I just hit 200000 miles on 5w20.

[JustinH]

The early 4.6L engines (up to 95) had the problem with leaky valve stem seals. It would burn oil and smoke.

The newer ones, especially this 01 PI motor is not prone to using oil.

 

[Gene K]

I must object! Everyone knows a engine will last indefinately on 9.30 cSt 5W-30 but will imediately self-destuct at the first sign of 9.29 cSt 5W-20....

 

[Earl Filter]

I was the fleet manager for a large limo company. We only had 4 stretch limos; the rest of our fleet was comprised of 45-50 Lincoln Town Cars from '98-'02 vintage with the same 4.6. These were airport pickup cars and executive transport, and were run about as hard as a patrol car (lots of idling with the A/C on). We had about 5 of them with 350k+ miles on them, another 15 with 250k-350k, and 20 with 150k-250k. Every single one was running on the original bottom end, as the owners would junk a car before putting an engine in it. We had some that had valve jobs, and they usually got a timing chain and tensioners around 200k-250k. We did 3000-3500 mile OCI with whatever 10w-30 bulk oil our shop used (and they bought by price), usually using Purolator filters. This doesn't have anything to do with 5w20, but does speak a lot for the 4.6 in the Panther platform cars. We did have one that turned into an oil consumer, and it had to be put to pasture...when it got to 410k miles.

 

[Patman]

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We had about 5 of them with 350k+ miles on them, another 15 with 250k-350k, and 20 with 150k-250k. Every single one was running on the original bottom end, as the owners would junk a car before putting an engine in it. We had some that had valve jobs, and they usually got a timing chain and tensioners around 200k-250k. We did 3000-3500 mile OCI with whatever 10w-30 bulk oil our shop used

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It would've been interesting to see how those engines would've done with 5 or 6k intervals, I bet they would've lasted just as long, with a lot less expense and less downtime.

 

[Earl Filter]

I tend to agree, if we were using even a decent quality oil. And, with all of the non-milage wear (ie. many hours of idling), I'm not sure that the 3k interval was too far off. The other issue is that while these cars didn't use a LOT of oil, the higher mileage ones may consume a little oil (a quart would be pretty common, or a little more) between changes. Do that out to 6k, and I bet some of them would run at least a couple quarts low, and the drivers sure weren't going to pop the hoods and look!

 

[Patman]

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I tend to agree, if we were using even a decent quality oil. And, with all of the non-milage wear (ie. many hours of idling), I'm not sure that the 3k interval was too far off. The other issue is that while these cars didn't use a LOT of oil, the higher mileage ones may consume a little oil (a quart would be pretty common, or a little more) between changes. Do that out to 6k, and I bet some of them would run at least a couple quarts low, and the drivers sure weren't going to pop the hoods and look!

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It's too bad you weren't still doing this job, as it would be interesting to see some oil analysis results on those vehicles, and to try out different oils as well. Having a fleet of cars like that to experiment with is a BITOGers dream!

 

[metroplex]

Most police-duty patrol cars are retired at 100k miles due to insurance reasons. Small municipalities tend to run their cars until they have enough of a budget to buy new cars or the old cars fall apart. Small municipalities also tend to idle their cars more often than drive them, let alone go WOT. So in other words, the actual abuse on the engine is minimal compared to 95% of the cars on the road. Your engine will wear out MUCH faster in short (10-15 miles) stop/go driving, which many people do to get to work, buy groceries, and do other stuff in their routine. A small town patrol car is going to idle more often than accumulate mileage (hence the addition of an hour meter in newer CVPIs) and the engine is almost always warmed up from idling (much less wear due to less startup cycling). I know several small towns with cars that have over 300k miles and use a variety of different engine oils (15W-40 dino, 20W-50 dino, etc...)

Long highway trips are also easier on the engine, exhaust, and body. The most abusive thing you can do to your car is short stop and go trips or events that call for continuous high RPM operation (racing).

 

[Doc8404]

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Also impressive here is the car is a police vehicle, so it probably does a lot of idling that does not even show on the odometer.

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gotta keep warm when you're sleeping!