bitterly about the noise on his three month old truck. He heard it for the first time a few days earlier. He was not content until he started several new trucks in stock and heard the same noise.

Now I'm not saying that the truck in question wasn't noisier than normal or that it did not quiet down with a fresh fill. I'm only saying that piston slap is a fact of life on a Ford 5.4. It is inherent in the design. It doesn't hurt a thing.


We've owned THREE 5.4L's, none of them have had piston slap or made any noise. This is the FIRST time ANY of them have made ANY noise. I attempted to make that clear in my first post.
 
Originally Posted By: chevrofreak
Perhaps if a better 5W-20 had been used.......


This same 5w20 didn't cause any weird noise in my 5.4L, or my dad's 4.6L from his Lincoln.

The difference? this engine was spec'd, and so subsequently run its entire life on 5w30 up until this OCI.
 
Originally Posted By: ADFD1
I wonder if this makes any sense. I read all these A-rX threads, talking about different noises an engine makes while its being cleaned and rinsed, then in time they go away and all is good. I know you didn't add A-rX, but perhaps the thinner oil was doing some cleaning, just like A-rX would do, and the noise was a result of the cleaning? You did say the oil came out disgusting, more so than normal. Maybe the oil was beat from doing some cleaning. I'm almost inclined to try it again, or to go back to what the engine was originally spec'd for and call it a day.


There was definitely cleaning. See the filter pics. But the noise isn't something I'm comfortable with, nor my dad. The 5w40 did cleaning in mine, so I would imagine the 0w40 is going to do it in dad's too. Maybe without the noise
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
Also some U Haul trailers HAVE to be TOWED with a FULL SIZE truck due to weight and possible loads. A 12 foot trailer loaded weighs over 5000 lbs as I towed one a few miles.

Bill



Thanks for bringing a shot of reality in here Bill, it is appreciated.

The trailer is a tandem:

http://u-haul.com/guide/index.aspx?equipment=trailer-6x12

I imagine he was very close if not at the 4,400lb limit for the GVWR for the trailer. He could have overloaded it too, making it the 5K you mentioned. I don't know for sure.
 
Originally Posted By: Liquid_Turbo
Hey Overkill,

Didn't you make a post a while back that said an oil change came out REALLY clean when you first bought the Expedition? Now the 5w20 came out filthy?


That was my Expedition, the '02 in my sig. This is the '00 owned by my parents.

The oil has never come out of this vehicle like this. It has always been relatively clean.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Maybe the oil was spent,


We'll know when I get the used oil analysis back from TOROMONT.

Quote:
and maybe it did do some cleaning.


It appears to have. Check out the filter pics.

Quote:
Millions of Fords are doing just fine on 5W20 oil. I know landscapers towing trailers off the back of F-Series P/U's 6 days a week, stop and go, using cheap 5w20 conventional, and these trucks are just fine.


Yes, but they are probably newer and had it since day one. As I said, this is this engine's FIRST run on 5w20. We weren't happy with it.
 
Overk1ll,

I remember you posted pics of when you changed the oil in this vehicle from Mobil 1 5w30 to Amsoil ASL 5w30 a while ago - how did that oil work in this truck (noise, consumption...etc...)?
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
Overk1ll,

I remember you posted pics of when you changed the oil in this vehicle from Mobil 1 5w30 to Amsoil ASL 5w30 a while ago - how did that oil work in this truck (noise, consumption...etc...)?


It worked out perfectly. No noise with the AMSOIL either. It got a change of Mobil 1 5w30 after that one. And then the 5w20.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I'd go back to 5W30. Or if you really want to run a 20 grade try another brand.


Well, we've gone to 0w40. We'll see how that works.
 
So dad just came over, told me it made a whole lot of noise on start-up this morning (embarrassingly loud), that then continued while they drove it for a number of blocks. As they were driving up one street, the noise just "stopped" completely.

I'm wondering if one of those wonderful carbon chunks is causing the chain tensioner to stick......
 
That could be a possibility, when sludge breaks off vs, being disolved anything can happen. All assumptions, give it a little time I guess.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
That could be a possibility, when sludge breaks off vs, being disolved anything can happen. All assumptions, give it a little time I guess.


That is the plan.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
That could be a possibility, when sludge breaks off vs, being disolved anything can happen. All assumptions, give it a little time I guess.


That is the plan.


+1
 
While not a 40 weight, my brother puts 5w30/10w30 in his 01' F150(5.4), which calls for 5w20. It has always run great on 30 weights. When we went camping, the temp was about 15'F and the truck started up great with no noises. He is terrible about changing the oil too, but the truck still runs good with 200,000 miles.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
That could be a possibility, when sludge breaks off vs, being disolved anything can happen. All assumptions, give it a little time I guess.


Just to extrapolate on this point a little:

This engine shouldn't have sludge though.

It was dealer-changed with whatever they use through warranty. From that point on, it got Mobil 1 5w30 and a variety of different filters, from PureONE's to K&N's....etc. Dad always changes way more frequently than I do, so I imagine it was in the neighbourhood of 5000-8,000Km MAX in terms of OCI's, driving is 80% highway.

It does NOT do a lot of towing. it has probably towed 5 or 6 times in our entire time owning it, though when it does tow, the distances are rather long.
 
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