Good evening everybody, just wondering if anybody knows whether or not Valvoline makes 5w-20. I cant seem to find any info on that. If not what is the general concensus for brands of oil to use in a 2003 F-150 with the 4.6. I know this subject has probably been beaten to death but i'm kinda lost here. thanks

 

Mobil 1 Tri-synthetic 5W30 is what goes in my '01 SuperCrew 5.4L.

-Mike-

 

Yes, Valvoline does make a 5w20 oil. On their webpage and data sheets they show two 5w20 oils: All Climate and Durablend, which is the "synthetic" blend. I've used Durablend forever, and it works fine, though I have never seen the 5w20 Durablend. I have seen the All Climate at several stores.

Every major oil manufacturer has 5w20 now: A sample includes Valvoline All Climate, Pennzoil "Pure Base", Quaker State, Conoco Hydroclear (Motorcraft), Castrol GTX, Exxon Superflo, Mobil Drive Clean, Chevron Supreme, Texaco Havoline, Phillips 66 Trop Artic, Super 76, Kendall GT-1, etc...

As to whats good - so far all of them look pretty good - they have to be to meet ford's spec. The Motocraft has shown very well in Used Oil Analysis, runs 1.77 a qt at Wal-Mart. Not a bad deal. Other brands that seem to be the cream of the crop these days includes Chevron Supreme, Pennzoil, and Castrol GTX. All have looked good in Used Oil Analysis.

Best of LucK!

 

Valvoline’s conventional MO is currently available in 5w-20. The “All Climate” brand is no more. Currently Valvoline’s 5w-20 has very limited distribution but should be available at all Valvoline Instant Oil Changes. You’ll soon be able to find both Durablend and SynPower in 5w-20. Durablend is Valvoline’s synthetic blend, and SynPower is their premium synthetic.

Modern chemistry enables lighter weight MO’s to perform as well if not better than higher weight oils of the past. Retailers are beginning to see the light and it wont be long before you’ll start seeing your favorite brand 5w-20 in the marts and other retail outlets. -j

 

As far as I know, the only reason for a lighter weight oil is the CAFE requirments.

Tell me what clearances changed from 00-01 on our engines.

The only suggestion I would make with confidence is:

Use at least a 5W30 in a modified engine. If you modify, you are interested in speed and acceleration both of which cause more stress.

No one has been able to prove that 5W20 protects better than 5W30. I have seen engines that have had over 200,000 miles on 10W30 and 5W30, but I have yet to see one that has been on 5W20 the whole time.

 

Valvoline still calls its convetional oils "All Climate" on their website, so I stand by calling it "All Climate". It comes in the white bottles.

Why is it anytime anyone asks about 5w20 we instantly get the 5w30 is better posters? Give it a rest...

 

scapegoat32,
I've seen Valvoline 5W-20 at AutoZone. They have some stores in Jersey. Not sure if one is located near you.

 

Oils get any lighter and proven to protect I am going to use straight Marvel Mystery Oil as it is the only oil that every proved to me it worked as being light weight but still fixing things and keeping them working.

 

I happen to work at the corporate headquarters of a major motor oil company. I’m not a technical person, but I do work in the same location as the chemist and scientist who are responsible for formulating and testing our products. Since I’m a new Ford F150 owner, I too am curious about Ford’s 5w-20 motor oil requirements. So I ask our head technical person to explain (in human terms), why the change to 5w-20 and what the difference would be between 5w-20 and any other 5w-30. Here’s what he said:

“The 5w-20 is more than a simple viscosity change, Ford has required this oil to pass a very difficult Sequence IIIF High Temperature Deposit and Oxidation test. The normal test is difficult at 80hours, but Ford requires the test to be extended to 160 hours. A lot of extra chemistry is required to meet this and other strict requirements. The 5w-20 motor oils do give better fuel economies as required by C.A.F.E., but in addition they also keep engines cleaner and do not break down as easily. Ford has went to a lot of trouble convincing the EPA that 5w-20 is easily available, so they are pressuring motor oil companies to get 5w-20 into mass distribution as quickly as possible.”

I ask him if there would be a difference in protection between a 5w-20 and a 5w-30 synthetic. His comments were, “run 5w-20 if at all possible, run a high quality synthetic 5w-30 if you can’t find it. Avoid house brand synthetics that have only enough chemistry to be legally called synthetic. There will be less performance differences between 5w-20 and 5w-30 next year with the new ILSAC GF4 standard.”

-j

 

They would not need to alter the chemistry is they stuck with a 5W30. The only reason why Ford tested 5W20 was to make sure that a newer and lighter viscocity would stand up to real world applications.

The only reason for 5W20 is lower corperate CAFE numbers.

 

In a word, no! The additional requirements imposed by Ford on the 5w20 oils would fail every dino 5w30 on the market, and probably a few of our so called synthetic oils.

By doing this, Ford is forcing oil manufacturers to produce a quality oil, which is tough to say about much of the current dino market.

 

Here’s another reason to feel good about using 5w-20. The narrower the viscosity range of a multi-grade oil, the less prone it is to deposits. For example, a 5W-20 is going to run cleaner than a 5W-30. For whatever reason, viscosity modifiers are a major contributor to deposits. -j

 

reading all these posts is pretty interesting because everybody has good points and all day yesterday I drove around looking for either mobil or valvoline and cannot find it. Either nobody stocks it yet or theyre sold out. Very hard to find in my area, so I think i'm just gonna order amsoil