Synthetic Motor Oil for 1999 Ford Ranger

[Beaver Tom]

I have a 1999 Ford Ranger ( 4CYL. ) 2.5 90,000 miles on it and would like to know if I would change over too a Synthetic Motor Oil in it would I increase the MPG? Also would you improve the Performance of the engine?

What other benefits would I archive by going to a Synthetic Motor Oil?

Which Brand of Synthetic Motor Oil is the Cadillac of Motor Oils?

 

[michowski]

You wont see performance gains and your mpg would increase maybe 1. Only reason to run it is for better protection to your motor internals, NOT for performance gains.

 

[av8tor1]

as a general rule, switching over to synthetics after an engine has that many miles is not recommended.

synthetics have a natural tendency to be very good at removing sludge buildup, now imagine removing 90,000 miles of build up at once, chances are the filter will clog prematurely... then bypass, which will then "flush" the filter clean. Then your 90k miles of crud circulates through the bearings and seals all at once

also sometimes on old engines the crud actually acts as a scab on a sore, remove the scab and you have leaks

synthetics are definitely superior in many aspects, their uniform molecule size ensures less shear down of viscosity.. which is the most critical characteristic of an engine lubricant. But changing now would possibly do much more damage then good

best to stick with what you have been using, some of the common additive packages are not compatable from brand to brand

do not add any "miracle in a can" stuff

most important criterias

use the right viscosity, too high can cause oil starvation and filter bypass condition, too little can result in loss of full film lubrication

use an oil with a pour point of 20 degress less then the coldest expected temperature to prevent cold engine oil starvation and filter bypass

use an oil with a flash point of at least 400f

keep the oil cool, oxidation rate doubles for every 20f above 160f

use a good quality filter, some name brand filters are as little as 35% efficient

pure one is a good cheap filter, It tested out at around 93% efficient... AC delco was in the 30's, seems like fram was in the 60's, I personally prefer mobil one's oil filter

and finally, when it comes to lubricants... you get what you pay for.

HTH,
Av

 

[shadetree]

There is no reason you cannot use synthetic in an older engine. The detergents in syn oils is no different than those in dino oils. Actually, it may help an older engine as syn oils have additives to help the seals do their job. This came about because when syn oils were first used, they caused an oil leakage problem due to the oil causing the seals to shrink. This was corrected long ago, and the oil produced currently has seal improvers in the oil.

The idea of oil breaking stuff loose, circulating it thru the engine is foriegn to me. Oil doesn't work that way, and that is what the filter is for. At 90k miles, unless the engine has been very neglected, the internals should still be in good shape anyway.

I have been using SuperTech oils in my vehicles for years at 10k interval changes with absolutely no problems. My customers also use it without problems. Just because an oil costs more, doesn't mean it is any better. shady

 

[av8tor1]

Shady,

I agree with you on some points...but if you chart the molecule size of a cheap oil to a quality oil you will see a bell curve form form the cheap oil as opposed to a spike with the good oil.

In other words more of the molecules are of the desired size in the quality oil, this will lead to longer life before critical viscosity shear down exist.

to get the "numbers" up requires a more complete cracking of the base stock which increases the final product cost.

and yes, back in the 70's the sythetics did have the problem of shrinking the seals.. due to the single base stock that was used, that isnt really an issue anymore

my recommendation still stands though, The age of your engine should also be a consideration. A vehicle that has over 8 or 9 years on it might not be a good candidate for moving to synthetic oil.

If you've been using synthetic oil with success then
stick with it, but if you've been using petroleum oil, now might not be the time to switch to synthetics.

Here's the deal. Although it is highly unlikely that the issue will come up, the following scenario is apossibility and has happened in a small percentage of older vehicles. A vehicle with significant age which has been maintained with petroleum oil may have seals and gaskets which are dried and cracked.

However, in some cases, petroleum oil burn-off has left behind enough deposits around these
seals and gaskets that leaks have been plugged.

When such an engine is switched over to a premium synthetic oil with a high quality detergency
package, these deposits are cleaned out, thereby exposing those weak seals and gaskets. At that point leaks could occur. Of course, when using a synthetic oil, leaks can be very costly. In some cases, the seal swell properties of the synthetic oil will seal up the leaks, but in other cases it will not.

You have to decide whether you are willing to take the chance. If you're engine runs fairly well and has been adequately maintained, a good synthetic oil could do wonders for performance and fuel mileage in such a vehicle, but the potential leaks must not be overlooked and it doesnt take a whole lot of sludge or varnish entering the filter at once to clog up 10 or 20 micron pore size to the point were the filter starts bypassing

but caveat emptor, I just stated my opinion

Cheers'
Av

 

[shadetree]

I have already done that. I have a vehicle with over 160k. It had an oil useage problem of about 2 qts between changes. After using synthetic for a couple of changes, the useage dropped to just under a qt between changes.

I have heard the carbon buildup scenario before, and don't really believe it makes a difference. Mineral oils also have high detergency, why would synthetic be any different? I have not seen it as a problem on anything I have worked on.

I will agree that dumping high dollar systhetic into an old engine wouldn't be cost effective. That is why I use SuperTech. It is as good as any of the high dollar synthetic oils for my purposes. shady

 

[Simple_serf]

For comparison...

I have a 98 ranger with the 2.5.

I have 193,000 miles on conventional oil.

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[michowski]

Im so sick of these threads. Run whatever you want. Any oil will work just fine as long as its api certified. Synthetic oil will not cause older engines to leak oil, poor maitence of the owner is the main cause of the leak. If your wallet is to heavy grab some synthetic. If you only have a few bucks get some conventional. No matter which you grab you still have to do the regular maitence and if you dont then your screwed. There is no miracle oil that will give you 50 horsepower and be maitence free. Never will be either.

 

[av8tor1]

some good refs on the subject

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=g3v3MXzJEZsC&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=synthetic+lubricant+automotive+PAO+mineral+switching&ots=8hTSt847x4&sig=OE4UF6SRYsMuQa6d1Q2JP4Q3S1c#PPA4,M1

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gnOJoug5R8IC&oi=fnd&pg=PA219&dq=synthetic+lubricant+automotive++mineral+switching&ots=mpVmwGrEm-&sig=6HaQljtPv6KK8z9bDOwsK0CcpS0

http://www.yubase.com/kor/user_ns/product/articles/6.pdf

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/112094290/home

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=synthetic+lubricant+automotive+PAO+mineral+switching&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&start=10&sa=N