switching to 5W-20...?

[RF Overlord]

OK, I thought I'd throw this out there...I'm thinking of switching my hoopty ('99 Taurus 3.0L Vulcan) from 5W-30 to 5W-20. Blasphemy, you say? Hear me out...

It is not my intention to re-open the Great 5W-20 Debate...I think all of us here accept the fact that, despite initial scepticism by many of us, 5W-20 has in fact turned out to be a decent oil, CAFE-conspiracy enthusiasts aside. My reasoning is that 5W-20 will allegedly provide a measurable, albeit small, MPG improvement over 5W-30, and since it can be had for the same cost, even if I get NO economy improvement, I'm not out anything. I also seem to recall reading that Ford has retroactively spec'd 5W-20 for most engines going back to the early 90's, if not the late 80's, so engine damage should not be an issue. I intend a 5,000-mile OCI using Exxon Super-flo and an ST3600.

So what say you?

 

[Dad2leia]

I say use a synthetic based 5w20 (I also don't want to open a can of worms with brand, so you be the judge of that one) with maybe a Wix or Mobil 1 oil filter, up the OCI to 7500 miles and relax and enjoy!

 

[JohnnyLock]

I say go for it. I have a new Tundra that specs 5w-30 and I have been throwing around the idea of trying 5w20 just to see if there is any difference. 3000 miles would be about as far as I would go with the city driving I do down here. I doubt 5w20 would seize the engine or what not. that being said, I bet your Taurus would get along just fine with the 5w20. Go for it and do a uoa please!

 

[ruking77]

ExxonMobil Super Flo 5w20 is real good stuff. I did a lot of research and settled on either that or Mobil One 0w20 or 5w20. I ran a 10k oci recommended by the OEM on factory fill (made by Exxon Mobil for and to Honda and Ford specs)

I am guessing that you will experience a min of .5 mpg switching from 5w30 to 5w20.

On a 2004 Honda Civic VP auto trans, I experienced app .5 to almost 3 mpg going from oem factory fill conventional oil 5w20 (at the 10k mark) to Mobil One 0w20 (pushing 9k miles, for a total of app 19k). I truly don't know if it was other variables(break in, switch to synthetic, 0w20, etc ) but the gain was pretty dramatic across the range. I ran two long distance trips once on 5w20 conventional and got a very respectable 35 mpg. for 750 miles. The other trip was 1500 miles on 0w20 Mobil One 0w20 and got 37 mpg. The range went from 35-38 mpg to 36-41 mpg.

[ September 28, 2005, 12:22 AM: Message edited by: ruking77 ]

 

[Johnson994]

Castrol Syntech or Mobil 1 5W-20 and an good quality oil filter. That means no Fram or made by Fram. Change it every 3,000 miles. Change it every 7,500 miles if you want to sludge up your engine.

 

[daemonite]

I'm about to switch to 5w20 and run it for 5000k

Scion tC
5w20 Castrol GTX
ST3600 E-Core

I dunno about the whole sludge thing @ 7500 miles

 

[ZiTS]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Johnson994:
Castrol Syntech or Mobil 1 5W-20 and an good quality oil filter. That means no Fram or made by Fram. Change it every 3,000 miles. Change it every 7,500 miles if you want to sludge up your engine.

---

To quote a favorite song of mine "And it would seem we've still got a long, long way to go...."

 

[mikemc]

If you have been using a dino 5w30, most shear down to a 5w20 within a couple thousand miles, so go ahead with the Superflo. The only other thing I would recommend is using a Motorcraft oil filter. They have a very good anti-drain valve and give you quick oil pressure at start-up.

 

[Al]

If that individual engine/year is specked for it..go for it. As mikemc mentioned the 5W-30 oils (dino) shear down to 20 wt. inn a couple of thousand miles.

 

[mettech]

quote:

---

I'm about to switch to 5w20 and run it for 5000k.

---

I would like to see a UOA after the 5000K..lol

 

[RF Overlord]

Just for the sake of clarity, I realise that Mobil 1 and a Motorcraft filter would be the cat's a$$, but my whole purpose of this exercise is to SAVE money, hence my choices of Super-flo and an ST filter. I figure they're decent quality yet inexpensive for a cast-iron 2-valve pushrod motor that's easy on oil and won't be driven hard.

Thanks for everyone's replies so far...!

 

[TallPaul]

quote:

---

Originally posted by RF Overlord:
I also seem to recall reading that Ford has retroactively spec'd 5W-20 for most engines going back to the early 90's, if not the late 80's, so engine damage should not be an issue.

---

I have a copy of the chart. They spec'ed 5w20 for the 3.0 Vulcan for Aerostar, Taurus, and others from '93 through '04, so in that respect you should be OK. I am going to run a load of 5w20 in a '92 Vulcan, but will be using Redline which has the HTHS of a 10w30, so I am not concerned about it not being on the chart. If you want a copy of the chart, it is linked somewhere in a thread here, but I could email my copy to you if you PM me your email.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Go for it. I'm using Pennzoil 5w-20 GF-4 synthetic with an M1 filter in my 96 Saturn 4-banger. Runs great!

As was stated here many times before: Xw-30 dinos shear back to the 20wt range. Why not start out with a shear-stable 20wt oil to begin with?

 

[MIAMI-DADE]

On my 99 4.6 Marquis i could use either 5w20 or 5w30.The car really calls for 5w30.

After using both[semisyntheic]i find the 5w30 makes the car sound smoother than the 5w20.Also the 5w20 uses just a touch more oil between the 4k oci but not enough to add any.

I do 4k oci due the heavy traffic&jungle heat as a/c is always on.The car has 105k.

Most times use motorcraft or castrol.

 

[hominid7]

quote:

---

Originally posted by RF Overlord:
OK, I thought I'd throw this out there...I'm thinking of switching my hoopty ('99 Taurus 3.0L Vulcan) from 5W-30 to 5W-20. Blasphemy, you say? Hear me out...

It is not my intention to re-open the Great 5W-20 Debate...I think all of us here accept the fact that, despite initial scepticism by many of us, 5W-20 has in fact turned out to be a decent oil, CAFE-conspiracy enthusiasts aside. My reasoning is that 5W-20 will allegedly provide a measurable, albeit small, MPG improvement over 5W-30, and since it can be had for the same cost, even if I get NO economy improvement, I'm not out anything. I also seem to recall reading that Ford has retroactively spec'd 5W-20 for most engines going back to the early 90's, if not the late 80's, so engine damage should not be an issue. I intend a 5,000-mile OCI using Exxon Super-flo and an ST3600.

So what say you?

---

Exxon Superflo is an excellent oil at an excellent price. However if you want the added (be it real or mental) protection of a semi-synthetic, the Motorcraft semi-synthetic has achieved excellent reports on UOA's as well as being one of the less expensive semi-synthetics around.

I've used both Motorcraft and Superflo in my Mazda and both performed very very well. I do really like the fact i can buy a gallon of superflo at autozone for less than 6 bucks!

Either way you go, it seems your going to be fine with your plan.

[ September 28, 2005, 12:18 PM: Message edited by: hominid7 ]