What oil to use? ford 302
 

What is the recommended oil to use in the summer and winter in my 1989 f150 with a 302?

Regular old 10w30 dead dinosaur is all the motor really needs.

Good, that's what I've been using. Same oil for the summer and winter? I live in Northern Virginia, in the twenties and thirties fahrenheit in the winter and eighty to ninety degrees fahrenheit in the summer.

Thanks

5w30 is also acceptable according to my manual though in my experience you may get more mechanical noise on higher milage engines.

I'd also consider using a 10W-30 Heavy Duty Engine Oil (HDEO) rather than a Starburst oil in your engine.

Heavy Duty Engine Oils

10w30 in the summer, 5w30 in the winter. Or 5w30 year round if you run a decent oil. Conanski is right conventional oil is all the engine needs but I hopped on that valvoline 300k mile engine guarantee, which requires me to run their full synthetic. I've had no problems with the SynPower 5w30, except the price of 6 qt full synthetic oil changes every 3k

I actually live in Northern Va too and i run 10W30 just fine all year around. My mileage just turned 190,000 no weird noises when it turns cold or hot.

My .02 cents
Kyle

Does Valvoline require you to change the oil that often to qualify for their warranty? 3k mile oil changes on synthetic is extreme overkill. I would feel safe doubling the interval to 6k miles, even with conventional oil.

they have a 1k grace period. so technically you can do it every 4k miles. amsoils recommended intervals on their oil(which is like the best) is 15k, but they dont have the engine guarantee haha

It seems to me that Valvoline's engine guarantee is written to protect them rather than their customers. Any API SM oil should offer excellent protection and can easily go 5000-6000 miles between oil changes. Many people running synthetics run a lot more than 6,000 miles between oil changes based on UOA.

See BITOG: Valvoline's Oil Warranty

HDEOs (CI-4/SL, CJ-4/SM) offer higher levels anti-wear additives and detergents than Starburst Oils and are excellent choices for older engines.

ACCCC Engine Oil Article

i use mobile 1 10w30 year round in my 302 and change it every 5k. with 360,000 miles, i can pull the valve covers and eat off of them they are so clean

yeah even if it CAN last that long, their engine guarantee keeps the oil at the point where it doesnt even need changed. But i figure if i happen to throw a piston or get a ****ed up valve it's on them since they warrant anything the oil touches unless it fails because of something else, but 302s are known for reliability even on dirt cheap conventional oil so 300k on full synth starting at 39k miles with 3k intervals should last me a while. I already know the truck will rust away before the powertrain goes though

I haven't checked the owners manual on my 91 F-150 to see what it says, but according to my Chilton service manual, oil and filter changes are recommended every 6 months or 6k miles. Granted, it doesn't specify conventional or synthetic, and I'm willing to bet my owners manual says every 3 months or 3k miles. Up to this point I've been doing it every 3 months as I don't worry about the mileage that much, but since discovering that's what my service manual says I'm considering changing the interval. Thoughts? Oh, I run conventional by the way- Castrol 10w30 [There may be some of you that think Castrol is **** oil but I've never had a problem with it in the 12 years I've been doing my own changes].

If I remember correctly, the owners manual lists 5000 mile change interval for normal driving, and 3000 for "severe" driving conditions. I don't remember if there is a time interval, though. Castrol GTX should be just fine. We used it in our race car at school with very good results. It was a turbocharged 600cc motorcycle engine that used a wet clutch, so the oil got abused. The bearings always looked new when the engine was disassembled, so I don't think you'll have any issues with Castrol.

When I first started driving, I changed the oil at 3000 like clockwork. I've since gone to 5000 mile intervals on the truck, although last change was at 4000 miles since it had been a year since the last change. It goes through a quart of oil every 1000 miles, so there's always a little fresh oil being added along the way. I usually use Valvoline conventional oil or NAPA oil, which is Valvoline in a different bottle.

I run Mobil 1 extended performance in my Honda and change every 10000 miles. I could probably go longer, but without a used oil analysis, I'd rather be a little cautious.

Well, I didn't know what opinions there were about Castrol here- in a couple of other auto forums that I frequent, most don't care for it. I guess in the last 4 years they've made like 3 different formula changes, and despite my trying to press that I'm sure these changes were made for the better, they still looked down upon it.

:confused: Oh well, I don't care. Like I said, no problems in the 12 years I've been using it, and unless something happens that makes me question its integrity, I'll keep using it.