Seek scientific HELP ! Best oil for S/C engine

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Since joining this forum I have read page after page of what appears to be highly professional reviews of a multitude of engine oils. I am seeking the absolute best oil for a high horsepower V8 supercharged engine. This is a brand new Ford Lightning 5.4L. Please support your recommendations through VOA's and UOA's. This engine will at times be driven to its full potential. Price is not an object but rather the absolute best protection for this engine.


Thanks
 
There have been a couple threads dicussing oil for the Supercharged 3800. Alot of people suggested a thicker oil, for the increased load on the bearings. I would think the demands would be similar for the Lightning. However Ford Recomends 5w20 and GM recomends 10w30, so perhaps you should not go to thick.

-T
 
How about Amsoil Heavy Duty Diesel (HDD) 5W30? It is touted as having Amsoil's best additive package, and the UOA's have been good with it. Also Amsoil's 10W40, or 15W40 if you wanted to go a little thicker. Redline's 40 weights would be another great choice.
 
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If Ford recommends a 5w-20, I'd go with that and get a few UOA's in a row and see how they look.
 
quote:

Originally posted by JohnnyO:
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If Ford recommends a 5w-20, I'd go with that and get a few UOA's in a row and see how they look.


Good advice! The UOA will confirm the oils performence! Also you might want to get in touch with Terry Dyson. He could help you out a great deal on oil selection for that beast! My buddy has one and we have talked about racing each other. I have a 2002 LS1 Camaro. I think He will take me but I plan to be putting down 600rwhp as soon as the warranty expires! The Lightning is a very nice truck, enjoy it!
 
No matter what kind of oil you run in that blown engine, your going to see slightly more elevated wear metals than a non-blown engine, unless you keep your foot off of the pedal....but like that is going to happen!!!!
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A lot of fellow F150 brothers have been using M1 5W-30 and are and have been posting great numbers. The modular engine has proven to show very little wear. I guess it's the design. The only thing really to worry about is spark plugs blowing out on the 97 to 03 models. But since you said it's brand spanking new, I haven't heard about any other problems yet. The spark plug problem was fixed in mid 03 to current production lines. Problem was that the heads didn't have enough thread on them, about 4, to hold the plugs in.

[ March 09, 2004, 02:43 PM: Message edited by: Schmoe ]
 
quote:

Originally posted by Schmoe:
No matter what kind of oil you run in that blown engine, your going to see slightly more elevated wear metals than a non-blown engine, unless you keep your foot off of the pedal....but like that is going to happen!!!!
smile.gif
A lot of fellow F150 brothers have been using M1 5W-30 and are and have been posting great numbers. The modular engine has proven to show very little wear. I guess it's the design. The only thing really to worry about is spark plugs blowing out on the 97 to 03 models. But since you said it's brand spanking new, I haven't heard about any other problems yet. The spark plug problem was fixed in mid 03 to current production lines. Problem was that the heads didn't have enough thread on them, about 4, to hold the plugs in.


Mine is a 2004 which has 8 threads per plug thank goodness. I am going to do the first drain/filter service at 500mi. Then do another 1000 mi with the Ford 5w- 20 but was really wanting a far superior oil to run after those first two "break in" changes. I really want full synthetic just need to have a recommendation by someone who has already done their homework.
 
call a shop who mods those trucks and see what they use. houston performance has worked on a bunch of them. i'm not saying what they use would be the best choice, but it's at least some data.

-michael
 
cglenn, I think you want the highest-quality synthetic that you can find. It should be a group-4 base oil, be very high in viscosity index, and use little or no VI improvers. I'm now using Red Line 5W-40 in my Porsche Cayenne Turbo. (P strongly recommends M1 in the US, 0W-40 in all temps and 5W-40 or 5W-50 in temps above -13dC.) With only 13,000 miles on the truck, I have only one UOA on M1 0W-40; it was fine.
 
Turbos, especially the thermonuclear non-water cooled 1980's turbos, really cooked motor oil. But blowers aren't similarly cooked by exhaust gases. I'm sure there's some addded stress to the lube caused by the blower, but nothing like the heat stress of a turbo. Certainly a higher-end oil could be helpful, but it wouldn't be as critical as if the engine was turboed instead.

But if you're simply looking for "the absolute best oil," then the usual "Amsoil/Redline/Mobil 1/other synthetics" recommendation applies. I wouldn't stray too far from Ford's specified viscosity specs.
 
cglenn..... I too have a new lightning, 03. I have been mulling over the same question for two months now and I am getting very close to my oil change. I am heavily leaning to the 0W-20 Mobil 1 and recently someone suggested Castrol 5W-20 Synthetic. I just don't know and its driving me nuts!
 
quote:

Originally posted by Black03L:
I am heavily leaning to the 0W-20 Mobil 1 and recently someone suggested Castrol 5W-20 Synthetic. I just don't know and its driving me nuts!

Do understand that car-manufacturer oil-viscosity recommendations in the US are 'controlled' by the oils used in the fuel-economy tests the feds require--if they use that watery 5W-20 in the FE tests, they must recommend its use generally. Be smarter than that--use something that's going to protect your expensive, high-performance, highly stressed engines as they should be. I'm using Red Line 5W-40.
 
Roger on that! I too can't understand why you'd want to use that thin of an oil on that strong and torqued out engine. Like I said earlier, that blower is going to put a lot more pressure on your cylinders, wrist pins, rings, crankshaft and bearings. Lot's of more work. Almost look at it like a boat engine, I mean a manufactured boat engine. The Mercruiser engines are not just simply a standard auto engine, the internals are beefed up. Do they recommend a 5W-20??? No. What do they recommend??? At least a 15W and higher 40 to 50 weight oil. They are NOT worried about fuel economy on their engines.
 
I wouldn't sweat using a 5w20 or Mobil 1 0w20 in this application. I've seen a few UOA's on the SC'd 5.4 and they didn't look noticeably different than the numbers shown by any of the mod motors. Most folks running L's aren;t looking for extended drains either, so any oil tends to come out well before the TBN crashes. For me anyways, I'd rather use a xw20 that stays rock steady on viscosity versus a 5w30 that shears out of its original viscosity.

But what do I know? I'm only the guy running 6000 mile changes on Havoline 5w20 in my '99 F150 with the 4.6 and over 99,000 miles...
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UOA's are posted if interested...
 
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