I'd get the Slick 50 outta my truck.

 

Get rid of the slick 50, use Motorcraft, Mobil 1 or Royal Purple(in ascending order according to price) And a Motorcraft filter.

 

I'll be doing another another oil change tomorrow after Easter brunch.

Too late on the oil though, I already have the Durablend 5-30. I did go to the Motorcraft filter though, from the current Fram.

Labnerd, was it you that had the test results on oils. I would like to know where the Valvoline Durablend ranks. It has always been very good to me. I hate changing something that seems to work well, especially at $12.50 for a 6 pack.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to try a little EGR cleaning this weekend or next. I'm definitely resetting the computer though. One thread somewhere said the CEL results in poor gas mileage.

 

Well, I'm not labnerd, but here's my answer to the Durablend question. I have it both of my F150's, 5w30.

I had two different results on the firt oil analysis done on each. In the '99, this oil performed very well. Excellent wear, solid 30 weight oil, and it maintained its TBN very well. (TBN is a measure of the oils ability to neutralize acids created during the combustion process and a general measure of the oils remaining additive package). This was a 4,000 mile interval. I am running this interval and will take it out to over 5,000 miles based on the previous result, as we'll see how it does.

In my '97, also a 4,000 mile interval, wear rates were nearly identical to those seen in my '99. However, the viscosity was shot (into 20 weight land - the current oil that is speced though) and the TBN was severely depleted. Basically, the oil did exactly what it was supposed to, but had killed itself to get there, and had I run it further would have started to do some bad things.

So, what was the difference between the two trucks? Both oils were run over generally the same time frame. However, the '99 is garaged, the '97 was not and it was a pretty cold winter. The '99 sees a higher proportion of freeway driving, where the '97 sees more short tripping and idling. The '99 had about 80,000 miles on it, tje 97 had 155,000 miles on it. The cold starts, short tripping, and higher mileage all conspired to deplete the oil faster.

So, how does that compare to other oils on the market? Wear wise, my results were excellent. I can usually find a case for around 9-10 dollars, and on that cost, this oil is a decent value.

Compared to a Mobil 1 or other quality synthetic, it isn't as good, but still a decent value.

In general, Valvoline isn't generally regarded as a great oil for many reasons. In general, their oils have a weaker additive package than some of their competitors. They also play some games in packaging (like Maxlife and Synpower lines) and marketing that make some people unhappy.

I've generally had a good result with the durablend, and won't be changing brands based on my results to date.

 

Fordokie,
You can expect results similiar to gophers in your Triton engine. Wear metals will be in the lower double digit and it doesn't fair well in a stressfull environment. If you like the Valvoline brand, their All Fleet Plus is a great dino based oil and should be reasonable in price. Most folks find it farm supply houses. The top dino based oils currently are the Chevron Supreme and Castrol GTX. They both now have 50 ppm moly so it holds up better in heat. We see usually single digit wear metals with both. Neither hold up well past 5,000 miles so don't try an extended oil change with them.

 

This months lubes and greases has a pretty good article about oil additives, they pretty much say they are all a waste of money.


As far as the 5w20. I know one of my customers has a Ford powered RV. This RV also calls for the 5w20. I can tell you he is pulling alot of weight all the time.

He is using Amsoil's XL 7500 5w20.

 

I must admit - This is the most civil discussion about oil I have ever seen on this forum. The facts are coming out and opinions based on "it's always been that way" are gone.

Congrats to all

 

Hey guys, Great discussion and it sounds like Motorcraft 5w-20 or 5w-30 are the best to go with and a Motorcraft filter? Thanks

 

Schreiberclan,
The 5w-20 Motorcraft is a synthetic blend were as the 5w-30 is dino based only. They are not the same product. The 15w-40 Motorcraft has been turning in some good numbers as well if you need an oil in that weight range.

 

Heh Labnerd, who are you! You obviously have Chem lab
experience and equipment. Do you work for an Oil company
or maybe the maintainance supervisor for a fleet? Also,
what is your opinion on MOBIL 1. I have no ability to measure
metal particles in solution or oxidation levels but I do know
that I have torn engines apart that have used MOBIL 1
and they are considerablely cleaner than any motor I have
seen that used dino oil.

 

Labnerd, Thanks for the info. Do you think in the heat of Florida that 15w-40 Motorcraft would be good? Steve

 

Schreiberclan,
Depends on the engine you have. For the 302/351 and 385 Series Ford engines with over 75,000 miles a 15w-40 would be a good choice in a high heat environment. Besides the Motorcraft, there are other good choices like Chevron Delo 400, Shell Rotella T, and Mobils Delvac. All of these oils turn in low wear metals in gas engines. If you have a Triton engine, the 15w-40 will generally be too heavy unless the engine has 150,000+ miles on it. For the average driver, the 5w-20 Motorcraft does great even in extremely hot areas. You can run the heavier oils (Xw-30) if you want as there are no internal differences in the engines from those that have the 10w-30 spec. The benefit of the lighter oil is gas mileage. If you choose to run the heavier oil, I would suggest staying with a 10w-30 rather than a 5w-30. The 10w-30 has shorter chain molecules in the thicksotropic and there is room for less error and is more stable.

 

Labnerd, I have a 1998 Expy with a 5.4L and about 54K miles on it. Would you recommend the 5w-20 or the 10w-30? Thanks again for all of the great detailed info. you really know your oils!!!
Steve

 

fcmiller,
I'm sure you are aware that Mobil 1 is the top selling OTC synthetic motor oil. It is a PAO(polyalphaolifin- sp) which is a man made product from petroleum stocks. It is similiar to ISO/SYN products in that most/all impurities are gone. It is not and there is not a 100 % pure synthetic. No synthetic base materials today mix well with the additive packages. In Mobils case, they use esters to bind the additives to the basestock. The PAO's also have no effect on seals. While this may sound good at first, the seals depend on the motor oils "swelling" effect to keep them tight and supple, this is another advantage to the esters being present as they do have this effect on the seals. Because of the low impurities, the low oxidation rate, and the robust additive packages that synthetics require is the reason the motors are so clean. Problem with synthetics are the higher than dino wear metals generally seen in analysis. Some engines don't respond to synthetics at all. GM's 3.8 V6 will have wear metals in the extremely high range. Change that engine to dino and the wear metals fall to single digit. They are not for everybody and they are not a cureall.
You can have any oil analized FREE at Blackstone Labs. It will only give you the wear metals but a detailed report costs about $20. if you want all the full scoop. I believe their addy is www.blackstone_labs.com if not do a search- they will come up.

 

Steve,
If I owned your truck and lived in Florida, I would be looking for a 10w-30 oil with a generous dose of ZDDP (Zinc dithiophosphates), moly ( molybdenum trialkyyldithocarbamate- not disulfide), with a TBN of somewhere around 10.0. The ZDDP becomes active at about 160 F and when the going gets really hot and the boundary lubrication starts to fail, the moly goes to work. Both Castrol GTX and Chevron Supreme covers all the bases. The Chevron is available at most walmarts for $1.08 a qt and it's the deal of the day as it is also an ISO/SYN product.