Just curious. I have an Aerostar 3.0 and was thinking of trying a thicker oil. Maybe not 10w40 but perhaps 50/50 10w30/10w40. Why do I want to go thicker? Why not?
Anybody running 10w40 in Ford pushrod 3.0 V6 and why?
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TallPaul,
Are you "using" lots of oil with the 10W-30 and how does it run and feel with the 10W-30? I had a 1991 Taurus with that Vulcan engine. I used 10W-30 and it ran fine and never used any oil in the 100,000+ miles I and my family had it. I believe that somebody just did an UOA with that engine and using 5W-20 and it came out REAL good. Especially considering it's an old design pushrod engine
. I don't understand the desire to go to thicker oils than what the manufacture recommends, especially since 10W-30 is not a "water thin" like oil as the "dreaded" 5W-20.
I look at it this way. If you can't run your vehicle satifactorly on the oil grade/viscosity recommended by the manufacture then you have mechanical problems. And going to a thicker oil may buy you some time but the problem is still there
.
I guess if you want to experiment then do an UOA with the 10W-30 and run the 10W-40 for the same mileage and preferably during similar seasonal conditions and do an UOA for it. Otherwise I feel that using a thicker oil than recommended you just end up using more fuel, losing power and possibly increasing wear.
OK! my flame proof boxers are on
.
Whimsey
Are you "using" lots of oil with the 10W-30 and how does it run and feel with the 10W-30? I had a 1991 Taurus with that Vulcan engine. I used 10W-30 and it ran fine and never used any oil in the 100,000+ miles I and my family had it. I believe that somebody just did an UOA with that engine and using 5W-20 and it came out REAL good. Especially considering it's an old design pushrod engine
I look at it this way. If you can't run your vehicle satifactorly on the oil grade/viscosity recommended by the manufacture then you have mechanical problems. And going to a thicker oil may buy you some time but the problem is still there
I guess if you want to experiment then do an UOA with the 10W-30 and run the 10W-40 for the same mileage and preferably during similar seasonal conditions and do an UOA for it. Otherwise I feel that using a thicker oil than recommended you just end up using more fuel, losing power and possibly increasing wear.
OK! my flame proof boxers are on
Whimsey
Have you considered a high-mileage 10w-30?
Your van reminded me of my families Aerostar. My parents bought it new in 1990, and hauled it to the junk yard 7 years later. They had put 220,000 miles on the van before the head gasket went out. Unfortunately the downside to the Aerostar was that no one would work on it. Even the Ford dealer couldn't change all 6 spark plugs without adding an additional $120 to the bill. They eventually found someone that supposedly rebuilt the engine and tranny, but it was never the same again.
-T
-T
Actually it consumes a quart in a little over 1000 miles. Always had, since we got it at 27,000 miles (now 106,000). It runs absolutely great, winds out nicely, and has pretty good power for the 3.0. No oil smoke that I am aware of either. So while I didn't think about it, yeah, reduced consumption is a reason to thicken the oil. I have an extra oil pressure gauge I should install to see where that is as it might help decide on oil thickness (don't want to go to high of pressure).
Good point. I ran a load of Maxlife through it. Then went to Synpower (free batch) 10w30 thinking the lower NOACK (8%) might reduce consumption. Didn't, even after adding 2/3 quart 15w50!
TallPaul,
Are you considering strictly dinos? Maybe you want to run the Xw30s in the winter and one of the HDEOs in the summer?
Are you considering strictly dinos? Maybe you want to run the Xw30s in the winter and one of the HDEOs in the summer?
Or use some of that Valvoline Synpower Oil Treatment to thicken up your Xw30 of choice.
I'll be changing it out soon as the Synpower (mixed with a few oz of Redline) has gotten very dirty (on blotters) in 1600 miles--cleaning effect? Anyway, since the season is moving towards warmer and it is garaged, I can go thicker. Have 6 qts NAPA Synth 10w30 and 6 NAPA synth 15w50. Could do a 50/50 for the summer and see what happens. Just was reluctant to up the viscosity too much w/o an oil pressure gauge, but 10w40 probably not going too far. 4.5 qt sump. Can try 2 15w50 and 2.5 10w30 aprox 10.9 cSt and 18.4 cSt to get 14.2 cSt. Might work.
Hmmm, HDEO, a 15wXX could help reduce consumption too. May be worth a try sometime, but if 40 wt works, may switch over to Synpower 5w40 year round.
Hmmm, HDEO, a 15wXX could help reduce consumption too. May be worth a try sometime, but if 40 wt works, may switch over to Synpower 5w40 year round.
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I ran Delvac 1300 in my daughter's Taurus during an Auto-Rx clean phase. Aside from one momentary rattle upon the first start, it had no issues with it. The car, almost exclusively, runs a 220 mile one way trip from home to college and back. Consumption appears to be "by the hour of operation" in that, when home over the summer, it consumes much more per mile for the short trips without regard to the time the oil has been in service. It does have minor leakage issues ..but none that I would consider contributing significantly to the consumption rate. Fuel economy on long runs is uneffected by viscosity ..or so it appears in her case. Her short trip mileage has not been accurately monitored though.
The engine runs flawlessly aside from the slightly rough idle which appears to be a characteristic of this engine. I believe that it has around 130k on it.
I now have MC 5w-20 in it and it appears to care less ..just as it didn't complain with the 15w40. Due to her oddball use (lots during the breaks ..and none during the semester) it gets changed when ever it's around here long enough to do it.
(side note) Due to the perponderance of evidence supporting the belief that women are negligent in maintaining their cars, I've repeatedly asked my daughter "Did you check the oil?". She responded many times with "It's says SAFE". I then took the oportunity to check it myself (a crippling affliction once you've joined BITOG) ...There is no "SAFE" on her dipstick.
This may be an "oil neutral" engine
The engine runs flawlessly aside from the slightly rough idle which appears to be a characteristic of this engine. I believe that it has around 130k on it.
I now have MC 5w-20 in it and it appears to care less ..just as it didn't complain with the 15w40. Due to her oddball use (lots during the breaks ..and none during the semester) it gets changed when ever it's around here long enough to do it.
(side note) Due to the perponderance of evidence supporting the belief that women are negligent in maintaining their cars, I've repeatedly asked my daughter "Did you check the oil?". She responded many times with "It's says SAFE". I then took the oportunity to check it myself (a crippling affliction once you've joined BITOG) ...There is no "SAFE" on her dipstick.
This may be an "oil neutral" engine
Maybe on the trans dipstick there is?
I take it she's attending Law School.quote:
Originally posted by Gary Allan:
She responded many times with "It's says SAFE". I then took the opportunity to check it myself (a crippling affliction once you've joined BITOG) ...There is no "SAFE" on her dipstick.
I'm going to assume you me "oil viscosity neutral."quote:
Originally posted by Gary Allan:
This may be an "oil neutral" engine
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No ..that will be the "distinguished honors" daughter that's still in high skewl. She's already got every high dollar private college priming her as a sophmorequote:
I take it she's attending Law School.
I was going for that NASCAR "aero-neutral" sound.quote:
I'm going to assume you mean "oil viscosity neutral."
Possibly ..but she admits that she was just blowing smoke up my arse to shut me up. I obsess on it (it appears as fathers advance in age ..they tend to redundnatly reinforce certain things figuring that they will be heeded) and she apparently was satisfied that she did the assigned task with enough frequency to be "SAFE".
I ran the Viscosity Calculator on the NAPA oils and came up with the following for a 4.5 qt sump:
NAPA Synthetic 10w30 is 10.7 cSt at 100C
NAPA Synthetic 15w50 is 18.42 cSt at 100C
10w30 / 15w50 / 100C viscosity
2.5 qt / 2 qt / 13.7
3 at / 1.5 qt / 12.8
Alternately, I could drain some of my current brew, which figures to about 11.7 cSt and add just one or two qts 15w50, which would get
Amt 15w50 / 100C viscosity
1 qt / 12.9
1.5 qt / 13.6
2 qt / 14.3
Two quarts would about half clean up the oil and I could run it maybe a thousand more miles. Filter is oversized FL1A and so probably ok since I only have 1700 miles (about, I think now) in 4 months. That way, if it is too thick I won't feel guilty if I drain it early.
So now I am thinking that's what I will do, replace 2 quarts. Oh, did I say I added 7 oz Synpower Oil Treatment last Saturday? Yeah, wondered if it would help keep the blotter from closing in so bad, maybe carry the dirt better, but does not seem to have helped in that respect (after about 100 miles). Also meant to put in a couple ounces, but it came out the bottle too fast--oops. Boy, I am getting a regular witches' brew here again.
But I am having a lot of fun!
NAPA Synthetic 10w30 is 10.7 cSt at 100C
NAPA Synthetic 15w50 is 18.42 cSt at 100C
10w30 / 15w50 / 100C viscosity
2.5 qt / 2 qt / 13.7
3 at / 1.5 qt / 12.8
Alternately, I could drain some of my current brew, which figures to about 11.7 cSt and add just one or two qts 15w50, which would get
Amt 15w50 / 100C viscosity
1 qt / 12.9
1.5 qt / 13.6
2 qt / 14.3
Two quarts would about half clean up the oil and I could run it maybe a thousand more miles. Filter is oversized FL1A and so probably ok since I only have 1700 miles (about, I think now) in 4 months. That way, if it is too thick I won't feel guilty if I drain it early.
So now I am thinking that's what I will do, replace 2 quarts. Oh, did I say I added 7 oz Synpower Oil Treatment last Saturday? Yeah, wondered if it would help keep the blotter from closing in so bad, maybe carry the dirt better, but does not seem to have helped in that respect (after about 100 miles). Also meant to put in a couple ounces, but it came out the bottle too fast--oops. Boy, I am getting a regular witches' brew here again.
But I am having a lot of fun!
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(mythical MA meeting)
My name is TallPaul and I'm an oil mixerholic
I like that calculator. It showed that I only needed 1 quart in 5 to reduce 15w40 to a xw-30 weight with the 10w (20).
I too cannot resist buying the Synpower Oil Treatment. I've only used one bottle so far ..but I have 6
Just another untainted UOA ...and I can go hog wild
My name is TallPaul and I'm an oil mixerholic
I like that calculator. It showed that I only needed 1 quart in 5 to reduce 15w40 to a xw-30 weight with the 10w (20).
I too cannot resist buying the Synpower Oil Treatment. I've only used one bottle so far ..but I have 6
We had a 3.0L 89 Ford Aerostar. The headgasket blew under warranty. It was the second year the 3.0L was in the Aerostar. It was soo old, the transmission shifter was located on the floor. I've changed the spark plugs on that thing so many times that it takes me less than one hour. First two, through the hood. The next two through the wheel fenders, the last two under the vehicle or even the little unlaching port from the interior.
ANYWAY. Great engine, poor transmission. At a certain point in time, I believe at around 80-100K miles, we switched to 10W40 and ran it like that til we sold it with 202K miles. It only burned about 1/2 a quart every 3K miles. Most of the time, we went overboard on OCIs. We were a busy family. The van went 8K after we sold it. The brother of the second owner, ran it without oil or something and they had to have the engine rebuilt because the headgasket blew again. It's still running though. The family we sold it to loves it. It was a very reliable vehicle. but 10w40 is a good choice.
ANYWAY. Great engine, poor transmission. At a certain point in time, I believe at around 80-100K miles, we switched to 10W40 and ran it like that til we sold it with 202K miles. It only burned about 1/2 a quart every 3K miles. Most of the time, we went overboard on OCIs. We were a busy family. The van went 8K after we sold it. The brother of the second owner, ran it without oil or something and they had to have the engine rebuilt because the headgasket blew again. It's still running though. The family we sold it to loves it. It was a very reliable vehicle. but 10w40 is a good choice.
Amazing, huh? Some would lead you to believe that running such a viscous oil in this engine would cause it to seize right up!
Yep, 427Z06 tipped me off on the calculator. I had heard that mixing two viscosities does not result in an arithmetic mean of the two, but somewhat lower. The calculator does come in below the mean. Also, you don't need the 40C figures, just dummy numbers as they only affect viscosity index, not the 100C result. There is a table that does the same thing as the caclulator, but the calculator is much handier.
That is a very good product from the VOA on this site, apparently much better than the Maxlife Engine Protector. I heard that some UOAs using the Synpower OT had lower iron than without.quote:
I too cannot resist buying the Synpower Oil Treatment. I've only used one bottle so far ..but I have 6Just another untainted UOA ...and I can go hog wild
Found this in the dictionary under TallPaul:
Perfect!quote:
Originally posted by 427Z06:
Found this in the dictionary under TallPaul:
So accounting for the Synpower I was already up to about 13.2 cSt (using the vis calculator link), and tonight I drained some off (love that Fram Sure Drain valve) and added back in 40 oz of the 15w50, making it now 14.4 cSt. I expect the oil to look pretty clean next blotter after I run it 50 or so miles tomorrow.
Well the 14.4 cSt has been feeling sort of sluggish, kind of like the parking brake is slightly on. Drove it 90 miles that way so far and no change, so it's not the computer needing to adjust. Needs more pedal and seems to accelerate slower. Well that was an interesting test anyway. Will drive a couple more days and then change out.
It was fine at a calculated 13.2 cSt after some 15w50 and the Synpower. But I don't see a lot of advantage. Probably will run one qt 15w50 with the rest 10w30. Thicken it up just a bit. Then move into the Maxlife Synthetic I just bought on sale (16 qts at $2 ea
), which already is thicker (11.5 cSt)
[ February 05, 2005, 07:56 PM: Message edited by: TallPaul ]
It was fine at a calculated 13.2 cSt after some 15w50 and the Synpower. But I don't see a lot of advantage. Probably will run one qt 15w50 with the rest 10w30. Thicken it up just a bit. Then move into the Maxlife Synthetic I just bought on sale (16 qts at $2 ea
[ February 05, 2005, 07:56 PM: Message edited by: TallPaul ]
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