5W30 vs 10W30 oil use

[91stranger]

Ha! Nothing wrong with getting a truck from an older guy - they usually take care of it like it’s going to be the last vehicle they ever own!

Cheers to old dudes.

He took very good care of it. i saw on the title that he bought it new in 99 and it had 25 miles on the title. so he bought it brand new and took care of it up until april of 2017 when i bought it at 99,000 miles. he did everything right except for maintaining the frame and underside. The Ohio rust got it but i have been cleaning it up and painting it to preserve it. i'd like to get another 99,000 miles out of it myself. I already put 11,000 miles on it since i got it last april.

 

[swynx]

At work the computer (all data) has a list we go off of. So when we get in a car that takes 0-20 but we're all out we've gotta use the next best thing. The list just just goes thru all the oils till you find one in your current climate you can use.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[wildbill23c]

Not going to hurt anything, my 88 Bronco 2 says 5W-30, but I run the cheapest 10w-30 I can find since it leaks it all over and burns it anyhow, not going to worry too much about oil quality and weight, it burns it regardless but found it will burn synthetic oil much faster than conventional for some reason....maybe I should try gear oil LOL.

 

[98v70dad]

Here's a follow up question. I did an oil change today - the second one I've done since I got the truck recently. I did both from below with the front tires up on ramps. I got oil everywhere both times when I took off the oil filter. Is there some sort of trick to it? The built in plastic funnel below the filter caught none of it. There are wires in the way underneath and structure in the way from the top. Dumping oil all over an electrical component each time can't be good.

I've owned a lot of cars and this one is the toughest one I've had to get the oil filter off without making a mess.

 

[planeflyer21]

I can't say on the '96s but there is a bit of a trick on my '99.

Unscrew the filter and, as it comes off, flip it so the hole is up. I can usually do this with little oil lost from the filter.

I'm then able to pull the filter up and out through the hood direction.

 

[rangerenthiusiast]

He took very good care of it. i saw on the title that he bought it new in 99 and it had 25 miles on the title. so he bought it brand new and took care of it up until april of 2017 when i bought it at 99,000 miles. he did everything right except for maintaining the frame and underside. The Ohio rust got it but i have been cleaning it up and painting it to preserve it. i'd like to get another 99,000 miles out of it myself. I already put 11,000 miles on it since i got it last april.

Yeah, the frames are bad in that generation. My brother bought a 2000 last year and three month later, the frame snapped. They actually make repair kits for them because it happens to so many people. What I’ve been told is that both Ford and Toyota bought their frames from a third party manufacturer in order to pinch pennies, and they were shitto. Apparently, Toyota made good on it, while Ford told its customers to suck eggs. Lame.

Great that you’re getting on things and taking care of it by cleaning and painting. Hope she’s good to you for at least another 99K!

 

[91stranger]

Here's a follow up question. I did an oil change today - the second one I've done since I got the truck recently. I did both from below with the front tires up on ramps. I got oil everywhere both times when I took off the oil filter. Is there some sort of trick to it? The built in plastic funnel below the filter caught none of it. There are wires in the way underneath and structure in the way from the top. Dumping oil all over an electrical component each time can't be good.

I've owned a lot of cars and this one is the toughest one I've had to get the oil filter off without making a mess.[/


First off, you should remove the oil cap and pull out the dipstick before even draining the oil. You don't want to drain you oil only to find out your cap wont come off or your dipstick is broken. Next, leave the oil cap off so the oil drains easier. Next drain your oil from the pan first, then remove the oil filter a couple screws but don't remove it. Let it drain then remove your oil filter. This should help with some of the mess. If it is still messy then put some rags on top of the areas you don't want covered in oil. you can get rags cheap any more. or if you are like me you should have a bag full of old clothes all ripped up to proper throw away rags. This is how I do oil changes. Never gets too messy. Oil is good for metal (rust preventer) here in Ohio. I normally take a rag and dip it in the used oil and dap it on some rusty areas near me.

 

[98v70dad]

Here's a follow up question. I did an oil change today - the second one I've done since I got the truck recently. I did both from below with the front tires up on ramps. I got oil everywhere both times when I took off the oil filter. Is there some sort of trick to it? The built in plastic funnel below the filter caught none of it. There are wires in the way underneath and structure in the way from the top. Dumping oil all over an electrical component each time can't be good.

I've owned a lot of cars and this one is the toughest one I've had to get the oil filter off without making a mess.[/


First off, you should remove the oil cap and pull out the dipstick before even draining the oil. You don't want to drain you oil only to find out your cap wont come off or your dipstick is broken. Next, leave the oil cap off so the oil drains easier. Next drain your oil from the pan first, then remove the oil filter a couple screws but don't remove it. Let it drain then remove your oil filter. This should help with some of the mess. If it is still messy then put some rags on top of the areas you don't want covered in oil. you can get rags cheap any more. or if you are like me you should have a bag full of old clothes all ripped up to proper throw away rags. This is how I do oil changes. Never gets too messy. Oil is good for metal (rust preventer) here in Ohio. I normally take a rag and dip it in the used oil and dap it on some rusty areas near me.

Minus the rags I did/do every one of those things. I've probably done 500 oil changes in my life on dozens of cars. Never had a problem until this one. There is a funnel to catch oil below the filter and I depended on it working. It didn't. Its not plugged - its just in the way. With the front wheels up on ramps oil drops over the back edge of the funnel instead of down the funnel hole like its supposed to. Once the filter was loose enough to let oil out it was too late - oil everywhere.

On my model year it drops all the oil on top of what looks like the starter motor (didn't spend any time figuring out what it is). While oil may be great as a rust preventative it doesn't do a starter motor any good if its open vented. That's my guess as to the reason that funnel is there in the first place - to keep any oil leaks away from that electric component, whatever it is.

 

[adsm08]

Yeah, there isn't a better way. The 3.0 was designed to be in FWD cars where that oil filter would have been easily accessible, and was then put into the Ranger as an afterthought, not by the engineering department, but by marketing and accounting. Marketing thought the Ranger needed a smaller V6 option when the 2.9 was slated to be discontinued. Accounting thought using an engine that had already been designed and in production was a good idea, despite it being designed for a very different application.

That probably is your starter you dumped oil on. They were a big problem on the Tauruses because of oil saturation.

My recommendation would be, if you are able, to run it up on ramps and drain the oil, then roll it back down to do the filter. The whole thing is designed around the oil being changed on a lift, and thus with the vehicle level.

If you can't roll it off the ramps without starting it, once it's up there use a jack to jack the rear end up and set it level for the filter.

 

[adsm08]

Yeah, the frames are bad in that generation. My brother bought a 2000 last year and three month later, the frame snapped. They actually make repair kits for them because it happens to so many people. What I’ve been told is that both Ford and Toyota bought their frames from a third party manufacturer in order to pinch pennies, and they were shitto. Apparently, Toyota made good on it, while Ford told its customers to suck eggs. Lame.

Great that you’re getting on things and taking care of it by cleaning and painting. Hope she’s good to you for at least another 99K!

The way I heard the Toyota frame deal was a little different. My version came from the parts manager of the Toyota dealer in the group I used to work for, so probably as close to the horses mouth as I can get.

Basically what he said is that the anti-corrosion coating they used, which was 3rd party sourced, was mixed incorrectly, and thus ineffective. The reason that they were buying them back before a certain year and replacing the frames after that year was because the frame changed and they couldn't find the stamping dies for the older ones.

 

[98v70dad]

Yeah, there isn't a better way. The 3.0 was designed to be in FWD cars where that oil filter would have been easily accessible, and was then put into the Ranger as an afterthought, not by the engineering department, but by marketing and accounting. Marketing thought the Ranger needed a smaller V6 option when the 2.9 was slated to be discontinued. Accounting thought using an engine that had already been designed and in production was a good idea, despite it being designed for a very different application.

That probably is your starter you dumped oil on. They were a big problem on the Tauruses because of oil saturation.

My recommendation would be, if you are able, to run it up on ramps and drain the oil, then roll it back down to do the filter. The whole thing is designed around the oil being changed on a lift, and thus with the vehicle level.

If you can't roll it off the ramps without starting it, once it's up there use a jack to jack the rear end up and set it level for the filter.

My plan was to try removing the filter off the ramps next time - easy to do in my driveway because it slopes a little. I can't easily reach it from the top and there's not quite enough clearance from underneath for me to get under there and that's why I tried it up on ramps. Off the ramps it will be easier to get to from the top.

Anyhow, is there something I can do to undo dumping oil all over the starter motor other than wiping it off good ... Already did that.

At every engineering job I've had accounting wastes thousands to save Pennies and marketing spends thousands to make pennies. I've never been too fond of either group.

 

[adsm08]

You can remove the starter and take it all apart and clean it.

I personally like to remove that filter through the wheel well, but it does require that the wheel either be off, or turned all the way to the left.

 

[91stranger]

Why don't you get a skinny funnel in there and use that to divert the oil away. We used to use the cheap paper plates and fold them to help divert the oil. There's many ways you can get around this. a little redneck ingenuity helps.

 

[98v70dad]

Why don't you get a skinny funnel in there and use that to divert the oil away. We used to use the cheap paper plates and fold them to help divert the oil. There's many ways you can get around this. a little redneck ingenuity helps.

Don't know about yours but in the 96 there's a built in funnel that doesn't work and it is in the way.

Its clear that it was put there to funnel any oil filter leaks away from the starter so removing it wouldn't be too smart.

I could come up with a great solution if it was the only thing I had to work on but I've got plenty of more important stuff going on at my house. This issue is at the very bottom of my priority list.

I posted the question hoping someone else already solved it and I could copy their solution

 

[rangerenthiusiast]

The way I heard the Toyota frame deal was a little different. My version came from the parts manager of the Toyota dealer in the group I used to work for, so probably as close to the horses mouth as I can get.

Basically what he said is that the anti-corrosion coating they used, which was 3rd party sourced, was mixed incorrectly, and thus ineffective. The reason that they were buying them back before a certain year and replacing the frames after that year was because the frame changed and they couldn't find the stamping dies for the older ones.

Interesting. And it does make more sense than two manufacturers buying such a major component as a frame from a third party. Not sure about the part about losing the stamping dies though. Seems like it probably just wasn’t worth the time and money to replace them. But heck, what do I know? Anything’s possible these days...