Aside from running no oil at all, the Ford 2.3/2.5 4cyl OHC motors are totaly bulletproof. I would put money on them being as good as anything from Toyota, Honda,etc. I am familiar with the rattle noise that you are speaking of. It happens when the RPM's are coming down with no load on the motor (It is valvetrain noise and is nothing to worry about). I have had a couple 4 banger Rangers, they both ran excellent, and were whisper quiet on 5w30 or 10w30 Havoline Dino. I did run Amsoil 5w30 in my 98 2.5 for a while with great results, The Mobil 1 was noisy. I would suggest trying a quality dino and see if it is quieter. I am not putting down synthetics, but my experience with these motors is that they like conventional oil, they also are very easy on oil with no sludge issues.