synthetic fluids
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Elder User
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 752
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From: Kalispell, MT
synthetic fluids
i just bought a 1992 F-150 4x4 with a 5 spd...would it be advisable to switch out the fluids, and should i consider synthetics, and if so, what synthetics are good??? i'm looking at doing engine oil, tranny fluid, transfer case fluid, and front/rear diff's....any help would be appreciated...thanks....
MontanaFord
MontanaFord
Laughing Gas
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 837
Likes: 2
From: Minnesota
I run Mobil 1 in Clyde and figure that it saved my engine on a 5th wheel camper pulling trip to Colorado in triple digit temperatures. I was running very hot and discovered much after the fact that the radiator was full of bugs & "mud". I ran for a couple days at engine temps of 235 to 240+. IMO regular oil wouldn't have held up to that abuse.
I tried to run Mobil 1 in a 1977 F150 302 that I had bought with very low mileage at about a year old. The oil was great in the winter, giving me fast cranking starts in subzero temps and instant oil pressure. When the temperatures started climbing into the "normal" range I couldn't keep the synthetic in the engine. A quart every 3-500 miles. Don't know where it went, but at the cost of synthetic I couldn't afford to keep running it. The truck was <40K miles but just wouldn't hold the synthetic oil. Went back to TropArtic dino oil with no consumption problems ever after.
If there is a weak place where it's possible for a leak to develope a synthetic oil seems to find it. Clyde has some leaks and I live with them.
My two cents.
I tried to run Mobil 1 in a 1977 F150 302 that I had bought with very low mileage at about a year old. The oil was great in the winter, giving me fast cranking starts in subzero temps and instant oil pressure. When the temperatures started climbing into the "normal" range I couldn't keep the synthetic in the engine. A quart every 3-500 miles. Don't know where it went, but at the cost of synthetic I couldn't afford to keep running it. The truck was <40K miles but just wouldn't hold the synthetic oil. Went back to TropArtic dino oil with no consumption problems ever after.
If there is a weak place where it's possible for a leak to develope a synthetic oil seems to find it. Clyde has some leaks and I live with them.
My two cents.
Post Fiend
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 9,176
Likes: 4
From: Western Central NV
I like synthetics in the rear end, & manual transmissions, Heat is the killer of most automatics, and synthetics are pricey so I use dino ATF with LubeGard added. LubeGard drops the average temp on an automatic trans about 40 degrees. I pull a 10,000 trailer & 65,000 miles on the tranny it's still going. I have a front pump not wanting to pick up pressure until it warms up if I don't drive it daily. Our temps in Northern Nevada this year have been as low as -15 below zero to 30s for the last 5 months. But that has nothing to do with fluid it is a pump that has been going for 187,000 miles and the first 120,000 miles I don't know what it went through. I know the first owner burned up the tranny before I got it because the dealer I bought it from told me that the Ford dealer had rebuilt it.
I also use synthetic grease in ball-joints, steering, wheel bearings.
I also use synthetic grease in ball-joints, steering, wheel bearings.
