1987 ford 460 motorhome, which oil to use?

[blupupher]

I am with the others, a HDEO would be a great choice.
Now 5w-30, 10w-30, 10w-40 or 15w-40, that is the real question.
I would probably try a 10w-30 HDEO and see how it does.

 

[rodinator1234]

I agree a HDEO 15w40 is the way I would go.

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted By: userfriendly
A synthetic SAE 5w20 could be blended to this:

KV40C 53
KV100C 9.3
HTHS 3.0

The lighter 5w20 engine oil will produce less heat than 10w30 or 15w40.

A HTHS of 3.0 is all you need.


Please quit giving out engine damaging advice.

While the "engine oil" will "produce" less heat.. the gas you are burning at 5mpg will definitely heat the oil to the point of failure(too thin) in severe use.

additionally, carb. so fuel dilution.

Also please list a 5w20 syn with those specs. I'll use it in my subaru.


I'd go any hdeo 15w40. Best option.

 

[AirgunSavant]

Citgard 700 10w30
Why? Good stuff.
Good Luck with it.

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: digler
l but it does have some seeping in the usual places.


You've got an engine that's twice the size of most modern engines, so you've got a lot more piston ring area and cylinder swiping. There's just a lot more area for this engine to consume oil. As already noted, it's a seeper. No big deal, all of them did back then. You've also got the same size oil pan as a lot of modern vehicles, so the chance of it being a quart low is greater. Plus, it's carbureted.
This won't be a stop-and-start vehicle, a lot of the miles will be driving down the road for hours at a time. All the more reason to avoid a 5W-20 oil in this application.
A 10W-40 with the flat-tappet additives will be okay as well as a 15W-40.
An '87 motor still might have the plastic-coated camshaft gear. These things will fatigue from age as well as use. You do not want those things to fail while the engine is running. If the engine was mine (and granted, it isn't), I'd replace the timing chain set with something that is all steel.

 

[JimPghPA]

He IS going to start it in the winter (although not often, even once is enough to consider a 5W or a 0W oil), and forget about any 10W or 15W oils.

T6 Rotella 5W-40 available at Walmart would be a better choice than T5 15W-40 or 10W-30.

Mobil 0W-40 or Castrol 0W-40 would even be a better choice but more costly than Rotella T6 5W-40.

He should service the trany fluid. Moisture in the trany fluid from sitting for long periods of time can result in rust inside of the trany and lead to early trany failure.

 

[brian_06328]

I have the 460 (fuel injected) in my '96 F350 that I use to haul a 30' 5th wheel. I started using the Rotella T5 10W30 in it a year or two ago and can't think of a better oil to use. I change it once a year since I don't put all that many miles on it but when I do run it it gets run pretty hard (a lot like your application I'd bet). I think it would be a good oil for your mh.

 

[userfriendly]

The guys working here tell me they use 5w20 in their 6.8L Ford F550 V10s.
What would make the old 460 any different?

http://www.teck.com/

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Pennzoil yellow bottle 5w30

This is a flat-tappet, carbureted, nearly 30 year-old 460 in severe service.

Want another shot on making a recommendation?

Yeah let's put some 40w70 in it

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Yeah let's put some 40w70 in it

That retort has just as much legitimacy as your first recommendation; stick to padding your post count somewhere else, because you have no business in this thread.

Originally Posted By: userfriendly
What would make the old 460 any different?

It's beyond frustrating that someone who has already made specific recommendations in this thread (on the basis of what, I haven't an idea...) needs to subsequently ask that question.

 

[Chris142]

The 460 oil system gets oil to the crank last.it needs a thinner oil @startup.10w30,10w40 or 5w40 with the 5w40 being a great choice.do not put a 5w20 in it

 

[BrocLuno]

Originally Posted By: digler
Originally Posted By: CT8
What will be the temperatures that you will be starting the engine? 15W-40 would be fine to about 15*f.

I live in western Washington, the motor will not be used all that often in the winter, our average winter temp is around 40 degrees, it will mostly be ran during the summer on flat freeway or going over passes in temps ranging from 70- 100 degrees. Do you mean 15w-40 diesel motor oil like Rotella our Delo?


Yup, put Delo400 15W-40 in it and enjoy the quiet smooth motor and zero issues with bearings, etc. Been running 15W-40 in 460's like for ever

 

[Rob_Roy]

It would be hard to beat a 10w-30 HDEO in this application. Rotella or Delo 10w-30 at Wal-Mart would be very economical.

15w-40 would also work, although it is arguable if it is necessary.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: userfriendly
The guys working here tell me they use 5w20 in their 6.8L Ford F550 V10s.
What would make the old 460 any different?

http://www.teck.com/


The 6.8L V8 has a deep-skirt pinned and multi-bolt main bearing'd block and was designed from the get-go to be reliable and thrive on thinner oils. It originally spec'd your generic ILSAC 5w-30 but was back-spec'd to 5w-20 based on Ford's testing.

In contrast, the 460 is a 385-series engine, beginning life in the 1960's. It has a non-skirted block and was never designed around the idea that oil would be a component chased for fractional fuel economy gains. Ergo, there was no developmental testing of this engine on 5w-20; no extensive validation field testing....etc like there was with the Modular family.

Being an old pushrod motor, erring on the side of caution with respect to viscosity reserve for rod and main bearing protection, particularly since any gain in fuel economy from lubricant selection will be next to non-existent, is the common sense route, which is why by and large oils that are heavy duty (HDEO) have been suggested.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Yeah let's put some 40w70 in it

That retort has just as much legitimacy as your first recommendation; stick to padding your post count somewhere else, because you have no business in this thread.


And apparently you don't either, because you haven't made a single recommendation. All you've done is come into this thread and try to judge people.

 

[userfriendly]

OverKill answered my question.
If this was about a 454 BBC instead of a BBF, I would agree with the XW40 blanket recommendations.

The 460 Ford in comparison has larger main & rod journals, in addition to camshaft base-circle and lifter diameter.

The motorhome engine is not likely to produce much power over 4,000 rpm, as a result of all of the above, SAE20 should be capable.
I don't like attaching engine size and GVW to engine oil viscosity.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: userfriendly
The guys working here tell me they use 5w20 in their 6.8L Ford F550 V10s.
What would make the old 460 any different?

http://www.teck.com/


The 6.8L V8 has a deep-skirt pinned and multi-bolt main bearing'd block and was designed from the get-go to be reliable and thrive on thinner oils. It originally spec'd your generic ILSAC 5w-30 but was back-spec'd to 5w-20 based on Ford's testing.

In contrast, the 460 is a 385-series engine, beginning life in the 1960's. It has a non-skirted block and was never designed around the idea that oil would be a component chased for fractional fuel economy gains. Ergo, there was no developmental testing of this engine on 5w-20; no extensive validation field testing....etc like there was with the Modular family.

Being an old pushrod motor, erring on the side of caution with respect to viscosity reserve for rod and main bearing protection, particularly since any gain in fuel economy from lubricant selection will be next to non-existent, is the common sense route, which is why by and large oils that are heavy duty (HDEO) have been suggested.


*That should have read 6.8L V10*

Teaches me right for not proof-reading.

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
And apparently you don't either, because you haven't made a single recommendation. All you've done is come into this thread and try to judge people.

Read. More. Carefully.

I've advised him what not to do by pointing out the absurdness of your recommendation.

 

[userfriendly]

Lol, I skipped right over that typo.
Like those FB posts that are upside down inside out and backwards.
Only 5% of people can read this.

Well of course, 95% of the world population do not speak English.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: userfriendly
OverKill answered my question.
If this was about a 454 BBC instead of a BBF, I would agree with the XW40 blanket recommendations.

The 460 Ford in comparison has larger main & rod journals, in addition to camshaft base-circle and lifter diameter.

The motorhome engine is not likely to produce much power over 4,000 rpm, as a result of all of the above, SAE20 should be capable.
I don't like attaching engine size and GVW to engine oil viscosity.


I advise an HTHS of >=3.5cP, which includes heavy 30's and lighter 40's. I think a 15w-40 would be overkill. These oils also have higher levels of AW additives and are designed for severe service where high load is the norm, and would tolerate elevated oil temperatures far better. They also allow for some fuel dilution, which with a carb, is basically a guarantee.

Yes, the 460 has a better factory lube system than the BBC (similar to how the SBF has a better one than the SBC), or perhaps I should say more forgiving due to some of the design characteristics, like with the 351W, but it was, as I noted, never designed around lubes with an HTHS around the 2.6cP mark (which would be even lower with fuel dilution) and it leaves very little if any reserve to account for that, or for uncontrolled spikes in oil temperature, which will again drive down viscosity.

I have no idea if this engine, in this application, has an oil cooler or not either, so recommendations should, based on that fact, be on the conservative side.