5W-30 instead of 5W-20

[TORNIT07]

Did a search, no results. Last oil change I used 5W-30 (Mobile1 FS) instead of the 5W-20 in my 2007 expy that I have used since day one per Ford's spec. Expy now has nearly 188,000 miles on it. I changed after researching the issue & figured with the higher mileage it wouldn't hurt & may offer slightly better film protection. I live in SC near the coast, summers are scorchers & never gets too cold.

I replaced the VCT solenoids a year or so ago, but cam phasers/timing components are all original. My question is, does anybody else run 5/30 instead of 5/20?

 

[JExpedition07]

Me

 

[Trainmaster]

Lots of folks do. It's all over the Internet. Some feel the 5W-20 is a ploy at better efficiency at the cost of protection. I just follow Ford's recommendations. Shouldn't really make much difference if any at all. I just believe in using a quality oil and changing it as advised.

 

[TORNIT07]

Lots of folks do. It's all over the Internet. Some feel the 5W-20 is a ploy at better efficiency at the cost of protection. I just follow Ford's recommendations. Shouldn't really make much difference if any at all. I just believe in using a quality oil and changing it as advised.

I meant I searched on this forum...I did do some research online, so many different opinions it can get a bit confusing. I changed the oil every 3,000 the first 50,000 miles. Let it go 15,000 ONCE & about 6,000 another time. Not intentionally but, except for those two times I NEVER let it go beyond 4,000. I know it's overkill. That's alright with me.

I did see some info online that in some countries (Canada?) where 5/30 is the recommended oil from the Ford that they have far less issues with the cam phasers & related components. Don't know how true that is.

 

[JExpedition07]

I could write you a book on this topic, use the 5W-30. The 5W-20 isn’t bad, but the 30 seems “better”.

5W-30 has been deemed more protective by many professionals. Ford changed the oil recommendations in the 2005 timeframe for increased efficiency and cafe regs. What you read is somewhat true, other markets like Australia call for 5W-30 in the same engine. Ford changed the oil recommendation on the 4.6/5.4 2V in the E-Series engines to a thinner viscosity as well with no design changes made.

Another point is the 6.2L V8 engine, when it was used in the half tons recommended oil was 5W-20, as soon as it was Super Duty only ford switched the recommendation and superseded it to 5W-30 instead for “increased wear protection”. Also note portions of cafe do not apply beyond 1/2 ton vehicles.

 

[Plati]

I agree with MrTrain. Use what is specified in the Owners Manual.
The Owners Manual's for BOTH my 2003 and 2014 5.4L specify 5W20.

I doubt it makes (much of) a difference either way, but I'm not inside the engine & don't know.

I've got 180K on the 2003 5.4L with 6K changes of Valvoline 5W20 … rock solid engine.

 

[JExpedition07]

Skip to 1:00

 

[chuck s]

I recall Blackstone Laboratories had a white paper a couple of years ago that showed no engine wear differences between 5W-20 and 10W-30 in Ford engines. I further recall the author (one of the principals of Blackstone) started using 5W-20 almost exclusively. 5W-20 was the Ford spec for my former 5.4V8. 10W-30 is spec for my 3.5 EcoBoost.

Blackstone now markets an oil sampling vacuum pump that will take a sample thru the oil dipstick hole and put it directly into their sample bottle. This allows sampling without dumping the oil and without any mess! With some of the concerns about gasoline dilution in the EcoBoost engines this may be of value. Too much hassle for me to change the oil on this truck so the dealer does it during annual service. I'm going to extract a sample just before the next service. Blackstone has a large data base on different engines as well as maintaining individual tests and printing them on the results sheet.

-- Chuck

 

[Viper10000]

For what it’s worth, I have a 2017 with the 3.5 eco engine. Manual says use 5w30. I send a sample to black stone every oil change. The results show that the engine is shearing the oil and it’s coming out as a 5w20. I change my oil every 4,000-4,500 miles so that my viscosity is still within normal specs ( although at the lower end). I started out using the motorcraft 5w30 blend and went to Mobil 1 full synthetic 5w30. Both oils have the same shearing issue.

 

[TobyU]

For what it’s worth, I have a 2017 with the 3.5 eco engine. Manual says use 5w30. I send a sample to black stone every oil change. The results show that the engine is shearing the oil and it’s coming out as a 5w20. I change my oil every 4,000-4,500 miles so that my viscosity is still within normal specs ( although at the lower end). I started out using the motorcraft 5w30 blend and went to Mobil 1 full synthetic 5w30. Both oils have the same shearing issue.

Another reason to use 5w-30. It ends up being 20 anyway.