About to move from Virginia to South Texas. Recently got a '96 Ford Explorer, V-8. Gets 11 MPG, is there a 'main reason' I should look for it getting such low milage, or is that typical for a V-8, that old? It has almost 250,000 miles on it. I'm about to change the oil, is there a particular brand that's better than another for my truck? For Texas's hot weather, should I go with a 10w-40? Any advice is welcome, I'm new to all this.

 

With that many miles, I'd run at least a 10W40. I personally run Havoline 20W50. Texas summers are hot; lighter motor oil gets as thin as water on long drives. As for the mileage, a lot of factors can give you bad mileage. I'd start with an oil change, air filter change, and a tune up.

Oh, and welcome to Texas. Hope you enjoy living in our country. There's no other place like it.

 

Welcome to FTE.

Lets think about this some more.

Your engine likely had 5W-30 specified for it & that'll be fine further down sourh too & will provide plenty of oil film strength protection there, while offering up low oil pumping losses to yield as much fuel economy as this vintage engine in its current condition can give up.

On the oil container, the first number & letter 5W = the tested cold temperature viscosity/thickness of the oil at -30F, while the second set of numbers (30) is the tested viscosity of the oil at Hot/212F operating temperatures. SO, since our engines operating temperature is thermostatically controlled, its fully warmed up operating temp is the same in Texas as in Virginia & the engine & oil are designed to operate together at this temperature, which is about 195F, the engine coolant thermostat setting!!!!

Now for the part that most folks are confused about, the 5W/cold viscosity/thickness of the oil, is still Way thicker at 100F, room temperature, or colder, than the 30 oil is at hot/fully warmed up operating temperature!!!! So the 5W=Winter viscosity/thickness rating, is for the oil at cold start up temperatures & the lower this number is, the faster/easier the oil will flow in the engine on a cold start, to get to the top & bottom end of our engines, to do a good fast lube job on the camshaft, cam chain, tensioner, valves & crankshaft, which they'll all appreciate. Over head cam engines especially appreciate getting oil to the top end of the engine Fast on a cold start!!!!

Using an oil that is thicker/more vicious than specified, like a 10w-30, or 10W-40, 20W-40, 20W-50, makes the oil pump & engine have to work Much harder to move the thicker oil around & being more vicious/thicker, that makes it slower to get to where its needed, wont quickly flow into & wet small spaces & when in the top end of the engine it'll stay longer & all that can cause all kinds of mischief & the engine & oil pump having to work harder to move a thicker oil around, sure won't help gas mileage any!!!!! Thicker/cold oil won't improve wear either, as most wear is said to occur on cold starts, before the oil pump has established flow to the moving parts.

Now there are those that'll argue that thicker oil stays put longer, doesn't run off parts as quick, so stays around longer to do a lube job, ect, ect, But on the other hand if it moves slower, doesn't flow into small spaces as fast, or wet parts as quickly, it can't lube things as fast as needed on a cold start. Being thicker, it stays around in the top end longer, so it doesn't drain back to the oil pan fast enough to keep the sump level as full as it should be, so the oil pan sump can run low, the top end can have too much oil up there & the over head cam can whip it into a froth & aerated oil doesn't lube worth a flip, all a vicious circle that Fords lube engineers thought about & considered when they specified the oil viscosity, service grade & filter for us to use. So, in short, seriously consider using whats specified by Ford for oil viscosity & filter in your owners manual, get the vehicles scheduled maintenance up to date & enjoy the Texas warm weather.

Now on oil brand choice, if your not going to use the specified Motorcraft service grade oil & filter, make sure what you choose to use, says on its container that it meets, or exceeds Fords specifications & those specification numbers are listed in your owners manual & are usually listed on the back side of the oil container. To be safe, Don't opt for no name oils or filters, stay with a brand name product.

Now, on the mpg question, given the mileage on this puppy & we not knowing its maintenance or repair history, make sure the vehicle is up to date on All specified past & present due scheduled maintenance replacement items, like fluids, filters, plugs, wires, PCV valve, O2 sensors, belts & hoses, because its going to need the cooling system to be operating at its best to keep engine temp under control. The O2 sensors will affect the MPG the most, so if they've never been replaced, or have more than 75K miles on them, they need to be on your replacement list. If the old air filter is an oiled foam, or cotton gauze type, the MAF sensor will likely need to be cleaned, as oil from the filter can corrupt readings from it & that will have the engine computer mess up the air/fuel mixture & that'll corrupt mpg. The part numbers for most of these things are listed in your owners manual & if you have a Va Motorcraft distributor close by, like Basham Oil, you can come by Motorcraft fluids & parts at reasonable prices, or if you want to use after market parts, look on line for discount codes to your favorite autoparts store. You can often find 30-40-50% off codes for Advance Auto & ordering on line, with in store pick up, will save shipping costs too. Here is a 30% off store wide Advance Auto discount code I found yesterday. TRT30, Enter it into the online check out code box, to subtract 30% off the total of your online order, check the pick up in store box, to eliminate shipping charges too.

A bunch of thoughts for consideration, let us know how it goes.

 

I would be much more concerned about the health of your cooling system than changing weights of oil. Anything API SN rated is going to be good. I prefer Pennzoil it's a personal preferance but the info that PQIA has released recently makes me more confident in that choice. I agree with all the info pawpaw has given you, I would just put the most emphasis on the cooling system. It tends to be the most overlooked component by so many drivers.

 

EDIT: 3/26/14 Dang don't know how this answer of mine ended up included in/at the bottom of cb 13's above post, my apologies.

I agree that Pennzoil's most recent recipies of Ultra, Platinum, or regular 5w-20 Yellow Bottle, maybe 5W-30 too (though I've not seen a recent VOA NOACK % evaporation on PYB 5W-30), to determine if it too likely has the GTL Gplll+ base oil in its recipe) would likely be a good consideration for hot dry south Texas. Yes the best engine oil isn't going to last if our cooling system isn't doing its thing, so I agree, driving down & running around in south Texas summer heat, the cooling system health needs to be high up on your priorty list!!!!

 

Thank you so much for the great replies. It's kind of a 'crisis' situation, I've got to leave as soon as I can, and I have gas money and that's it. I know it's not the wisest thing to do, but sometimes you just have to take a chance and do the best you can. I'm changing the oil tomorrow, I stopped today to get oil, and there's a good deal on Pennzoil High Mileage today, and tomorrow the same deal on Castrol High Mileage. I had planned on going with Motorcraft, but what do y'all think? They're all about the same price. Is there any reason I should or should not get some type of fuel additive? Most of what I've read sounds like they can be harmful and they usually don't help anyway...? If you are praying people, I'd appreciate some prayers for my safety and keeping my truck running! I was born and raised in Texas, mighty glad to be going back. (You can take the girl outta Texas, but you can't take Texas outta the girl!)

 

Roger on being a Texan. My Mom was an east Texan from over Tyler way.

Chevron Techron Concentrate Plus is about the best fuel additive bang for the buck & it works. Put a 20oz container in at the pump before filling, so to get good mixing & fill with Chevron, Texaco CalTex, or now Shell, all of which have some PEA in their fuel ad package, so it'll raise the treat rate 10X above pump gas alone. It'll tidy up the fuel injectors, intake valves, combustion chambers & piston crowns, so to yield the best mpg your engine can likely get in its present condition.

I'd consider a Motorcraft oil filter & the Pennzoil High Mileage 5W-30 oil, as it will likely be able to deal with the long highway high temp run, while doing a tidy up job on the engine & piston ring lands & maybe be able to free the rings up some during the trip, to improve compression, which could improve mpg a little. The high mileage recipe is usually toward the upper end of its viscosity grade, so if your engine compression is a little low from wear or ring land deposits from all the miles on it, might be able to help some in making a better ring seal, which might help engine power & mpg a little.

Make sure your cooling system, coolant, radiator cap, hoses & belt/s are in good shape & maybe carry spares. I keep my old belts & hoses as spares on a long trip. Maybe carry a gallon of 50/50 mix of coolant & distilled water in case it looses some you can top up & get to some help.

Be sure your tires are properly aired up & that you can get to the spare tire, its aired up & you have a jack & lug wrench to be able to change a flat tire if need be.

More thoughts for consideration, let us know how the trip goes.

 

I thank you all so very much! I made it to Texas without one second of trouble. The truck ran great the whole time. I used y'all's suggestions, I went with Pennzoil High Mileage and used the additive Chevron Techron Concentrate Plus with a full take of Chevron Premium, might not help, but I thought it might, and it wouldn't hurt. Tires were great, engine ran cool the whole time. Even my mpg was better, at 14 mpg. Happy to be here, 20 miles outside of Austin in the country. Love it!

 

OK, good feedback & to hear the trip went well with no problems. That long run could help tidy up the engine internally, free up the piston rings & maybe help its overall efficiency some. If it has regular fuel specified, using premium won't likely help as the engine is timed to use regular, so will likely yield the best performance bang for the buck with regular. Ford cautiones that constant use of mid or premium grade fuels can cause combustion chamber deposits & the problems they cause, so if regular is specified for that engine, use it in a top tier fuel offering & you'll not likely have any fuel system, or engine fuel related deposit problems. Here is a list of Top Tier marketers Top Tier Gasoline. You should have Texaco & Maybe Chevron available in Texas & both of those fuels while they were still selling in Va, provided the best mpg in all my Ford vehicles.