Going to try GC 0w30 in a 04 Ford SD 5.4...anyone else run it in a 5.4

[fatrat540]

After reading all the hype and praise about this oil, I went out and bought six quarts of this at my local Autozone. I gasped at the price, $5.19 a quart. I bought it anyway, says made in Germany on back. I bought a 2004 Ford Super Duty back in Sept. of 2004. It has a 5.4 gas in it. I have been running MC 5w20 in it until I change it to the GC. My last Ford truck went over 300,000 miles on regular MC in a 302 V8. My brother in law works at a Ford dealership in parts, so I always got the oil really, really cheap . I am going to run this GC for 8,000 to 10,000 miles and beat the snot out of this oil, (everyday work truck) truck already has 31,000 miles on it and then run a UOA on it. I was running the MC 5w20 at 5,000 mile changes. Who else runs GC in a Ford modular engine? Do you like this oil? Thanks!!

 

[medic]

I am on my first run with GC in my F150 4.6L. I am beating this oil up the exact opposite way you are - many very short trips (in cold weather lately). So far I have no complaints. I will be draining this shortly and doing a UOA. It should have around 6k miles and 9 months on it by then. If it can handle my abuse, it should be able to handle yours without a problem.

 

[97tbird]

I ran GC in my mod 4.6L (Tbird) once for about 4000 miles. UOA was OK, Iron very low, but Lead a little high. However, due to new various idle racket noises with GC at starting, I didn't run GC again. Now running mix of MC 5/30 and MC 15/40(4:1 ratio). engine sounds great.

 

[haley10]

I absolutely love GC. I don't use it in the Ford modular though (Lincoln Navigator). I couldn't work out the economics. These engine work so well with the Motorcraft stuff, I didn't see how to improve things. Yours will be a good experiment and very useful to bitog members.

 

[2004 F150 4x4]

fatrat540, don't know if it helps you but here is what I did. At 501 miles, drained factory fill and added Valvoline 5w-20 with new filter, ran to a hair over 1500 miles and drained and added Pennzoil 5w-20 with new filter, ran to 4555 miles and drained and added Pennzoil 10w-30 with new filter. Truck is running good, no noticeble effect on gas mielage or power, In fact recorded my all time high mileage on hwy right after changing to the 10w-30, running about 60 mph(tailwind?) got 23 mph on a 30 mile trip. Also if your truck is new if you go with Pennzoil they will give you an extnded warranty of 10yr/250000 miles. Good Luck and if you go with GC let us know how it does in the 5.4l in a Super Duty.

 

[eklock]

I've got nearly 1700 miles on GC 0w-30 in my 5.4. The motor is very quiet at start up in temps as low as 22*F. My driving consists of a 2-mile commute to work and occasional errands around town. Very few if any highway miles for my truck lately. So far no complaints from me.

 

[fatrat540]

since this tuck now has just hit 32,000 miles, I will run MC 5w20 until the end of this month. I will put the german castrol 0w30 start of february. I decided I will run this oil for at least 12,000 miles, and I will beat the snot out of this oil and see what all the hoopla is about this stuff, I beat my trucks hard. I will get a UOA done and see if it is smart $money wise$ to run this any more. Since I always get my MC oil and filters for a really nice price from family member in the Ford parts business.

 

[haley10]

Fatrat, you'll never get your money's worth out of GC on the Ford. The economics aren't there. 12K and beating the truck is a stretch. GC doesn't work miracles nor does Castrol claim extended drain intervals over Ford recommendations. Bitog will love the experiment though.

 

[fatrat540]

my point is I got over 300,00 miles on a 1996 f-150 with a 302 v8 in it before i got this in sept. 2004. All i used in that was plain old mc 15w40 from the time it hit 100k till its timely death. 10w30 mc from new until 100k. I am running mc 5w20 in this now and doing 5k changes on it. Except for the 8k trip out to seattle and in between I avg. 4500 to 6000 a month, so 12,000 miles will only take me about 3 months. I figure since this is a full synthetic oil with it seems like magical powers, this could do 12k no problem.

 

[fatrat540]

2004 F1504X4.....That is great MPG 23 to the gallon. I wish I could even get close to that. On my trip out west to see some family I was doing 65mph to 75mph I averaged only 17.4 without any load. But I guess that is not too bad since generally I average between 11 to 13 miles to the gallon, depending on load, traffic, idle time, lots of WOT, ect..know a guy with a 2005 f-350SD with the V-10 and gets 8-9 miles to gallon around town, and 10 on highway, sometimes 11. But 23mpg that is awesome!

 

[MNgopher]

23 mpg on a 30 mile trip Not exactly a long term statistical trend. Just as a point, the shorter the trip and or the smaller the fillup, the more potential for error in a fuel mileage calculation. Heck, on my father in laws Durango with the 5.9 I can get 99 mpg doing 60+ mph. Of course thats going down a steep mountain pass for a short mileage, but you get my point. My '97 F150 4.6l V8 recorded a peak fuel mileage of 21.5 mpg. This was on a 400+ mile tank of gas leaving Wyoming to Nebraska with one heck of a tailwind. Didn't hurt that truck had 3:08 gearing, was a 2WD, and had the small stock P235/70/R16 all season tires on it either. Long term, it averaged 17 mpg. Now my '99 only averages 15 mpg, and very occasionally pokes above 20 under the right conditions (like once per year)...

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by MNgopher: 23 mpg on a 30 mile trip Not exactly a long term statistical trend.

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Maybe he meant 300 mile trip and simply forgot the extra zero at the end.

 

[2004 F150 4x4]

Patman, I can only wish that were the case. No this was a 30(thirty) mile trip. I know it does'nt prove anything, I normally get around 15mpg back and forth to work, my son's school etc... But it surprised me to get this mileage even on this short trip. I had just change the oil to Pennzoil 10w-30 that morning. It was New Years Eve and we were going to my brother-in-laws house in Argyle.(mostly hwy/some city) I drove about 1 mile to a Chevron and filled up. I reset the truck computer and hopped on the hwy. At one point the mpg showed 24mpg for a while and this actually scared me as I was thinking something might be wrong with using a 10w-30 in a truck that calls for 5w-20?? Anyhoo I always do this right after I fill up and this is the highest I have ever seen it. This is with 3.73LS rear-end, 5.4L and 4x4. I thought it was kinda odd. Mileage since then has been about the same as running the 5w-20 so maybe there was some sort of tali-wind or something.