Deviate from recommended 5W-20

[OneEyeJack]

The real question is, will your motor oil pass the STP screwdriver test.

In fact, here is a link to a scientific test that absolutely proves that STP is better than your engine oil.

If you really care about your car, the environment and the polar bears you'll use a bottle of STP at every oil change, without fail. Without STP you will wonder the wilderness unfulfilled and forever be lost, crying out for salvation that will never come your way.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
You could use any of the grades you've named without any harm.
The Ford cammer originally had 5W-30 recommended for it, so I'd seriously doubt that it would do any harm to use it.
Engines just don't seem to be all that sensitive to differing grades of oil and it's not like you'd be using 15W-50.
Does anyone else recall a now departed member from Kentucky, IIRC, who used M1 15W-50 in everything including small-motor Asian cars and had nothing but good results to report?


I believe there was a member who used 0w-20 in a Jeep 4.0

 

[fredfactory]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: fredfactory
Use 0w-20, but in the summer months, throw in a half-bottle of STP Oil Treatment, which basically just thickens the oil a little.


It's basically just hopes and dreams in a bottle. No manufacturer ever recommends any type of snake oil and the only reason it's sold is because people buy it.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I don't know why everyone always thinks they know more than the engineers who designed the cars.


STP treatment mostly just thickens the oil, taking a stash of 0w-20 into 5w-30 territory, fine during the summer. Remember (!!!) viscosity is a big parameter in oil film thickness. Lube 101. A lot of people don't want to play with the lower limits of oil film thickness in the summer or when lugging DI and/or turbo high-torque engines at low RPM. Viscosity give you a margin of safety.

 

[4wheeldog]

Originally Posted By: BrianC
Originally Posted By: fredfactory
Use 0w-20, but in the summer months, throw in a half-bottle of STP Oil Treatment, which basically just thickens the oil a little.


When should one use STP Oil Treatment??

The correct answer is NEVER!



Do they still sell that junk? Why?

 

[4wheeldog]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
The real question is, will your motor oil pass the STP screwdriver test.

In fact, here is a link to a scientific test that absolutely proves that STP is better than your engine oil.

If you really care about your car, the environment and the polar bears you'll use a bottle of STP at every oil change, without fail. Without STP you will wonder the wilderness unfulfilled and forever be lost, crying out for salvation that will never come your way.




Perfect! I always wondered, back in the day, who had an engine full of screwdrivers, and why they did not want anyone to pick them up?

STP must get sold to those who know nothing about motor oil, and have completely worn out engines.

 

[fdcg27]

A couple of people apparently missed that you were writing with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
As though a guy who springs for Red Line oil would actually allow a bottle of STP to touch his engines.

 

[Indydriver]

Thanks for the responses.

It is a Mountaineer, and I stand corrected, it is the 4.6L, not the 5.0 (told you I'm not a Ford guy).

And yes, as a BITOGer, I know that 0W is a drop-in replacement for 5W, but as some have observed, this venerable V8 was spec'd for years with heavier oils.

My favorite response was, "it doesn't matter, use whatever you have most of".

 

[KCJeep]

I am not a 20 grade guy for the most part, but the Ford 4.6 really will thrive on a 5w20, even under severe use.

And it won't care a bit if you give it something else either.

 

[Hermann]

Originally Posted By: Dallas69
Dont you know that mixing is now frowned upon by some here.
But not me,so mix away.


Mix away is OK in my book. If you change brands each OCI, you are already mixing.