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over 100K on engine-oil recommendations?


HIPCHIP

15+ Year Member

Joined
Mar 26, 2008
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77
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Age
69
City
Woodland, Ca
Vehicle Year
1990
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I've got a 90 Ranger 4X4 with the 4L V-6 and a little over 100K on the engine. The truck is basically new to me, so this is why I'm asking. I normally use Mobile 1 or now Royal Purple in my other veh, but was wondering what to use in the Ford, especially with over 100K on the motor? Anything to use or stay away from? Filter recommendations?
Thanks all,
Dan'o :}
 
royal purple full synthetic works awesome, 5w20 is whats recomended from the factory, ive got 80000 on mine and im still running the same weight, i run the fram tg3600 tough guard and royal purple and lucas oil stabilizer
 
5W-20 is not the recommended oil for 4.0s. 5W-30 is still the recommended oil for 4.0s. It is one of the few engines (maybe the only one?) Ford has not backspec'd to 5W-20. Given that, I'd stick to 5W-30.

I'd use any name brand conventional oil (Pennzoil, Valvoline, Quaker State, etc). None are bad. You may as well use an OEM Motorcraft filter. They are available at Wal-Mart and are very reasonably priced and high quality.

Synthetics should be okay, but there is a risk of consumption or leaks on an older vehicle that has never used it. Synthetic doesn't really cause these problems, it just makes them apparent.
 
Last edited:
x2 on synthetic
i wouldnt make the switch, they have additive that will remove the carbon build up as other things which are all good things but on an older motor, you might want to keep carbon at some spots.
 
I've got a 90 Ranger 4X4 with the 4L V-6 and a little over 100K on the engine. The truck is basically new to me, so this is why I'm asking. I normally use Mobile 1 or now Royal Purple in my other veh, but was wondering what to use in the Ford, especially with over 100K on the motor? Anything to use or stay away from? Filter recommendations?
Thanks all,
Dan'o :}

Castrol GTX

Good luck
 
Whatever the heck you have been using.

It's not like 100K is a lot of miles.

The Prizm made it to nearly 300K before it was totalled (Mobil 1 10W-30, but it really doesn't matter as much as you think it does).
 
5-30 of whatever brand floats your boat.
motorcraft or WIX filters only.
 
I've used Valvoline 5W-30 Max-Life since I bought my 8=97 with 72,000 miles in 2001. Its now got 224,000 and have never had any problems. I use Fram high mileage filters.
 
Thanks for all the info. I'd heard that you didn't want to use synthetic oil in a high mileage engine that hadn't used it before, so that's why I thought I'd better check before I put anything in it. This used to be my father-in-laws (RIP) truck, so I don't know what he used in it, and it belonged to my brother-in-law for the last 8 years and he never did ANY maintenance on it. Normally I used Valvoline 30 wt for regular stuff, so thought it would be good to check.
Dan'o :}
 
5-30 of whatever brand floats your boat.
motorcraft or WIX filters only.

I normally use Fram or K&N filters. Those won't work well on this motor? I'll look around and I'm sure I can find either of the above with no problem.
 
fram filters have been known to cause problems...i avoid them at all costs.

i dont have any experience with K&N's oil filters.

motorcraft #FL-1A
WIX #51515
Napa (wix) #1515
 
There have been a few cases of Frams coming apart. Very rare, but still, I've never heard of a Motorcraft doing that...

Frams have poor construction for the price. The end caps on the media are cardboard, vs. metal on Motorcraft and many other brands. They also have questionable anti-drainback valves.

Motorcraft filters are readily available at most Wal-Marts and chain parts stores. They are higher quality than Fram and usually cheaper.
 
fram filters have been known to cause problems...i avoid them at all costs.

Frams have poor construction for the price. The end caps on the media are cardboard, vs. metal on Motorcraft and many other brands. They also have questionable anti-drainback valves.

I ran Fram in my previous Ranger (RIP) for a couple of oil changes. Everytime I did a cold start the lifters would tick for a few seconds then quite down. Switched Mobil 1 fitlers and never had that problem again.
 
k & n oil filters filter particulate out of the oil down to 10 microns in size, all others I've seen (including fram and motorcraft) are rated @ 20 microns, so there does seem to be a greater degree of filtration (based on this info alone). I use k & n filters on my b2300 and the chevy. They are quite a bit more expensive than your standard run-of-the mill oil filters though, if that deters you at all. Personally, I don't like fram filters of any kind on my vehicles.

As far as engine oil goes, I've used castrol gtx in all my vehicles up to this point (besides the b23 and the 82 rabbit) with good results. The mazda gets chevron iso-syn 5w-20, and the rabbit gets some good old heavy equipment delo-400. Diesels don't like 5w30 very much.
 
I put Mobil 1 in my 4.0 after I swapped it in with 185K, no leaks and no burning of oil, still right at the full mark on the dipstick since I filled it in August.. Didn't notice any more oil consumption on my 2.9 when I switched it over either, I put 18+K miles on the 2.9 without changing the oil, still had 60 PSI of oil pressure.
 

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