Purchased 2008 SCREW long bed 5.4 3v FFV in Feb. Have changed oil in it, my 97 F-150 4.6L and my 2003 Explorer 4.0L with Fram ph2's or Napa brand filters (WIX) ;and filled with SHELL brand 5W-30 Oil from Costco exclusively. Never had an issue with Oil related parts, other than the 97 F-150 needed a hose replaced (small leak)to the outboard filter.
I'll be stocking up on Quaker of Penz 5w-30 at Wally Mart from now on especially since the price is $11 and $12 bucks per 4qt. tub !

Most important IMHO , is the consistent changing of oil at 3K miles. I've changed occasionally at 2K and/or 2,500 if I felt like it or had an extra half hour to spare.

 

Back from the dead....again! I used to buy the expensive oil, but the last several years I bought whatever dino oil was on sale at my local Canadian tire and backed it with a Motorcraft filter.

Think of all of the thousands upon thousands of Civil Service Modular powered Crown Vics that have the snot driven out of them by Law Enforcement and then sit and idle for hours on end. If that weren't bad enough, they're then bought up by the local taxi companies and are driven into the ground. You think any of these cars got any special TLC or expensive oil run through their veins? 200,000....300,000....even 400,000km on most of these cars and they're still ticking.

I'd be more concerned about the quality of the filter that I was using, than the type of oil I was running through it.

As for synthetics.....they're alright, but they're kind of unnecessary unless you live someplace with extreme climate. Their greatest benefit is that they are designed to last. I never understood people who ponnied up the bucks for their Mobil 1 or Royal Purple and then change them every 5,000km? They're designed to go the distance, so let them do their job. If you're going to change anything at that mileage, make it the filter. Otherwise, it’s really a waste of money.

In any case…be wary of big name synthetic oil claims. They don’t work the miracles that these companies would have you believe. Did any of you happen to catch this read?

http://www.imakenews.com/lng/e_artic...W6PM,b1M25KBSe

 

I wonder who paid for that advertisement... My brother inlaw works in the garage, in a big city here in Ohio... He services the Police cars. He callsum in for there rutine maint, but they dont always come in on the reccomended time intervals, then, a rutine oil change becomes a rutine engine R & R...

I have seen many a broken cam shaft in the old pushrod style engines, from people beleif of not having to change the oil regularly...

 

Seems that long interval changes are the new thing with all the dealerships now. The oil change intervals have been extended to 12,000km for about the last 4-years now. That's only about twice a year with average driving.

They were previously 8,000-10,000km intervals for about 10-15 years before that even and that was back when they were still only offering the 3-year, 60,000km powertrain warranty and dino oil.

I guess if changing the oil every 12,000km its good enough for Fords 5-year, 100,000km powertrain warranty, its good enough for me?

I'll still probaly change it every 10,000km at the most. Its a nice even number and easy to keep track of.

 

K & N for my 99 F-150 didnt have flow back valve like the stock ones do. I wouldnt do it. Caused my first hard starts!

 

Meh...I'm surprised the Royal Purple users haven't strung you up yet. They swear by that stuff, and I always thought it was no better than Slick 50. Same ludicrous claims.

 

I'm not downing the thought of Synthetics entirely. As stated above....if you live in extreme climates, they'd certainly be of benefit to you. And if you're willing to leave them in the engine a while and let them do their job, they're great for those people who aren't meticulous about the oil change schedules, but it’s not like you're pouring sunshine into your crank case?
<O
People can come at me with all the independent test results they'd like with regards to their protection, or with their personal claims of "SOTP power improvements" in tow as well, but at the end of the day there are just as many high mileage, excellent performing engines on the road today that have never seen the stuff in their lives as their are that have.<O</O
<O
I don't at all contest the fact that synthetics are superior to dino oils, but they don't work miracles.<O</O
<O
Are they really worth 2-3 times as much money per oil change? I guess if someone wants to think they are, more power to them....but I'll take the money I save by buying plain old Dino oil and spend it on snacks and fuel for my road trips instead.
<O</O
<O</O
As for the article.....well, I didn’t write it. Someone posted it up on another Forum that I frequent, so I thought I’d share. People are going to believe what they want, not matter what’s printed out in front of them, so let them take from it what they will. If someone is going to get bent out of shape over something they read on the internet, then they've got bigger problems in their lives than Snake oil in their crank case.

 

Man... Just how many of the "older than dirty", dead threads are you going to revive? I think I counted at least 5 of them you have bumped back to the top of forum. This one was started in 2004!

 

I'm a Supermod on another well known Ford site and it aggravates me when someone starts a new thread on the most basic of stuff, so I thought I'd do my fellow Mods and the members on here a solid out of professional courtesy and utilize the Search function whenever I had the chance.

 

5-20 isnt going to do anything to the engine to cause it to burn up any faster. I dont know why everyone gets so up tight about this and it keeps coming up over and over and over. The engine will last just as long with this oil as anything else. Good oil is all you need to put in the engine and run the darn thing.