Cr8zytrukker

nice, good to hear! My 08 F150 5.4L has been paid for a long time. It has 113k on it now. All i have EVER used is motorcraft oil at factory specs and a motorcraft filter at 5k OCI. And im very happy. The motorcraft filter is a rebadged pureone which is a great deal because its half price of the pureone brand. All in all the motorcraft oil and oil filters are the best bang for your buck. And ill be severly disappointed if i dont get to at least quarter a million miles on this faithful 4x4

Cr8zytrukker

there was a study done i read a while back done by a university in Austin? Also my monthly 4wheeler magazine subscription did a similar test. All in all FRAM seems to be unfavorable in both design and function
http://www.austincc.edu/wkibbe/oilfilterstudy.htm

Arizona Tumbleweed

I did see TSB changing 5W30 to 5W20 a few years back. Seems that all the egines covered were overhead cam. So I think Ford recommends a lighter oil so that it can quickly get up into the head. Startup is when most wear occurs.

cwalter

I have ran 0w20 synthetic oils for many years in ford engines after field testing under severe conditions regular oils vs synthetic oils in heavy equipment . they ran cleaner, cooler, and used less oil after the used engines ran a couple of weeks(due to cleaner and freed up rings) plus more stable viscosity. we were able to double the hours from 250hrs to 500 hrs . the intangibles were easier to fire up in cold weather = less drain on batteries, starter,and altinator .they ran cooler in hot weather = less wear on cooling system(rad,hoses and internal engine parts.everything lasted longer. In lighter oils as used in cars and light trucks engineers want as near to ideal 10w as they can get at 100cel. (212) deg. oil temp. most high quality synthetics 5w20 give you 8.3 to 8.7 and 0w20 a little higher than that.close to 9. 5w30 range 10 to 12( 12 is near 40w at operating temp.) the reason 0w20 does a little better for gas engines because they may use a small amount of group 4 oil to cover the wider range. 0w.at cold start in any weather is heaver than you need to protect your engine plus the added benefit of fast oil pressure rise,reducing wear and when it is at full operating temperture very close to the mark you want and is very stable at high tempertures keeping parts seperated and better fuel economy. ( you can drive a roofing tack with a 20lb. sledge hammer but why would you want to?) p.s. I do not recommend running dirty oil in your engine. change your oil at a reasonable time.run quality filters.

cwalter

short trips not allowing the oil to get to operating temperature is the cause of most sludge problems.

hahanson

I don't know if there was a TSB, but Ford did give their reasoning in a Fleet Newsletter back in May 2006:

"Why 5W20 Oil?
Some customers are reluctant to follow Ford's recommendation to use 5W-20 oil in their engines based on the incorrect assumption that Ford and other Auto Manufacturers only recommend 5W-20 oil in order to increase fuel economy. Using 5W-20 oil can increase fuel economy by about 6/10ths of a percent compared to 5W-30 and more if you are currently using a higher viscosity oil. This equates to an additional savings of 125 million gallons per year when used in all applicable Ford vehicles. Since its introduction in the 2001 MY, 5W-20 oils have saved up to 640 million gallons of gasoline in the U.S. or an equivalent 5.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

5W-20 oil is a thinner oil with lighter viscosity that creates less drag on the crankshaft, pistons and valvetrain. Additionally, the oil pump can pump thinner oil more easily, improving oil circulation. Any increase in fuel economy may not be noticed by the average motorist. Machined internal engine parts are more precise than the parts of 20 years ago. This means that clearances between moving parts are smaller and more exact. Thinner oil such as 5W-20 can flow more freely through the engine while still filling the spaces. Thicker oil is harder to push through the spaces between the parts. This causes the oil pump to work harder, which in turn increases oil pressure while simultaneously decreasing oil volume. A lack of oil volume results in a decrease of lubrication and cooling, which may decrease engine part life.

The lighter viscosity of 5W-20 oil flows faster at start-up compared to higher viscosity oils, which helps reduce engine wear in critical areas by lubricating parts faster. Valve train components at the top of the engine require immediate lubrication at start-up.

Oil additives are not recommended as noted in the owners manual. The American Petroleum Institute (API) certifies that oils such as Motorcraft 5W-20 already contain the necessary additives for friction, detergent, etc... The addition of additives may interfere and react with the additives already present in the certified oil."

LariatDude

Is it fine to back down to 5w-20 after using 5w-30? And should I keep using full synthetic or is the blend fine too?

Eric Kleven

It's really not going to make a difference either way. If your engine likes 5w-20, there's no reason to not run it. If your engine has the 5.4 3v mechanical issues, it's probably best to go with a 5w-30 after repairs.

I believe FoMoCo has spec'd the more recent year SuperDuty gas motors back to 5w-30 for hard use. That tells me the -20 oils are fine for highway and commuting, but don't have much left in reserve for hard use.

SCORGE

Question, why change oil weight? just out of curiosity. If you've been using oil "A" this entire time without issue, why got to oil "B"?

Smokin04

Late entry to this...


But 5W-20 for sure. Reason being, all modular ford V-8s 4.6, 5.4 etc. use lash adjusters in place of old school hydraulic lifters due to the overhead cam design of the engine. Ford (and John Mihovetz) have many times over said that anything over a 20W oil is too thick for the orifices on the lash adjusters. This can prevent them from bleeding down properly and/or cycling fresh oil through them wreaking eventual havoc on the sensitive valve train. 20W for the win.