I have a 2003 Ford Crown Vic Sport and have logged 63K miles on it. I have used 5W30 oil instead of the recommended 5W20 since the first oil change. Has the life of the engine been deceased because of this? For most of the oil changes I have used Valvoline Durablend. Going forward, I will be using the Motorcraft synthetic blend. I live in a moderate climate: Oklahoma.
5W20 vs. 5W30
- Thread starter ArmPitt
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No one has shown hard-core, honest-to-God evidence that it matters one way or another if you use 5W20 or 5W30 in this motor. The advantage of 5W20 is better gas mileage, per documents that Ford Motors has published.
At least one major California law enforcement agency runs 15W40 in the Crown Vic Police Interceptors, per an article in Police Fleet Manager.
Basically, don't sweat 5W20 vs 5W30. Either will likely turn great used oil analyses (UOAs) in your car.
I VOTE 5/30. YOUR SUMMERS ARE VERY HOT.
Good choice. Since it meets Ford's WSS-M2C929-A spec, it's less likely to shear out like many of the cheapo dino 5w30s.
Castrol, Pennzoil, and Havoline also meet that spec. Not sure what Castrol product meets it, but the Pennzoil and Havoline products are the standard $1.50/quart oil.
since you have 63k miles and out of warranty. keep using the 5w30. Motorcraft 5w30 synthetic blend for $1.42 at walmart is a good suggestion. Most likely engine longevity hasn't been affected. What's your mileage goal for this vehicle? 300k miles? with a 03 with 63k miles on 5w30, your racking up a ton of miles in a hurry. I hope your not doing 3k changes. it would be nice to see a vehicle here spec for 5w20 and run on 5w30 and make it 200k miles plus. then that would put the rest about 5w20 for cafe reasons only.
All Climate dino meets the spec too.
Sounds like most 5W-30 oils will meet it eventually.
Here is my latest UOA's on 5w-30 and 5w-20,not much difference....
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=001972
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=001972
So far, you've got some good observations, and I'd agree with all of what's been said. Unfortunately, this info does not really tell you all that much about your engine. If you want to start getting a concrete idea about where your engine is, grab a sample at the next change and get it analyzed. It will probably come back just fine, but on the other hand, in some cases, you'll get a warning that it's time to do something different.
As long as you get the GF-4 versions of these 5w20/5w30 oils, you'll probably find they meet the Ford specs.
However, last time I was in the local Wally World, ALL brands of dinos on the shelves except the Motocraft were still GF-3/SL old stock. And virtually all of them were priced higher than the $1.42 Motocraft. YMMV.
And ekpolk's suggestion is a good one to check the health of your engine. If you find any problems, get a Dyson Analysis. Comments from the cheap seats are just that, cheap.
[ December 16, 2004, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: 427Z06 ]
Hey ArmPitt:
Like we told you over on the Crown Vic site---don't worry the 5-30. The 4.6 was designed around it. The 5-20 stuff is all about CAFE and MPG. You have a nice ride. I think you should invest in the Mobil 1 5-qt. containers at Wal Mart. A real, true, Group IV 5-30 synthetic.
FYI-The Crown Vics my buds saw in Saudi Arabia, were using 20-50!
Go fgure!
Like we told you over on the Crown Vic site---don't worry the 5-30. The 4.6 was designed around it. The 5-20 stuff is all about CAFE and MPG. You have a nice ride. I think you should invest in the Mobil 1 5-qt. containers at Wal Mart. A real, true, Group IV 5-30 synthetic.
FYI-The Crown Vics my buds saw in Saudi Arabia, were using 20-50!
We are running Pennzoil 10w-30 in the 5.4 mod motors in the F250 at work. No problems yet... I know several people in fleet use (the previous poster mentioned the Ca. police sept) that use 15w-40 and these trucks have gone 150-200000 miles. You have not hurt your engine, if anything you have helped it.
Don't worry. The Highway Patrol here in Kansas uses 10w-30 Trop Artic conventional oil with no ill effects. They normally put about 65,000 Miles on them before trade off. They have the Crown Vic just like you.
FYI - the Durablend 5w-30 meets the WSS-M2C929-A spec too.
Why is the WSS-M2C929-A significant ?
Why is the WSS-M2C929-A significant ?
From what I understand Ford has rigourous requirements to meet this standard. Here is the standard. http://www.ilma.org/resources/ford_service_fill_specs.pdf
The 4.6 was first designed and built when 5w30 was the recommeneded grade, so no worries.
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