Recently began the experiment to see the effects of 10W30 in an '05 5.4L Ford 3V modular V8 with VCT.
Note that I am not doing this because I think it will be "better" for the engine. I am looking for a single oil that will work in my "fleet" of two farm tractors, gas pickup, diesel pickup, car and various small engines and Motorcraft Super Duty 10W30 CJ4/SM diesel oil is vying with Rotella T5 10W30 for that honor. I am willing to make minor compromises in relatively unimportant areas to make this happen. The specs are pretty close for each but maybe you read my post in the diesel forum, so I won't bore you with more on that.
I have been datalogging VCT operation on RP 5W20 over 10K miles as well as oil pressure and oil temp.
I have recorded the following averages (only a few hundred miles on the 10W30):
Hot Oil Pressure:
Idle In Gear-
26 psi @ 190F EOT w/ new 5W20 RP
25 psi @ 188F EOT w/ 10K 5W20 RP
33 psi @ 189F EOT w/ new 10W30 MC
Oil Pressure @ 60 MPH (1800rpm)-
63 psi @ 192F EOT w/new 5W20 RP
59 psi @ 198F EOT w/10K 5W20 RP
67 psi @ 189F EOT w/new 10W30 RP
Cold Oil Pressure, 10W30-
(have misplaced the log sheet for cold starts on 5W20... Gad Zukes)
75 psi @ 49F EOT @ cold start, fast idle
(recall around 70 psi for new 5W20)
70 psi @ 59F EOT @ idle in gear
73 psi @ 100F EOT @ 60 mph
70 psi @ 137F EOT @ 60 mph
45 psi @ 165F EOT @ idle in gear
VCT Operation
Nominal. Thus far, VCT ops with 10W30 seems to be identical to 5W20. The data charts look nearly identical. That surprises me a little but is what it is. I have a problem in that I can only record about 5 minutes of data at a time on my programmer, so it's bit difficult to get "snapshots" in all situations. The only differences I see so far are at the transitions and I have to look REALLY close to see it. Full throttle to a moderately fast release of the throttle into coast, the VCT seems to react a little faster. Could be that I can't make the transition exactly the same as I did before, even though I practiced until I thought I was consistent, but the 10W30 seems a little faster in the transition by a fraction. Probably a "macht nichts" deal anyway.
I'll keep monitoring and pass along what I observe.
Note that I am not doing this because I think it will be "better" for the engine. I am looking for a single oil that will work in my "fleet" of two farm tractors, gas pickup, diesel pickup, car and various small engines and Motorcraft Super Duty 10W30 CJ4/SM diesel oil is vying with Rotella T5 10W30 for that honor. I am willing to make minor compromises in relatively unimportant areas to make this happen. The specs are pretty close for each but maybe you read my post in the diesel forum, so I won't bore you with more on that.
I have been datalogging VCT operation on RP 5W20 over 10K miles as well as oil pressure and oil temp.
I have recorded the following averages (only a few hundred miles on the 10W30):
Hot Oil Pressure:
Idle In Gear-
26 psi @ 190F EOT w/ new 5W20 RP
25 psi @ 188F EOT w/ 10K 5W20 RP
33 psi @ 189F EOT w/ new 10W30 MC
Oil Pressure @ 60 MPH (1800rpm)-
63 psi @ 192F EOT w/new 5W20 RP
59 psi @ 198F EOT w/10K 5W20 RP
67 psi @ 189F EOT w/new 10W30 RP
Cold Oil Pressure, 10W30-
(have misplaced the log sheet for cold starts on 5W20... Gad Zukes)
75 psi @ 49F EOT @ cold start, fast idle
(recall around 70 psi for new 5W20)
70 psi @ 59F EOT @ idle in gear
73 psi @ 100F EOT @ 60 mph
70 psi @ 137F EOT @ 60 mph
45 psi @ 165F EOT @ idle in gear
VCT Operation
Nominal. Thus far, VCT ops with 10W30 seems to be identical to 5W20. The data charts look nearly identical. That surprises me a little but is what it is. I have a problem in that I can only record about 5 minutes of data at a time on my programmer, so it's bit difficult to get "snapshots" in all situations. The only differences I see so far are at the transitions and I have to look REALLY close to see it. Full throttle to a moderately fast release of the throttle into coast, the VCT seems to react a little faster. Could be that I can't make the transition exactly the same as I did before, even though I practiced until I thought I was consistent, but the 10W30 seems a little faster in the transition by a fraction. Probably a "macht nichts" deal anyway.
I'll keep monitoring and pass along what I observe.
Last edited: