help decide engine oil

[fivespeedsteed]

ive been running motorcraft 10w30 since i got the car. is that a standard oil? it gets nasty looking real fast. like 1000 miles its pretty black looking. what should i change to? is 10w30 fine? people tell me becasue of my few engine leaks i should keep my oil consistant, so i guess it cant be any thinner?

what do you suggest. its cold here in va. keep that in mind.

 

[mercurycapri]

cv

I have good luck with Super tech oil that you can get at Walmart. Since my car has allot of miles I use there universal 15-40 oil and engine sounds smooth no lifte noise and didn't loose any power. I change my oil at 4000 miles and the oil is just starting to get dark and I like there oil filters too. ST 8

 

[DMAN302]

10w30 is fine as long as you're seeing good oil pressure at hot idle...as for color, as long as your meeting the 3000 or less change intervals and using a quality filter I wouldn't worry about the oil appearing dirty. Some guys like to do engine flushes or Seafoam to clean out a miled engine but I never have. Another option is to change the oil a few times in short intervals with cheap oil to in a sense flush the system a bit.

 

[onefstsnake]

from what Ive heard the color of oil doesnt have anything to do with it being dirty...

Ive been using Castrol GTX 10w30 w/ a bottle of Lucas Oil Stabilizer and a FL-1A Filter.

If you dont have any leaks and its not burning oil why change?

You could go synthetic and squeeze some more power out. But I dont think its worth the $$.

 

[HISSIN50]

Your Mocr 10W-30 should be a synthetic blend - it is an excellent oil for the money.

I'm in full agreement with Onefast - oil that is darker means the oil is doing what it should be - suspending particulate. Some motors just tend to turn oil black faster than others.

One really wants to use the least viscous (thinnest) oil that maintains decent pressure at all times (normally hot idle is the time when pressure drops lowest). Now if there are blowby or leak concerns, you can run thicker oil, but I'd rather have a leak and use the most appropriate weight of oil (rather than running molasses and having no leaks).

If you have good pressure and can live with the other stuff, I'd leave the existing oil in there if it works for you (considering it might get a little cold in Va this time of year, I'm not sure I'd want to step-up the viscosity).
Please note that this is coming from a guy who regularily runs 20W-50 (I'm not a huge fan of thin oils unless they are appropriate, especially since I live a quarter mile from the sun).

Random thoughts. Good luck.

 

[bcmbcmbcm]

Would there be any downside for running 5 40? Wouldnt I get a better viscosity range out of it?

Mobil one engineered a 0W40 a few years back...wouldn't that oil be absolutely superior?

 

[DMAN302]

Not sure on the 5w oils ...they seem to be the ford spec these days for the 4.6, I know my little girl sees only 10w30 dyno oil (GTX) and a K&N filter...IMO a tried and true combo to hopefully keep her happy for many many yrs to come.