02 F 450 engine oil

37chief · Aug 23, 2012

My 02 motorhome, is a F 450 with a v 10. The motor oil fill cap calls for 5-20 oil. The thinner wt oil may be to get better milage. Think I should keep the 5-20 wt, or go with a little heaver oil? When the motor is hot the oil is probably thin as water? Any suggestions? Stan

wisbaker · Aug 23, 2012

If Ford says use the 5W20 use 5w20, I wish I had on my F-150. Chrysler and Honda also specify the 5W20 oil, the engine is designed to use the thinner oil. I have heard claims made that using thicker oil will end up starving the top end for oil and cause lubrication related problems in cams and lifters. This is my experience with my F150. On Chrysler products that use the variable displacement (cylinder de-activation) won't work unless you use the thin stuff.

petetx · Aug 23, 2012

stay with mfg.suggestion [pobably due to closer tolerence on your engine) on my dodge hemi i changed got a light telling me wrong oil.

rustred · Aug 23, 2012

i dont agree with that thin oil either. i asked at the dealership why thin oil nowadays? the guy told me so the oil is in circ. quicker. i am using 10-30 in winter and 10-40 in summer and all is fine. as i told the guy, you's just want to sell more engines. and as far as a pulling vehicle like that i would even go with 20-50 oil, which i also use. i prefer to have a more viscous oil in the brgs. than that water as i call it too. after all its just a film of oil thats keeping the engine running.my way of reasoning is alaska... light oil
arizona... heavy oil. but thats my thoughts.

Bryan inIowa · Aug 23, 2012

i know on the 4.6 thicker oils would cause the lifters to pump up and drop the cam followers off. V10 is same design . Stick with what mfg says. Todays oils are so much better then older oils. thicker is not better in this case

dhermesc · Aug 23, 2012

So what if its as thin as water. If you have adequate oil pressure you are fine.

Modern engines are built with extremely tight tolerances and you need an oil thin enough to lube those tight areas. If you use too heavy of grade it will cause excessive wear as the areas that are extremely tight (like your main bearings) will be oil starved until wear increases the tolerances to a point that the heavier grade of oil can lubricate it. Put 20W50 in your 6.8L and drive it 100 miles would cause the same amount of wear to those parts as driving 50K miles.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-101/

rustyfarmall · Aug 23, 2012

(quoted from post at 10:23:47 08/23/12) i dont agree with that thin oil either. i asked at the dealership why thin oil nowadays? the guy told me so the oil is in circ. quicker. i am using 10-30 in winter and 10-40 in summer and all is fine. as i told the guy, you's just want to sell more engines. and as far as a pulling vehicle like that i would even go with 20-50 oil, which i also use. i prefer to have a more viscous oil in the brgs. than that water as i call it too. after all its just a film of oil thats keeping the engine running.my way of reasoning is alaska... light oil
arizona... heavy oil. but thats my thoughts.

I agree completely, but then I don't own a Ford. I do however own a Chevy, which recommends 5w-30 engine oil, and I have changed it over to 10w-30 synthetic. Zero problems in in 3 years.

RLA · Aug 23, 2012

Be'en I'm a Ford Parts manager, I will say stick
with what the engine was designed to be
lubricated with. Cold start after it has sat for
months will get the overhead cams quicker. Cams
need lots of oil NOW.....

Rick Kr · Aug 23, 2012

I would run the 5w20. Clearances are as loose as they were even 30 years ago.

Especially on all of the new engines with variable valve timing, cam phasers, etc. They spec'd that oil for a reason.

Rick

Tom-NorthCenTX · Aug 23, 2012

I would use Mobil One 5W20 full synthetic in it if it were mine. Tom

guido · Aug 23, 2012

Hello 37chief,
Modern-fairely new engines have very close tolerances.I would not use thicker oil.Stick with the OEM recommendations.
You can also go with Mobil 1 5W20
Guido.

guido · Aug 23, 2012

Hello rustyfarmall.
You are O.k. with what you did. The second number is what you need to keep the same.5 or 10 it really does not matter. If you had gone to 40 or 50, that would have been a NO NO!
Oil viscosity is based on engine tolerances, thicker oil would have taken away some of the clearance. Things could get too tight, and that is never a good thing for any engine.
Guido.

Bryan inIowa · Aug 23, 2012

Exactly ! I watched a video of a 5.4 oil pump on a pump dyn

il pump actually bulged out and leaked oil out when thicker oil was used . Starve those cams and it's $$$$$$ Also will set cam sensor codes if Phasers don't see enough oil . I was always told theres an engineer making $100,000 yr and you are trying to put him out of a job by not doing as he suggests " lol

504 · Aug 23, 2012

I am running 5w20 in my 97 5.7(it was what I had on hand)the oil PSI has never changed.

36 Coupe · Aug 24, 2012

I found that 15/40 oil in a hi milage engine made noisy starts and erratic oil pressure in December.10/30 fixed the problem.Weve all heard engines be noisy on start up after an oil change but this rapping happened on every cold start.Truck manual says 15/40 is ok but rappy starts and wandering oil pressure say I cant use it.

02 F 450 engine oil

37chief

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wisbaker

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petetx

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rustred

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Bryan inIowa

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dhermesc

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rustyfarmall

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RLA

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Rick Kr

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Tom-NorthCenTX

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guido

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504

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