At around 86,000 miles I switched my 3.0 Ranger to full synthetic oil. Previously the truck had always had either Pennzoil YB or Motorcraft syn blend with 3000 mile OCIs. For the change I used Kendall GT1 full synthetic 5W20, and the truck is currently at 91,600 miles, so that's 5600 miles on the oil.
What I have noticed...
- The truck loses some of the synthetic. Not much, but it was down about a half quart after 3500 miles or so. I'm not sure where the loss is. There is a very light film of oil on the back of the oil pan that could be from the rear main seal, which is known to leak on these engines. It could be burning some of it too, but it definitely doesn't smoke or anything. I topped off with Motorcraft full synthetic 5W20.
- The synthetic still looks really good. It's not even close to black with 5600 miles on it. I was going to change it early at 4000 miles or so since this was the first fill of syn, but it looked too good then too, so I left it. I know oil color isn't an indication of condition and all that, but still. I have read on here that clean looking oil may in fact be a bad thing if it means that the oil is leaving contaminants in the engine, but I don't think that's the case for me. I used a quality synthetic and the OCIs before this were very short. Maybe there just wasn't much to clean?
I'm going to go at least 6000 miles on this oil, and I may try for 7000. I've never done long OCIs on the engine, so it's hard to break old habits, but the oil still looks really good too.
What I have noticed...
- The truck loses some of the synthetic. Not much, but it was down about a half quart after 3500 miles or so. I'm not sure where the loss is. There is a very light film of oil on the back of the oil pan that could be from the rear main seal, which is known to leak on these engines. It could be burning some of it too, but it definitely doesn't smoke or anything. I topped off with Motorcraft full synthetic 5W20.
- The synthetic still looks really good. It's not even close to black with 5600 miles on it. I was going to change it early at 4000 miles or so since this was the first fill of syn, but it looked too good then too, so I left it. I know oil color isn't an indication of condition and all that, but still. I have read on here that clean looking oil may in fact be a bad thing if it means that the oil is leaving contaminants in the engine, but I don't think that's the case for me. I used a quality synthetic and the OCIs before this were very short. Maybe there just wasn't much to clean?
I'm going to go at least 6000 miles on this oil, and I may try for 7000. I've never done long OCIs on the engine, so it's hard to break old habits, but the oil still looks really good too.
