What does everyone tink of Royal Purple?

 

It was for the first 500 miles.

 

I'm not confuded at either type of oil. I was simply answering a previous question about type of oil supplied in newer chevy vettes. And opinions on engine design are like a**hol*s---- everyone has one. Dino oil, Synthetic oil- who cares- use whatever you want. The way they build vehicles now, your car or truck WILL fall apart long before your engine does anyway. The main issue is if you want to maintain your warranty- use what the maufacturer recommends and you better be able to prove it.

 

The reason Ford specs a 5w20 oils is in order to meet CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) which is the total fleet fuel economy reported to the government. It does not however mean that it is the best weight oil to use in your truck engine for all temperatures. For example, If you live in California you may want a different weight oil in the summer than someone in another climate.

 

Did you notice it is a comercial for Amsoil? There are hundreds of these on the net. Never used Amsoil, tested it in oil schools, it seems good, just way out of line on price as it is actually a multi-level marketing scheme more than a product line.

Use it or not, just keep in mind you better be changing it at the recommended intevals, or expect legal battles.

If you change the blend that Ford recommends at the same intervals it will cost you 25% as much as Amsoil, or less, and even this article admits the engine will last virtually forever.

No reason you can't use full synthetic in these trucks, just can't see any value whatsoever in spending the extra money.
Buying a better oil filter seems logical, and using the high quality low price Motorcraft sythetic blend oil makes sense to me.

If you want to fill it up with 6 buck a quart oil, and a 1.99 oil filter, that's your business.

These threads seem to always be about finding some way to attack Ford's recomendations. Dunno why. Ford recommends great oil, it's cheap, and the 5000 mile oil change interval is pretty long, so no one should complain that they are making you change it too early.

As to meeting the CAFE, true. But it works both ways. They were required to get better fleet mileage, they found a way to do it, and it works. I've seen these 4.6 engines with 300k on them, run on the 5-20 oil. So why pick fights over it. Better mileage is a good thing right now, I would think.
Chris

 

I have "heard" (read) from different sources that the reason for delaying the switch to synthetic oils is that the synthetics are so much "slipperyer" that the rings don't have a chance to "seat" as well during break-in. Same "sources" advocate waiting until around 10,000 miles before switching, as I recall.

Regarding Ford's admonition to use only 5-20 wt. oil, IF this specification is based solely on their effort to make a better CAFE score then I have to wonder what weight oil is best for a given driving situation. I suppose this will betray my advanced age, but I was always told to use a heavier viscosity motor oil (i.e., 10-30 or even 10-40) when conditions involved high speed during hot weather over a relatively long period of time and to go to a lower viscosity when temperatures were routinely cold.

Finally,when Consumer Reports tested motor oils in 1996,involving a fleet of 75 New York City cabs, over a time period of 22 months and accumulating 4 1/2 million miles in the process, they concluded, among other things, that "no brand performed best" and that even though "the expensive synthetics...worked no better than conventional motor oils in our taxi tests...they're worth considering for extreme driving conditions-high ambient temperatures and high engine load or very cold temperatures."

 

As a police officer in my town I see our fleet of 300-400 Crown Vics go 250,000 to 300,00 miles routinely. These vehicles sit idling for hours at a time in 100 degree heat then are driven hard and fast the rest of the time. Our department uses cheap gas and changes the oil every 5000 miles (even with severe duty use). Bottom line...I am amazed at theses modular engines and what they will take. I believe we use Castrol also in the vehicles. If these engines can take this kind of abuse I see no reason why the Motorcrast 5w-20 and a Motorcraft filter aren't more than adequate with nromal oil changes. I would be surprised to find anyone on this forum driving their personal truck as hard as these cars. Bottom line, I go witht what Ford recommends.

 

It should also be noted tht, in the aforementoined 1996 Consumer Reports, the following statement was made: "A popular belief is that 5W-30 oils, despitetheir designation, are too thin to protect vital engine parts when they get hot. However, one of our laboratory tests measured the viscosity of oils under high-temperature, high-stress conditions and found essentially no difference between 5W-30 and their 10W-30 brand mates. But at low temperatures, the 5W-30 oil flowed more easily." Unfortunately, CR only tested 10W-30 and 5W-30 viscosity grades. It would have been interesting to see how 5W-20 fared.

 

that test is now void. that test was with SH oil we have since gone to SJ , SL and now SM. in a modular engine the use of a thick oil is not needed or advised it will cause more harm than than good. 5w20 is all you need in it. the 5w20 oils that meet the ford 930a spec are the most stable oils today.

 

The man ain't lyin.

The 5-20 oil is VERY good. I feel comfortable using it in 120 degree temps climbing mountains.


On the CR report, and all others that use fleet information, this data is totally non-applicable.

Engines that are run steady and never or seldom shut off are the easiest on oil. Its cold running that kills engines, not warm running. The police cruisers and taxi cabs never cool down. 300k is nothing on a motor that is kept running.
Their bodies wear out, not their motors.
Chris

 

Not necessarily because it's better, rather, because they have a contract with Mobil.

 

I was told that the reason the newer engines can use the lower viscosity oils is of closer tolerances in the bearings etc.

 

Your engine started with semi-synth, and if you had it serviced at the dealer and they followed Ford's requirements, it still has semi-synth in it.

Feel free to switch to full-synth whenever you want. Keeping oil arguments out of the question/answer, there is no harm to switching now and engine break-in has nothing to do with whether the oil is regular, semi- or full-synth. Your engine will break-in just as well. (Actually your engine is already broken-in).

 

Yep, you are right.

The only thing that bothers me about breaking in (first 500 miles) a new motor on pure synthetic is that I used to sell rebuilt/remanufactured engines from five different builders.
Sold about 100-120 long blocks a year, and about twice that many short blocks.
All five of my builders mandated no synthetic during the break-in period, or no warranty.
Now these builders ranged from pretty cheap to absolutely top notch.
All had the same policy. Now this was some years ago, but did include a lot of Cadillac 4.1 engines (modular) and a complete cross section of the market circa mid nineties.

Now they could have all been wrong, or they could have all been using old data, but they were all adamant.
So oil has improved, but seals are cheaper quality now, as are castings. So I have to wonder.

If I built it myself I would probably not use full synthetic the first fill, but when I dumped it, well before a thousand miles, I might choose to go to synthetic.

Another thing, my truck, like a lot of others, leaked oil when it was new. It stopped leaking from the rear main at about 700 miles, and hasn't put another drop down on the garage floor since. I was very concerned, but the dealer assured me that it would quit before a thousand. That might be the only technical thing they got right...

Still, if anyone wants to convert to synthetic at first oil change, I sure can't think of any reason they shouldn't. Also can't think of any reason they should, but hey, that's freedom.
Chris

 

well with gas prices moving towards the 4.00 a gallon price, i'm looking to increase my fuel mileage. With my yamaha r6 motorcycle mileage went from 32-34 mpg when i switched oil. If i can increase my fuel mileage by 1 mile per gallon, over a 5000 mile oil change interval i can save about 70 bucks with gas at 3.50 a gallon...if it goes above that, i'll save even more.....