Yikes! How can they legally make something that will ruin your engine?

doesn't surprise me in the least though.

 

its easy. if you read the back of the bottle it says service sl,sj thats it. yours is SE or Sf they only care about the last 2 service ratings. this is part of the reason me and most of the other guys in the fe forum run diesel oil. it has all the anti wear additves needed for old flat tappet cam engines.

 

Ruin is probably overstated. But it must be made clear -- there is NO SUCH THING as a perfect oil for ALL engines. And newer does not at all, not one minute, mean better, at least when it comes to engine oil.

The oil market is lots of hype and advertizing dollars. Read about supertech (wally world) oil down in the oil forum. That's decent oil with all the hype and advertizing subtracted. Its what I use in my engines that will never have to see 150,000 becuase the car/van will be shot/obsolete before then. And those are modern engines, with cats etc.

But I want to run something different in the 40 year old engine.

Ford390Gashog -- I am a newbie in someways -- what is a "flat tappet" cam engine? I mean, I assume that a 300 is one of those, beings how we are in the I6 forum here. Care to enlighten?

 

a flat tappet cam is the style of the tappet on the cam. i run the supertech oil also i posted a uoa and it showed good numbers for a cheap oil. the cam companies not me call it ruined. with the sm oils they are seeing double the amount of cam lobe failures.

 

Well, the back of my bottles say's SL on them. Still have enough for a while yet. I buy it in bulk.

My truck is indeed required to run API catagory SE or SF. Ford Specification numbers. ESE-M2C153-B Catagory SF, or ESE-M2C153-A Catagory SE.

The owners manual also goes on to add that when newer API catagory oils are introduced like SG - SH etc.. that those oils should be used because, qoute, "These improved oils should be used as soon as they are avaliable" end quote. It's a hell of an improvement alright, if it ruins your engine.

 

Well, I just have to jump in. First, 5w-20 oils are not crap for the engines that are designed to run them. There will be fewer deposits, run cooler, and have less viscosity migration than even a synthetic of any weight. All of the oils meeting Fords spec 930 will be at minimum a synthetic blend weather advertized as such or not. As far as the 300 I-6 not using a 5w-20 in 1965, there obviously was not a 5w-20 back then. But, for cold areas, Ford recommended straight 20 oil during the winter. Oils have changed quite a lot since those days. Running a 15w-40 dual rated oil like Rotella would be a good choice in a I-6 300. If you just want to spend the bucks, their Rotella Synthetic is a Gp III dino synthetic that also would perform great in cold weather applications. Since the advent of fuel injection and fuel dilution is no longer a problem with high performance engines, any oil over a 40 viscosity at temp is not only not necessary, it will lead to eventual damage in the engine. Years ago we run the heavy oils because of carbs throwing so much gas into an engine and it was not able to burn all of it. A lot ended up in the oil which is why the heavier oil but those days are gone for most engines. Here is the data for Rotella.
http://www.shell-lubricants.com/prod...RotellaTMG.pdf

As you can see by the ratings, it is good for gas and diesel engines. The last rating per this sheet shows it to be a SL rated oil. That limits the Zinc to 1200 ppms and the Phos to 800 ppms +/- 10%. ZDDP is zinc dialkyditiophosphate. It is a multi use additive that is suspected of damaging the emmissions system on newer engines. Besides using a diesel duel rated oil, older engines can benefit from a half bottle of Valvoline Synpower. It is very high in ZDDP and I don't suggest using more than a half bottle as the carrier fluid has a viscosity around 165. That means it is real thick like the old STP was. Adding a half bottle should bring a 5 qt change to above the SL standards protecting the cam and followers.

 

ok why do the new engines run 5W20?? becuase they have tighter clearences. 10W30 or 15W40 will not properly reach the bearings, lifters, etc...

 

In the Triton engines, you have lower ring height and lower ring tension. The HT/HS rating at the bearings only needs to be 2.8 to expect normal wear. Most of the 930 oils meet or exceed this. Fords minimum HT/HS rating is 2.6. Only Mobil One is that low. In this case, higher is better. Redline is 3.3 for the 5w-20 oils. In the newer Tritons that originally speced the 153-H oils you will find a larger oil delivery system. Clearances and tolerances are the same in all Tritons and are not "tighter". I wouldn't use a 930 oil in a Triton that originally speced a 5w-30. I would suggest using a 929 Ford speced oil which is 5w-30. But this is about the highly durable 300 I-6. Remember what they say about real estate- location, location, location. When looking at oils, remember, application, application, application. As stated before by cdherman, there is no one oil for all engines. Even though todays motor oils are light years ahead of oils we used in 1990, you still have to evaluate the application as it is more critical today than ever before.

 

I like optical ilushuns question too. I mean, we have discussed here about additives at first, which is the first, and most fundimental difference between gas and diesel engine oils. But now we are moving over into the viscosity debate, and there I am much less adept with the more modern arguements. I drive with carburator for one.

My understanding was that many, if not all the decisions to recomend lighter oil and/or build engines that require lighter oil, stem from a need to eek out maximum performance. A couple of HP more is a small but real improvement. An engine can be engineered to survive with lighter oils today. Those oils are durable and capable of adaquate performance (in terms of lubrication and breakdown) to a degree that clearly was not possible even 15 years ago. But is it also possible that manufacturers really don't give a hooey what happens to an engine after about 150k?

What is also less clear is what to do with a high mileage, older vehicle that originally speced 5w30 -- is it possible that that engine might now benefit from a little stiffer blend? And is it possible that a newer engine that is speced for a light oil might actually run longer with a heavier blend, with a touch less HP?

 

flash just a question but isn't it the other way around 929a is 5w20 and 930a is 5w30

 

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not a problem in a triton engine as they use a high pressure pump. read the oua's the wear numbers are great there is no reason they can't live 250k with 5w20. lots of fleets have been using the 5w20 since ford came out with it and lots of them have over 200k if not more. the bus comapny here runs v10 enignes in a E-550 and have over 290k on 5w20.

 

uh...what are u trying to say????

 

you asked "ok why do the new engines run 5W20?? " and he answered.

 

ya in a manner i dont understand...930 oils? 929 oils?

 

well the 930 and the 929 spec oils are the oils ford approves. the 929a is for ford approved 5w20 an the 930 is for 5w30. both of these tests are the hardest to pass tests in the industry so oils meeting these specs are very good.