Oil for cross country trip

[johnicon]

2001 Ford Crown Victoria, 4.6L V-8 with 10,000 miles.

I usually use M1 5W-30, but I may be driving cross country this summer and I'm wondering if I should use a heavier oil.

 

[buster]

I think a 10W-30 would be better in the summer. Less VI's. I think this oil holds up better then the 5w. I could be wrong but I thought it was posted that it does. Should be a great trip. I'm planning on driving across the country next year. Looking forward to it.

 

[johnicon]

Yeah, this would be my fourth trip. On my first trip, two and a half years ago, I used Mobil 1 15W-50 in my '93 Grand Marquis. It had 141,000 miles on it and usually burned a quart of 10W-30 every 1,000 miles. But with the 15W-50 I didn't lose a drop for over 6,000 miles. And I was doing 80mph the whole way! I am very happy, however, to be taking my next trip in a new, non-hungry car.

 

[dragboat]

quote:

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Originally posted by johnicon:
2001 Ford Crown Victoria, 4.6L V-8 with 10,000 miles.

I usually use M1 5W-30, but I may be driving cross country this summer and I'm wondering if I should use a heavier oil.

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I would think the 5/30 would be up to the task but the 10/30 might be a tad better . I would avoid a higher VI oil for as long as possible due to extra oil pump wear. Might throw a quart of 15/50 in with 10/30 SS if you are going to run it fast,,,,ya know just thinking about it,you have to run very high speeds with that car to get the rpm up to a worry point. They just loaf along

 

[buster]

Crown Vics do float and are great cars to go on a trip like that. Big old American cars for the big American road. There is nothing like a nice V8....now, if I could only get rid of my 4cyl!! I push 3K rpms at 80mph!

 

[Weatherlite]

Not laughing at you! I'm just amused by the 3K at 80 thing. In my 85 fullsize Bronco with a 302 V-8 I run about 4K for 80MPH!!! Seriously. It was a farm truck before I bought it and the farmer only pulled hay wagons around etc. He needed lots of pulling capacity, not top speed.

Now, as for keeping that 4 banger alive, those things are designed to run at high RPM's because that's where they make their power. I wouldn't worry too much about seeing 3000 RPM's for 80. Even my 2000 Excursion with the 6.8L V-10 has 4.30 gears and runs 2700 RPM at 80. No problems here although I definitely want to reduce the engine speed sooner of later...I just feel that an engine that's this torquey (425ft-lbs) needs to be at a lower RPM. So, I'm lifting it and putting 35 inch tires on her. I did the calculations and she will behave as if she had original tires and 3.73 gears.

I diverge from the point though....For your choice of oil....if warranty concerns are there stick with what Ford recommends. However, I too feel that 10W-30 or even 10W-40 may be better off for this long trip.

BTW, that Bronco needed it's first engine rebuild at 200,000 miles. I got it at 110,000 miles and 7/8 of the miles I put on were highway miles. SO, a V-8 can handle higher RPM's....to a certain degree!

Have fun on the trip! I'm going cross-country at the end of this week in my X. I'm keeping the 5W-30 in her though since it's winter.

Good luck!

Mikie

 

[Johnny]

That engine was designed for 5W30 and I would stick with it, winter and summer. We did some extensive testing with Ford when they came out with that engine running our dino 5W30 for over 150,000 miles. 90,000 of it was in Arizona. After engine tear down, the thing was spotless inside with minimal wear. The Mobil 1 5W30 will do you a great job.

 

[johnicon]

Thanks all for the replies.

 

[pedaltothemetal]

Synthetics can go 10000 miles between drains. You can go cross country and back and then some.

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by pedaltothemetal:
Synthetics can go 10000 miles between drains. You can go cross country and back and then some.

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True, but even a good dino oil could go 10,000 miles quite easily in a good solid engine that is being run on a pure highway trip like this.

 

[MNgopher]

Good old 5w30 should be just fine. I have a 97 F150 with the 4.6l V8 in it and it now has 155,000 miles on it. Lots of cross country trips (at least one 3,000 mile trip every year) It still doesn't consume any measurable amount of oil. It has when worked very hard (ie: hauling a 5,000 lb trailer doing 75 mph at 90+ degrees, but even then only a quart in 3,000 miles). My truck pulls about 2100 rpms at 80 mph.

If 5w30 holds up in what is essentially a brick (OK, a slightly aerodynamic brick) doing 80+, it should be just fine in a good old sedan.

 

[VaderSS]

I think the 5W30 will be fine.

quote:

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I push 3K rpms at 80mph!

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I'd look at piston speed more than RPM. I bet you have a relatively low piston speed at that RPM.

Here is a little piston speed calculator.
http://www.prestage.com/carmath/calc_pistonspeed.asp

At 80, my LT1's (3.48" stroke) average piston speed is 1242 FPS.

 

[buster]

Thanks VaderSS.
I found this about my car:
4qt. oil capacity.
3.60" stroke or (91.5mm)

So at 80mph, I run 3k rpms.
This comes to 1,800ft./min. Is this good? It falls within the 3,500 range, however, this is a constant highway speed, not an engine rev to accelerate.....not sure if this is too much to sustain..

[ December 31, 2002, 06:08 PM: Message edited by: buster ]