How bad is 10w30 for our cobra's

[itpphoto]

ok, so Cobra'03;
1.) Which oil and filter are you using?
2.) First oil change recommendation ? (i'm at 500 miles now)
3.) And how often do you change oil ?

I'm going to follow your lead, I'll owe you a track dog and beverage of your choice.
Thanks

 

[trey193]

Hey 94SVT lose the Avatar!

 

[03'Darin]

My 2 cents on the oil deal.

Ford is very specific about what weight of oil to run in their engines. We had a driveability issue once with a Ranger that we couldn't figure out the problem. Ford ended up sending a field service engineer out to help find the problem. It turned out being the wrong weight oil. If I remember correctly the truck called for 5-30 and the customer was running 10-40. Ever since that I only run what the manufacturer calls for.

 

[94SVT Coupe]

Originally posted by trey193
Hey 94SVT lose the Avatar!

Why?

 

[03Sssnake]

Originally posted by 94SVT Coupe
Why?

He must be a cat lover... Personally I find your avatar very amusing

 

[highmiles]

!

 

[ZXnVS]

Originally posted by NeedForSpeed
I put an extra quart in everytime.

Overfilling can have consequences. Notice that the manual specifically says not to fill to the top line on the dipstick. I know that in some engines the crankshaft can "slap" the top surface at the oil, and at high engine speeds this can cause damage (imagine a belly flop into a swimming pool at much higher speed...). I think you're playing with fire.

(trey193: no kittens were harmed in the making of 94SVT's photo... ;-) )

 

[trey193]

Yeah the avitar of the kitten strikes me in the wrong way, have always been an animal lover , but in my opinion the avitar serves no purpose and its inappropriate, but to each his own, I am not the moderator of the site, so its all good!

 

[94SVT Coupe]

Hey Trey, go check out this site.

www.mycathatesyou.com Kinda lame, but that's what you find on google searhing for someting to tell someone "I hate you" That pic was on that site.

I'm not referrring to you btw

 

[NeedForSpeed]

I love cats and have 2 kittens! One's a siamese blue seal point (boy) and the other is orange back and white (girl) i don't know what kind of cat she is, I forget the name? Calico or something?

Cats are very funny and do some stupid things. They keep me and my friends very amused

I like that avatar pic, and I'm checkin out the website now.



lol...... that site is pretty funny, a little lame, but still funny.

 

[Cobra'03]

Originally posted by Snakin 69
Cobra'03
With regard to you comment about Amsoil, I just switched to Amsoil 2000 Series and I'm getting an engine tick or piston noise/slap but only when the engine is hot, not cold.
Im hoping you can offer some advise.

Thanks
Brett

Reduced friction perhaps? hypersensitivity after the change (it happens)? what were you running before?

 

[itpphoto]

ok, so Cobra'03;
1.) Which oil and filter are you using?
2.) First oil change recommendation ? (i'm at 500 miles now)
3.) And how often do you change oil ?

I'm going to follow your lead, I'll owe you a track dog and beverage of your choice.
Thanks

 

[Cobra'03]

I generally do not restate in short answers, because I have given much more complete answer in previous posts, but since you are new...


1) I practice what I preach - I use either Amsoil Series 2000 0w30 or RedLine 5w30. I use RedLine D4 ATF in the tranny. I have left the diff as is - the Ford gear lube is very high quality. I use Mobil 1 or Purolator Plus filters.

2) First oil change? 1000 miles

3) I change every 6 months, since I only drive about 3000 miles/year. I time out before I mile out. If I drove regularly, i would leave it in for 10k miles.

At 100 deg C, the SUS (or vis) of a 30w, whether 0,5, or 10, is the same. This is the predictor of its high temperature performance. I am unble to understand why some folks swear they have all these changes in sounds that are fixed when they go from 0 to 5 or 5 to 10. At cold start, the fastest flow is the best - that is undeniable. Since the best oils, both min and syn, have reached a level of sophistication that makes them shear stable at those high temps, and need little or no VI, I just cannot fathom why there COULD be these day and night reports. There has to be an underlying mechanical problem - thicker vis oils and gear oils do have some ability to mask mechanical sounds, but that does not mean that the mechanism MAKING the sound is operating any differently - it just is perceived so.

Anecdotes are fun, but I have to go with my training, and the experiences of lubrication research scientists (triobologists) all over the world who do this for a living, and have their reputations and careers on the line, and the financial fortunes of their companies. I am not doubting the sincerity of any poster in this thread - it just is not sustained by the weight of evidence.

Regarding people who have torn down their Lightnings and found this or that - those babies got run hard and put to bed wet, and it is likely that no lubricant could stand up to the levels of sustained beating that these things get - I mean, they tore down the engine for some reason, right?

Regarding Ford and the 5w20 - i have been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. I layed that one out for all of you in complete and gory detail.

However, remember my recent post- thinner vis oils which are the match for any lubricant sold today are in the works - and you will see me recommending -5w15 or some such - I think the API will establish a completely different typology, possibly even a new Group.

 

[FINICKY]

ok not to sound dumb but let me get this sraight.
10w30 ,5w30 and 0w30 are all the same thickness when there hot rite?? so the only difference is the thickness when their cold? Not trying to be a smart ass but why do they even bother to make anything but 0w30.. I dont see an advantage to having a thicker oil at start up if its gonna be the same weight when its hot?? am i making sense ?? I just figured 10w30 would be a little thicker of an oil for high heat situations thats why i went to it. but if its only thicker to start out i guess thats kinda counter productive.

 

[BOOOOST]

This motor takes 6 quarts, and 6 quarts only, and that includes the filter's oil.

Never use higher than 5w-30 in these vehicles. You may use 0w-30, 5w-20, and 5w-30, but anymore and you're asking for trouble. Not being a smartbutt here, but why there are those who do not use the recommended weight I'll never understand.

 

[ArizonaSnake]

Originally posted by FINICKY
ok not to sound dumb but let me get this sraight.
10w30 ,5w30 and 0w30 are all the same thickness when there hot rite?? so the only difference is the thickness when their cold? Not trying to be a smart ass but why do they even bother to make anything but 0w30.. I dont see an advantage to having a thicker oil at start up if its gonna be the same weight when its hot?? am i making sense ?? I just figured 10w30 would be a little thicker of an oil for high heat situations thats why i went to it. but if its only thicker to start out i guess thats kinda counter productive.

The difference here is the cold side of the equation which is "thiner".

So, as I understand it... 0w-30 (W = winter) means you have a thinner oil for the cold startup... but the same viscosity at operating temps.

10w-30 is for more temporate weather... and the 10w-40 is for the getting warm weather... 20w-50 for the HOT weather.

 

[Cobra'03]

Originally posted by FINICKY
ok not to sound dumb but let me get this sraight.
10w30 ,5w30 and 0w30 are all the same thickness when there hot rite?? so the only difference is the thickness when their cold? Not trying to be a smart ass but why do they even bother to make anything but 0w30.. I dont see an advantage to having a thicker oil at start up if its gonna be the same weight when its hot?? am i making sense ?? I just figured 10w30 would be a little thicker of an oil for high heat situations thats why i went to it. but if its only thicker to start out i guess thats kinda counter productive.

That is my point - I suppose in some cars with odd oil passages or specific tolerances there might be a need for thoicker vis at startup to effect oil pressure quickly. - then, 10w makes sense. And in cheaper mineral oils, they have to use VI improvers, and they may be poor quality, so the narrower the range (20 points for 10w30), the less dependent they are on the quality of the polymers used to keep the oil from thinning.

10w30 had its hey-day when the low-vis oil technology was not as refined. In the early 1980's, Chrysler was one of the first mfrs to recommend 5w30 as a factory fill, but had to quickly change that when the early 5dubs sheared down and they premature engine failures. The opposite was true with the early 10w40's - they tended not to be low vis at cold temps, and GM had a number of failures due to oil starvation.

Point is, technology does not sit still. And old mechanics, like old doctors, sometimes do not keep up with those technology developments. What was a best practice 5 years ago in almost any technology is probably quite different today - I work in IT, and that is certainly true for server design, virus and worm protection and detection, etc.

We go on and on with this - I sometimes use 10w in the summer, if I have some laying around or it is particulary a good deal. In winter, 5w or lower is the minimum I would go.