Can anyone tell me where to buy the recomended MotorCraft super duty 15w40 oil in the San Diego Ca. area? I am trying to follow the advice of
the "elders" on this forum, For my first oil change. I found the filters at"Performance Truck Products" (thanks guys) but am having trouble finding the oil. Please dont send me to the stealership! Is there some rule that the online stores cant UPS the oil? No luck at the O'reily/Napa/Walmart either..... Thanks.

 

In TN. walmart has it 11.77 for a 5 quart bottle

 

Ya mean oil for diesel or gas?

If diesel --- only buy HD Diesel truck rated oil.

Rotella T6, or Valvoline Premium Supreme Blue synth at $20 a gallon for me.

Cheapest name brand synthetic changed on the manufacturer's spec (not sooner) beats the most expensive dino.

 

both of the wal-marts by me had it but now they don't the tags are still on the shelves but they do not have any in stock.

they did have mobil delvac for hd diesel trucks what about this oil its not mobile 1. its just regular oil like rotella

 

Welcome to FTE. Tell us what motor you have and we can offer more advice. Ford has always recommended Motorcraft oil since that is their brand. You won't hurt your truck at all by using a different oil, but you need to make sure whatever oil you choose has the proper ratings and additive package.

Once you tell us what motor you have, we can tell you what has worked well in the same motor.

 

They just stopped carrying it in Baltimore, MD

 

I just recently Changed mine with Rotella T6 and an Motorcraft Filter. Both picked up at walmart.

 

Rotella, Valvoline, Motorcraft; it is all good stuff. Synthetic will last longer. Motorcraft filters are a must.

 

This is what I was told about Synthetic by an friend of mine and ex teacher from Ford Motor Company.

Chris,

5w40 synthetic is acceptable......... The real determining factor is money...... Synthetic as you know will always be more than the standard 15w40. This is were you will need to do your own cost benefit analysis...... Synthetic is excellent at resisting thermal breakdown and is excellent at reducing wear. The standard oil lubricates well but will break down due to heat and oxidation faster. There is a catch..... Although synthetics will resist breakdown for a longer period of time than standard oil it would still be outside the recommended service interval.

There are many claims that if you use synthetic, the operator can extent oil change intervals...... That is pure BS.. Yes the synthetic oil will last longer, there is however something else that needs to be considered... Exhaust soot.... No matter how good the engine ring sealing is.... combustion soot and other byproducts will make it into the oil.. Over time this soot will saturate the engine oil...

Oil is designed not only to cool and lubricate moving engine components, its is also engineered to be able to suspend particulates. AKA wash the crap from the rotating engine parts and move the stuff to the oil filter... Particulates (soot) and acids formed by combustion are too small to be captured by the filter, so the stuff just circulates with the oil until its changed... IF you run to long the acid levels and soot levels become too much, the crap starts to settle out and form sludge. The acids take there toll on bearing surfaces but most importantly on the detergents and other chemical formulations of the oil.. Varnishing will begin and components like injectors and turbo will be affected. Is the synthetic oil better capable at handling chemical breakdowns... yes to an extent... the fact remains that the stuff is still building up and still circulating.... The best thing to do is drain it out. (For me its every 4000-5000 miles) For the 6.0 I run the Severe duty service interval.... My truck is not severe duty usage however.......... There is a reason for this, it is unknown to most people that CJ-4 grade diesel oil (at this time the only diesel grade readily available) has reduced sulfur levels.... This was done to reduce the loading of the DPF on the 2008 and later diesel trucks.. OK what does that have to do with the 6.0L. (2008 and later was the 6.4L) CJ-4 has reduce sulfur levels... OK...in simple terms the detergents have been reduced for the cj-4 oil because the sulfur had a negative effect on the exhaust DPFs. Remember the duties of the engine oil clean, cool, lubricate.. The new oil does not have the cleaning capability that it did previously, very simply reducing the amount of soot an varnish the oil can handle... At this time, synthetics are in the same boat.

Keep in mind the 6.0 uses oil fires injectors..... The first place varnish and sludge will end up is in the injector spool valves.. This will result in rough running cold... (it can be pretty nasty and expensive to fix.. if the operator does not change his maintenance protocol lit would eventually happen again)

My personal view is run the 15W40 CJ-4 oil whether is be MotorCraft or other (I use Rotella T) just change it regularly. We have seen multiple 6.0 with almost 400K miles on them running just the standard oil.. We see synthetics run in trucks where the engines are sludge bombs and need all of the injectors replaced... then the bottom end or turbo give out later. Spend you money on changing the fuel filters and engine oil at the recommended intervals and you'll be OK.......

One other note,
If you own one of these babies (6.0L) do yourself a major favor....... Install a fuel pressure gauge in the truck..... It should be tapped into the secondary filter housing..(I used an Autometer electric fuel pressure gauge (0-100 psi)).. Pressure should be 50 psi.... Under no circumstance should the pressure be allowed to drop below 40 psi on a hard pull. If you have questions on this drop me a line..... Putting the fuel pressure gauge in my truck actually saved a set of fuel injectors when my electric fuel pump went weak.

On a side note, the Engine is coming out of my truck this weekend, I hurt a rod or collapsed a piston skirt (one or the other).... Not by using nonsynthetic oil but rather getting too frisky with the tuner.... which is another important point..... Do not modify engine with a tuner without doing internal engine modifications first.... You will be much happier. Non of this stuff is cheap, as your are already aware.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Christopher Hayes
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 9:04 AM
To: undisclosed name
Subject: Technical Question


vehicle info
2004 Ford F350 XLT
6.0L Diesel
Automatic, 4x4

The question is on motor oil

I have heard that you can use the 5w40 synthetic motor oil instead of the 15w40 conventional

Is this true?

what are the pros and cons of this?

 

Totally agree. Don't exceed change intervals. My point was just that the synthetic will be better during its service life than conventional.

 

ok just wanted to make sure I put this out there.

 

The two Walmarts by me here in Pennsylvania are both out of Motorcraft 5W-20 too. I have a feeling ther not carrying it anymore.

 

Thanks for coming back on this. The truck is 2003 f250 crew cab automatic 4x4 6.0 PSD.
100k miles. I bought it 4 months ago, and have no history of it's past service record.
I got the idea that the oil should be the Motorcraft or IHC from the "new owner" pages here on FTE. I read and understand the reason for the oem filters, and bought them from Performance Truck Parts. (35$ for the fuel set and 14$ for the oil filter)
I'm not hung up about the Motorcraft brand myself, so if you and the other vetern owners say Rotella or Valvoline 15w40 diesel service oil is as good, I will buy that.
Thanks to you and the others that came in with helpful words. dd

 

I did laboratory tests and Rotella after 10k had better characteristics than Motorcraft after 5k.
Synthetics provide better protection on 20k exchange, but my lab test doesn't prove them better lubricant at 10k.
To top it, we do own 12 years old Mercedes that with computer dictating oil changes at 13k did run for 40k on dino oils, before Mercedes changed policy to use of synthetics.
Yet the SUV proves to be one of the most reliable vehicles on the planet, needing less than $200 parts in it 120,000 miles life. Did dino oil make it running so well? I doubt it, but makes me wonder.

 

Same here. I think they are just waiting for new stock because the price is going to go up $2.00 on a 5qt jug.