Hi. Newbie here, I can't believe I'm actually learning about my truck, I purchased it used about 2 years ago and never drove it alot, (I was never into vehicles when I was younger but now I have a growing interest). I have a 1998 Ford F150 Triton XLT 3door 4x4 8cyl 4.6 L with small lift and cat back dual exhaust, bbk throttle body and spacer and a K&N Drop in Filter and the truck was serviced thru a place called enginetech (I guess this stuff is good stuff since the seller listed it?, I'm mechanically challenged so I'm not sure what it all means but I'm trying to learn)... The truck has 156,000 miles on it and the transmission was replaced at the dealership at 100,000 miles.... My question is this... How many Quarts of oil should I use after changing the oil and filter (I use 5W-20)? I don't have a owners manual on it yet and I know this question sounds simple to some but the last few oil changes I've only ran 4-5 quarts because I'm not sure how many to use (I can barely read the stupid dipstick because it's not a typical one like in my other vehicles, I think it's to short for the truck?)............. I also have something called a power programmer (it sells for like $200), and it says that I can hook it up to my diagonstics hookup and change the power to the truck for racing or to towing (which would be great because I tow my trailer alot), do these programmers really make a difference in that or not?... Sorry for sounding so simple minded, Thanks for any help............

 

Welcome to the forum!
I cant comment on programmers,as I have always kept my vehicles OEM.Concerning Oil amount....My 07 XL with the 4.2 takes 6 quarts with filter.This effectively puts the level mid-range on the dipstick.I use the Motorcraft 5W20 syn blend,and fl-400S filter as recommended by Ford.I am still under factory powertrain warranty.
I suspect you will be fine using the 6 quart method.....I would however correct the dipstick issue.

 

I takes 6qts, probably can't read the dipstick because there was no oil on it with 4 qts in the engine.

 

Your owner's manual has all the specifications and capacities in it for vital fluids. Refer to it.

 

I guess you missed the part that said I don't have the owners manual yet....... But I did pick one up today and thanks to the other members who posted for me, your correct (which I figured you were) it takes 6 when changing the filter also... By the way the manual says it should be 5W30 not 5W20 so I will change to that next oil change... Thanks again... Does anyone have any info on the throttle body kit and the power progammer?......Do they make a difference or not and if It does, how big a difference?....... Thank you

 

Did you miss my signature where it tells you where to get one?

The manual has been superseded with regard to the engine oil viscosity. 5W20 is now the correct weight oil so you are doing it correctly.

 

The 5-20 oil is supposed to help with fuel mileage or something. That's why it is the recommended oil now!
As for your throttle body kit...lol
The spacer makes a good paper weight and sometimes a neat whistling sound but other then that is dose nothing.
The BBK throttle-body wont help much at all on a stock motor. But it's not hurting anything.
There's a lot of different programmers out there, some are better then others. They can help a little and are good to have if you can check for codes with the one you have.

 

Those "power tuners" and such are very good at draining the excess green from your wallet.