Recommend me an oil for a (worn out) Ford 5.4 2 valve

[Triple3 in Mo.]

Valvoline High Mileage full synthetic 5w30.

 

[Bill7]

Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic High Mileage 5W-30 with viscosity @100C = 11.4, and HTHS about 3.2.
You can buy it from Walmart / Amazon for $26 for 5 quart jug.

I went to a Ford Dealer about 10 years ago when I had a Ford E150 Van,
and they had a machine approved by Ford that they would use at the dealership to flush the engine safely
and remove all sludge. They had a brocheur for it. I had it done at the time, and it really cleaned out the engine.
After that, oil remained light brown for most of the OCI. That could be an option for you.
They only charged me about $99 for that service.

If you don't want to have Ford do the flush,
I would do several short oil change intervals with cheap oil and observe how dark the oil is as it's drained to assess the sludge issues.

Also, I would drain/fill the transmission fluid every 6 months until fluid color is red.
I wouldn't do any more drain/fills if any signs of slipping are occurring after the first drain/fill.

Then I would drive the car another 200k miles.

 

[nickaluch]

Any 5w30 syn that's what I used to run in my tired tons of hours 5.4

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Also, I would drain/fill the transmission fluid every 6 months until fluid color is red.
I wouldn't do any more drain/fills if any signs of slipping are occurring after the first drain/fill.

It's got a hand shaker. But I have changed the fluid in it a few times

 

[FranklinJL]

It dont matter, whatever you got

 

[Dehaka]

My uncle has the 5.4 triton with 350+ k. He puts recommended oil weight motocaft but he uses 1 quart lucas oil additive and a bottle of gum out in the fuel tank every change. Truck runs like a champ and still hauls heavy loads.

 

[wlk]

I have QSFS Euro 5w40 in my 5.4 2v now and it's been fine. A 10/15w40 in the warmer months isn't going to hurt it either.

 

[Cujet]

10W-40 is the correct answer. Maybe even the M1, 10W-40 High Mileage.

The Million Mile Van with the 5.4 lasted 1.3M miles, using 10W-40. That is the correct viscosity for this engine. In fact, the local major Ford dealer switched every 5.4L (2 valve and 3 valve) to 10W-40 after dealing with a slew of warranty claims. As you might expect, the claims disappeared, 100%. Despite this knowledge, Ford back spec'd many 5.4's to thinner oils, leading to a terrible reputation.

The engine is fine when the proper viscosity is used.

 

[demarpaint]

I'd look for a cheap 5W40 or 10W40 oil and hope for the best. Don't overthink it.

 

[ford250]

My uncle has the 5.4 triton with 350+ k. He puts recommended oil weight motocaft but he uses 1 quart lucas oil additive and a bottle of gum out in the fuel tank every change. Truck runs like a champ and still hauls heavy loads.

5.4 2V is one of Fords best engines.
I owned a 1997 F150 that logged 250K trouble free miles. Sold it to a cable installer.
Last time I saw him it was now at 325K and still going all original

 

[addyguy]

Cujet is right.

 

[jimurphy]

Assuming I can get 500 miles on it without it coming back apart ...

Open to anything from 0w-20 to a 5w-40. Very worn out cylinder bores and a lot of piston slap. Previously full of sludge and crusty sludge from lack of maintenance and a severe overheat. New timing chains and tensioners / guides.

Engine either has 240,000 or 135,000 miles on it. Based on the condition of the guide arms and tensioner arms, I'm inclined to think maybe it's at 135k miles. It does get run hard. I'm not afraid (or wasn't before) to have my foot firmly planted on the floor towing a trailer up a hill at >4000 RPM for minutes on end.

Mostly looking for something that will work for the crappy cylinder walls. Similar to how the old pennzoil conventional yellow bottle had a lot of molybdenum and quieted down slappy old Jeep 4.0s.

 

[jimurphy]

Assuming I can get 500 miles on it without it coming back apart ...

Open to anything from 0w-20 to a 5w-40. Very worn out cylinder bores and a lot of piston slap. Previously full of sludge and crusty sludge from lack of maintenance and a severe overheat. New timing chains and tensioners / guides.

Engine either has 240,000 or 135,000 miles on it. Based on the condition of the guide arms and tensioner arms, I'm inclined to think maybe it's at 135k miles. It does get run hard. I'm not afraid (or wasn't before) to have my foot firmly planted on the floor towing a trailer up a hill at >4000 RPM for minutes on end.

Mostly looking for something that will work for the crappy cylinder walls. Similar to how the old pennzoil conventional yellow bottle had a lot of molybdenum and quieted down slappy old Jeep 4.0s.

I had a 2000 Expedition 5.4 4x4 with 230k on the clock when I traded it in 2011. I just used whatever Henry's engineers said in the manual which was 5W30.
It used maybe a quart between 5k oil changes and all it ever got was Motorcraft oil and filters plus the Fram air filter Walmart carried. It was a simple formula, really, and that thing didn't have the easiest life.
It's easy to overthink this stuff as evidenced by the plethora of "what oil should I use on X car?" threads on this website.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Kirkland Brand at Costco two five quart Jugs for $38 and change!