Switched to 5W-30 5.4L Triton

[JExpedition07]

I’ve always run Motorcraft 5W-20 and changed it at 3,500 mile intervals using an FL-820S filter.... my truck has alwasy ran good and quiet.

I was watching a makuloco video on oil pressure testing the 5.4L and he highly recommends owners of 3 valve 4.6L and 5.4L motors to use 5W-30 oil. Many disagree on this but I decided to try it, bottom line is I notice no difference except the engine is quieter than with the 20 weight when at running temp. 163,000 miles. I guess it would make sense that as he says the 5-30 keeps pressures higher at temp than the thinner oil. As we know low pressure wreaks havoc on modern variable cam timing systems. Never tested mine but decided to try something different. As I expected not much difference as it’s only one grade heavier.

 

[JExpedition07]

Seems the 5W-20 may have been a recommendation for corporate average fuel economy reasons.

 

[Drae]

I've used 5W30 in my wife's 03(145K miles) and assume 5w20 or 5w30 was used in my 2010(75K miles) when I bought it. The oil level was a little low when I bought it. The pressure seemed to be fine and both engines run smooth and quite. But my wife's Expedition would use oil quite often. I use Castrol High Mileage 10W30 in both now and it doesn't use oil AT ALL! It runs smooth and quite, good oil pressure and gas mileage hasn't suffered. I will only use 5W oil when it gets close to 0 degrees now. I also believe the recommendations are for fuel economy purposes also as I have done the same in all my Ford cars and trucks and never had problems.

 

[Big Brian]

I cant find that video

Can you please provide a link to it?

thanks

 

[JExpedition07]

I cant find that video

Can you please provide a link to it?

thanks

At 1:55 he begins talking about 5W-30 here:

 

[JExpedition07]

The cafe makes sense. Take the 6.2L Boss for example..... it was available in F-150 from 2011-2014 (Half ton trucks count toward cafe) and used 5W-20 oil. In the 2015 MY it became only available on Super Duty (Does not count toward CAFE being Heavy Duty) and what did they do? Changed the requirement to 5W-30 on the 6.2L with no design change.

 

[chuck s]

Seems to be some confusion about lubrication flow and oil pressure. Lubrication flow is what we're after, not the pressure needed to achieve it. Put 60-grade oil in your engine and watch the oil pressure increase. You can push a thick oil real hard and not get enough flow to properly lubricate though. Oil pressure is only meaningful using the specified oil and modern engine tolerances are almost universally well lubricated with 30 grade oil at operating temperature (~100°C) but anything in the 20 to 40 range will do well. (Blackstone Labs published a white paper a year or so ago regarding the lack of engine wear in Ford engines running 0W-20 oil like was specified for my '07 5.4 V8 and my daughter's Outback.)

The only reason to use a higher grade oil than 30 or 40 grade is if your engine temperatures are well above 100°C which ain't gonna happen in a liquid cooled engine on the street. Race cars and air cooled engines in aircraft and motorcycles often need a higher grade. One of my personal cars specifies 10W-30 or 5W-40 in cold weather. I understand 5W for better cold weather start up oil flow and the 40 pretty much confirms 30 or 40 doesn't matter. Since I don't run this car in cold weather she gets 5W-30 like the other two cars in the garage.

But it ain't about pressure. It's about oil flow.

-- Chuck

 

[1955moose]

We've had this discussion so many times over the past year. I believe it was Ford motor company that released a tsb bulletin, stating to drop to the 5/w20 weight on 3 valve motors. Bottom line if it ain't broke, we'll you know the rest. Clean oil is the key on these motors. 80 percent of problems were from owner maintenance neglect. Some of our members even swore by Diesel oil, which seemed to not only work, but worked Superior.

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[rjdelp7]

My 2000's owner manual recommends 5w30. My local Ford dealer used to do $19.99 oil changes, but put 5w20 syn-blend in it(industry standard). I went back with my receipt and manual. They produced a TSB, showing both oils are ok. Ford had switched to 5w20, to meet American C.A.F.E standards. In Australia, for example, the same engines use 5w30. Manufactures are now switching 0w-20. My older 4.6l ran fine and has run 5w20 two times. It did burn about quart between changes. I also used 0w-30 in it twice and it did help mileage a bit.