What kind of oil do you run in your 4.0L?

[MAKG]

yeah it scares me to try it just yet, I'd like to give it a few more years to see how engines like mine maintain with it. Back in A & P school when we were looking about sythetic and regular mineral oils, the lack of scavenging characteristics of synthetic stuck in my head. My friends Passat had problems with an orifice getting clogged up with sludge and messed something up. The mechanic who worked on it suspected the use of synthetic oil partially to blame since it doesn't hold carbon deposits and other debris that well in suspension. He thought it may have allowed sludge to build up in certain parts of the engine. Don't get me wrong synthetics great stuff, but could harm certain engines, if they have those "sludge sweetspots".

When was this school? 1975?

There are NO risks to using synthetic oil, aside from somewhat higher cost.

And if after 30 years you still need a "few more," it's a good guess that you will never be ready for it.

 

[mhughes165]

ya, there is no harm from running synthetic. the ONLY harm that may be is if your leaking oil, synthetics seem to leak out of those leaks faster then conventional, but whenever i build a engine i usually run atleast semi syn after the break in with 30w no detergent.

on worked motors ive run royal purple for about 5 years, on everything else i run motorcraft either 10-30 or 5-30 blend, the best friggin oil ever.....

 

[CaptainStomp]

My tech school wasn't more than a decade ago. My only issue with synthetic is it's scavenging abilities, other than that I agree that it is far superior to regular oil. As far as I know there haven't been any improvements with it. The only difference is the engines using it. How long have you all, with rangers been using it and how often to you change it? I may reconsider. As for the 2003 Passat, it was the mechanics at the VW dealership, that suggested the use of synthetic partially to blame.

 

[MAKG]

I've been using synthetic oil continuously since 1999, with a change interval around 5000 miles (I could probably push that substantially, but I haven't). All four vehicles I've owned in that period were switched over as high mileage (well over 100K miles) vehicles.

I have no "control," so I can't say if it has been better or worse than conventional. However, I've never had an engine failure and all three of the current ones are running strong. The Prizm has 275K miles. The Chevy is probably comparable. None of these use excessive oil or have any knocks. The former Bronco II eventually broke a camshaft above 250K miles, but I wasn't in control of it at the time so I don't even know if it had synthetic oil in it or what it was doing. The then-owner tore the 2.9L up and discovered lots of silver on the crank and rod bearings, even at that mileage.

 

[Evan]

My tech school wasn't more than a decade ago. My only issue with synthetic is it's scavenging abilities, other than that I agree that it is far superior to regular oil. As far as I know there haven't been any improvements with it. The only difference is the engines using it. How long have you all, with rangers been using it and how often to you change it? I may reconsider. As for the 2003 Passat, it was the mechanics at the VW dealership, that suggested the use of synthetic partially to blame.

I have been using it on my Explorer since I bought it and rebuilt the engine two years ago. It has worked very well, but as with MAKG I have no control so I can't be too objective.

 

[CaptainStomp]

9 years of use sounds reasonable for an explorer, maybe I'll try it out next oil change.

 

[mhughes165]

lets see...since 03 i been using it anything ive owned, only 1 engine ever went, and that was my first ranger with 327k miles on it, and that didnt ahve anything todo with the oil why it went

 

[MAKG]

FYI, I've only had the Exploder for 3.5 years, but I have owned the Prizm all that time.

 

[Danger-Ranger96]

Whatever the cheapest synthetic 10W-30 I can find is. Usually it ends up being Mobil 1.

All my vehicles call for 10W-30; kinda convenient (the Prizm takes 5W-30 in subzero temperatures).

Why do you care? Oil is oil to a very large extent. I do the synthetic thing due to mild oil-use detonation.

Wow mobil 1 MAKG?

up here mobil 1 is 8.99 a quart, being that the cad and us currencies are on par thats pretty expensive.

I usually run Quakerstate Q Full Syn, for 4x4 and SUV, tends to be pretty good and at 4.99 a quart i cant complain.

 

[MAKG]

Everything in Ft. McMurray is apparently ridiculously expensive.

I usually pay US$5.50/quart. More expensive than conventional, but less than any other synthetic.

Though frankly the cost of oil changes are negligible against the cost of 5000 miles of gasoline (about 250 gallons).

 

[crbnunit]

I use the cheapest SAE oil I can find. 10-40 summer and 10-30 winter. The only thing I use synthetic in is the dirt bike. The only reason it use it there is it is a very small quantity and is used to lube the engine, tranny and the clutch. I change it often! Usually use Amsoil for it but that is only because it is easily available, not because I think it is better than anything else.

 

[Danger-Ranger96]

Everything in Ft. McMurray is apparently ridiculously expensive.

I usually pay US$5.50/quart. More expensive than conventional, but less than any other synthetic.

Though frankly the cost of oil changes are negligible against the cost of 5000 miles of gasoline (about 250 gallons).

heh true enough about the expensive part. I did a fairly large spring tune up on my truck last week, however for only buying wires, plugs, 5 quarts of oil, filter, new rotors, wheel bearings and seals, i paid nearly 550 bucks.

The motorcraft plugs alone were 50 bucks. (i had to get the motorcraft platinum or whatever they are)

 

[Hahnsb2]

Everything in Ft. McMurray is apparently ridiculously expensive.

I usually pay US$5.50/quart. More expensive than conventional, but less than any other synthetic.

Though frankly the cost of oil changes are negligible against the cost of 5000 miles of gasoline (about 250 gallons).

I buy the 5 quart Mobil 1 jugs for like $22 at wally world. I haven't changed the oil in my 2.9 since November 06, about 15-18,000 miles, still have 60PSI warm oil pressure at 1600 RPMs and don't plan on changing it anytime soon since the 4.0 is going in, I'll probably be a lot nicer to my 4.0.

. The only thing I use synthetic in is the dirt bike. The only reason it use it there is it is a very small quantity and is used to lube the engine, tranny and the clutch. I change it often! Usually use Amsoil for it but that is only because it is easily available, not because I think it is better than anything else.

Me and my father both use Amsoil 2 stroke oil in our bikes, he ran his out of coolant and rode it back several miles back to the truck 3 years ago and that bike is still running like new. It's rated for 100:1 in all engines, our engine are rated for 100:1 too, we mix it 80:1 just because, our old chainsaw is supposed to have 40:1, we run it 80:1 and that saw runs like a champ after several years of running Amsoil 80:1.

 

[racsan]

ive ran pennzoil for years, no problems. think 10w 30 is whats in there. i change every 3,000 miles, its usually about every 4-5 moths time-wise. i had my 2.3 in a '88 s/c ranger down for a burnt valve and the motor was extremely clean inside. (and it had 145,000 on it at that time)
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[Wiresman]

I've been worried about the possiblility of leaks at the gaskets since I have 65,000 miles and used 5W30 conventional (Castrol GTX) the whole time. Change at 5,000 interval. Bought used and drive much, tired of changing oil though, synthetic would extend oil changes maybe to 10,000 mi maybe? What do the masses say?