Town Car 4.6 oil choice

[MVAR]

I ran Valvoline 5W-30 & 10w-30 in both my old 4.6 T-Bird and 98 F150.

Any decent 5W-30, 10w-30 or 5W-40 will work well. Those engines are pretty forgiving & not very hard on oil. Heck, the DELO blowout from a few months ago would have been a perfect oil to run in the 5W-40 XSP version at $6/gallon.

 

[ATex7239]

Haven't heard of the Ford 4.6?? It was put in a bazillian Ford Crown Vic Police cars, pickup trucks, Expeditions, Navigators, Town Cars, etc. It's what replaced the 5.0l (ie 302) in all the applications that was used in from the mid nineties up until 2014.

Huh… Expedition, Crown Vic, it’s British then yeah?

Jolly good.

 

[oldsoul24]

Honesty? Run VPR 5W-30 for the first four years (Assuming 1 oil change a year @5000 miles a year) with your choice of filter. You can order a 3 pack from Walmart for a good price, or maybe there might be sales elsewhere. After that though, you should be fine to run any synthetic 5W-30 you like. These engine are pretty easygoing on oil, but it the larger, heavier L body style it might get a little more worked than otherwise, and the 5W-20 it came with from the factory was driven more by CAFE needs than thoughts of longevity.

If you want max protection after the VPR, Pennzoil Euro or Mobil ESP 5W-30 would be overkill but if it makes you feel happy, go for it. Otherwise, Quaker State Ultimate Protection is only a buck more than their Full Synthetic and a great cost-conscious go-to for many a vehicle. Don't get me wrong, Walmarts Supertech brand is even cheaper and perfectly fine, but if you are planning to keep this Lincoln the rest of your life, then I'm assuming you'll want an oil that'll go a little above and beyond what you ask of it.

 

[cincykz]

Huh… Expedition, Crown Vic, it’s British then yeah?

Jolly good.

I believe it's two mgb four cylinders in parallel, their cranks joint by a toothed wet belt. Replacing the belt probably requires full rebuild by a blind, British specialty mechanic who works only by feel.

 

[PontiacHO]

Ran a Fleet of 4.6 LEV Crown Vics on 15W40. No issues.

 

[cincykz]

I hope your seat belt pre-tensioners don't go, it's not uncommon. I had a heck of a time finding the part. When I called, there was one in Nashville and another in Annapolis. That was it ...

Good info, thanks. My kids put the skinny middle seatbelt into the driver's buckle, I then scooched over it and cracked the red plastic button. Not sure if that can be replaced...

 

[dnewton3]

I can say with absolutely certainty that the 4.6L 2v engines simply don't care what lube is used. The wear metal rates are generally very low and it doesn't matter what brand or grade you use. I've seen several hundreds of UOA examples where anything from conventional 5w-20 to syn 5w-40 is used, and it just won't matter. Those engines are (almost) underpowered and don't stress themselves, and that's why they last so long (hundreds of thousands of miles if well cared for). I've owned several MGMs and they are stalwarts of reliability. Just use a decent API spec'd lube and worry about something else.

 

[factorytuned2012]

I ran Kendall and formula shell 5W30 in my old F150 with the 4.2. I wish formula shell was still available

 

[Cujet]

Having owned a few of these engines, they thrive on synthetic 5W-30. You can easily get 400K miles from them with good maintenance.

In fact, once any sludge is cleaned out (if they used conventional oil) you could use M1, 5W-30 and go 7,500 or 10,000 miles between oil changes with very good results.

 

[cincykz]

Thanks for all the input. I will succumb to my insanity and run 5w-30 synthetic. I hadn't considered restore and protect, but if it gets the bitog seal of approval, maybe I'll run it for a couple 1 year changes, then switch to whatever the "better" flavor of the day synthetic is then.

I'm guessing based on the commentary that R&P is not an ideal forever solution, but a "clean" and then switch to a regular high quality oil and change at sensible intervals?

 

[MVAR]

Thanks for all the input. I will succumb to my insanity and run 5w-30 synthetic. I hadn't considered restore and protect, but if it gets the bitog seal of approval, maybe I'll run it for a couple 1 year changes, then switch to whatever the "better" flavor of the day synthetic is then.

I'm guessing based on the commentary that R&P is not an ideal forever solution, but a "clean" and then switch to a regular high quality oil and change at sensible intervals?

I’ve never run VRP but don’t see a reason to switch if it works. I’d run it without hesitation but am stocked up with nearly 20 gallons of HPL & DELO.

 

[cincykz]

This and carquest oil filter

Would that be the car quest premium 85372?

I've always been a motorcraft guy, but liked them better when they were $3.50 and were painted nice. The new ones look way cheaper.

I just picked one up for my '25 explorer - $13 from Ford!

 

[OilStainedNapkin]

I would use any oil with an api cert, wouldn’t even bother with syn. These engines were run on bulk oil for taxi service and lived long healthy lives. Awesome looking ride btw

 

[tired]

Thanks for all the input. I will succumb to my insanity and run 5w-30 synthetic. I hadn't considered restore and protect, but if it gets the bitog seal of approval, maybe I'll run it for a couple 1 year changes, then switch to whatever the "better" flavor of the day synthetic is then.

I'm guessing based on the commentary that R&P is not an ideal forever solution, but a "clean" and then switch to a regular high quality oil and change at sensible intervals?

I think it's a good plan to run a new to you car with VRP. It's the same price as the other good synthetics at Walmart (cheaper now with the rebate for a few more days), and it'll get the engine back to factory cleanliness (after 4 changes or so), especially because you want to keep it forever.

VRP would be a great forever oil too. However many here just run it to clean engines up and then switch to something else, for various reasons. Not because it isn't a good forever oil (that's the "Protect" part of the name). Since it's no more expensive than other good options that don't clean, I don't see a reason not to run it forever. The UOAs posted here have been excellent from a wear standpoint. Something else will take your car (and not rust either in your case!). However, if you wanted to save money after running 4 OCIs of VRP through it, you could switch to whatever 5W-30 is on sale on Walmart and save a few bucks (and not much, because inexplicably this oil is still $29.99 at Walmart for a 5 quart jug).

 

[Hohn]

Haven't heard of the Ford 4.6?? It was put in a bazillian Ford Crown Vic Police cars, pickup trucks, Expeditions, Navigators, Town Cars, etc. It's what replaced the 5.0l (ie 302) in all the applications that was used in from the mid nineties up until 2014.

I see...export market.

I've never been to Bazilia.

 

[melk]

VRP is a terrific all around oil. Unfortunate that it has developed this false notion of being a “temporary” solution. Likely due to Valvoline recommending 4 OCI to allow it time to work.

Some people have reported noticeable improvement after 1 oci and others report nothing after 4. There are millions of engines and every one is different. On average though people seem to report very positive results with it.

Absolutely no reason not to run it as your “forever” oil. I certainly do, across a pretty good cross section of engines. The product is still relatively new, less than 2 years on the market I believe, so that contributes a bit to the FUD surrounding it.

 

[melk]

edit, duplicate post