The hydraulic lifters in my engine are giving me a bit of a headache! They're rather rattly from about 1,400 rpm and I've heard from many people that thicker oil will help.
Basically when my car (AU falcon) was first released in 1999, ford recommended 5w30 to get better fuel economy, but not long after taxis were reporting engine problems and excessive wear as they stacked on the miles. (Previous model had same engine but specified 15w40 and none of those engines had these new problems)
Ford quickly sent out a memo recommending 10w30 or 10w40 to overcome these problems.
I have always run 10w30 in mine with the odd 10w40 and although those aren't exactly thin, I have noisy hydraulic lifters (which can fail with thin oil) and I feel the need to go thicker
The question is in the title! Should I try 15w40 and then step up to 15/20w50 if that fails? Or is 20w50 too thick full stop? Some people with the same car have told me they have 15w60 and 20w50 In theirs. We're heading into winter now but I live in coastal Queensland so the temperature hardly ever goes below 0c (32f) anyway.
How cold can 20w go down to?
Some people may be interested that my father's Mitsubishi Pajero (Montero) 3.5 was smoking and using a ton of oil so he stuck a bottle of 40w70 in!!! That's a bit extreme and the engine seemed fine with it! I made him drop it after a few weeks anyway but it certainly helped with the oil consumption! Haha
Thanks
Basically when my car (AU falcon) was first released in 1999, ford recommended 5w30 to get better fuel economy, but not long after taxis were reporting engine problems and excessive wear as they stacked on the miles. (Previous model had same engine but specified 15w40 and none of those engines had these new problems)
Ford quickly sent out a memo recommending 10w30 or 10w40 to overcome these problems.
I have always run 10w30 in mine with the odd 10w40 and although those aren't exactly thin, I have noisy hydraulic lifters (which can fail with thin oil) and I feel the need to go thicker
The question is in the title! Should I try 15w40 and then step up to 15/20w50 if that fails? Or is 20w50 too thick full stop? Some people with the same car have told me they have 15w60 and 20w50 In theirs. We're heading into winter now but I live in coastal Queensland so the temperature hardly ever goes below 0c (32f) anyway.
How cold can 20w go down to?
Some people may be interested that my father's Mitsubishi Pajero (Montero) 3.5 was smoking and using a ton of oil so he stuck a bottle of 40w70 in!!! That's a bit extreme and the engine seemed fine with it! I made him drop it after a few weeks anyway but it certainly helped with the oil consumption! Haha
Thanks
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