It would be interesting to know the life history of this truck. I'm no oil expert, but it sounds like this was used for local work at a business and experienced many cold starts, and was driven short distances. You can post this information on www.bobistheoilguy.com and see what the oil experts have to say about it.

It's hard to know if the oil was never changed, but it does sound like it was not changed often enough. running an engine and not allowing it to get to operating temp is very hard on oil, and the oil needs to be changed more often. The oil absorbs unburned fuel and water, both of which are corrosive and destroy the additives. When the engine reaches normal operating temp these are evaporated off. The oil cap never gets all that warm.

You can do an oil annalysis for $10 to $20, and not only is it a good idea for you to get some answers, but I'm interested in the results. If this is the problem, then your trans oil is fine. Granted, you are about due for a trans oil change anyhow, but I don't see any reason for concern there. I wonder if you can have that goop on your oil cap evaluated?

Pending a better answer from an oil analysis or oil expert, I have this advise. Your engine needs some good hard runs at operating temp. It needs to work hard. What ever you you do, don't use a heavier oil to compensate, as it will work against your situation. Stick with the 5w20 recommended by FORD.

It's also likely that the engine did not get much acceleration and deceleration. This is important in breaking in a new engine. It's a little late for that, but I would think that normal city driving will do this engine some good.

 

I agree that you might be right about lots of stop and go driving. Would love to know if this truck got scheduled maintenances.

An oil analysis would not tell me how often the previous owner changed the oil, would it? It would only tell me the current state of my oil and what chemicas and metals were found. Is that correct?

The only reason I am concerned about the transmission oil is because if the previous owner neglected the truck, then he might have beat up the transmission too. He could have towed heavy loads and heated up the transmission. Perhaps he always drove around the city in overdrive and let that poor transmission shift like crazy and constantly lock and unlock the torque converter. Might be jumping to conclustion now, but I hate the thought of what my poor truck was subjected to by the last guy.

 

It's not easy to beat on the transmission and preserve the tires and brakes. One possibility is this person replaced the tires and brakes, towed it to the track, and those 22,000 miles consist of 11,000 1/4 mile drag races at the track.

Possible yes, but it shows more signs of being used as a work truck with all the scratches in the bed area. Drag racers like to lighten the load.

I don't think you are seeing wear on the brakes to support this truck pulling a trailer larger enough to beat the engine. It just doesn't fit.

I can't think of any reason why short cold trips would be hard on an auto transmission. It's heat that's hard on them.

 

You are probably right with your assesments on the vehicle in terms of it being a work truck and having lot's of stop and go driving. I have been considering doing an engine flush to make sure there is no sludge left in the engine too. The only thing I would take possible issue with is the transmission. Not saying it is ruined, but plenty of Dodge truck (about '93-'97) owners know the consequences of driving their vehicles around town in OD and having the transmissions die early. The transmission shop I deal with does not have a lot of nice things to say about the 4r70 (which i have). I just would like to think that the tranny was not constantly shifting from OD back to 3rd from stop light to stop light. Perhaps I am not giving the 4r70 enough credit, but I have seen some scary posts on this forum about longevity.

Another question... am I supposed to be using 5w-20 in the motor - because the manual shows 5w-30.

 

If you do an oil analysis before you clean the engine up it may have some old oil sludge in there that will show up. Best to same some oil before you use engine flush. True, the oil you realy wanted was changed by the dealer.

As I recall Ford changed the oil recommendation from 5w30 to 5w20 durring the 2001 model to meet fuel milage standards. You still have the same engine I have in my 01. You can run 5w30 or 5w20, your choice.

As for the trans comments. It's possible this truck was not driven fast enough or far enough to have gotten into overdrive very often. Yes, stop and go driveing can be hard on a transmission, but that would get the engine to operatiing temp, providing a good breakin period for your engine.