Switch from 5w20 to10w30 for towing

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Albuquerque, NM. USA
I have a 06 Ford F250 SD with a 5.4L gas V8 with 26,000 miles that I have ben using 5w20 NAPA Syn.in.
I am going to start towing a 26' enclosed car hauler on a regular basis untill I can trade up for a Diesel.
This load will stress my little 5.4 a lot.
Will 5w20 protect my engine or should I switch to a 10w30?
A Ford master tech told me I should use 10w30 or even a 10w40!

What do you guys think?
 
If you have oil pressure/temp gauges and you're not towing on steep grades it may not be a huge deal. 10w-30 won't hurt the truck. 10w-40 probably isn't necessary.

If it's going to be that hard on the engine, it'll probably be just as hard on the transmission. Does your truck have an external trans cooler, or one of those "built into the radiator" jokes?
 
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You are FINE! relax and keep it serviced with the 5w20 and service the trans. The SD is a tough truck.
Aside from being a little slow, you'll be just fine
 
When I worked on wind turbines we would pull massive trailers full of 14,000 pounds of scrap 45 miles to the scrap yard with our F250 Quad Cab 5.4 SD service trucks. They weren't too enthusiastic about it, but they did it for well over 100,000 miles with the cheapest bulk 5w-20 there is. I wouldn't sweat it, those things are tough as [censored].
 
I have 65,000+ on my F-150 FX4 with a 5.4L and it has only seen 5W-20 and at least 15,000 of those miles have been towing and all of my UOAs have been quite ok. I tow a 28' enclosed trailer and I would not switch to 10W-30 or 10W-40 as I have found no need. 10W-30s and 10W-40s shear into a 20 in short order anyway.

I think the Ford Master Tech needs to take a refresher on the specifications on the engine in question. Strictly speaking, Ford specified 5W-20 for all gasoline engines in the 2006 F-250 with nothing noted as an exception for towing.
 
use 5w20 5w30 wont hurt but 5w20 is ideal. 5w20 will let the bearings run cooler because the engine will have less drag
5w20 also get everywhere faster hot or cold
 
I have a F150,2006,5.4 and towing package.I dont tow as much wt as you do but since I tow in hotter area.Ariz desert,I was also concerned.I use 5qts MC5-20 blend and 2nqts 5-30 PP.Seems to do the trick. The trans seems to be the weak link in the 06 pickups followed by the bad spark plugs.
mad.gif
 
Originally Posted By: JRed
If you have oil pressure/temp gauges and you're not towing on steep grades it may not be a huge deal. 10w-30 won't hurt the truck. 10w-40 probably isn't necessary.

If it's going to be that hard on the engine, it'll probably be just as hard on the transmission. Does your truck have an external trans cooler, or one of those "built into the radiator" jokes?


Good advice.
 
Originally Posted By: 250SD_54V8
The front of this truck is full of coolers it has a seperate engine oil and trans oil cooler. I think it was part of the HD towing package.


If it has a decently-sized external engine oil AND trans oil cooler then you're probably golden. As others have said, that's not an engine with a high power density so it should be fine.

Transmission will probably be fine too.

Whole truck will probably be fine. It may not act like it's enjoying every moment of towing, but hey.
 
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