I doubt that the 5W-30 is causing a knock problem, as it & the 5W-20 are about the same thickness at room temp (both are 5W), but the viscosity of the 30wt is a little higher when the engine is warmed up.
You might get a little better mpg with a 5W-20 & the 4 bangers have been back specified to use it, as their oil pumps were modified to be able to pump the lower viscosity 20wt at operating temp. So use whatever makes you more comfortable, both will do fine in your engine.

The Motorcraft FL-400S filter is designed for your engine, has a high quality silicone rubber anti-drainback valve, to keep the filter full of oil after a shut down, so you don't get a dry start up slug of air in the oiling system to the bottom & top end of the engine, which it'll appreciate & the top end needs oil for the OHC as fast as it can get it, especially on a cold start.

The Motorcraft filter has a low back pressure filter media, so flow isn't restricted & as such it's less likely to have to go into bypass as often to keep flow up, so thats good.

Additionaly it's bypass valve is in the threaded base end of the filter where Ford specifies it to be, so if the filter does have to go into bypass, the oil doesn't flow over a dirty media, to get to the other end of the filter, on the kind with the bypass valve in the closed end of the filter, so there is less chance of the oil picking up trash or sediment from the filter media & circulating it unfiltered, right back into the engine & seeing as how the engines main bearings are the first to get that unfiltered bypassed oil, they sure would appreciate it not having any trash in it!!!!

Maybe your start up kock is CCDI (Combustion Chamber Deposit Interference) , we had a recent thread on a 4 banger that seems to have had CCDI & it appears that it was cleared up by a decarbon treatment with a dose of Techron Concentrate Plus & some spirited driving, so maybe review this thread & see if your knock sounds like CCDI.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...t-startup.html

 

After reading that thread it seems that may be it. It isnt a rod knock or anything serious sounding and does it for the first 5 seconds or so when started up at idle and then goes away if just left to idle. When you really hear it is when I go to start driving and the engine isnt fully warmed up...it will start making the sound on decel or in between shifts. For this reason I try and let the temp gauge get at least to the C or a bit above before I start driving. Per my pinging thread I have already run Seafoam through the intake which should have taken care of most of the carbon deposits, I know it wont take care of all of them. Will the techron treatment actually do something after using Seafoam or will it most likely be a waste of money in your opinion?

How does the Ranger crowd feel about running 1qt of Marvels Mystery oil with every oil change to quiet the valvetrain down and help with oil sludge? I did that with the 302 in my Mustang from around 70k miles on, and when I tore it down at 105k miles to add AFR heads, a cam and intake the lifter valley and everything look damn near brand new whereas a few of my friends Mustangs with less miles really showed their age even with regular oil changes.

 

I feel like if the Ford engineers wanted to put stuff in the engine, whether it's in the gas or in the oil, they would have specified it and put it in the owner's manual. Ford engineers are the ones trained thru experience and education to know best how to operate their designs.

 

There are quite a few things out there that manufacturers dont specify the use of yet many people over time have found them to be beneficial. Manufacturers dont recommend what they dont manufacture

 

I would agree with that! good point.

 

Right, auto manufactures don't make gas or oil, yet they specify them.

They don't make tires, yet they specify them.

They don't make alot of things, they do put them together and specify what they want to the suppliers.

And they specify what they want the owners to do, It's in the "owners manual"

 

Well Seafoam & Techron Concentrate Plus are two different chemistries, I don't know what kind of deposits your engine might have, nor how you performed your Seafoam decarb proceedure, so I don't know if you'll get additional help with a Techron treatment or not.
BUT, I don't think it'll likely be a waste of money, if it'll clean up the fuel injectors, intake valves, combusion chamber & piston crown, all a good thing, so why not consider giving it a try.

Run most of the current tank of fuel out, add 20oz of Techron at the pump before filling up with Chevron, Texaco, or CalTex gas, so you get good mixing & as those fuels already have Techron in them, it'll raise the treat rate 10X above pump gas, so it'll likely tidy things up in one tank.

Then do some spirited driving on the treated tank, with some daily accelerations & runs with rpm above 3500 for 2-3 miles & run most of the treated tank out.

if it's better, but not cured, do another Techron treatment & tank up with one of the above fuels & continue the daily "blow it out" spirited driving routine & let us know how it goes.

 

On using a qt. of Marvel Oil on your next oil change, if you've been & are now using an oil that says it meets or exceeds Fords 929, or 930 spec & have been changing it & the filter on time, your engine doesn't likely have deposits & thus your oil doesn't likely need any help.

Fords specified oil has everything in it that our engines require & their ad pack is said to be synergistic, meaning that the oil & it's additives work together in such a manor that the sum total recipe exceeds the sum total of it's individuals, so it doesn't need any aftermarket help to do it's thing!!!!

Indeed an aftermarket additives recipe can changs at any time, as they don't have to meet & aren't tested to any performance specification, so if their recipe, or the oil their used with recipe changes, or the after market products recipe conflicts with the oil it's used with, the oils synergy can be upset & cause mischief.

So seeing as how we aren't lube engineers, mixing in things with our crankcase lube for long term use, probably isn't a good idea.

 

You read about it in my pinging thread, I used 1/2 can in 8-10 gallons of gas and 1/2 can through the intake to decarb. Im just not sure whether running additive after additive through the fuel system is such a good thing...thats all.

With my Mustang I did it because Marvels is known to quiet down noisy lifters which it did a great job of. Reason I ask about it for the truck is because I purchased it with 128k on it and I changed the oil and flushed the cooling system within the first couple hours of owning it and im sure the moron I bought it from went 5k+ miles between oil changes. I have never had oil that black come out of any of the vehicles I own because I change the oil religiously. Im not sure what the insides look like but if the oil I changed was any indication then I bet it could be much cleaner. The truck runs fine though, so Im not about to tear into it and find out what it looks like.

 

Techron gets after deposits in a different way than Seafoam & won't foul the plugs or crankcase oil, so no need to clean or change oil after a treatment.

So if you think that CCDI is your knock problem, Techron is probably worth a try, it's only an ounce/gal treat rate, so not to wory.

On the oil looking dirty, how it looks in that manner, isn't a good indication of the oils condition, or how the engine might look inside for deposits.

Now if the oil were coming out clean looking, after say 3K miles, I'd be worried about the oils detergent/disprsent properties, as it should begin to look dark soon after installation, if it's doing it's job!!!!

All that "black stuff" would be deposited in our engines, if the oils ad pack didn't hold it in suspension, then we'd be in real trouble!!!