My 2001 calls for 5w20 oil. I am going to run synthetic and was woindering if any has tried Royal Purple. It doesn't come in that weight but it does come in 5w30.

Anyone got any advice here?

 

 

Castrol GTX just came out with a 5-20. I'm going to run it and change it every 3000 miles till Mobil 1 or Syntec is available. Isn't RP and amsoil and the like $6 and up a quart???


I will not give Ford any excuse for voiding the warranty because of extended oil changes or wrong viscosity. I will up the changes to 5000 with a synthetic.

 

Your right about the cost... RP is 4.99. Synthetic won't void the warranty but screwing up your oil changes by not changing the oil will sure cause problems.

I'll run the best syn. 5w20 I can find, staying with the recommended viscosity.

 

I know that synthetic won't void any warranties and I realize that running a 5-30 won't hurt the motor but I could see Ford making you prove that you ran 5-20 if something internal happened.


I go back and forth all the time on synthetics. I've run nothing but synthetics in my '97 Cobra but I justify that by running in the Vegas heat and 7000 RPM blasts. I actually run dino juice in my 502 boat motor because it runs relativly(sp?) low max RPMS and I change it about every 20 hours, it also never runs above 140 degrees.

My V10 doesn't really rev that high, runs incredibly cool and I'll change it at over double the recommended interval. I'll decide when an over the counter synthetic comes out.

A Lightning motor to me is still a low revving, cool running truck motor but I guess I'd still run synthetics because of the performance implications.

I also remember a Consumer Reports(?) Taxi test where they ran Taxis with both types of oils and after 150,000 miles there was no advantage to the synthetic after tear downs.

 

In a previous life I worked with "lubrication engineers" and their opinion was that 99.99% of the time, synthetic is overkill. That other 0.01% it's insurance.

Having popped a head gasket and dumped 9 quarts of coolant into the crankcase while driving 150 miles on one occasion, and having one of my former trucks driven about 30 miles on no coolant without further problem in either vehicle, I use only synthetic and a GOOD filter and change it every 5000 miles. (Both crankcases were filled with synthetic oil).

I'm honestly skeptical of the film strength and load bearing of a 20W oil in an engine. I'll stick with 10W30 in everything.

Later!
Jeff S.
Lightning #74 in '95 - 11.92@115.2
Lightning #582 in '00 - 13.36@101.75

 

Thanks for the input.

My Lightning is almost due for it's first 3,000 change with 2,220 on it. So what I hear you saying is go with the heavier weight like a 5 w 30 and synthetic.

Sounds good to me.

The Dallas climate really cooks and I am worried that 20w just won't cut it in the summer.