Help with oil type in south florida

[rozay]

Hi guys i just bought a 2000 Ford Ranger 2.3l v4 manual today. truck as of today has 131,000 miles.The guy i bought the truck from said it doesnt burn oil.i forgot to ask what oil he used but the manual asks for 5w30. should i use high mileage oil or something else? what weight should i use. i will be using this truck for a pool business,so ill be driving it 5 days a week.

 

[umungus1122]

If it's not leaking I'd just use regular conventional 10 or 5w-30.

 

[901Memphis]

Maxlife 5w30

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: umungus1122

If it's not leaking I'd just use regular conventional 10 or 5w-30.

+1 - forget the HM oil unless you have issues. And even then, try and fix the issues if possible before using an oil with seal swellers.

 

[sicko]

So there are two trains of thought on the matter. One side says not to use HM oil until there's a problem, the other side says using it in advance will help prevent a problem from occurring. Pick which side you're on and make your purchase accordingly. As for viscosity, go with the 5w-30 your manual calls for. Any name brand conventional, semi-synthetic, or synthetic will work for you. By "name brand" I don't mean only the big name brands, smaller brands such as Warren (Super Tech), Trop Artic, 76 Super, or auto store brand oils will do just fine. In fact, if you live in an area where you can find Trop Artic on sale for around $2 a quart, that's a very hard deal to pass up considering how good that oil seems to be. If it were my vehicle, I'd be use 5w-30 MaxLife semi-synthetic. But I'm also a fan of MaxLife oil.

 

[rozay]

so ill be ok with conventional over syn? what brand should i use? i got a camaro and used pennzoil since day 1 and its been good to me

 

[dave1251]

If you are happy with Pennzoil just use it.

 

[JR]

5w-30/20 is my choice, 5w-20 is my preference. ford is near 35+years back spec tsb. -harvey

 

[rozay]

but that is syn. what brand is best at conventional oil?

 

[crazyoildude]

Great engine..I always use Pennzoil High mileage oil in the summer in my old high mileage engines Some leak and some have other issues but i like the high mileage oils. Can i fix my engines so they don't leak? Of course i own an engine shop but why should i use the space if High mileage oil works so well? Like i said i use pennzoil but im sure others work well also.

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted By: rozay

but that is syn. what brand is best at conventional oil?

All of them. But I have a preference to Pennzoil.

 

[Cujet]

I live here in S. Florida. My various Ford cars and trucks all have better UOA results and better real world results with 10W-30. Especially if the engines have cam phasers. The thin oil results in phaser "knocking" under high heat conditions.

 

[rozay]

i thought the xxW 30 didnt matter if its 0w 5w 10w down here in florida

 

[sicko]

Originally Posted By: rozay

but that is syn. what brand is best at conventional oil?

There is no best conventional oil, but all the name brand ones are good. Pennzoil, Mobil, Havoline, Valvoline, Castrol, Kendall, Shell, Super Tech (Warren), etc. They're all good, so pick the company you like best, and use it. When it comes to conventional oils, I like Mobil Super 5000, it was so smooth and quiet when I used it that I really liked it. It's my go-to conventional oil now. Either pick which manufacturer/oil you like best, or just continue to use Pennzoil. Pennzoil is an excellent conventional oil, definitely one of the best, so you can't go wrong using it. However, if you buy your oil from Walmart, i personally think it's better to go with Pennzoil Gold (Pennzoil's synthetic blend oil), because five quarts of the Pennzoil Gold only costs $1.50 more than five quarts of regular Pennzoil, and the Pennzoil gold is at least 50% synthetic.

 

[Andyge]

I have a 1993 ranger with a 2.3l v4 manual and I use QSGB 5w30. Andy

 

[bubbatime]

Pretty common for a 15 year old Ford to have leaky rear main seal or valve cover gaskets, etc. I'd run the cheapest conventional high mileage oil you can find, which could be Maxlife, QS Defy, Havoline High Mileage, or SuperTech High Mileage in 5W30 or 10W30.

 

[147_Grain]

MaxLife 5W-30

 

[GenaFishbeck]

Originally Posted By: rozay

Hi guys i just bought a 2000 Ford Ranger 2.3l v4 manual today. truck as of today has 131,000 miles.The guy i bought the truck from said it doesnt burn oil.i forgot to ask what oil he used but the manual asks for 5w30. should i use high mileage oil or something else? what weight should i use. i will be using this truck for a pool business,so ill be driving it 5 days a week.

Hi Rozay - We would recommend Pennzoil Platinum High Mileage 5W30 for your vehicle. The Pennzoil Platinum High Mileage is specifically formulated to help prevent sludge and other damaging deposits typically found in older engines. Additionally, it will actually help cleanup older engines by gently lifting sludge deposits off of engine surfaces (and dissolving them safely into the oil, so that these deposits can be taken out of the engine at your next oil change). This recommendation also allows you to stay with the original OEM recommendation of a quality 5W30 motor oil. Hope this helps! - The Pennzoil team

 

[rccsofla]

Why not just use Motorcraft 5w-30 semi-syn ?

 

[bigt61]

On a 15 year old work truck in S Fla, I'd just use SuperTech 10W-30 until I found out what issues the truck has. If it has no leaks, and you plan on keeping it, you can always move up to PYB. If it uses some oil, MaxLife blend (red bottle) is the way to go.