hmph! my sticker under hood says 5w-30 What thu ho-ha!

 

Haha. Yup, and here's mine.... Looks like yours is 5.8L vs mine 5.0L.....

 

I never listen to their expertise. However, I have pro demand service software and in the fluids section for my truck, a 96 F150 w/ 302 it calls for 5w-20. I ran full synthetic with a motorcraft filter and it all seems fine. If Ford thinks you need to run 5w20 they probably have good reason for it, even if it's to kill old motors and sell new trucks.

 

You must be a Ford employee.

 

"If Ford thinks you need to run 5w20 they probably have good reason for it, even if it's to kill old motors and sell new trucks". Really? Not really sure how to respond to that... Sorry, but I bought this 25 year old truck to go another 25 if possible to do work...and last as long as I can have anything to do with it. If the proper oil is 10W30 as per my original specs, that what I will run, if not 10w40 depending on temps.

 

Yes, what better way than to recommend a different weight oil, especially when it will still take tens of thousands of miles to get the engine to fail, particularly when it will take some people several years to drive it far enough to actually cause the level of damage needed to kill the engine.

That’s a mighty efficient plan they’ve put into place. I’m sure at this rate, they’ll have the 2019 models off the lot by 2027. Certainly no one will catch on to their scheme....

Yes, I’m mocking you just a bit, because it’s fun.

No one is forcing you to put 5-20 in your truck, but it’s a bit ignorant to believe such catastrophic engine damage will occur by doing so for one service cycle. If you don’t believe it, do the research and prove otherwise.

 

This isn't a new idea or scheme, Ford has done this for awhile and Chrysler is guilty of it as well, probably GM too but I don't follow them as closely.

 

I appreciate some good hearted fun, the labels under the hood of my truck are long gone, I have been using pro demand for awhile and referenced it for my last oil change. If someone has some concrete evidence that shows that 5w20 isn't a good choice, I'll probably stick to the manufacturer recommend oil. The joke about Fords plan to kill old trucks was just a joke, they give you like 3 oil weight options on the 6.7 PSD.

 

All jokes aside, there’s nothing wrong with running heavier oil in these older trucks either. As the bearing clearances increase, heavier oil can be beneficial for maintaining pressure.

But you also need to keep in mind that 70% - 80% of engine wear occurs at startup (particularly after it’s been sitting overnight or for extended periods of time). The oil, regardless of the viscosity, has drained back down to the pan and only a very thin film is left clinging to the parts - it’s just not enough to provide proper lubrication.

That’s why many engines (new and old) have a very brief valve tick when first started - because it takes the oil a second to reach the top end and properly lubricate them.

 

riddle me this, his 95 302 10w-30 sticker, my 95 351w 5w-30 sticker, why same year,
my owners guide doesn't even acknowledge my 351w? 'mean...just plain mean'

 

I’m not sure how Ford (or any manufacturer, for that matter) decides which stickers to put under the hood. This is purely speculation:

1) The trucks were shipped to different parts (and therefore different climates) of the country.
2) The owners manual in your truck isn’t the original.
3) The owners manual in your truck is part of a series of unknown “collectors” manuals in which there was a printing mishap during production.
4) At some point during the 1995 production cycle, Ford decided to change the stickers and it depends on the build date.

These are what I call SWAG theories (Scientific Wild *** Guess). Also very useful when calculating the universal German torque specification - Guddentite.

 

I'll offer you my opinion and it will be worth no more or less than anyone else who has posted. I base this opinion on my experience as a business owner who had to deal with hundreds of trucks over the last 30 years. I bought oil by the 55 gallon drum and over the years only kept two weights of oil. We always had 15-40 for the diesels, and what ever the new trucks called for to use in the gas engines. When the new Fords started calling for 5-20, all the gas engine trucks got 5-20 oil with few problems. The problems we did have involved oil leaks and some noise in the older trucks. This was cured by the next oil change using 15-40 oil in that truck. Most company trucks had 200,000 plus miles before selling them and buying new.

I don't think you have hurt a thing using 5-20 oil. If you are loosing sleep over it, run down to your local wally world and get a jug of the proper oil and change it. $15 for 5 quarts of oil isn't worth loosing sleep over.

No one alive will ever convince me Ford or any manufacturer is recommending a oil in their engines to ruin them so you run out and buy a new vehicle. I also don't buy into a vast right wing conspiracy.

 

Thanks for the feedback jimlj. I trust in your opinion based on experience with vehicles over an extended amount of time...far beyond mine. I'm not losing sleep over the oil currently in my truck, other than struggling why Ford would somehow change the recommended oil from what was originally prescribed for the engine, to something different. Not paranoid, just curious especially given the age. (conventional wisdom says older engine, thicker oil). My first thought was that the oils in 1995, had progressed or morphed with synthetics over a 25 year period. I notice you have a '95 F150 project...what do you plan on using in this truck, assuming apples to apple on engine size?
As far as conspiracy theories, politics aside, I believe it is very naive to think that major corporations do not have ulterior motives in many of the decisions to which they arrive. For one, the EPA has a very powerful suggestive muscle with auto makers for obvious reasons. Wether or not that's at play with this particular decision, I can not say, but can tell you in my 54 years on this earth as a businessman at the executive level, it DOES exist.

 

In the past 25 years oil formulation has changed drastically. It's gotten better as have the additives they put in it from what i have read. I have ran 5w-20, 10w-30 and 10w-40 and on occasion in extremely hot weather 20w-50 in my truck. Depending on temps determines what I use. When i lived in Arkansas and it was swelteringly hot for the seemingly 9 months of summer, it got heavier oil, if it were bitterly cold, it got lighter weight.

The oil formulations we have now are not the same as we had back when I started driving.

 

In my '95, if I keep it long enough to change the oil, I plan to run what ever the owners manual calls for. I have retired and sold my interest in the company so I now buy my oil like most DIYer's do, one oil change at a time.

I purchased the '95 a month or so ago from the company I retired from. It is one of the trucks I mentioned that had thinner oil than the owners manual called for about the last 10 years the company owned it. It now has 228,000 miles, I'm guessing about half of which is running on 5-20 oil. I bought the truck with a bad transmission. I have cleaned about 50 pounds of dirt and gunk out of it, and after I replace the transmission I plan to sell it and (hopefully) make a few dollars to fund some of my other interests.

I think Ford, like other manufacturers has gone to thinner oil in a quest for better fuel mileage. I assume (you know what that means) they have found older engines run fine on the thinner oil and now recommend it for older engines. I assume (here we go again) the local Ford garage is happy about this since their customers haven't had their engines blow up and they now don't need to have bulk storage for 4 or more different engine oils. Having said that, do I run 5-20 oil in my '66 Mustang? Nope. It gets the same 15-40 oil that goes in my Cummins.