What oil are you running in the 5.4 once it's out of warranty? Do you run the required oil, 5W20 or have you switched to something heavier? I was thinking about switching to 10W30 once the truck is out of warranty. Has anyone done this and gotten more than 150K miles out of the motor? I am concerned that the 5W20 is going to severely limit the life of the 5.4.

Is there any reason not to switch to a heavier oil?

thanks,
ron

 

Why do you think they have you use 5W20 under normal conditions? Its because the modular engines have extremely tight tolerances.

You can use whatever you please but dont be surprized if you have an engine failure later. If you stick with the recommended grade and they for some reason decide to repair engines on a program for one reason or another, your proof of service with the proper lubricants will serve you well.

 

The best oil is mobil 1 as far as specs and price goes.

 

Whalerrron,
I'm going to move your question to the oil forum (with a redirect left here in the 5.4 forum).
If you do some reading there, you see lot's of opinions that 5W20 is recommended solely to improve Ford's CAFE numbers (Corporate Average Fuel Economy).
My 4.2 Liter V6 (2000 model) calls for 5W30. I have 102,000 miles on it. I have run conventional 10W30 since I bought it new. Never a hint of any problems and if it burns any oil at all, I can't tell it by looking at the dipstick. And, I go with 5,000 mile drain intervals.
I have had 2 Explorers (one 4.0 and one 5.0) an Expedition (5.4) and the 4.2 F150. I have only used 10W30 in all of them.
But, I believe the 5W20 would serve well also.
Anyways, check out the posts in the oil forum.
There are some pretty sharp guys there and lots of good "real world" data and numbers to help you decide.
See you there!

 

i use delvac 1 5w40 4qts. and 3 qts redline 5w40 with schaffers moly e.p. additive 7 oz. and fleetguard LF3681 or LF16002 oil filter

 

No , not if you stay within reason . It looks by your profile you live in the NE USA so a heavy vi @ 40c motor oil would not be the ticket for winter use saying a good 5/30 winter and 10/30 for the warmer seasons will be fine depending on how you use the truck .

Here is a mix confirming a light 40wt is ok for the 5.4 during summer when worked hard although even though all the Mobil Supersyns are compatible I don't recommend mixing a brew .

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...hreadid=145432

The 10/30 SS would be fine for year round service in the 5.4 anywhere in the US but if it was worked hard the 0/40 might be the better choice.

As all of these engines from Ford wear in and clearances increase " not tolerances- two different subjects " a increase of viscosity @ 100c would be advisable but place caution on the VI @ 40c because take a 5/40 for example..... one might have a vi of 120 and the next brand at 80 , the latter would be a better oil for pumpability when cold or short distance driving.

When choosing a dino you will get many different advices . Motorcraft or Mystik gets my vote unless you can find the Phillips Turbo 10/30 which is a passenger car oil with a starting TBN of 13 and low sulphated ash to boot. It's a great oil but hard to come by and why it is I don't know .

Good luck with your 5.4...it will last many miles

 

You guys need to read this

http://www.vtr.org/maintain/oil-overview.html

 

99f350sd, The info on that link is dated. It was good info 3-4 years ago but things have changed a lot in just this year. Also, staying in the 5w-20 oil that meet Fords 153H spec, M1 is the weakest of the bunch- not the best by far. HT/HS is 2.6 which means it barely makes grade. All others exceed the HT/HS rating.

Homerwinzlow, the Triton engines are unchanged on the inside in reference to clearances and tolerances. Ford was recommending a Xw-30 on the older engines and there will not be any damage in regards to viscosity using a heavier oil.

whalerron, you can use a heavier oil if you like and there should be no resulting damage. However, I think that you need to know that the oils that meet Fords spec will run cleaner, longer, and have less deposits. So it's up to you, thicker oil that will give you a dirtier motor and have more deposits or a cleaner engine with less dirt and deposits. Either way, your 5.4 should give you service in the 200,000+ range, properly maintained, of course.

 

The point I was trying to make was that an oil without viscosity modifiers is the best choice and most of the synths do that.Also M1 is best value at 3.49 qt you can't beat that. As far as drain interval you can easily go 5k....And my truck uses 5-30 not 5-20.

Dick

 

HT/HS is related to viscosity and alone does not make a motor oil . Just like some think oil with moly will run circles around one without. Moly does not alone make for the best oil .Look at Motorcraft analysis to confirm this.

The topic was can a heavier oil than a 5/20 be used successfully and that it most certainly can.

Here's an example,the pride and joy of this forum-the Chevron Supreme in the 5/20 is or has and I doubt very seriously if the HT/HS of the Chevron 5/20 exeeds 2.6

45.5 vi @ 40c
8.0 vi @ 100c
the cranking cP is 5200 @ -30c
pour point is -27f

Now take this as an example of a heavier VI oil that will outperform it in all of the above parameters

Phillips Trop Artic 5/30 conventional

63vi @ 40c
10.82 vi @ 100c
cP is 4688 @ -30c
pour point is -30C - yes centrigrade not fahrenheight like the above oil !

This oil will out perform the Chevron 20wt at all temps to include cold starts and hot running conditions ...so why would one want a Chevron x-20wt lubed motor when oils like this are available ????

Now the Mobil Synthetic even beats the for comparison only Phillips oil in all the above and the 5/30 9.7 cst @ 100c- has a HTHS of 3.1 - the 10/30 is 3.2 @100c " 212f " and again, pumps better than conventional oils when cold and resists both low and high temp oxidation better than a conventional oil.

For the Mobil Synthetic I suggest going to their website for the data sheet as I don't have all those stored in my memory bank, but I assure you it performs better than conventionals when cold ,and that means better cold start protection but it does not stop there.

You can have your cake and eat it too by looking at the data sheets and making an educated desicion .Next step is to find the oil that works best for you-the owner

 

Some good info DOHC and Flash, but now I have a question....
If we assume (and I believe it to be a valid assumption) that either Chevron Supreme 10W30, or TropArctic 5W30, will provide sufficient wear protection, have sufficient detergent packages, and all the other niceties required to get his (or any other 5.4 /4.g /4.2) to say, 200,000 miles. When and how do the benefits of Mobil1 show up? For the sake of discussion, assume no extreme cold weather start-ups. I'm still not real clear on how the "fact sheet" benefits are displayed in practice for most of us average drivers.
I sorta hold the belief that the life of a motor is more dependant on the motor itsself, and assuming good oil, good filters, and reasonable drain intervals, the oil is somewhat secondary to the life as determined by the specific tolerences, etc of a given motor. That is to say: some motors can be fed a good conventional 10W30, see 5K drain intervals and use any one of several acceptable filters, and that motor is gonna go a loooonnnngggg time. But, the next one off the assembly line might get Mobil1, 3,000 mile drain intervals and the finest filter one can find, and that motor, because of how all the little pices came together to be the big piece, is "doomed" to fail early.
Does this make sense?
I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I think it's sort of fitting with his question. If he uses 10W30 will he suffer any detrimental effects? I'd say "no". Likewise, I couldn't say for sure he'd see any (real world) benefit to using Mobil1.

 

When I first started asking around about the Ford usage of 5W20 oil in their motors, the "word on the street" was that Ford was doing this only for CAFE reasons. I think what I am reading here is that Ford's decision to use that oil is based on solid engineering reasoning.

If this is true, then there should be a whole bunch of people out there who have 150K+ miles on 4.6 and 5.4 motor which have only been lubricated with 5W20. How many of you have seen high mileage while using only the recommended 5W20 oil?

We can read data sheets "til the cows come home" about how 5W20 oils are great for these motors but without the emperical data to support this, the data sheets are worthless. So, let's see some support for the data sheets. Has anybody gotten 150K miles out of the 4.6/5.4 motors while using only 5W20? For those of you that have switched to another weight oil: Why did you switch and what criteria did you use to select the oil you are now using.

Thanks,
ron

 

When did they switch to 5w20 from 5w30?

 

ENGINE—ENGINE OIL—RECOMMENDED Article No.
APPLICATIONS FOR SAE 5W-20 AND SAE 5W-30 02-1-9
MOTOR OILS—GASOLINE AND FLEXIBLE FUEL
VEHICLES ONLY
FORD: 1992-2002 CROWN VICTORIA
1993-1994 TEMPO
1993-1997 THUNDERBIRD
1993-2002 ESCORT, MUSTANG, TAURUS
1995-2000 CONTOUR
1998-2002 ESCORT ZX2
2000-2002 FOCUS
1993-1996 BRONCO
1993-1997 AEROSTAR
1993-2002 E SERIES, F-150, RANGER
1995-2002 WINDSTAR
1997-1999 F-250 LD
1997-2001 EXPLORER
1997-2002 EXPEDITION
1999-2002 SUPER DUTY F SERIES, SUPER DUTY F-53 STRIPPED CHAS.
2000-2002 EXCURSION
2001-2002 ESCAPE
LINCOLN: 1991-2002 TOWN CAR
1993-1998 MARK VIII
1993-2002 CONTINENTAL
2000-2002 LS
1998-2002 NAVIGATOR
MERCURY: 1992-2002 GRAND MARQUIS
1993-1994 TOPAZ
1993-1997 COUGAR
1993-1999 TRACER
1993-2002 SABLE
1995-2000 MYSTIQUE
1999-2002 COUGAR
1997-2001 MOUNTAINEER
This article is being republished in its entirety to ISSUE
update the vehicle models, engines and years Ford Motor Company now recommends SAE 5W-20
affected. viscosity grade for servicing most gasoline and
flexible fueled vehicles. NOTE
PLEASE REFER TO THE VEHICLE APPLICATION ACTION
LIST LATER IN THIS TSB FOR A COMPLETE All 2001 and 2002 vehicles where SAE 5W-20 is
LIST OF VEHICLES AFFECTED BY THIS TSB. specified should be serviced at the recommended
oil change intervals using SAE 5W-20. This oil is an
improved formulation to improve fuel economy.
Copyright © 2002 Ford Motor Company PAGE 1
Article No. 02-1-9 Cont’d.
Testing has validated this viscosity grade can be
used in many previous model year vehicles. It is
recommended ALL vehicles on the following Vehicle
Application Listing be service with SAE 5W-20.
All 2001-2002 vehicles other than those listed in the
“Exception 2001 Vehicles” or “Exception 2002
Vehicles” chart are being filled with SAE 5W-20
motor oil at the factory and should also be serviced
with SAE 5W-20 oil.
PAGE 2
Article No. 02-1-9 Cont’d.
Vehicle Application Listing Approved For SAE • 2000-2002 5.4L Excursion
5W-20 Motor Oil • 1998-2002 5.4L 2V/4V Navigator
• 1993-1996 1.9L Escort/Tracer • 1997-2002 5.4L 2V F-150/250 (under 8500 GVW
• 1995-2000 2.0L Zetec Contour/Mystique only), Expedition, E-Series, E-350
Chassis/RV/Cutaway • 1999-2002 2.0L Cougar
• 1993-1997 5.8L F-Series, Bronco • 1997-2002 2.0L Escort/Tracer
• 1993-1996 5.8L E-Series • 1998-2002 2.0L Escort ZX2
• 2000-2002 6.8L Excursion • 2000-2002 2.0L Focus
• 1997-2002 6.8L E-Series, E-350 • 2001-2002 2.0L Escape
Chassis/RV/Cutaway • 1993-1997 2.3L Ranger
• 1999-2002 6.8L Super Duty F-Series 250 • 1993-1994 2.3L Mustang
HD/350/450/550 Motorhome
• 1993-1994 2.3L Tempo/Topaz • 1993-1998 7.5L All Vehicles
• 1998-2001 2.5L Ranger
NOTE • 1995-2000 2.5L Contour/Mystique
FOR 1993 THROUGH 1998 MODEL YEAR FFV • 1999-2002 2.5L Cougar USE XO-10W30-FFV.
• 2001-2002 3.0L 4V Escape
NOTE • 1996-2001 3.0L 4V Taurus/Sable
THE “EXCEPTION 2001-2002 VEHICLES” • 1993-2002 3.0L (Vulcan) Aerostar/Ranger, SHOULD BE SERVICED WITH SAE 5W-30
Taurus/Sable (Flexible Fuel and Gas) MOTOR OIL.
• 1995-2000 3.0L (Vulcan) Windstar
Exception 2001 Vehicles • 1993-1994 3.0L (Vulcan) Tempo/Topaz
Engine Vehicle • 2000-2002 3.0L 4V Lincoln LS
• 1995-2002 3.8L Windstar 3.3L Villager
3.9L Lincoln LS • 1993-1997 3.8L Taurus/Sable, 4.0L Ranger, Explorer/Mountaineer, Explorer
Thunderbird/Cougar, Continental Sport, and Explorer Sport Trac
• 1994-2002 3.8L Mustang
Exception 2002 Vehicles • 2002-2002 3.9L 4V Lincoln LS
• 1997-2002 4.2L (SPI) F-150 (under 8500 GVW Engine Vehicle
only), E-Series
2.0L HP Zetec SVT Focus
• 1996-2002 4.6L 2V Mustang 3.3L Villager
4.0L Ranger, Explorer/Mountaineer, Explorer • 1992-2002 4.6L Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis
Sport, and Explorer Sport Trac
• 1991-2002 4.6L Town Car
• 1994-1997 4.6L 2V Thunderbird/Cougar NOTE
• 1996-2002 4.6L 4V Mustang Cobra IF VEHICLE IS NOT LISTED IN THIS
APPLICATION, SAE 5W-30 OIL IS • 1995-2002 4.6L 4V Continental
RECOMMENDED. REFER TO TSB 99-8-16. • 1993-1998 4.6L 4V Mark VIII
• 1997-2002 4.6L 2V Triton F-150/250 (under 8500 PART NUMBER PART NAME
GVW only), E-Series, Expedition XO-5W20-QSP SAE 5W-20 Motor Oil - Quart (USA)
• 1993-1999 4.9L E-Series, F-Series CXO-5W20-LSP12 SAE 5W-20 Motor Oil - Litre
(Canada) • 1993-1995 5.0L Mustang/Mustang Cobra XO-5W20-5QSP SAE 5W-20 Motor Oil - 5 Quart Jug
• 1993-1993 5.0L Thunderbird/Cougar (USA)
XO-5W20-DSP SAE 5W-20 Motor Oil - 55 Gallon • 1997-2001 5.0L Explorer/Mountaineer Drum (USA)
• 1993-1996 5.0L E-Series, F-Series, Bronco CXO-5W20-DBSP SAE 5W-20 Motor Oil - 205 Litre
Drum (Canada)

 

Brian,

First I'd like to thank you, the other mods and the Administration for keeping the Oil Salesman and some of the garbage that is spewed out of "some" of their mouths off of this forum. The ones that sell synthetics knock the dino's--- the one's with dino's knock the synthetics and say that it's the additives that play the most important role. Additives are like the ameneities of our homes but what kind of foundation is that home built on ?

If we all could set in the shop and talk about oils it would be much easier to convey messages but heres another attempt .

The 4.2 and it's 6 quart sump is very easy on oil. Much easier than some of the new imports with 3.2 quart systems .

Emissions equipment come into play as well as the phasing of the camshaft "s "and the heat that creates on some engine designs . Some engines are plain tougher on a motor oil and others although easy on oil at first become hard on oil after the engine ages from blow by or the EGR equpment not working properly. The 85 302 with it's throttle body injection comes to immediate mind . The crossover for exhaust gases to help enable warm up gets stopped up,the injection senses the motor is still cold, wallah the oils gets so gassed up in winter 2k miles is about all one can run with that going on.

Now to Mobil SS . Think of it in terms of accumulative. Go 5k on a dino time after time after time. With the lighter hydrocarbons flashing off due to inferior NOACK eventually the tops of the front and rear main seals will be far more apt to have carbon like deposits on them making for a seal that's protected from oil getting to them to help keep them both cool and pliable . A synthetic in the proper grade pumps better making for an oil pump that will last longer . A good PAO based synthetic also has 15% Ester in the formulation for both seal conditioning and to stick to internal parts do to it's polar nature to metals .

If a person changes his own oil no doubt he has heard the motor's main bearings knock on start after the oil/filter change . If the car has the oil changed every 3k for life that's 60 oil changes in 180k--run a synlube to 6k or beyond and that cuts the death rattle in half,something not many think of .That rattle is extreme wear there for certain.

I believe synlubes should be used very early in a engines life in a light a weight as possible without oil consumption and as it wears step up to heavier vi oils eventually relegating the motor back to conventional oil .

We can post till the cows come home about oils but I hope this made sense in some way. I am pro synthetic but do not use it in every engine I own . Some just don't benefit from it in cost vs performance .

I am going to dig up an analysis of a synthetic oil I used in the past and post under a new topic about base oils . I believe it is very revealing in how a good base stock as a foundation is a better way to make an oil than what are becoming seemingly primitive group I and II blended stocks with huge additive packages - especially with GF-4 on the horizon .