Recommend oil for my vehicles

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F250 with 460 (7.5L) gas engine with 45K miles.
I want it to last "forever". I drive it about 4,000 miles. A small part of it is towing, under 1,000 miles. I think it burns oil at high RPMS. which I hear is normal. It has no overdrive so it turns 3,000 RPMS on the highway.

Ford Tempo with 2.3L engine. 105K miles.
It's my daily driver. I take it everywhere from short town trips to long commutes. Drive it 15K miles/year. I want it to last as long as possible but won't be too disappointed if the econobox blows up in some way. It burns oil a bit. I hear stories of people driving 2.3L past 200K, it is the rest of the car which falls apart.

Chevrolet Caprice with 5.7L engine with 106K miles.
Nice ride, but don't truly use it anymore, not sure yet what I will do with it. Burns a bit of oil but nothing abnormal for that mileage.


I am thinking of using some synthetic like Mobil 1 in the 460 truck, would that contribute to longevity of the engine? If so, what viscocity? Best oil change intervals? What about a synthetic blend? (Or making one myself even?) I want this Ford truck to get "Cadillac" treatment.

With the other 2 vehicles I have been using whatever good brand has been on sale, usually Castrol GTX, Pennzoil or Valvoline, all 10W-30.
I change oil myself - in the truck at about 2,000 miles and on cars, between 2,500-3,000 miles. I try to use more expensive oil filters and I warm up the engines before driving.

[ October 17, 2003, 03:42 PM: Message edited by: pacem ]
 
In the F250 I'd run Pennzoil 10w30 and change the oil every six months (2000 miles). In the other two cars I'd run Pennzoil High Mileage 10w30. Change the oil every 5K in the Tempo and annually in the Caprice (that you aren't too concerned with and don't drive much). Actually, I'd just sell the Caprice. No sense running synthetic in any of these vehicles; the truck already uses oil and synthetic won't help that a bit.
 
With 7.5L truck, oil burning which seems to vary with speed - lower speeds, it is hardly noticeable, more so at higher speeds and RPMs. At 55mph, I can drive for a relatively long time before I have to add something. I don't drive it enough to arrive at solid conclusions.
In any case, my inquiry about synthetic wasn't intended to stop oil burning, but rather to get advantages of synthetic, if there are any.

In the other two cars I'd run Pennzoil High Mileage 10w30.

What exactly does "high-mileage" do? I suppose past 100K is high mileage.
 
The high mileage oils are of a thicker viscosity than other conventionals. For instance, the average 10w30 has a viscosity closer to 10 to 10.5 cst at 100c, while the high mileage 10w30s are in the 11.5 to 12.0cst range. So they are upper 30wts. This helps reduce oil consumption.

They also contain a small amount of esters in them, to keep things a little bit cleaner and to slightly swell the seals to lessen oil leaks.
 
The reason I'm suggesting 10w30 dino is due to the few miles you put on your truck. You could run M1 10w30 and change it yearly, but it costs a bit more, your oil consumption will be greater, and I don't think it will make the engine last any longer. And thinking about it, perhaps 10w30 High Mileage would be better for the truck, too, as it should help take care of the consumption issue.
 
I am in the South - VA. Hot in the summer, kind of cold some of the winter and humid all the time.

I will measure oil consumption per 3,000 miles and see how much it is.
I think the point is that with 460, it is not the mileage issue, just the way the engine was built that makes it prone to oil-consumption.
And it's not the original engine in the truck. The original was replaced due to high-oil consumption, and I don't know how bad that was.

The fact that it has no overdrive, means I am turning at least 3,000 on highway and that somehow means more oil gets burned.

[ October 17, 2003, 08:23 PM: Message edited by: pacem ]
 
I think for the Truck you could go with 10W-30 Mobil 1 and if the oil consumption is too high you could go with a 25% mixture of Mobil 1 15W-50 with the 10W-30. If you only do 4K per year that would be a good candidate for once a year oil change.

In the Tempo you could either continue with the Dino-Pennzoil 10W-30 has done well. or Again go with the Same brew as above-you could work yourself of to semi-anual oil changes with the Mobil 1. You could consider changing filters at say 4K or so. Adjust the amount of 15W-50 here as well. If you go with dino you might want to switch to a 40 wt. if you are unhappy with consumption.

As far as the Chevy-counds like you are good to go there but might want to switch to a 40 wt dino.
 
F250, I'd go with a little thicker oil, churning out that much rpm's plus towing, I'd look at a 15W-40.
Tempo, 10W-30, no doubt.
Caprice, burning a little oil, again, I'd thicken it up, 15W-40.
But, I live in Oklahoma, we don't get those hard freezes like ya'll do up yonder,
wink.gif
I'd probably vote with the rest of the brethren and run the 10W-30's, at least in the winter time. The truck, I'd go with a synthetic since your wanting to keep it for a long time. The others, dino all the way....what I do with my older vehicles, Pennz. LL for the 15W-40's and change out at 4K and use Purolator, regular one and Pure One on the truck.
 
Interesting. I will try some of that. As I said, I don't yet know exactly how much they burn. I add a little bit here and there but don't have a figure per 3,000 miles. I will keep track of oil consumption.

The Tempo, with 2.3L engine also turns pretty high on highway, as high as F250. 3,000 RPMs at least.
 
I'd go with Mobil 1, 10w-30 in both the Fords and Delo 400, 15w-40 in the old Chevy. If you want to run synthetic in the Chevy, I'd use Mobil 1, 15w-50 and change it once a year. You could even use the 15w-50 in the Tempo in warm to hot weather to control the oil consumption. Lots of small VW/Audi engines run 15w-50 with no problems at all.

Tooslick
Dixie Synthetics
 
With a "fleet" of vehicles, as long as it is appropriate, I like running one oil...just my two cents.

How much do you want to spend?

If cold-starts are an issue, my best pick would be the $12.88/gallon Rotella-T synthetic 5w-40 that's available at Wal-Mart.

If cost is the paramount issue, I also believe a good 15w-40 would also work very well, as I don't believe your area gets that cold. Delo 400, Delvac 1300, and Pennzoil Long-Life would all be good choices.

BTW, since you seem to be focusing most of your attention on the Ford, do you know where the consumption is coming from in the 460?
 
I vote to keep things simple here, just pick a good quality 5w30 synthetic and change it once a year in all of the vehicles.
 
You can switch to $2 supertech filters for the caprice and tempo. The truck, your baby, can still use motorcraft or whatever's nice you've got on there.

Maybe supertech semi-synthetic 10w30 every 5-6k on the tempo? You're changing it probably way too much for a commuting appliance (no slam).
 
quote:

With 7.5L truck, oil burning which seems to vary with speed - lower speeds, it is hardly noticeable, more so at higher speeds and RPMs. At 55mph, I can drive for a relatively long time before I have to add something. I don't drive it enough to arrive at solid conclusions.
In any case, my inquiry about synthetic wasn't intended to stop oil burning, but rather to get advantages of synthetic, if there are any.

Burnig any oil at only 45k miles? Id get rid of the truck...heh
 
Maybe supertech semi-synthetic 10w30 every 5-6k on the tempo? You're changing it probably way too much for a commuting appliance (no slam).

You are probably right. I will extend these intervals.

As for the big 460 engine, it is notorious for burning oil at any mileage. I don't know if Chevy 454 is the same way.
 
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