I just bough my 93 3.0 a couple of months back and really love this van except for my ongoing a/c problem, lol. This van seems to be as solid as a brand new vehicle in most aspects. Hopefully with the correct maintenance I can keep it that way for a while.

The van is due an oil change as of this weekend per records kept by the previous owner. He used penz 10W-30 in the winter and 10W-40 in the summer. I was thinking about adding some Slick 50 and using 10W-30 High Mileage Castrol.

Was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or comments on this. BTW my van has 134,000 miles on it at this time.

Thanks,
David

 

IMHO, I would skip the teflon treatment and go with synthetic (I use Mobil1) 10W30 and of course a new filter. I've switched quite a few "high mileage" vehicles to syn with no ill effects. I'm sure you'll get many different opinions and ideas on your question.

Scott

 

I vote for the mobil 1 as well.
I have several high milage vehicles that I use Mobil 1 in and have nothing bad to say about it.

On my aerostar, the mobil 1 was worth 2-3 mpg. on the highway.

 

Don't use the slick50!! use any api-sl 5/10w30 oil and never over extend oil change intervals. Chevron supreme or penzoil 5 or 10w30 cheap at ~1$ it is a good oil for the price.

High mileage oils are thicker oils (higher viscosity Cst) , borderline 30w nearly 40w, they contain a percentage of esters (in a way you can consider them a synthetic blend) some contains aditives that may affect/condition your seals.

Unless you specifically looking to reduce a oil leak/oil burning, you are not getting much more out of a high mileage oil. but lightetning your pocket

Bear in mind that mobil 1 5/10w30 is on the lower viscosity side of things. It is a very light oil on the lower end of a 30w nearly a high 20w

the 3.0 on my aerostar was rather noisy with mobil 1 because it is so thin... I eventually switched to chevron supreme regular sl dino, the wear #'s on my oil analysis are slightly better at a fraction of the price and the engine isn't as noisy.

I wouldn't waste my money on the thinner mobil 1 synthetic if the vehicle has been run with regular dino.

 

My '96 w/4.0 RWD has 140K miles, gets driven daily around town, to 75 mph on freeways. I use Pennzoil 10-30, change it and filter at 3-4,000 miles. Have never added oil, and it's pretty clean at oil change time. I get 17mpg+ around town. I think today's oils are all pretty good, it's the change interval that's important.

 

I am going to agree with MO51. Don't waste your money on expensive oil. I have 166K miles on my 93 Aerostar 4.0L and the engine is still as clean as it ever was with no oil consumption in between oil changes. I change the oil every 5000 miles religiously. I use any generic oil I can find at Wal-mart. Typically 10W40 (hot weather in Texas). I recently replaced the spark plugs (original) and they showed clean burn with no carbon deposit. They were wearing very thin but still burning clean. The paint is peeling and the door locks are wearing out but I have had no engine or transmission repairs. I think the body and the electrical system will go out long before the engine or transmission start causing trouble. I plan on keeping this van for another couple of years and don't think I'll have any trouble doing that.

 

My 93 4.0L Aerostar has 177K on it and has the same power and pickup as the day when I drove it off the lot new! I have changed the oil personally, every 3K and have used Exxon 5W-30 SuperFlow oil with Motorcraft FL1A filters. I have used no other brands!

I also have a 96 Taurus SHO and a 96 Mustang Cobra and use the same oil and Motorcraft filters. I really believe that people are wasting their money buying synthetic oil. If you change your oil every 3K like you should (5K intervals were strong-armed onto the manufactures by the Green movement) a good quality detergent oil is all you need. Take the money that you'll save and buy something new for you Aerostar.

Just my .02

 

I use Penzoil 5w30 and 1 can of Engine Restorer. 3.0L has 166k and the 4.0L has 145k. Once in a while, I'll add Gunk motor flush, before the change. When K-Mart went somewhat out of business, I bought a lot of Mobil 1 filters for $1. After my stock runs out, I'll go back to Motocraft filters, NAPA, or AC Delco.

I change oil about every 5k. Use a K&N in both models. Change PCV about every third oil change.

My van uses oil, about 1 drop per stroke of piston. It gets burnt off during the combustion cycle. Then, my left over fuel from the combustion cycle enters the pan to keep the oil within the cross-hatched area on my dipstick.

 

Some very interesting opinions guys and/or gals. I think I'm going to go ahead and pass on the high mileage oil and just use the penz that the original owner ued. As for the Slick 50 I'm still not sure. I see a couple of negative comments on it here but the truth is I've used it several times in an 86 Toyota Camry I have and now have nearly 400,000 mile on it so this is fairly convincing, lol. When I bought the Camry it had Just over 180,000 on it and it is still going strong to date! Maybe one for the records?

I need to go ahead and make the change so I think I'll just skip the Slick 50 this time to gather more info. After all another 3,000 miles is never that far away.

David

 

189K on my 4.0 using any name brand oil and 3k oil changes. I always stick with a FL-1a.

 

Don't us Slick 50 or any engine flush, especially anything like the Gunk Engine Flush. The reason is because most of these flushes are diesel oil or kerosene. They are meant to burn not lubricate. I would be worried to put anything like that in my engine oil. Best thing to do is just use a good motor oil like Valoline or Castrol and a good oil filter. Never use a FRAM or a Quaker state or Pennzoil (FRAMs in disguise). If you think your engine oil is dirty and you want to clean it out, use a good diesel oil. I know, you are thinking "But my Aerostar is a gas engine." A diesel oil is the same except it has more cleaning detergents which will help clean out your engine. Good luck.

-Matt

 

Knowledge is power, I would first learn what slick 50 is, what it's claims are, what the scientific basis to it's claims are, research those too. Then I would form my own opinion

Again, as a piece of good advice, I reiterate, skip the slick50

Pennzoil is a good choice, good aditive package, cheap and many successful used oil analisys out there on this type of engine.
Congratulations of your new Aerostar, enjoy!

 

I don't like slick 50 either.

In 30 years of building engines in race cars, I have lost only one to a lubrication problem.

That was using pennzoil. I don't use pennsoil.
I know that pennzoil is very popular oil, and in most cases it is probally fine.

If I could afford it, I would run nothing but redline but it is too costly for me as a general use oil.

 

Berry, ditto on the Redline, provided money were no concern

Pretty much for ~ 1$ /quart, nowadays the quality & choice of excellent oils available for any vehicle getting regular change intervals makes them all good choices.

I used mobil 1 for a long time on my aerostar until I started doing some used oil analysis to establish a baseline for wear, after that & some research I found that chevron supreme works very well in my aplication for much less $'s. Again if moeny weren't an issue I would go back to the mobil 1 or better yet redline or schaeffers just for fun

 

well, I am a really big fan of Lucas oil additives. I use it in everything, including my Mercedes. I just bought an Aerostar with 187000mi and I plan on using a good quality oil (not synthetic) and a litre of Lucas.