I've always used 5w30 in my 99 2.5L Duratec with 151k miles. However, since Ford back spec'd it to 5w-20, I thought I would try some Penn HM 5w-20 in it. Now I noticed today at highways speed 60-65, that I would hear valve clatter (maybe pinging?) when accelerating. I hear nothing when just revving the engine in park.
5W-20 Valve Clatter - 2.5L Duratec
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Originally Posted By: cjhepburn
Originally Posted By: shrooms
I think Penn isn't good oil.
Care to elaborate?
Think he's joking. Penn isn't good oil, but Pennzoil is
Notice he recommends Pennzoil yellow bottle.
Originally Posted By: shrooms
I think Penn isn't good oil.
Care to elaborate?
Think he's joking. Penn isn't good oil, but Pennzoil is
Go back to using 5w30. My '98 5.4L Triton is also back-spec'd to run 5W-20, but after 95k miles of using XW-30, I switched to 5W-20 for an experiment. My motor loved it, loved it so much that it ate it at a rate of a quart every 1000 miles. It normally used a quart every 5000 miles. With so many miles on your 2.5L, go back to what you were originally using.
My 1995 4.6 Ford motor with now about 137,000 miles was noticeably noisier when I tried MC syn blend 5W-20 in it. Much quieter and smoother using MaxLife 5w30, and it reduced my oil consumption. I'm not personally sold on 5W-20, especially in back-speced older engines.
If it was new I'd say 5w20 all the way but if you haven't had problems on 5w30 why break what isn't broken, eh?
Back spec is garbage "gov't" engineering. Jeepers, even most 5w30 are inadequate these days.
Originally Posted By: Thermo1223
If it was new I'd say 5w20 all the way but if you haven't had problems on 5w30 why break what isn't broken, eh?
Run 20 in your forced induction subaru - he .. he. Why not? What's good for the goose is good for the gander, No?
If it was new I'd say 5w20 all the way but if you haven't had problems on 5w30 why break what isn't broken, eh?
Run 20 in your forced induction subaru - he .. he. Why not? What's good for the goose is good for the gander, No?
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Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Back spec is garbage "gov't" engineering. Jeepers, even most 5w30 are inadequate these days.
So the fact that the cars were designed to run on 5-20 had nothing to do with it? The oil wasn't as widely available here at the time, especially 0-20, so how would they recommend it? It's just now getting more available. Heck, I can't even get 0-20 in a jug yet.
Back spec is garbage "gov't" engineering. Jeepers, even most 5w30 are inadequate these days.
So the fact that the cars were designed to run on 5-20 had nothing to do with it? The oil wasn't as widely available here at the time, especially 0-20, so how would they recommend it? It's just now getting more available. Heck, I can't even get 0-20 in a jug yet.
Always good to go with mfg specs but all bets are off as an engine ages. Where that point is but at your mileage I dare say you should be in a 30 grade oil do to even normal engine wear and likely looser tolerance your engine is now in.
Dont worry about raising the bottom number, keep it a 0w or 5w but keep the top number in a 30 grade.
Let us all know if this is making sence
PS hm oil is good choice as well as has increased seal improvers among other things typically (moly, thicker in grade) but get back to 5w30 of some sort.
Dont worry about raising the bottom number, keep it a 0w or 5w but keep the top number in a 30 grade.
Let us all know if this is making sence
PS hm oil is good choice as well as has increased seal improvers among other things typically (moly, thicker in grade) but get back to 5w30 of some sort.
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Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Back spec is garbage "gov't" engineering.
Do you care to explain this in detail?
Mainly I'm curious as to what specific input the gub'ment has had into back-spec'ing oil.
I'm also curious as to why it's "garbage"?
Back spec is garbage "gov't" engineering.
Do you care to explain this in detail?
Mainly I'm curious as to what specific input the gub'ment has had into back-spec'ing oil.
I'm also curious as to why it's "garbage"?
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
]Run 20 in your forced induction subaru - he .. he. Why not? What's good for the goose is good for the gander, No?
Because last I check Subaru didn't back spec 5w20 for the turbo motor and I doubt they ever will.
]Run 20 in your forced induction subaru - he .. he. Why not? What's good for the goose is good for the gander, No?
Because last I check Subaru didn't back spec 5w20 for the turbo motor and I doubt they ever will.
No. Just blowing steam off re: manufacturers that bite the back spec bullet to get on the fuel mileage without rigorous testing. Take this tidbit - many manufactures (honda)now "list" their engine service life at 75K miles on 5w-20 wheras they were prev listed at over 100K on 5w30 (caveat: I have not researched this statemant found on a synthetic a "thick" oil promoter's web page) Personally, the ONLY engine I've driven that ran well on 5w-20 was a ford modular. All the others sounded like they were going to grenade and had poor performance. I dont like excessive engine noise, high fuel dilution on damaging ethanol fuels topped off with a high oil consumption cherry. Rod beaings generraly require some apparent viscosity from the lubricant to maintain hydrodyn lubrication in the presence of varying shock load. Rod and piston lubrication is a time dependant principle - if the lubricant is squeezzed out fully from the shell before the load apogee - you'll get wear followed by likely failure. As you increase fluid viscosity you gain more time to keep the journal floating. This time is in milliseconds.
I have the same engine, though with about 30K fewer miles. I'm running MaxLife 5W-20 and can't say I notice any difference from the previous fills of 5w30 and 0W-30...
two of my kids cars(99mustang,97escort) were both back-speced to 5w-20, since i don't know what previous owners had used i switched them over to 5w-20 motorcraft.
zero issues with either engine, escort now has 160,000mi.(90,000mi.when i bought it)
mustang now has 127,000mi.(90,000mi. when i bought it)
zero issues with either engine, escort now has 160,000mi.(90,000mi.when i bought it)
mustang now has 127,000mi.(90,000mi. when i bought it)
Originally Posted By: panthermike
Originally Posted By: cjhepburn
Originally Posted By: shrooms
I think Penn isn't good oil.
Care to elaborate?
Think he's joking. Penn isn't good oil, but Pennzoil is
Notice he recommends Pennzoil yellow bottle.
You got it!
Originally Posted By: cjhepburn
Originally Posted By: shrooms
I think Penn isn't good oil.
Care to elaborate?
Think he's joking. Penn isn't good oil, but Pennzoil is
You got it!
Originally Posted By: AuthorEditor
My 1995 4.6 Ford motor with now about 137,000 miles was noticeably noisier when I tried MC syn blend 5W-20 in it. Much quieter and smoother using MaxLife 5w30, and it reduced my oil consumption. I'm not personally sold on 5W-20, especially in back-speced older engines.
When I had my 99 4.6 Grand Marquis I went from 5W30 to 5W20 at 80K miles...The engine got quieter on the 5W20 Blend...It even used less oil as I always used a half a quart on the 5W30 [dino] doing 5K mile OCI'S...The oil stayed on full the entire time on 5W20 Blend doing the same 5K mile OCI'S until 200K miles when Hurricane Wilma totalled it on me.
Right now our entire fleet is using 5W20 Motorcraft Blend and Motorcraft Full Synthetic.
My 1995 4.6 Ford motor with now about 137,000 miles was noticeably noisier when I tried MC syn blend 5W-20 in it. Much quieter and smoother using MaxLife 5w30, and it reduced my oil consumption. I'm not personally sold on 5W-20, especially in back-speced older engines.
When I had my 99 4.6 Grand Marquis I went from 5W30 to 5W20 at 80K miles...The engine got quieter on the 5W20 Blend...It even used less oil as I always used a half a quart on the 5W30 [dino] doing 5K mile OCI'S...The oil stayed on full the entire time on 5W20 Blend doing the same 5K mile OCI'S until 200K miles when Hurricane Wilma totalled it on me.
Right now our entire fleet is using 5W20 Motorcraft Blend and Motorcraft Full Synthetic.
In my 3.0 duratec escape i run 0w 30 winter, when i tow things in the summer i run 5w 40 rotella syn other wise the 0w 30. runs great at 130,000
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