Hi,

just bought a 98 f150 with full 3 inches of chrome all the way around. its got the 4.2 v6. 48,500 k miles. runs real nice. i was wondering about the motor oil. every car i ever used i ran 10w30. the manual says to use 5w30. was wondering if anyone warns against this or has a better idea. i am in ohio. gets to be over 90 deg F in the summer and below 20 F in the winter.

 

Glad to have you at FTE! You'll find lots of good folks and lots of good info.
I have 91,000 miles on my 2000 4.2 and have only run 10w30. The Chevron Supreme is a great oil. It is actually a Group III oil which makes it, in essence, a "synthetic". You can generally find it at Walmart for about $1.08 / qt. This is FAR less than what some comparable synthetics sell for.
Check out the Oil and Lube forum. Tons of good info there!
Agin, Welcom to FTE.

 

Its perfectly fine to use 10W-30. I use it in my 4.2. The 5W-30 I find is to thin.

You can never go wrong with Royal Purple, its really expensive, but its the best. If you want to go cheap, use mobil 1.