Ok, I have a 1982 F-100 with a 302 with about 53,000 miles since it was rebuilt, and the guy i bought it from a couple of months ago had some el cheapo ValueCraft oil in the motor. Well ive always know of if its not motorcraft you put havoline oil in a Ford. Well havoline runs great expectedly but i also like how Castrol GTX runs. Well i was just wondering what oil have any of yall had in your truck and made your engine run smoother, have more power and better mileage maybe, along with even sometimes theres claims that the oil will make your motor run cooler any success with that.

 

most oils these days are fine. use just about any with confidence. None will give you more noticable power. From uoa's i've seen some of the better one's are pennzoil, pennz platinum, havoline, motorcraft, valvoline max life/all lines, mobil, castrol, etc.

Take your pick really.

Most oil claims are hogwash, for marketing purposes.

 

Lets think about the "make your motor run cooler" part, how do you suppose ANY oil, or aftermarket oil additive, could make a thermostatcally controlled engines temperature run cooler than the thermostat allows????!!!!

About the only way you'd likely notice a difference in engine operating noise, is if you had a worn, noisey engne & changed viscosity range, or maybe choose an oil whos viscosity range is at the high end of a viscosity grade, compaired to one that falls on the low end of the range.

Most "High Mileage", non enrgy conserving rated engine oils fall toward the high end of their respective viscosity ranges, ie close to or at the lower end of the next most viscous grade, while the energy conserving recipe of that grade likely falls to the upper end of the
next lowest viscosity range.

For instance some energy conserving 5W-30 oils are at, or near the upper viscosity limit for a 20wt at operating temps, while the non energy conserving High Mileage recipe hot temp operating viscosity falls close to the lower limit for a 40wt!!!!

The only increase in mpg that I was ever able to measure between oil types, was on my 99 Ranger 4.0L, in changing between regular dino Havoilne 5W-30 & Synthetic Havoline 5W-30 & then ONLY in ALL highway mpg & the increase was only + 1.8-2.2 mpg. NEVER was able to measure an increase in city/urban mpg with the synthetic.

So as azfordf100man has suggested, pick one of the brands listed, that has a service grade oil that says on the container that it will cover your 302's requirements for ZDDP & drive with a light foot on the go pedal for the best mpgl!!!! lol

 

I really noticed no difference in sound, feel, power or mileage with the different grades of oil in the 302, 10W-30, straight 30 or 15W-40, all Chevron.

In the new truck (2005 Tundra), It has had only 5W-30, Chevron Supreme, Coastal Synthetic and Havoline Synthetic. No difference again.

Putting Redline synthetic lubes in the transmission and axle of the BMW made no mileage difference that I could measure, but it was smoother shifting and quieter. The only difference between Chevron 15W-40 and Castrol Syntec 10W-40 in the BMW was double the oil usage with Syntec. It leaked and burned more.

Jim