What viscosity oil do you guys use? 5W30?

[Chevyguy]

I ran Synthetic Du-Jour in my other 2V modulars depending on what was for sale in 5 qt jugs at Wallymart. Mostly Mobil 1 till they started raising the price, so I went with Valvoline Synpower or Penzoil Platinum more often. Always ran 5W30 which I suspect may not be the best for the 4V modular. I used to do my change intervals at 7K +/- figuring the oil still had life up to 10K or so.

What do you guys run?

[Blackened300a]

5W-20 Mobil 1 or Royal purple synthetic. I change it out every 5K miles. The little I drive the car comes out to a little over a year between oil changes. I run a motorcraft filter as well.

[Chevyguy]

Yup I was glad to see a FL820S on my car. Bought a Mobil 1 filter ONCE and felt like an idiot for spending $11 on it.

http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q329/folingo/2004%20Marauder/Chassis%20and%20Engine%20pics/SL372048.jpg

That looks like even more fun than changing out the filter on the 94 where the pittman arm and centerlink got in the way. Love how the oil get all over the steering rack etc..

I averaged over 20K miles a year the last 5 years so I get a few oil changes per year mostly highway miles.

[03blackmerc]

5W-20 Motorcraft synthetic with Motorcraft filter

[RR|Suki]

oil filter is very easy to pull by hand from the top, and if you wipe it off everything each time it won't build up on you like that.

[ctrlraven]

Mobil 1 5W-20 with Motorcraft Filter.

[Blackened300a]

Check out Innovative interceptors for a oil deflector. That helps keeping oil off the rack when pulling the filter.

[fastblackmerc]

Used Mobile 1 5w30 in the summer & 5w20 in the winter.

Just switched to Mobile 1 0w30.

Always use a Motorcraft filter.

[Egon Spengler]

5w-30 in the summer, 5w-20 in the winter... Fully synthetic

[thathotrodlincn]

Royal Purple 5W-20 and Motorcraft FL820S

[a_d_a_m]

5W30 full synthetic (whatever's on sale) and a Motorcraft FL820S.

[Mr. Man]

Synthetic Amsoil w/ Napa Gold filter twice a year

[LANDY]

amsoil 5w20 with their filter every 3k miles.

[RF Overlord]

amsoil 5w20 with their filter every 3k miles.Wow...that's a huge waste of an excellent (and expensive) oil and filter. If you're going to subscribe to the 3,000-mile oil change myth, you may as well use the cheap stuff.

[J D]

Mobil 1 5w20 every 3k, with motorcraft filter.

But I am sending my oil in now to be tested at Blackstone Labs, so that interval will probably go up with the results.

I actually just changed mine today.

And why do people try and change the viscosity? It says it right on the oil cap in big bold yellow.

[LANDY]

Wow...that's a huge waste of an excellent (and expensive) oil and filter. If you're going to subscribe to the 3,000-mile oil change myth, you may as well use the cheap stuff. I don't use the car often and when I do I'm hard on it. I only change it twice a year anyways.

[RoyLPita]

5w-20 synthetic blend w/820S filter every 2500-3000 miles.

[Ozark Marauder]

Motorcraft 5w-20 synthetic blend w/820S filter every 4000 miles.

[cougar9150]

I typically use Mobil 1 5w-20 with a K&N oil filter (I like the fact I can put a wrench on the end to loosen it).

My tuner recommended I swap to Amsoil 5W-30 since he uses that in all the Stangs he does work on. He thinks with the heat down here in Fla it would be better in the summer and if I wanted to I could swap back to 5W-20 in the winter. He uses 5W-30 Amsoil year round and has never had a problem with any of his personal or customer cars due to the slightly higher viscosity.

[rkk]

Mobil 1 5W-30 with Motorcraft FL820S Filter.

BTW, I bumped up the 5W-20 to 5W-30 because of the Florida heat.

[Pat]

Motorcraft 5W-20 synthetic blend, with 820S Motorcraft filter, every 4 K. Change fuel filter every third oil change, tranny fluid 30 K, brake fluid at 60K and coolant every year. Empty ash tray, never.

[musclemerc]

5~20 Castro Syntec full synthetic changed at 7500mi intervals.

[Dobs]

5w30 all the time, since 5w20 is only for fuel economy, 5w30 protect better. Only Motorcraft filter, it is the highest quality filter available for the MM by far.

[TFB]

^^^^^^^^^ I'm another who doesn't subscribe to the 5W-20 oil, I use 5W-30 in both my Grand Marquis('98 & '07), and will do same for the Marauder when I change the oil next week... My street/strip 5.0 T-Bird mostly gets 10w-40...

[Vortech347]

fomoco 5w-20 with 820 filter. Every 4-5k. If your engine runs clean and doesn't have excessive blowby you don't need to change so often. I used to believe in that 2-3k crap but I don't anymore. If you open track the car thats another story.

Run what the factory says oil wise. Unless you were part of the Engine R&D department at Ford you should trust whats on the cap.

[TFB]

You guys can use 5w-20 if you like, but I'm not...

http://www.smartsynthetics.com/articles/5w20oil.htm

[RF Overlord]

For the record, the info in that link is old. It dates from the beginning of 5W-20 usage and is full of misleading info. Ford's WSS-M2C930-A spec for 5W-20 oil is very tough and any oil that meets it is going to be robust. Contrary to popular opinion, 5W-20 is NOT just a CAFE oil and will give good service, especially in the modular motors.

Having said that, I'm not condemning anyone for using 5W-30; I use it myself. I just don't want those who may not be as astute when it comes to oil to think that there's something wrong with 5W-20. There isn't. Ford did their homework.

[Vortech347]

^^ Exactly. I run fomoco 5w-20 in our 01 (termy engine) that we frequent on the road coarse, drag strip, and auto-x. Its just fine.

I love this forum, It has more oil and spark plug debates than any other forum i'm on. And most of these cars aren't even super high performance that NEED performance oils. Well... maybe 3-4 of em. The rest everyone is just pissing away their money.

[tbone]

oil filter is very easy to pull by hand from the top, and if you wipe it off everything each time it won't build up on you like that.

Thanks for the tip. I changed my oil yesterday and this made it so easy. I always went to the shop to have it done before just because the filter is so hard to get to. I HATE paying a shop $60 for a full synthetic oil change!

[fastblackmerc]

You guys can use 5w-20 if you like, but I'm not...

http://www.smartsynthetics.com/articles/5w20oil.htm

So you know more than the engineers that designed the motor?

[Paul T. Casey]

Ford did their homework.

This was my thinking right from the begining. I use the factory stuff (Motorcraft Synthetic Blend 5w-20, and Motorcraft filter) at every 5,000 miles. I'm currently on my 48th filter and 72nd gallon of oil. I still have the factory washer fluid though. Hasn't gone bad yet.

[Peter]

5W-20 Mobil 1, every 7k miles.

[tbone]

So you know more than the engineers that designed the motor?

The engineers at Ford are under a lot of pressure from the government and the bean counters to squeeze every last mile from these cars in order to meet the ridiculous cafe standards. The thinner oil is one way to do that. Another is the awful shift program for the transmission. We fix that with a tune. So yes, sometimes we know better than the engineers at Ford whose hands are tied.

In my opinion, 5w20 is good for the winter, and 5w30 is good for the summer.

[TooManyFords]

I do my oil (local synthetic from Northland Oil) every 10K and Motorcraft filters for the beater Marauder and the Expedition. ProRauder gets an oil change every Spring but it never gets more than a couple thousand miles on it a year.

[fastblackmerc]

The engineers at Ford are under a lot of pressure from the government and the bean counters to squeeze every last mile from these cars in order to meet the ridiculous cafe standards. The thinner oil is one way to do that. Another is the awful shift program for the transmission. We fix that with a tune. So yes, sometimes we know better than the engineers at Ford whose hands are tied.

In my opinion, 5w20 is good for the winter, and 5w30 is good for the summer.

So you think the engineers would risk higher warranty claims by not using a "better" oil?

One reason the newer engines use a thinner oil ie. 5w is that the parts are machined to much tighter tolerances.
I agree, gas mileage does play into it, that is why I'm running 0w30. The 0w30 meets the same Ford specs as 5w20 or 5w30.

[kernie]

This was my thinking right from the begining. I use the factory stuff (Motorcraft Synthetic Blend 5w-20, and Motorcraft filter) at every 5,000 miles. I'm currently on my 48th filter and 72nd gallon of oil. I still have the factory washer fluid though. Hasn't gone bad yet.
You mean you have never filled the washer fluid res.? I will assume that's what you mean.

That is cool, tells me you see no rust!

:beer:

[tbone]

So you think the engineers would risk higher warranty claims by not using a "better" oil?

One reason the newer engines use a thinner oil ie. 5w is that the parts are machined to much tighter tolerances.
I agree, gas mileage does play into it, that is why I'm running 0w30. The 0w30 meets the same Ford specs as 5w20 or 5w30.

Where did I say anything about 5w20 not being a good oil?

[fastblackmerc]

Where did I say anything about 5w20 not being a good oil?

You never did.

[tbone]

Thank you.

[TFB]

Since 5W-20 seems to be "Holy Water", wonder how old Shel' is getting away with specifying 5W-50 oil in the GT500???

http://ew5.earlweb.com/recommendations.php?site=52&modelyear=&vehicle=53446

[Ktorres1]

I just used 10w-30 is that bad?

[fastblackmerc]

I just used 10w-30 is that bad?

IMHO.... I wouldn't run 10w anything in my MM.

[TFB]

Being in southern FL, I doubt there would be any problem with 10w-30... I suppose oil pressure could be a little high at cold start but with the fake gauge you'd never know, I'd just take it easy for the first five minutes and not worry about it...

I had '92 & '93 Grand Marquis with 2v 4.6L that I used 10W-30 or 40 and never had a issue... The '92 had 130K miles and the '93 had 155K when they were sold for newer models, a friend now owns the '93 and it's still running just fine...

[RF Overlord]

Agree with TFB...in southern FLA you'd be OK, but it isn't ideal.

[JOEMERC]

5-20 mobil one ,motorcraft filter once a year,i put on 5000 miles a year only,est.