What engine oil y'all running now?

[Bigvman54]

I know there are some previous threads on this, but most of them are pretty old and there's been a plethora of oil related info that has hit the Internet the past few years. I know I've watched literally hours and hours of oil related videos on YouTube recently. With that, who is running what oil these days? I have a 1996 with the 2.3 with about 250,000 miles on it and I've run a good quality synthetic since early on. I'm currently running Pensoil Ultra Platinum 5-W20 and have for a while, with Purolator Boss filter. 5-W30 was the recommended oil from the factory, but a TSB came out several years ago suggesting 5-W20 so I rolled with that. However, after watching some of the oil related videos on YouTube I mentioned above, I think I'm going to switch back to 5-W30 and quite possibly go with a cheaper, high milage brand, quite possibly Walmart Supertech synthetic. No harder than I drive my truck and only putting maybe 2-3,000 miles a year at most, I don't feel I need to spend the extra money on PUP (which I use in my other newer vehicles and will continue to), and from the info I've gathered recently Supertech synthetic advanced and high mileage are very fine oils and the additive packages complete with many of the well known national brands.

 

[PlumCrazy]

Valvoline 5w30 conventional every 3k miles up until like 300K. I started doing 2qts of conventional 5w-30 and 3qts of VR1 10w-30 after that. 325K and climbing more everyday.

 

[PlumCrazy]

I had two 300k+ 2.3s on this regiment until the one got swapped for a 5.0. Now that engine patiently waits to be swapped in as backup for the other incase of emergency lol

 

[Curious Hound]

Rotella T6 15-40 in everything I own. I buy it in 5 gallon buckets. Have casters under the bucket and a hand pump/hose for filling

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Oreilly 10w40, its cheap and apparently doesn't taste as good as 10w30.

 

[Shran]

I use whatever 5w30 I can get my hands on for the 4.0 trucks. Usually Supertech full synthetic with a NAPA Gold/Wix/FL1A filter. 5000 mile intervals, rotate tires at the same time every oil change.

F250 gets Mobil 1 5w20, 3000 mile changes, because it has a loaded trailer behind it 90% of its life.

The 302 powered trucks get either 5w30 or 10w30, which ever I have on hand, they don't care.

Wife's Honda gets Supertech 0-20 full synthetic but I may switch her over to 5w-20 here because I have a ton of it on hand.

Yard equipment - old stuff gets 30w - because I have a couple gallons of it on hand. Newer equipment usually gets 10w30, 10w40, or 15w40.

My old '88 with the 2.3 got literally whatever I grabbed first, that might have been two quarts of Mobil 1 5w30, a 30 year old quart of 10w40 and two quarts of who knows what because the labels were gone. It didn't care but it kinda started smoking on the thin stuff. My kid has it now and is treating it to Mobil 1 full sythetic stuff, lol

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

F-150 gets 10w-30 Mobil1 or Pennzoil Platinum synthetic. 10k oil changes.

Green Ranger is on a 5w-30 synthetic blend diet and 5k oil changes.

Blue Ranger was 5w-30 synthetic and 5k change.

Red Ranger was conventional 5w-30 and 5k change.

Choptop is 5w-30 conventional and 5k change.

Dump truck was up to 15w-40 and spin a new filter on every 5k when it was parked and drinking two quarts of oil per 120 miles. Those are known for bad valve guides though and that’s no fault of oil changes.

All of the above get Motorcraft filters when possible. Most of my oil comes from Rural King and it’s their house branded stuff. I also often put a couple ounces of Dex/Merc ATF in with the oil for extra cleaning and conditioning seals/gaskets.

Farm tractor is 10w-30 conventional. Filter options are limited but I’ve been buying Baldwin. Supposedly Napa has one that works too. Filter is inside the oil pan.

 

[Chrisbie]

I follow the same drill on every new Ranger I’ve owned, 04, 2010 and 2025. Drain and filter change at 1000 miles again at 5k and every 5k after that. Always WIX/NAPA Gold filter and Castrol 5w30 full synthetic. Maybe overkill but I’ve driven everything a decade past the last payment without any lubrication issues.

 

[holyford86]

Supercharged truck gets rotella 5w40 synthetic, 98 gets 5w30 mobil1. Both trucks get fl1a equivalent filters. I was running wix 51515 filters but wix quality as of lately has been lacking so I've transitioned to oreillys house brand Microguard plus. They are well reviewed and seem well made.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Usually supertech oil, the cheaper one and I've always just ran 10W30 on everything, might switch to 5W30 but meh, whatever... for the 2.3L I just run whatever filters I find, currently running off of a box I got at a garage sale that had a bunch of FL1A equivalents in it...

Buying Wix for their quality anymore is questionable, they got bought out by Mann and Hummell a few years ago and ditched the Wix factories for the cheaper alternatives, they did bad enough NAPA stopped using them for their branded filters...

 

[bobbywalter]

valvoline restore and protect. eric should run it in the 5.0..

 

[Curious Hound]

valvoline restore and protect. eric should run it in the 5.0..

Noted.

 

[broncc]

iron block engines get 5w40. aluminum (newer designs) block engines get 5w30

no real science behind it I just get the oil in bulk in these weights

 

[mtnrgr]

My 1988 2.3 5spd ranger i had from 1989 to 1998..it had motorcraft oil filters, I used motorcraft 5-30 oil. That truck had 10,000 miles on it when I bought it. It had 270,000 miles when I sold it.

My 1994 3.0 5spd ranger i had from 1994 to 2025 I used motorcraft 5-30 synthetic blend and motorcraft oil filters. This truck had 0 miles when I bought it, and had 653,370 miles when it was totaled last summer...rip Ole friend

I now own a 1997 3.0 5spd I bought in 2025 it had 80,000 miles when I bought it and it now 86,370, for 6,000 + plus miles i have been using motorcraft 5-30 synthetic blend with motorcraft oil filters. I have no clue what kind of oil and filters were used from 1997 to 2025 when I purchased.

Im all about using motorcraft oil and filters. They are still affordable at Walmart, and at ford only if i need to go there. I can still get discounts on parts as needed..so I'm good with that.

Motorcraft oil and filters have always done my vehicles right.

Since 1989 on all 3 of my rangers I have always done 5,000 oil changes.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

My 17 F250 6.2 gets motorcraft 5w30

My Ranger and B2 get 10w40 valvoline high mileage

The vic 10w30 high mileage valvoline

and all run motorcraft filters