I was wondering if anyone had any experience with oil additives in the 5.4 3V. Any increase in gas milieage that sort of thing.

 

Read the manual and ford says specificly NOT to use them. That says something right there.

 

If you are running a quality motor oil all the additives you need are already there. Additives that make extravigant claims like incredible reductions in friction, more power and fuel milage are largly snake oil and nothing more than advertizing hype. There are some specific use additives on the market that have their place and are effective for what they were designed for, but again, not really needed in a healthy engine, that's been well maintained .

 

Run a good quality Synthetic, Like Mobil 1, Pennzoil Platinum, Royal Purple, Etc, & you will need nothing else, & pick up better performance & slightly better mileage!

 

Additives in these modern motors are a thing of the past.
Most add viscosity and hurt both performance and increase wear of certain parts.
If you know anything about the camshaft drive train in these engines, you should consider the following.
The long timing (chains) use an oil operated tenioners to take up slack with non-metalic guides.
The higher the oil viscosity the greater the wear and tension on the chains and the rest of the surfaces that they put tension on.
Very few to no additives thin the oil for less drag and improve wear.
Use the reccomended oil by Ford.
To get any deeper than to give you an example, is prohibitive.
The subject is huge and needs full open minds to accept the new and leave the old world way of thinking about oils, behind..

 

 

Additives could potentially compromise operation of the variable cam timing system in 3V engines as well. Leave the snake oil on the shelf at Vatozone.

 

Ive been u

sing 5-50 Castrol syntec in my 97 4.6 from 7,000 mi on.I also put Prolong in with it at each change of 5,000 mi,I now have 236,000 on it and never had to repair any internal parts and i still never add oil between 5,000 mi changes,

 

Additives in todays cars are not recommneded because they thicken the oil, nowdays the engine tolerances are so minimal and tight, it doesn't help.
Most new cars use 5W30 and 5W20, you should be ok as long as you change your oil.


ttp://www.f150online.com/galleries/mygallery.cfm?gnum=7516

 

I was thinking about something like Slick 50, which is a oil treatment that I don't think thickens oil, like STP or something like that.

 

Slick 50 is NOT oil....therefore an additive. Do what you'd like but you just had quite a few members tell you it's a bad idea AND Ford specifically says to NOT use them. If that's not enough advice telling you not to, then you're just looking for someone to agree with you. It's your truck, do with it as you please. You don't need our permission.

 

See how hard it is for this additive thing to die?
You donnot need any additives in todays oils and for modern engines.
It's hard for people to accept when they see the racers being supported by these additive companies and all the other marketing that is done.
Slik 50 has long ago been found to be bogus via law suits.
STP, LUCAS and those types of additives may have a use in worn engines and under certain competition applications but not in a normal user application on the street.

 

Slick Fifty is nothing more than PTFEs. Teflon. I used it on a 390 years ago. Within 6 weeks I had the engine out to replace the rear main and front seals. I would'nt dream of putting it in a late model engine. Not trying to be a wise a$$, but honestly, it's garbage.

 

It was the 5000 mile oil changes that helped you more than the Prolong.
Prolong has been shown to cause problems including hydrochloric acid formation and etching of metal surfaces. Not something I would put in my engine. Mind you I did use it years ago in my Explorer when it first came out because I was wowed by the info-mercial but then I heard the truth.

 

I would think that today's engines would be less susceptible to problems due to additives with them being around so long and so widely used. It seems like most lubrication products already have them blended in and I know that Ford uses an additive in their LS rear ends to reduce noise. But, the overwhelming response here is to leave well enough alone and I am fine with that. The truck has 50k on it now, I have used nothing but the recommended Motorcraft products and it consumes very little oil between 3000 mile changes, some but not enough to open a new can for. I also have a Ford Ranger with 200k, no leaks, all original except the water pump and it has used nothing but synthetic oil since new. Thanks for all the input.