ok i checked my oil just for the h*ll of it and its half way of the safe zone? when i first got the truck it was full to the top of the line i have 1,037 miles on it. Now people at my work are telling me it cause of the motor breaking which i can see i'm not worried about it yet but my question is when i change my oil sould i run mobil 1 0w20 or amsoil? or sould i go just standard motor oil?

I was told i need to prefill the oil filter? never done this on a gas truck

 

When you checked the oil for the first time, had the truck been sitting on the lot for awhile? If so, all the oil had drained back into the pan. How long do you wait after shutdown to check the oil?

Half a quart is not unreasonable for the first 1000 miles; keep checking so it doesn't fall below the "add" zone. You should have the engine broken in after 3000-5000 miles.

Personally, I wouldn't use anything but Motorcraft Semi-Syn oil due to possible warranty issues, but it's up to you. 5W-20 has gotten excellent UOA reports.

Pre-filling the oil filter is a good idea, but you'll have to pour out the excess if the filter mounts horizontally to avoid a mess.

Steve

 

pre filling the oil filter....and yeah it prevents that nasty knocking noise that you might hear if you don't. Its a pain in the butt but its worth it to not hear that noise.

 

oil filter

 

hmmmm maybe i should put oil cleaner??? thats just strange

 

Certain words get hyperlinked to help defray the costs of operating this board.

 

Wildthing,

I was talking to a Engine Technician at my local Ford dealership yesterday and we were talking about which oil to put in the 5.4L and he made a statement that I had heard before and agreed with. He said " Make sure you wait until approximately 5,000-7,000 miles before putting a full synthetic oil in your truck because the breaking in of the engine should be complete by then." He went on to say that the properties of a full synthetic oil does not lend itself toward seating the engine parts because of its superior lubricity.

Now, before you guys rip me on this, This is just an agreed opinion of the tech and I. I know this can be very arguable.

 

i remember not long ago we had a thread talking about oil. it got very heated , and almost ugly. you guys have fun, i am not going to give an opinion either way.

 

It will make one heck of a mess trying to pre-oil the filter due to its location and angle. I personally never have. Yes, you will get a momentary clatter when you start the engine, but I've been assured from the tech at Ford it won't hurt the engine. I use Motorcraft 5-20 syn blend. You can get it at Wally World $1.86 qt. I had a heck of a time getting the filter off the first oil change. I recommend getting the cap type wrench and use a 3/8" drive extension and ratchet. BTW, my 88 Ford 300 I-6 did the same thing after every oil change and it's still running with over 225K miles and no major engine work. Have fun on that first oil change.

JC

 

You dont need to prefill the oil filter, These trucks have a trick way to fill the oilfilter before you start it up after an oil change, simply floorboard the gas pedal and then crank it over for about 20 sec or untill you see oil pressure on the guage, the truck will NOT start up with the pedal floored! try it right now!

the same smart engineer also made it so you cannot GRIND the starter once the engine is running, try that too!

Fords better ideas!

 

Yob,

How did you learn this trick to pressurizing the oil system. One more reason why I'm glad I switched from GM to Ford.

As soon as I re-deploy home I'll try this "trick".

 

I posted that trick in the last oil thread.... I am sure others have known about it, but I figured it out one day. I wanted to see if this truck would immediatly rev up, once started if the gas pedal was all the way down, because I was trying to solve a problem for a friend with an automatic remote starter. Nevertheless, i found that if you hold the pedal to the floor, it won't start. I wouldn't hold it 20 seconds though. That will eventually cause undue stress to the starter. I found 5 seconds is all that you really need. You don't really need to wait until the guage indicates pressure, becuase every time you start your vehicle there isn't maximum oil pressure present. I just do it to make sure that there is enough oil in the system to fill the oil filter. If not, you have starve the engine of oil while you are waiting for the stupid filter to fill up.
Good Luck,
MK

 

When you turn the key with the pedal floored, does the crankshaft turn over ?

FWIW...I just prefilled my filter about half way and did not spill any when mounting. I think the main objective is to saturate the media inside the filter.

just my .02

 

yes everything turns over as it normally would, however it shuts down the fuel delivery system.
This is set up this way so you may clear a flooded engine if you needed to. It keeps the spark going, but no fuel injectors. In a perfect world, this dry air would flow through your cylinders and evaporate any liquid gasoline on the spark plugs.
M