Valvoline premium blue RESTORE and new updated valve covers for a ls lq4.

I'd like to drive one just to experience the power and the driving experience but wouldn't trust one to own it long term as a daily work truck.
That reprogram on the 5.0 Ford's only works on a small amount of them. Most of them it's a ring seal issue. Our 2018 at work uses a qt per week.
I’ve seen a few people with over 300k. No major issues out of the gen 1s and a couple gen 2s. It won’t be daily driven anyway.
That’s unfortunate on the 5.0s. Yeah 1 quart a week it would be in the shop fixed or ford buying it back if possible. That’s extremely bad.
 
I’ve seen a few people with over 300k. No major issues out of the gen 1s and a couple gen 2s. It won’t be daily driven anyway.
That’s unfortunate on the 5.0s. Yeah 1 quart a week it would be in the shop fixed or ford buying it back if possible. That’s extremely bad.
It's out of warranty now with about 90k on it. Did get a warranty 10 speed from Ford at around 55k though. The 2017 5.0/6 speed is doing a lot better.
 
It's out of warranty now with about 90k on it. Did get a warranty 10 speed from Ford at around 55k though. The 2017 5.0/6 speed is doing a lot better.
That sucks. Was it documented throughout and could you buy an intended warranty?
If I get a 5.0 it would definitely be a 15-17. Those are solid from what I know.
 
That sucks. Was it documented throughout and could you buy an intended warranty?
If I get a 5.0 it would definitely be a 15-17. Those are solid from what I know.
The 18 was bought as a commercial vehicle (for land surveying) brand new.....same as the 17 but a year later. They replaced an 04 and 05 Silverado that the owner started the company with 13 years before......my boss bought the company and brought them on with us about 5 years ago. I remember seeing the old Chevy trucks driving around thinking "this guy just really maintain his trucks". Now I think it was more to do with the bulletproof trucks then the maintenance.
The 18 would have been way too late to add extended warranty. It was either just under powertrain or the Ford dealer did goodwill on it. All I know is apparently the warranty bill was $20,000 because it also needed a starter (has stop start feature) and the first transmission was defective and had to be replaced again. The driver used his personal truck for 3 months before getting his truck back.
I would buy a 15-17 5.0. Just not the one our company owns. Lol.
 
That sucks. Was it documented throughout and could you buy an intended warranty?
If I get a 5.0 it would definitely be a 15-17. Those are solid from what I know.
Missed your one question....oil consumption wasn't documented as it was found out very late. To be specific.....they used to take those 2 trucks to a shop with a poor reputation (down the street from the guy who owned that part of the company - he still basically runs his own part of the company within ours)...
The 5.0 was running very rough with check engine light and they took it to that shop. They scanned it and told them they needed a cam sensor but would have to order it.
Then they called me and asked what they should do....I quickly did a Google search and called them back to tell them to check the oil level. They did and found none on the dipstick. They took it to a quick lube place where they had them do a full synthetic oil change with a flush and within half an hour it went back to running normally. I told them to check the oil frequently and they now have to add a qt per week usually depending on mileage driven.
 
The 18 was bought as a commercial vehicle (for land surveying) brand new.....same as the 17 but a year later. They replaced an 04 and 05 Silverado that the owner started the company with 13 years before......my boss bought the company and brought them on with us about 5 years ago. I remember seeing the old Chevy trucks driving around thinking "this guy just really maintain his trucks". Now I think it was more to do with the bulletproof trucks then the maintenance.
The 18 would have been way too late to add extended warranty. It was either just under powertrain or the Ford dealer did goodwill on it. All I know is apparently the warranty bill was $20,000 because it also needed a starter (has stop start feature) and the first transmission was defective and had to be replaced again. The driver used his personal truck for 3 months before getting his truck back.
I would buy a 15-17 5.0. Just not the one our company owns. Lol.


07 and down gm has really been solid years for gm trucks. After that they started going downhill slowly. When 2014 came they switched to the Lt motor platform and they’ve have a lot of issues across the board. Not just the motors.

Maintenance is still important but the gm really had it down then for being solid vehicles for a majority.

For ford trucks I’ve heard 15-17 5.0s are the most reliable out of all of them. If I got one I’d procharge it lol. I hated the 3.5 ecoboost platform at first but the more I learned the more does addressed a lot of issues I really would like to get one. It won’t be driven as much as my other vehicles anyway. Main reason why I want the 3.5 is the low end torque it has without buying a diesel.

As far as the f150 consuming oil that’s unfortunate. If possible I’d still try to get the issue addressed. The extra money in oil long term definitely gets expensive.
My 2000 Toyota corrola used a quart every 1k miles or less and steadily got worse. Just kept putting the cheapest stuff I could in it. Bought it from a guy. Couple weeks later the top end sounded rough. Kept driving it and it progressed. Dropped the oil pan and the pick up tube was mostly clogged with hard deposits but by that time it was too late. It also needed a timing chain, guides and tensioner which made it harder to hear how rough motor was in. Unfortunately it was too late and the bearings wiped out. Went to put another motor in it but gave up on the car. Just needed too much work.

Ended up just buying a 2010 ford fusion with the 3.0 v6 in it. Sorry for the late response. Been busy.
 
07 and down gm has really been solid years for gm trucks. After that they started going downhill slowly. When 2014 came they switched to the Lt motor platform and they’ve have a lot of issues across the board. Not just the motors.

Maintenance is still important but the gm really had it down then for being solid vehicles for a majority.

For ford trucks I’ve heard 15-17 5.0s are the most reliable out of all of them. If I got one I’d procharge it lol. I hated the 3.5 ecoboost platform at first but the more I learned the more does addressed a lot of issues I really would like to get one. It won’t be driven as much as my other vehicles anyway. Main reason why I want the 3.5 is the low end torque it has without buying a diesel.

As far as the f150 consuming oil that’s unfortunate. If possible I’d still try to get the issue addressed. The extra money in oil long term definitely gets expensive.
My 2000 Toyota corrola used a quart every 1k miles or less and steadily got worse. Just kept putting the cheapest stuff I could in it. Bought it from a guy. Couple weeks later the top end sounded rough. Kept driving it and it progressed. Dropped the oil pan and the pick up tube was mostly clogged with hard deposits but by that time it was too late. It also needed a timing chain, guides and tensioner which made it harder to hear how rough motor was in. Unfortunately it was too late and the bearings wiped out. Went to put another motor in it but gave up on the car. Just needed too much work.

Ended up just buying a 2010 ford fusion with the 3.0 v6 in it. Sorry for the late response. Been busy.
I agree on everything after the gmt800 being a downgrade. We did get lucky with both a 2013 Silverado (because it was a bare bones model with the 4.8/4L60E - no AFM) only issues were air conditioning and a starter but they traded it at 170k miles or so. Our spare truck a 2010 Tacoma with around 160k miles was pretty tough shape and got sold to another employee. It got replaced as a spare by a 2015 Silverado with 180k miles which seems to be in really good shape. A little rust starting on the body. I think the reason it held up is they once again got the bare bones model which was the 4.3 ecotec and 6 speed. I think the 6 speed handles the V6 a lot better. It honestly drives like a new one.

Sounds like your corolla had some major neglect before you got it. This f150 hasn't been neglected too badly so as long as they keep oil in it hopefully it will keep going. More likely the trans will fail again first. Here in Canada an engine replacement would be somewhere north of 10k I'm sure.

Those fusions are pretty good cars. I believe that was before they went to the internal water pump on the v6's?
 
I agree on everything after the gmt800 being a downgrade. We did get lucky with both a 2013 Silverado (because it was a bare bones model with the 4.8/4L60E - no AFM) only issues were air conditioning and a starter but they traded it at 170k miles or so. Our spare truck a 2010 Tacoma with around 160k miles was pretty tough shape and got sold to another employee. It got replaced as a spare by a 2015 Silverado with 180k miles which seems to be in really good shape. A little rust starting on the body. I think the reason it held up is they once again got the bare bones model which was the 4.3 ecotec and 6 speed. I think the 6 speed handles the V6 a lot better. It honestly drives like a new one.

Sounds like your corolla had some major neglect before you got it. This f150 hasn't been neglected too badly so as long as they keep oil in it hopefully it will keep going. More likely the trans will fail again first. Here in Canada an engine replacement would be somewhere north of 10k I'm sure.

Those fusions are pretty good cars. I believe that was before they went to the internal water pump on the v6's?
Yeah I really love these for sure. I also had a 4.0 v6 2008 Tacoma crew cab trd off-road. Was a very nice mid size truck. Got rid of it at 300k miles and I wanted a full size again.

It had some hard deposits under the valve cover that were small. And yeah repairs in the us have gotten crazy expensive as well. Every shop said my Denali needed a new motor and I told them it didn’t. Just needed a pick up tube o ring. Was trying to save time and stuff on dad. Ended up just doing it at his house the whole weekend for the oil pick up tube o ring and it was completely fine after that. Rubbed it in the shops faces that told me I needed a new motor. My father is a mechanic as well. He’s just done a lot for me I just wanted to give him a break. I did it all myself that weekend tho. Wasn’t too bad. Just time consuming for a simple cheap part.

And no the 3.5 v6 duratec had the internal pump. The 3.0 is external. I wouldn’t have bought it if it’s internal. The 3.5 in the ecoboost is external.
Biggest weak point on this car is the trans.
 
with the truck doing better on oil consumption I will start doing uoa samples as well as a voa on amsoil premium protection since I haven’t seen any good updated samples since 2011.

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Another update. Using a 30 grade oil it usually uses a quart within 700 miles. With a little about 1100 miles it has used roughly 2/5ths of a quart. Still a major improvement for what it used to be. I’ll keep running all the premium blue restore I have left to try to see if it’ll help anything as much as possible. Then the amsoil premium protection 10w40. I’ll provide updates along the way. With a 40 weight oil the truck normally used a quart withing 1000-1500 miles prior to doing the valve covers, restore, and restore and protect.
Hopefully the premium blue restore will help improve it even more as I run the oil.
Trying to decide if I should do a uoa when I change the filter the first time and add the make up or just do a uoa at the end of the second interval. I’ve never done a uoa before but I’ve read a lot on them. I may end up asking lake speed jr on his thoughts.
 
Another update. After adding 2/5th of a quart with about 1500 miles on this oci I’ve put about 4300 more miles on it so far and haven’t had to add any. It’s doing significantly better. The valve covers was majority of the fix but I also believe the oil is also doing its job rather quickly on cleaning and helping the piston rings. By this time with a 30 grade viscosity I would have needed to add 4-5 quarts to it.
I’ll be doing another oci with this oil. And it looks like I’ll have enough to do a 3rd oci with it as well since I’m not consuming hardly any oil anymore.
I wasn’t expecting these results at all, but I’m very happy with them. Gonna keep trying to this engine up past 785k miles on all original internally hoping to pass my dad’s old ranger.
After I use the rest of the premium blue restore I’ll be uoas on different amsoil chemistry’s in this engine to see what will provide the best results.

(The odometer is off by about 5k miles from when I had it shipped for warranty repair a couple years ago. The actual mileage is about 5k more than shown).

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Another update. After adding 2/5th of a quart with about 1500 miles on this oci I’ve put about 4300 more miles on it so far and haven’t had to add any. It’s doing significantly better. The valve covers was majority of the fix but I also believe the oil is also doing its job rather quickly on cleaning and helping the piston rings. By this time with a 30 grade viscosity I would have needed to add 4-5 quarts to it.
I’ll be doing another oci with this oil. And it looks like I’ll have enough to do a 3rd oci with it as well since I’m not consuming hardly any oil anymore.
I wasn’t expecting these results at all, but I’m very happy with them. Gonna keep trying to this engine up past 785k miles on all original internally hoping to pass my dad’s old ranger.
After I use the rest of the premium blue restore I’ll be uoas on different amsoil chemistry’s in this engine to see what will provide the best results.

(The odometer is off by about 5k miles from when I had it shipped for warranty repair a couple years ago. The actual mileage is about 5k more than shown).

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At what Mileage do you plan on doing an Oil Change?
How does the oil look on the Dipstick at 4300 Miles?
Do you plan on taking Valvetrain Pics after you are done using this Oil after maybe your 2nd or 3rd OCI?
 
At what Mileage do you plan on doing an Oil Change?
How does the oil look on the Dipstick at 4300 Miles?
Do you plan on taking Valvetrain Pics after you are done using this Oil after maybe your 2nd or 3rd OCI?
6000 for the first one so it’ll be very soon. Still very good but you can’t tell how an oil is doing just off the color of it. A used oil analysis will be able to provide that information. I plan on buying an oscilloscope and take pics with that under the valve cover. I’m very curious on how it’ll look after.

I ordered 4 more different oils from amsoil and I’ll be doing voas on them as well.

First oil I’ll be running is amsoil premium protection since I already have 10 quarts of it. Then based on the VOAs on the other 4 I’ll pick from what I feel like is the best chemistry for my needs.
Amsoil premium protection is definitely different than I thought it was gonna be like.
 
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