This might seem like an odd question, but better safe than sorry.

I've had my '89 long enough to finally put 3,000 miles on it, so tonight was my first time at changing the oil for this rig. Am I reading the manual right 5 quarts + 1 for the filter? Why can't they just say 6 quarts?

 

Hi, you do have the 351 (5.8) engine, correct? If you do your engine should take 6 quarts of oil. The way I change mine is I first add five quarts, run the engine until it fills up the filter (30 seconds), then I see if it needs the other quart or not. Sometimes it does and someties it doesn't. It depends how long you let it drain!!!

 

Hey, thanks for the reply - mine is actually a 302. I just went downstairs and got my Owner Guide and it says the same thing for all three engines offered that year.

Sounds reasonable enough, just thought I would check first.

Would I be opening a can of worms by asking what oil most of you use? My truck has a little over 160,000 miles on the original engine and I'm using the Valvoline Max Life 10W 30

 

i hope you do realize it does not take 30 seconds for your oil filter to fill up with oil, if it did, your engine would be toast after about 2 oil changes. With the filter empty, and crankcase full, it takes about 2-5 seconds for the filter to fill completely. When the filter is full, you have oil pressure, if it took 30 seconds, oil changes would cause more harm than good. FYI. Oh, and one reason one pre-fills the filter is to cut that 2-5 seconds down even more, to a mere second or two.

 

Oh, I know that it only takes 2-3 seconds for the filter to fill up. the reason I wait 30 seconds is to give the oil a chance to splash around and get everywhere in the engine before I check it!