Bought a used truck. Oil recommendation :)

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
Originally Posted By: 2012AccentSE
Gone is the 2012 Accent

I picked up a 2008 Ford F150 King Ranch with the 5.4 liter V8. Wanted a toy hauler

I've seen that M1 seems to be a good contender in the 5w30 flavor. The cap calls for 5w20 and I plan on doing 50/50 mixed driving. I do plan on doing some minor towing with it, but no more than an atv on a trailer. Suggestions?


Those motors run just fine on 5W20. No need to go up in weight.

I would go Motorcraft or Kendall in that rig.



Exactly.
Going thicker in a mod motor does absolutely nothing,other than making it sluggish until you've got the oil so hot it's behaving like the 20 grade the engine calls for.
You'd think with all these mod motors out there with crazy high miles running the prescribed 20 grade that we would be free of these nonsensical posts calling for a grade or 2 thicker oil.
I've used 20 grades and 40 grades in many engines. My hemi for example feels better with a 40 grade,even though it calls for a 20 grade.
My mod motors performed better with a thinner oil.
So as Steve would say it's wildly platform specific.
That truck has an oil cooler iirc so oil temps are less of a concern.

 

[650NutKase]

Seems that the consensus is MC in the 5w20 semi syn and a MC filter?

Loving this thing so far....not going to lie, I miss my Accent...17 mpg is hard to get used to when you have been driving 4 bangers my whole life lol

 

[FutureDoc]

My E350 cutaway "bus" with the 5.4l gets the 5w20 Syn every 5K with the oil change special. No issues (think odd from the UOA from the shop). That is 5-35mph for 10 hours a day stop-and-go every hundred yards or so with the bus-body and passengers. I normally keep to Napa/Wix for the filter personally. I "think" that some of the Purolator tearing issues have been reported about the Motorcraft, but not as many.

17mph ain't bad, the bus only gets 7-8mph with its rounds. The 6.0 Diesels are much better... thank goodness I am not paying out of pocket for that.

 

[jrmason]

Originally Posted By: Alltherage
Run cheap oil and use the savings toward exhaust manifolds! And I'm a ford guy


And coils. Between my brother and I we go through at least 2 a year.

 

[RISUPERCREWMAN]

As a former owner of two F-150's Run ONLY 5W-20 & a MotorCraft FL-820-S filter for proper Cam Phaser operation!!!

 

[95busa]

I run MC syn blend and FL820S. 63K on my F250. No issues yet, had it for 10K of that. I have run mobil 5000 5w-20 also, and it ran fine. I just see no need to use anything heavier. I have run 4.6L Crown Vics (police cars) as hard as you can run a car with 5w-20. Never had an engine issue. Early 4R70s now---different story. 5.4L 3V gets a bad rap in some circles. Really good engine though. It pulls that big ol heavy 250 4x4 better than I ever thought it would. Just keep clean 20 weight oil in it and use motorcraft everything if possible.

 

[Red91]

Motorcraft 5W-20 is hard to beat for that application. Right now Advance Auto has an OC special on 5 quarts of it and a MC filter for 24.99. Good until the end of the December.

 

[dave1251]

I use whatever 5W20 or 5W30 ON SALE and a M.C. 820S on my 5.4 F150 FX4. 5 years no engine problems and it is clean as a whistle with 7-9K OCI's almost totally on "conventional".

 

[Tabor]

I personally would use a Motorcraft filter with Motorcraft SynBlend 5W-20 or Mobil1 in 0W-20 (obviously you could use 5W-20 if you aren't comfortable going out of spec with the 0W-20).

I don't own a modular V8 but I notice better cold performance with 0W-20 in my 2.0L Ford motor - presumably from the cam phasers.

 

[MNgopher]

Any name brand 5w20 oil and a Motorcraft FL-820s filter. Been using 5w20 in my modular V8's (currently own two of them) for years with zero issues. No need to go to anything other than specified.

 

[Scotty59]

First get ready to replace the cam phasers, no this has nothing to do with Star Trek. When it begins to sound like a diesel when idling, that is the tip off they need replaced.

 

[650NutKase]

I think I'll stick with MC 5w20 and the MC filter. Maybe throw some Kendall 5w20 semi syn from time to time. I had amazing results with Kendall in the Accent so I can't imagine the Triton would treat it any different.

What's the deal with this cam phaser stuff? Is it a common issue?

 

[Scotty59]

Yes it is common on that engine. How many miles? I believe around 80k to 100k is the common time it shows up. Hurts nothing short term, but needs to be addressed when they go bad. A simple check of the ford truck forums would give you an idea of the nature of the problem and the fix.

 

[andyd]

A gussied up push rod V8? The main deal with the oil would be to keep tabs on the level and change it once in a while. I would use whatever you could get in a 5w30, or a 10w30. It won't matter all that much. I don't go lower than that mostly out of superstition

 

[dothedrew1202]

I had a 2004 f150 XLT with the 5.4L. I bought it with 30k and sold it with 82k after 7 years and I always used 7 qts of mobil1 5w20 with a napa gold filter. I dont remember the part number cuz I just always had the cashier look it up. with a OCI 5k ( didn't know about this site and synthetics) I never had a problem! But make sure you check your dipstick often I found that my engine drank a qt about every 3k miles or so.

 

[MNgopher]

Yes, the cam phaser issue is common. I have an '04 F150 with the 5.4. If you believe everything you read on the internet, you would come to the conclusion that every one of these is destined to fail tomorrow. Yes, my truck sounds somewhat diesel like at idle, particularly when compared to other engines. Its been that way for over 150,000 miles at this point. It isn't going to fail tomorrow either. It is just noisy by nature, and yes, part revisions made it less of an issue.

The key here is regular oil changes to keep the internals relatively clean.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: 2012AccentSE
I think I'll stick with MC 5w20 and the MC filter. Maybe throw some Kendall 5w20 semi syn from time to time. I had amazing results with Kendall in the Accent so I can't imagine the Triton would treat it any different.

What's the deal with this cam phaser stuff? Is it a common issue?


If you are a fan of Kendall( as I am )you might actually be able to get it cheaper from PSC shipped than you can find MTC locally? Worth looking at. You just have to order 2 cases at a time from PSC for the best p/qt price shipped( ordering more actually raises the price - 2 cases is best deal ).

I got my Brother to swap from running M1 in his Ford trucks to Kendall Full Synthetic and I can order it in for him cheaper than M1 or even MTC Blend locally. His trucks run great on it( 5.4 and 6.2 ).

Kendall GT1 Full Synthetic 5W20:
$47.48 X 2 = $94.96 + $20.74 shipping( to my zip - varies ) = $115.70 p/24 qts = $4.82 p/qt shipped.

http://www.petroleumservicecompany.com/1057228.html

Kendall GT1 Synthetic Blend 5W20:
$35.21 X 2 = $70.42 + $20.74 shipping( to my zip - varies ) = $91.16 p/24qts = $3.79 p/qt shipped.

http://www.petroleumservicecompany.com/1057251.html

I would run the MTC FL820S filter in your truck( as it appears you plan to ). It is a very good filter actually for an OEM one. I get the best deal for my Brother buying through Advance Auto Parts using their coupon codes. The coupon % you can save varies as old ones expire and new ones are offered but you can almost always save 20-30%. Right now you can save 30% which makes them a real bargain.

Motorcraft FL820S @ AAP = $3.96 each. Use code TRT30 for 30% off( up to a max of $50 )= $2.58 each. Would be a good time to buy a 1/2 dozen or so.

Also, as others have pointed out that year 5.4L has a couple common issues like the cam phaser. Coils are another HUGE issue. Once one goes expect others to go every so often. I replaced more coils in my Brothers F250 w/ 5.4L than I have with all other vehicles combined. Have a friend with a 5.4L Expedition who just had 2 coils go a couple months back. I told him to replace them all at the same time, while we were in there doing it, because the rest would go shortly. He said no. 3 weeks later another one died. He had me do the rest at that point. I "think" by 2008 Ford had gone to the new plug design that didn't seize in the head and break off like the old 2-piece ones did. That is good for you if that is the case.

Good luck with the truck. Hope this helps.