98 F-150 4.6L, Oil Recomendation

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Hi All,
Ever since I picked up my Focus I have been checking out this site. I love it. So I have a question for all the Ford guys out there. My dad has a 98 F-150 with the 4.6L. He has been using M1 10w30 Dino since he bought it with 75K Miles on it. Its now upto 130000 and he is due for an oil change in a week or so. He was telling me he was lookin at a Syn or Semi Syn. I recommended the Motorcraft 5w20 because of the good price and good UOAs I have seen on here. Any suggestions??

Eric
01 Focus - Motorcraft 5w20
99 Maxima - Castrol Syntec Blend 10w30
 
I'm a bit confused as to the oil your father is now using. Is it Mobil 1 10W-30 synthetic oil or Mobil 10W-30 dino oil? In all honesty I'd just keep using the same oil, it seems to work, unless he's using/burning oil. That way he can't blame you if something goes wrong shortly after you change the oil. Trust me, been there done it! The truck originally required 5W-30 dino oil though other owners seem to use a true synthetic 10W-30 without problems in many climates. As far as using Ford spec'd 5W-20 oil Ford says it's preferred over regular/dino 5W-30 originally spec'd. If your climate gets cold then a true synthetic 5W-30 or the Motorcraft 5W-20 will be better for engine wear at start up and general cold temp wear plus better than dino 5W-30 oil for wear when warm.

Whimsey
 
It is M1 10w30 Dino that he is using. It is using a little bit of oil between changes (We do a 3000 mile OCI). He was looking at Castrol Syntec Blend and I recommended the Motorcraft 5w20 due to Ford saying it was OK and the good UOAs I have seen. I know the UOAs are all from New or Almost new vehicles, but I think it is still a good oil (Thats why im using it)

Eric
01 Focus - Motorcraft 5w20
99 Maxima - 10w30 Castrol Syntec Blend
 
I think switching from 10w30 to 5w20 would cause problems with that many miles on it.

I personally would stick with somethingw30.

Hey, remember that show 30 Something? Sorry, just popped into my head.
 
quote:

Originally posted by darkdan:
I think switching from 10w30 to 5w20 would cause problems with that many miles on it.

I personally would stick with somethingw30.

Hey, remember that show 30 Something? Sorry, just popped into my head.


I agree. At this point I personally wouldn't make the switch over to the 5w-20.

I would probably try one of the "High Mileage" oils. Castrol High Mileage, Mobil Drive Clean Plus High Mileage or Pennzoil High Mileage. These are all synthetic blends with some seal conditioning agents and most seem to have decent additive packages. Havoline also makes a high mileage synthetic blend but nobody here yet has reported on it. Based on my own personal experiences with Havoline products I wouldn't hesitate to try it.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Jackpot01:
It is M1 10w30 Dino that he is using. It is using a little bit of oil between changes (We do a 3000 mile OCI). He was looking at Castrol Syntec Blend and I recommended the Motorcraft 5w20 due to Ford saying it was OK and the good UOAs I have seen. I know the UOAs are all from New or Almost new vehicles, but I think it is still a good oil (Thats why im using it)

Eric
01 Focus - Motorcraft 5w20
99 Maxima - 10w30 Castrol Syntec Blend


Mobil 1 10W30 is Synthetic (All oils labeled Mobil 1 are Synthetic)

Mobil Driveclean 10W30 is Dino aka Conventional Oil

Advantages to Motorcraft 5W20 are it is a Synthetic Blend and will increase fuel mileage a little because of lower vicosity. It is available for $1.42 QT at Wal-Mart.

Mobil 1 10W30 It is about $19.77 a 5 QT Jug ($3.95 QT) at the local Wal-Mart and will likely improve mileage slightly over current Dino (assuming it is Dino) because it is generally slightly thinnner than most Dinos. It would in my opinion be better than the 5W20 if you wanted to go to longer drains and for Severe Duty use.

My gut says use Mobil 1 10W30 if you are willing to pay the price on a engine with 130,000 ml.

I would prefer the MC 5W20 over any oil available for less than $2.00 QT in this application as I am a little leary of 15W40 HDEO in a OHC engine designed to use 5W-30/20.

If you decide to use the MC 5W20 a UOA on the second fill of Motorcraft 5W20 might prove useful as samples from high mileage vehicles seem pretty rare for this oil.

I would think the the MC 5W20 could go 5,000 ML and the M1 10W30 7,500 ML on this engine with little worry under normal service conditions.

I know it is heresy on this sight but I am starting to believe in many cases vicosity is the least important thing about a oil.

Gene
 
Another reason I looked at the MC 5w20 for him was that almost all of the VOA's on the 5w20's (Conoco included) showed signs of it being close to a 5w30. So why not? The additives are good for the most part. One thing I dont know is if he is using Mobil 1 or Mobil.....That is the big question. He might have been getting it from work so it might be Mobil 1 and he didnt realize how good of an oil he has been running.

Eric
01 Focus - Motorcraft 5w20
99 Maxima - Castrol Syntec Blend 10w30
 
With that many miles I would do an Auto-Rx flush and consider the Chevron/Havoline/Pennzoil dino oil. Think it would be more to your advantage to clean out your engine and see from there. If you want the High Mileage oil with some esters in them that would do fine also.
 
I like Dad's idea of the Syntec Blend.
grin.gif

He may see less consumption if that's a concern and it can go well beyond 3K.

I'd let him roll with that idea.
 
Thanks Haley,
The main thing is that he isnt looking for extending his OCI, he just wants a Semi Syn. So my guess is that the Motorcraft 5w20 on a 3000m OCI will be just fine. I am definatly gonna get a UOA on it once it runs it rounds.

Eric
01 Focus - Motorcraft 5w20
99 Maxima - Castrol Syntec Blend 10w30
 
If you really want to switch to the 5w20, I wouldn't think twice about doing it. I switched my '97 F150 with over 160,000 miles on the odometer over from running Valvoline Durablend 5w30 to Motorcraft / Conoco 5w20. It suffered no ill effects and there was no change in oil consumption. Of course, I have no UOA to back up whether or not it did any good because I sold the truck before the next interval...

Of course, the ol if it ain't broke don't fix it rule also works well too!

And someone mentioned not wanting to use a "thick" diesel oil in one of these motors, I'm over a 1000 miles into an OCI on my '99 F150 trying 5w40 rotella. We'll see how a "thick" oil fares in a mod motor yet...
 
quote:

Originally posted by MNgopher:
If you really want to switch to the 5w20, I wouldn't think twice about doing it. I switched my '97 F150 with over 160,000 miles on the odometer over from running Valvoline Durablend 5w30 to Motorcraft / Conoco 5w20. It suffered no ill effects and there was no change in oil consumption. Of course, I have no UOA to back up whether or not it did any good because I sold the truck before the next interval...

Of course, the ol if it ain't broke don't fix it rule also works well too!

And someone mentioned not wanting to use a "thick" diesel oil in one of these motors, I'm over a 1000 miles into an OCI on my '99 F150 trying 5w40 rotella. We'll see how a "thick" oil fares in a mod motor yet...


I didnt say it wouldnt work. Its just most of them are Heavy-Forty Weights and I have not seen many UOA or reports on how they behave on these oils. I just was a little hesitant about the Dino 15W-40 versions. I would not have much trepidation about a 5W-40 like Shell Rotella T Synthetic ($12 gal). A friend has been running the MaxLife in his 1996 4.6L Mustang ever since it was introduced so I know a heavy 10W-30 works.

Gene
 
I switched to mc 5w20 on my wife's 98 expedition 5.4 at 80,000 miles. Two 6,000 mi oci's later. zero consumption and about 1.5 mpg better than the previously used pennzoil 5w30 (mostly). I doubt you will have any problems with switching back to 5w20 ....after all, the manufacturer reccomends it. IMO it will work.
 
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