prob opening THAT can of worms about oils... all the phaser issues on the 3.5 I tend to feel is due to overnight drainback and low hot idle pressure, these new 5w50 oils seem best of both worlds...great both cold and hot... just wondered if anyones running 5w50 in theirs and what pressure was observed... assuming cold was same, but warm a little higher only at idle, but same at highway speeds ?

hopefully wont become a circus in here, just would really like to know what pressures looked like...

thanks, Tim

 

Push accellerator to the floor and hold, crank engine until the oil pressure indicates then release pedal, engine starts and oil has already been pumped up to the phaser area under low rpm of the starter.

 

The phaser issue is the locking pin wears out the slot it locks in, so it no longer locks. The system was not designed to prevent oil drain-back, and thicker oil won't do anything to prevent that during an overnight sit. It will take longer to drain out, but it will drain out.

I think 50 weight oil is just burning watts for the hell of it (about 40 of them). I've only just begun to add a quart of heavier weight oil to each change at 133k, but will stop when I swap the pump for a 100psi unit at 150k.

 

Why swap to a 100 psi pump? Honestly curious.

My 2019 3.5 averages 70 psi oil pressure and seems pretty happy. I feel like I'm tuning pretty aggressively and am pushing ~22 lbs of boost around 4000 rpm and it settles back down to ~18 lbs around 5800 through 6500 rpm. No excessive (real) knock retard, anything out of the ordinary. Maybe I got one of the lucky Dearborn, MI trucks. This truck just keeps taking more timing and boost. It'll likely explode at the worst time possible. 🤪🤣🤣

 

I would use the oil weight Ford recommends in your owners manual.
I use 5w50 in my GT500, per Fords recommendation..
.

 

Not needed in my opinion. The wider the viscosity range, the higher the added viscosity improver/extender content. Which can lead to faster oil breakdown/shearing. Just run a highly rated full synthetic 5W30 that meets the Ford specs, and change it more often if you plan to keep the truck for many years. I change mine every 5k miles.

 

I believe the VCCT system is oil pressure sensitive and not so much volume flow sensitive.
The system monitors the cam advance and retard vs load and rpm.
This where the codes come from as codes 340 to 349 when a fault occurs.
The heavier oil may change these running dynamic relationships.

 

I've run full 5w40 with no issues, but now I just run Quaker state 5w30 full synthetic (see 540rat blog). Notice no difference in sound or performance between any of the various oils I've used.

 

Longevity. I'll own this truck another 16 years at my current rate of mileage consumption, and expect to see 300,000 miles.

Used to be I'd swap bearings at 150k and bump the pressure (when available) to get to 250k, but my last Ford showed me that engine bearings are lasting way longer than they used to, and it's no longer a requirement to replace them to get beyond 250k.

Buuuut... these engines do a lot with the oil... tons of bearings (crank, 4 cams), oil squirters, and VCT actuators. As VCT's are sensitive to oil pressure drop, I'm going to put in the high pressure pump when I've got it apart. Pressure stays up for the VCT's, and the bearings get a bit more float for extra protection.