Oil - from regular to synthetic

[jacks3am]

All I can say about additives is if you feel like you need to put something in to help your oil out, the oil your using isnt good enough! Think about it like this, if your using lucas, all its doing is increasing oil viscoscity, why not just upgrade your oil in the first place? And while im blabbering on, everyone please use either motorcraft filters or aimsoil filters if your going with an extended drain interval, as the OE filters are built for the pressures and filtering capabilities of our engines.

 

[Ryan Moose]

Follow up-

Runs great, sounds great, BUT two days after the change my "Service Engine Soon" light came on and has been on since...

 

[Captain Morgan]

Do you have a ODB2 code reader?

What all did you replace?


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[Razor]

I run Valvoline VR1 Racing oil 20W-50... It's easier to keep all my vehicles running the same stuff.

 

[superexpy]

I run Valvoline VR1 Racing oil 20W-50... It's easier to keep all my vehicles running the same stuff.

I tried 20-50 once and my motor hated it. It was slower and worse MPG. I have always run have 5w30 fully synthetic moble1 in it for the past 10+ years with no prob so thats what ill stick with. A buddy of mine was running
10w40 in his sho and we tried 5w30 and picked up 2/10 in the quarter just by going down in weight. The motor did sound tighter with the 10w40 thoe.

 

[Razor]

Was it VR1?

 

[Idahokid]

I use Motorcraft 5-30 semi synthetic.And a motorcraft filter.Bob is the oil guy.com is a good site for oils and other things.There's a few post on adding a additive can have a reverse affect on the additives in the oil.I dont add anything to my oil.If you do,get better oil.I have 144,000 on my expy.Oil still looks like I just poured it in.The most important thing you can do is change it when your suppose to.Even Walmart oil is good if you can do that.

 

[Ryan Moose]

Hey Captain, i replaced the oil filter with a Motorcraft filter, replaced the old oil (no idea the weight or how many miles - new to me vehicle) with 5-30 synthetic, and used about a quart of Marvel Mystery oil.

 

[Captain Morgan]

A QUART

I've never used a quart before, I said a cup. Well actually I said 10% or less.

It might be that the vehicle burns some oil and that amount of MMO allows more oil to be burned and causing the O2 sensors to be freaky.

Look on the bright side, that crank case is going to be ubber clean by the next oil change.

If it was my rig, and of course it's not so talk is cheap, but I wouldn't sweat the check engine light. But I would keep an eye around the engine and look for leaks and check the oil consumption weekly. You live in Michigan and it's nice and hella cold there in the winters so a tad light on oil thickness doesn't worry me.

You could swing by the local auto parts store though and tell them the check engine light popped on and you want to check the codes to "see if you need to buy any parts while you're there" and ask to borrow their code reader for 5 minutes. I've never had any hassled borrowing one, until I bought my own.

Oh BTW do you happen to know when the plugs were changed last?

.

 

[squidnut]

I use castrol syntec in all of my vehicles usually 5W-30. Back a few years ago I'd say about 20, a friend of mine showed me how to rebuild engines. We went to clean all the crud buildup from the heads and I went for the gasoline and wire brush. He stopped me and just poured some castrol gtx across the rockers and wala, that carbon build up just flaked right off no elbow grease necessary. Never had a issue with any cars i've owned motor wise. Will not even consider another brand. Just saying I saw first hand how well it works on sludge and carbon build up.

 

[Idahokid]

The Castrol sounds pretty darn good.I called Quaker State on the Defy oil that they have out.And the rep on the phone told me he had a 01 f150 with a 5.4 and ran Rotella 15/40.Rotella has more zinc then most oils from what i'm told.

 

[Captain Morgan]

I used Castrol Sytec in all the ricers through the years and like it a lot.

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[LameSuburbanDad]

given that you live in michigan like I do, sticking to the 5W-30 will be just right. the reason is for all of our cold weather. the lighter weight (5W) means the oil thins a little easier to coat a cold engine faster.

the only change I would even think of making is in summer time I like to use a little bit heavier oil, 10w-30. with it's heavier weight, my heavy summer foot, and lots of two tracking and trips camping. I prefer the extra "gumption" that a 10w-30 gives me as a just in case sort of measure against the lighter 5W breaking down on me.

I also hear guys around here running a 10w-40 in the warmer months. but again these aren't street grocery getters, these are guys with guy trucks.

but even for just some light "playtime" a 5W-30 full syn. will be plenty to keep you clean and protected all year round. easier to remember too.