ford taurus 5W30

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i think ive asked this here before, just wanted to be sure. neighbor of mine has a 2005 ford taurus, 3.0 Vulcan V6, 50,000 miles. she wants me to change her oil tomorrow. its spec'd for 5W20, but was thinking of going with either Supertech 5W30, or Pennzoil 5W30, and a Motorcraft FL400S filter. can it hurt to use 5W30? didnt they spec 5W30 when the vulcan V6 was in the ford rangers? also, she does alot of extreme short trip driving, 4 mile round trip to work and back, besides that, not much driving. so instead of going by mileage, would it be safe to go with an oil change every 3 months instead?
 
If its out of warranty, which it probably is, 5w-30 will be just fine in that engine as thats what it originally spec'd when that engine came out way back in the day.
 
Well I use 5W-30 in my Fords cause I will beat them mercilessly... On a short tripper, I'd stick with the 5W-20 & do so in my 81 year old mom's '03 Grand Marquis...
 
5W-20 has superior cold flow properties compared to 5W-30. With 5W-30, when you
go to turn the key, you may not get oil reaching the bearings for several minutes.

Trolling.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
5W-20 has superior cold flow properties compared to 5W-30. With 5W-30, when
you go to turn the key, you may not get oil reaching the bearings for several minutes
.

Trolling.gif



That's one of the biggest piece of B-S I've seen posted on BITOG PERIOD...

OK you're kiddin....
 
Originally Posted By: TFB1
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
5W-20 has superior cold flow properties compared to 5W-30. With 5W-30, when
you go to turn the key, you may not get oil reaching the bearings for several minutes
.

Trolling.gif



That's one of the biggest piece of B-S I've seen posted on BITOG PERIOD...


HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER!!
hooked.gif
lol.gif
 
5w-20 or 5w-30 will be fine , the vulcan 3.0L was designed using a 30 weight oil so that would be my choice if it were mine.
 
Originally Posted By: mobilaltima
alright. whats one of the better 5W30 oils available? whats a good one that doesnt shear viscosity too bad?

Pretty much anything that is API SN rated is game.
If you want to stick to a specific brand, give the following a try:
Mobil 1
Pennzoil yellow bottle (or PU)
Motorcraft semi-synthetic (or full synthetic)
Valvoline white bottle (or Synpower)


And I wouldn't worry too much about shear. Plenty of engines shear 5w30 down to a 20w without showing abnormal UOA results. The shearing problem seems to have decreased with the SN oils, however.
 
Originally Posted By: mobilaltima
alright. is the 5W30 supertech synthetic a good oil?

Why would you use a generic brand when you can have a quality name-brand conventional for the same price?
 
Originally Posted By: mobilaltima
neighbor of mine has a 2005 ford taurus, 3.0 Vulcan V6, 50,000 miles....its spec'd for 5W20...she does alot of extreme short trip driving, 4 mile round trip to work and back, besides that, not much driving.


why on earth would you purposely choose to use an oil thicker than spec'd when the oil is never even going to come close to the "correct" viscosity? This makes absolutely no sense. If you had a bunch of 5W30 laying around, that's one thing--but to purposely buy an oil that's thicker than necessary, when it's never even going to reach operating temperature? I must be missing something here.


Originally Posted By: mobilaltima
so instead of going by mileage, would it be safe to go with an oil change every 3 months instead?


for an engine that's short-tripped to death, I think time instead of mileage makes sense, but every 6 or 4 months should be plenty.
 
Originally Posted By: JOD

why on earth would you purposely choose to use an oil thicker than spec'd when the oil is never even going to come close to the "correct" viscosity? This makes absolutely no sense. If you had a bunch of 5W30 laying around, that's one thing--but to purposely buy an oil that's thicker than necessary, when it's never even going to reach operating temperature? I must be missing something here.

You may be missing that he lives in Golden Meadow, Louisiana.
 
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yep, golden meadow, as southern and as hot as it gets lol. i just never liked the idea of a 20wt oil in anything, and i know these engines used to be spec'd for 30wt, i figured it couldnt hurt anything. i was thinking it would hold up better to fuel dilution, the 30 wt.
 
Originally Posted By: LeakySeals
Originally Posted By: JOD

why on earth would you purposely choose to use an oil thicker than spec'd when the oil is never even going to come close to the "correct" viscosity? This makes absolutely no sense. If you had a bunch of 5W30 laying around, that's one thing--but to purposely buy an oil that's thicker than necessary, when it's never even going to reach operating temperature? I must be missing something here.

You may be missing that he lives in Golden Meadow, Louisiana.


I didn't and recommended 5W-20... It's a short tripper, not likely to reach anywhere near a normal operating temp...
 
Originally Posted By: JOD
why on earth would you purposely choose to use an oil thicker than spec'd when the oil is never even going to come close to the "correct" viscosity? This makes absolutely no sense. If you had a bunch of 5W30 laying around, that's one thing--but to purposely buy an oil that's thicker than necessary, when it's never even going to reach operating temperature? I must be missing something here.

what you are missing is that for the VAST majority of the time this engine was made (Right here in my town btw), it was spec'd for a 30 weight oil. my mom's 99 taurus, all 5 of the Aerostars dad had as company cars, by buddy's 97 taurus, and his grandma's 96 sable ALL had this engine, and all were spec'd for a 5w30(though i'm pretty sure dad ran 10w30 in the vans). Ford Retro'd the specs for nearly all their vehicles to 5w20 a few yrs ago (mainly to increase fuel economy to meet CAFE standards)
 
Originally Posted By: LeakySeals
Originally Posted By: JOD

why on earth would you purposely choose to use an oil thicker than spec'd when the oil is never even going to come close to the "correct" viscosity? This makes absolutely no sense. If you had a bunch of 5W30 laying around, that's one thing--but to purposely buy an oil that's thicker than necessary, when it's never even going to reach operating temperature? I must be missing something here.

You may be missing that he lives in Golden Meadow, Louisiana.


What difference does that make? He could live in Sub-Saharan Africa and the oil is still never going to reach operating temperature, nor will it be close to the ideal viscosity. A 5W30 is just going to be "less ideal" than a 5W20.
 
or i could always use some havoline DS 5W30 or Chevron supreme 5W30, arent they some of the more thinner 5W30 oils? personally, i would run 5W30 in it year round if i owned the car, but thats just me.
 
Originally Posted By: mobilaltima
yep, golden meadow, as southern and as hot as it gets lol. i just never liked the idea of a 20wt oil in anything, and i know these engines used to be spec'd for 30wt, i figured it couldnt hurt anything. i was thinking it would hold up better to fuel dilution, the 30 wt.


Understand, have relatives in Alexandria. When we visit, don't think the car fans turn off at all. AC was non stop, humidity tough, no ocean breeze. Your cars are at operating temps just parked in the sun. No joke! 5w-30 would be fine. If you don't want to use synthetic, the PYB would be the choice of the two you mentioned.
 
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