I bought a truck with 250k to use as a farm truck. It doesn’t leak oil and it doesn’t smoke but it’s using a quart of oil every 500 or so miles. I’m considering running a thicker oil to see if it slows consumption but I’ve seen so many oil experts online that say to not go heavier than the manufacturer recommended viscosity. It’s a 2004 F150 5.4L and the factory recommends 5w20. Twenty weight isn’t very thick. Would it be unspeakable to use good old 10w30?
I want to run a thicker oil but…
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My 2019 Toyota recommend 0w-16 but now has 5w-30 in it.
My Frontier recommends 5w-30 but has 5w -40 in it.
Who are these experts you speak of?
My Frontier recommends 5w-30 but has 5w -40 in it.
Who are these experts you speak of?
What are your climate temperatures? How is the truck used? Most common length of use ( minutes) ?
I still was using Quaker State conventional 10w-30 in everything back in ‘04. I would’ve been doing it from day one back then let alone after 250K miles. Mostly because I didn’t know any better or really care to. Go for it.
A handful of gurus on YouTube advise not to go thinner than the low number and not to go thicker than the high number of the factory oil. I just watched a video from TheMotorOilGeek that said as much.
I’m located in the Mississippi delta. Low temps rarely make it below the teens and thats only a few days a year. Summer has 30 days of 90-100 degree days. The truck is driven about 50 miles a week with 3 or 4 250 mile round trips per year. Most trips are around 20 minutes long.
Should I be thinking thicker oil or just adding a quart of Lucas?
I’m located in the Mississippi delta. Low temps rarely make it below the teens and thats only a few days a year. Summer has 30 days of 90-100 degree days. The truck is driven about 50 miles a week with 3 or 4 250 mile round trips per year. Most trips are around 20 minutes long.
Should I be thinking thicker oil or just adding a quart of Lucas?
But what viscosity?
Lucas! No!
I'd go with a 5w30, and see how it does, then you can go to a 10w 30 or a 5w40.
5w20 or 5w30.
The first number is the cold temperature pumpability. In Mississippi that number is virtually irrelevant to you. 0W, 5W-, 10W - doesn't matter in your case if your never below 0F.
The second number is the viscosity. Yours specs a 20 weight it seems. I would go up to xxw-30 and start there and see if the oil consumption goes down. What brand is mostly irrelevant. If your only going 50 miles a week then its going to take a while to figure out what helps.
If you wanted to try to improve things you could read through the Valvoline restore and protect threads and see if that might be an option for you.
YouTube! LOL!
In your area, I’d use m1 15w-50.
My 07 5.4l has had a steady diet of 5w-30 for at least the last 100k miles. Heavier oil is safe. 100%.
I have an email from Lake how to find which oil works best for my application. After several recommended steps with testing, he recommended moving up a grade. Moving up is not going to create any new problems.
Find a good-quality oil, like the Valvoline Restore & Protect or Mobil 1 mentioned earlier in a 5W-30 and use it without any additional oil additive. WalMart currently has some good oil sales happening. Consider moving up to a 5W-40, also.
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Around me farm trucks get whatever the tractors get, typically 15w40 or 5w40 whether gas or diesel.
I’ve had trucks that used oil without leaking or smoking before but not at this rate. I’m sure its burning it but not having any visible smoke is weird.
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