What type of oil is beneficial for high mileage 1994 Limited Edition?

[VA7LFD]

What type of oil should I be using on my 1994 Limited Edition Explorer which has over 380,000 km on it? She runs beautifully so far and have been doing oil changes every 5000km or there abouts. Last change I installed synthetic blend oil 10W-30. What I did find is that with the synthetic oil she ran ever so slightly hotter. Should I stick to synthetic or go to higher mileage approved type oil blend? I did buy Castrol oil as it was on sale last week at Canadian Tire but have not changed the oil yet.....Just wanted opinions...Thank You...

 

[RangerX]

In my opinion, Changing the oil on the regular is the most important thing, and which type or brand is far less important.
I use Walmart conventional oil. I sometimes grab the high mileage version when they have it, but I don’t really know how much of a difference it makes.
You didn’t ask, but which brand of filter you use is pretty important, IMO. Motorcraft filters have tested well and Walmart has them, so that’s what I use.

 

[410Fortune]

mobile one full synthetic has lots of detergents that can help clean out sludge that builds up over time
Motorcraft makes a semi synthetic that is also a very good oil
the high mileage oil, may have some treatments inside that are good for "swelling seals" and such, but I just see that as a sales gimmick
Lie RangerX said, changing your oil more often and using a good filter is more important then which oil you run

I use Valvoline full synthetic in all of our gasoline engines, I switched from Mobile one years ago because valvoline is a little cheaper.
I run Mobil one Delvac in all of our diesel trucks because they use 15qts of oil and it gets changed every 5000 miles, so running a full synthetic would be tooo expensive.

it is more important the frequency of changes then the type of oil
UNLESS
you are trying to get back compression by removing sludge from an engine that was mis treated, then you can run the mobil one and even add a little ATF or diesel oil in the crankcase to help speed up the cleaning process...

 

[smegun]

castrol magnetic smoother quieter soap is messy I never get clean oil its dirty too fast …. id use it from a clean standpoint hard for oil to make deposits is good and you change it frequently

 

[VA7LFD]

Thanks for the input guys I really appreciate it. I did a change today. I used Castrol GTX 10/30 and a plain old generic filter in house from Canadian Tire. The previous oil was synthetic with a Fram filter. Oil was golden brown no sludge when I drained it.
I have been doing oil changes every 5000km.

 

[CDW6212R]

Keep the air filter replaced often too. Most of the material found in the oil comes from the combustion chamber, and came through the air filter. So no air filter or a poor quality one will cause the oil to get dirty faster. K&N filters flow lots of air, but they let lots of dirt get by also. I'll never use those again, I use Amsoil air filters, cleanable by a vacuum cleaner, and last about four years.

 

[Josh P]

Oil type, brand and change interval always seems to be a sensitive topic. I use Mobil 1 synthetic in my cars and run it 12,000 miles (19300 km). The class 8 diesel truck I owned got Mobil 1 synthetic too, 40 qts and 100,000 mile change interval which was about 3-4 months. I sold the truck with 1,700,000 miles on it and the engine was never opened up.

 

[CDW6212R]

Oil type, brand and change interval always seems to be a sensitive topic. I use Mobil 1 synthetic in my cars and run it 12,000 miles (19300 km). The class 8 diesel truck I owned got Mobil 1 synthetic too, 40 qts and 100,000 mile change interval which was about 3-4 months. I sold the truck with 1,700,000 miles on it and the engine was never opened up.

That truck had a bypass filter on it too didn't it? Those clean the oil way better than regular filters, 2-3 microns instead of 15+ microns.

With a real bypass filter, and very good air filters, you can go 15-25k+ miles with the best oils. That can save a bunch of labor on oil changes, and it's still a little cheaper than regular often oil changes.

 

[UtahX]

Mobil 1 with a Motorcraft filter, every 6K.

 

[Josh P]

That truck had a bypass filter on it too didn't it? Those clean the oil way better than regular filters, 2-3 microns instead of 15+ microns.

With a real bypass filter, and very good air filters, you can go 15-25k+ miles with the best oils. That can save a bunch of labor on oil changes, and it's still a little cheaper than regular often oil changes.

Yes, there was a bypass filter. The 10 gallons of synthetic oil is good for 100,000 miles. I changed the oil in my driveway and dumped the used oil in the fuel tanks.
Studies have been done by ford, GM, and a few oil companies about oil change intervals, it is interesting to read.

 

[alaskan155]

been Mobil 1 lately.
sometimes its valvoline if its on sale or Oriellys sythetic....
try to change it every 5 to 6k miles....

they all get 10w30, tried Motorcraft Synthetic blend 5w20 in my 2000 4.0ohv before i started stealing parts off it for my 94/97... those lifters didnt not like that..

always a Motorcraft filter, as its cheapest and good followed by
wix then puralator(if im at tractor supply)...

honestly after my 7.3l died after religiously changing the oil every 5k miles, and the fact these have over 180k+... i change them when i have time.... my goal is 5k , but i might go 6-7k... as long as its not totally black like in my work semi, which got overlooked for 60k miles.... its all good. modern oil is pretty stout.

 

[410Fortune]

@alaskan155 What happened to your 7.3????

 

[Albino 94LTD]

Do yourself a huge favor and have an oil sample analyzed at a place like Blackstone Labs. Best money you'll ever spend on your X.

Blackstone Laboratories | Oil Analysis - Learn What's Going On In Your Engine

 

[alaskan155]

@alaskan155 What happened to your 7.3????

the cylinder wall cracked at 228k miles and hydro-locked itself one morning blowing the glow plug center completely out making it hollow..... oil changes every 5k miles with rotella elc...

on motor #2, e99 long block used, but know the coolant resivior is cracked again(getting a aluminum one) and i think the turbo is starting to make some new noises(original turbo).. so yeah.... I might start saving for a 12v or 24v soon. going to check the turbo this weekend for play.

 

[Gary Crist]

Think about a high zinc or high ZDP oil like Vavoline Racing. A couple of
quarts will do wonders...

 

[MrQ]

Oh god... NEVER ask about oil in ANY forum or group. You will get nothing but people's opinions, hearsay, and sometimes just downright misinformation (not saying that's the case here, but we've all seen it). Many a thread war has started over this subject.

Only three widely accepted things you need to know about engine oil pertaining to Explorers:

1. All OHV engines, 4.0 and 5.0, will take anything (including used vegetable oil ) and they will run fine, just change it on a regular basis and use the weight specified in the manual
2. All SOHC's, 4.0 and 4.6, in order to extend the life of the timing chain guides and tensioners, it is recommended to use full synthetic (YMMV, literally, on other blends or dino), just change it on a regular basis and use the weight specified in the manual
3. Use Motorcraft oil filters on all engines.

That's it. Use any brand of oil you like, as long as it's API certified. Amsoil, Royal Purple, Valvoline, Quaker State, etc; in the end it really doesn't matter. It's a wearable substance that will not be re-used by you. So unless you are building a race engine, what you choose only affects how much you want to spend and how long you want to go between oil changes.