need opinions on this (5w20or 10w30)

[aztec12]

i been reading that mostly all 10w30 with time will become a 20 grade oil.so thats why i should just stick with 5w20 oil.i personaly think the 5w20 oil is just a fuel saving oil thats all!!!well im running 10w30 casrol syntec blend in my f150 4.6 and i really like it,the truck runs smooth and strong and quieter,so im ok with that plus havng a part syntetic in there just makes it better(something its better than nothing ahh!!)i think im just going to stick with 10w30 if it is true that it will thin out to a 20 grade oil its ok couse thats what ford recomends now anyway right?so i would think that 10w30 would be better than 5w20 or 5w30.but that its just my opinion tks.

P.S. my truck has 81k miles and its a 1998 model

 

[TallPaul]

I thought it was 5w30, not 10w30, that is said to sheer down to a 20 weight. Regardless, I recently beat on some Maxlife 10w30 in my motorhome for 4400 miles and it remained a 10w30. Valvoline spec sheet says it is 10.5 cSt. My used oil analysis said it ended up 10.3:

http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=001811

So I don't see any problem running a 10w30.

 

[mikemc]

Your truck is out of warranty so feel free to use 10w30. I would however use 5w20 or 5w30 oil in the winter. For the record, I don't think there has been a bad used oil analysis of Motorcraft 5w20 in a Ford modular V8.

[ August 15, 2004, 01:50 AM: Message edited by: mikemc ]

 

[mikep]

I don't think there is any reason to change what you've been using. You say the truck runs smooth, strong and quiet and with over 80,000 miles on it....why mess with success?

The only thing I would be tempted to do would be to switch the Syntec Blend for something like Havoline High Mileage 10w30 or Mobil Drive Clean Plus HM.

The truck seems to be doing just fine though so I'd be more inclined to not fix what ain't broke.

 

[Ugly3]

You are in NC, a relativly warm place. 10w30 would serve you just fine!

 

[Al]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ugly3:
You are in NC, a relativly warm place. 10w30 would serve you just fine!

---

Exactly. And as far as shearing.. 10w30 shears less than 5w30 (generally) and Synthetics shear less than conventional oils (generally). But I personally don't think shearing down affects the wear materals much, if at all based on the oil analysis we see here. Now if the OCI goes way beyond what it should and the oil is shot-then all bets are off.

 

[Gene K]

If it was my truck it would get the Motorcraft 5w30. I am not usually a big fan of 5w30 but its hard to beat a high quality group II/III blend for less than $1.50 Qt.

However the 10w30 Motorcraft is supposed to become a group II/III blend soon as well. Rumor is this change has already occured but the locally available product at least still uses the old containers and does not say hydrocracked/synthetic on the rear like the 5w30.

Gene