Oil Recommendation - 1996 Grand Marquis

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Wisconsin
1996 Mercury Grand Marquis 4.6L
75,000 Miles
Fl-820S Filter
40-60 Mix of City(30mph)/Highway(70mph)
Occasional Towing
Car is in Northern Wisconsin, lots of cold winter runs to be expected on next Oil Change

Currently doing 3k with whatever is the cheapest, looking to move up to 5k. No consumption at 3k OCI currently. Need something that can hold up under the occasional towing, and frequent winter starts, with a few barely allowing car to warm up (I work only 5 miles away)

I was suggested 5w20 Pennzoil Yellow Bottle, or 5w20 Motorcraft
What about 5w20 Defy semi synthetic?

What are your suggestions BITOG?
 
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5w30 motorcraft, or 5w20.

The motorcraft filter is a must for this application.

I'm not sure if they figured out the bad valve stem seals by 1996 or not, some of them used a little oil.

Just keep oil in it, and it will run forever.
 
I'd say both the Pennzoil 5w20 and Motorcraft 5w20 are great choices for that engine. I'd run the Motorcraft since it is semi-synthetic which might help a bit in cold starts.
 
Justin the valve stem seals were upgraded in 1994 I think...dont hold me to that! No smoke on startup for me, I also added to the OP that no oil is consumed at my 3k interval

Jeep, you think semi would help with cold starts? Sounds like it would make sense
 
I would recommend Mobil 1 0W-30. It will give better starting on those cold mornings and still be a 30 weight.

We used Castrol GTX 5W-30 in our '96 Marquis exclusively. Car has over 300,000 miles on it now. Only issue we encountered with it was the intake manifold, other than that a very solid car.

I love the panther platform cars; would not want to drive anything else!
 
Originally Posted By: AjsGarage
What are your suggestions BITOG?


Does Ford specify a _w20 oil for a 1996 4.6?

My vote is a block heater for coolant, an oil pan heater, and 0w__ oil. If you're looking for cheap then get 5w__

The whole "w" or "winter" classification was a terrible idea 40 years ago. Instead they should have come up with a classification that the normal lay-person could understand... Something like "Jello 'w' Maple-Syrup" i.e. 20w50 (consistency when cold followed by consistency when at operating temp).
"Molasses 'w' Thick-water" (10w40)
"Honey 'w' Normal-water" (5w30)
"Maple Syrup 'w' Thin-water" (0w20)

People I have talked to confuse the numbers with reality... they think a 0w30 oil is like water at below freezing temps and thickens to a more honey-like thickness as it warms up... I'm always like no, dude, get 0w__ or 5w__ no matter what, unless they start coming out with negative numbers, then get -10w__
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
5w30 motorcraft, or 5w20.

The motorcraft filter is a must for this application.

I'm not sure if they figured out the bad valve stem seals by 1996 or not, some of them used a little oil.

Just keep oil in it, and it will run forever.


The seal issue was fixed after the 95 model year
wink.gif
 
If by Northern Wisconsin you mean north of Rhinelander, then by all means go with a good 0W-20 like Mobil 1 or Pennzoil Platinum. With the winter we had last year and the almanac saying this year's will be just as bad, you'll need all the cold starting help you can get.

Even if you're south of Rhinelander, I'd still suggest a 0W-20. There really is no downside over a 5W-20 oil.
 
I used M1 10-30 in my 96 Merc GM. When I sold it with 218K the car still performed very well. At 10K OCIs the engine still looked like new through the oil fill hole.
 
Originally Posted By: synthetic_crazy
I would recommend Mobil 1 0W-30. It will give better starting on those cold mornings and still be a 30 weight.

We used Castrol GTX 5W-30 in our '96 Marquis exclusively. Car has over 300,000 miles on it now. Only issue we encountered with it was the intake manifold, other than that a very solid car.

I love the panther platform cars; would not want to drive anything else!


Agree with 0w30.
 
So it looks like we are down to a 5w20 motorcraft
or
0w20/30

I am leaning towards motorcraft...I think the M1 would be overkill at 5k

hmm decisions decisions
 
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Also, I am just exploring oils now...so I was curious about something

What is the deal with super tech 5w20 full synthetic? Never noticed wal mart carrying full synthetic oil. How does it compare with stuff like 5w20 Motorcraft at 5k changes? School me BITOG
 
Thanks BowNisPar.

Also, looking at this data sheet
http://www.pqiamerica.com/Feb2014/consolidated5w20ALL.html?utm_source=March+3%2C+2014&utm_campaign=3-3-14&utm_medium=email

It looks like PYB 5w20 is thinner then Motorcraft at -30C, and has a more robust additive pack? If I were to go standard...some how I am leaning towards PYB now...
 
Any conventional 5W-20, 5W-30, or 10W-30 would be more than sufficient for this application. They can easily do 5K intervals. No need for a synthetic.
 
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