Motor oil

Should I use conventional or synthetic oil for my new truck? Isn't conventional oil mostly synthetic these days?
Are there any brands that are better than others? Are brands realy different or just same product packaged under different label.
How about oil filters Fram, good enough?
I changed my oil every 5k on the last truck and had a valve stick on it just before it turned 200K

I use Mobil 1 full synthetic
Not Fram filter

^ X2

I also use mobil 1 full syn and dump every 5k

I buy it when its on sale at costco for 29.95 for a case of 6 and usually have a couple changes on the shelf

I use the napa gold filters

At the risk of sounding sarcastic, if you change your oil regularly, it's probably more important which brand of shoelace you like. There was a day when it mattered more, but those days are long gone. Choose the correct weight and you're all set.
Filters are another matter. I go OEM, Napa Gold or Wix on domestic cars.
Joe

Oh boy you opened a can of worms here. I'd go by what the manual says. All the new vehicles are going to full synthetic 0-20.

That said I've raced motorcycles for almost 2 decades. These engines run at about 12 grand pretty steadily. I've seen more engines grenade on full synthetic than conventional oils (AmSoil). A lot of guys who run conventional oil run Rotella T. I've had motors rebuilt after running Rottela T conventional oil and the builder always comments how good they look inside.

Todays car and trucks running down the road at 3 grand will never tax about any conventional oil out there nowadays. Todays oil don't break down...Its the debris that is hard on engines...which brings us oil changer frequency.

A good oil change schedule is more important that what type. a Lot of guys think the synthetics will go way longer than they should between oil change. Most manufacturers recommend the same oil change intervals whether or running synthetic or conventional oil.

There are some good oil filter tests on YouTube. I don't run Fram anymore either after watching a few, but rather run the Napa Gold.

As always...to each his own.

I use mobil 1 and ac delco filters. Change oil and filter every 10000 when im pulling alot and 12-15000 when not. I also will change just the filter at 6-7000 and top off. Been doing it with car and pickup, wife's car has 200000 on it and no problems yet. So im good with it.

So I checked the owners manual and they recommend Motocraft 5w-30 Synthetic blend motor oil . Also says not to ad supplemental engine oil additives ( may void warranty)

It seems I should be buying a better filter.

^^^ THIS ^^^
And use Wix filters on everything... Truck, car, 4 wheeler, tractor, side x side, etc.

I would use a OEM filter. I own a chevy and it gets an ac/delco, my dodge gets a mopar, and my ford gets a motor craft filter. They can all be purchased at Walmart.

425K on the 2000 F150...whatever they put in it when I run through to get the oil changed. Don’t think it matters as to what but as to when...every 3K whether it needs it or not, lol. Although once it got to that “high mileage” stage they started using something that only requires every 5K, I still run through before I reach that mark though.

I put a remote started on my car and trucks 10 years ago. I always let the engine worm up for a couple minute even in the summer.
I change oil every 3-4 thousand miles along with the filter with regular oil. Works for me.

* Get involved in the Voting process. *

I've been told by several different places that conventional oil is on the way out and everything will either be synthetic or a blend. Have two newer vehicles that have only run synthetic, the other two I'm going to have to change over at some point.

I’m a valvoline guy for oil, and use wix filters, as a side note Napa filters are made by wix.

OEM filter and whatever the vehicles clean.manufacturer recommends for oil. Ask the dealer if you're unsure. You don't have to buy their oil, but use an oil that meets manufacturer specs, depending on your engine that may or may not mean synthetic. What kind of truck and what engine?

2019 F150 5.0 v8 The manual says to use this Motocraft 5w-30 Synthetic blend motor oil.

I am Italian and have been using Olive oil
Extra virgin like myself

I used to truck pull expensive high performance Diesel’s and my engine builder said not to run synthetic oil in extremely hard working engines. 0-20 oil is used as a all around oil for gasoline engines to give maximum fuel mileage. Don’t waste your money on synthetic unless you live in cold temperatures as it is better for cold starts. Changing often is MUCH more important than the type of oil you run.

Modern engines don't need to be warmed up like cars made years ago. Unless it is seriously cold , start up and go. Drive easy for the first couple minutes. Even in the serious cold , 30sec to a minute suffices. Again , drive easy for the first couple minutes , other than that warming up just wastes gas. Diesel engines are different.

3,000 miles with a good oil and good filter , works. Sometimes, you can go further as some recommend a longer interval. I like doing it at 3,000 even if it too early. Cheap insurance and peace of mind.

I add a quart and call it good.

X1000. The owners manual tells you what weight and what specififcation the oil must meet. And sometime will name a brand or 2 that they reccomend that meet the requirements. Oem filters are the way to go. As much as I miuth engineers when I am trying to fix a car, they call for certain oils for a reason so use them.

And Mobil 1 does not always meet the spec you vehicles may call for.

Dont depend on the speedy oil change places as the people there usually dont have any automotive knowledge. They get 10 minutes of trainining and are labeled " oil change experts".

Royal purple, amsoil, any oil marked high mileage are just advertising gimmicks to get the consumer to buy their product.

The manufacturer designed it and built it so they now what fluids it needs its that easy.
People like to make simple things complicated when it shouldnt be.

Buy the motorcraft oil and a motocraft filter and rest easy knowing its the right oil and filter for the car. Both are usually available at walmart.

I'm a firm believer in full synthetic oil. Run it in pickups, mower. Weed eater, sidexside anything that takes oil. Use Rotella and Fleetguard filters. Our local college automotive class did a comparison test on virtually all oil filters and Fleetguard scored the best with Napa Gold second. My dad raced modified stock cars for years. He had an oil temp gauge in the car and said you couldn't believe how much cooler the oil ran on synthetic.

About 30 years ago I pulled the oil pan off a truck of mine, I had been using Pennzoil, the paraffin wax build up was crazy.
Since then I've switched to Castrol and have had three Toyota 4x4's (still running two of them) sold the first one with 302K miles, the two I still have are both in the upper 300's. I am not religious about changing oil either, I probably go closer, if not over 10K between oil changes.

Well , they do get more than 10 minutes of training , but not much more.

Scarier thing is they use ' reformulated ' oil. It is a mix of recycled and re-refined oil and virgin oil. Car dealers use it too. It's very cheap to buy , that's why dealerships use it. It works ok , as long as you change it every 3,000 , go over and you are asking for trouble. Oil change places will try to sell you an upgrade to bottled (virgin) oil , but it is a ploy to get more $$$ out of you because it is marked up considerably.
Best is to do it yourself.

'Bob is the oil guy' website has a ton of info on oil and filters. Some of those guys crack me up, spend more each oil change on sending their used oil samples to have tested than they do to just change the oil..Lol. in all seriousness though , its a pretty informative site.

Put in what the manufacturer says to put in-at least until your warranty runs out.
Then put Beaver tail oil in and the animals will follow you home.

U-tube has a few videos on oil and oil filters. Fram is normally the worst filter.

Agreed with what he said ^^^ raced nitro Harleys for years. we change oil after every pass. we use Valvoline 70w, when it goes in it's thicker than honey, after the pass it comes out like a cow pissing on a flat rock.

Back in the mid 70s, I worked with a guy in the mines that used hydraulic fluid ( from the mine) in his VW bug. I never understood how that engine stayed running.

There are plenty of oils that'll meet special for that engine, any name brand should meet spec. Even the Walmart brand should meet spec. Don't change viscosity, if it says 5w-20 then use that. That engine has variable valve timing and the PCM expects the oil to have a certainly n viscosity to activate cam phasers. If the viscosity is wrong it can cause problems and set a check engine light.

Go with what the manual recommends seals going out can be an issue they may not be compatible with certain oils

My old 2000 Tacoma now has 666,000+ miles on her. I've used nothing but conventional 10w-30 since the day I got her. Since I had the leaky valve cover gaskets replaced, I have only had to add one quart of oil in between oil changes. Oil and filter get changed once a month, if it's needed or not. A month is usually around 4,000 miles. The only work on the engine has been a rear main seal replaced and valve cover gaskets replaced.

My 2010 Tundra gets the 0w-20 synthetic, since that's what was called for in the manual. It's only got 208,000+ miles, so it's like new.

And Napa brand oil is also made by Valvoline

Go with what manufacture recommends.

If you're running conventional oil in a high mileage vehicle I wouldn't start putting Synthetic in. I got some serious leaks when I did that.

I guess after reading all the responses, many out of date, some mildly safe bets, others just off the wall. I would spend 20 minutes, first find in the manual the specs and weight the engine calls for. then understand the ratings and specs that are printed on the back label of every quart, gallon or drum of oil. The starburst circle with 2 or 3 letter codes, sc.sj, s4, ect, ect. It is very easy, once one gets the habit of looking, this is universal lubrication lingo that applies to everything from from 2 stroke oil to the largest heavy equipment. Correct oil is important with newer gas engine variable valve trains ie: v8,v6,v4 capabilities, overhead camshafts, also newer diesel exhaust particulate filters on 25 hp and larger equipment. Just take a few minutes and read the specs. you cannot go wrong from there.

Bob the oil guy site is good - I read quite a bit on there.

That said - I have 5 vehicles, 2 atvs, lawnmowers, small engines, 3 tractors. It seems I am constantly buying oil and filters. I buy whats cheap and try to change often. I do believe in Shell Rotella and Mobil in my tractors and have used a bunch of Fram filters.....sorry for all you Fram haters - its just what I have used. There likely is better.
I stumbled on Phillips 66 synthetic blend for under $2/qt and wife bought several cases.......girl rang it up and my wife got several cases for under $2.........I told her she did well. I buy quite a bit of 5 gallon buckets of oil as well as 2.5 gallon jugs. I check specs and flush out old and dump new in. Still have an old chain baler that I use quite a bit of used oil on.....

I should add - had the joy of changing the filter on a F150, 7700 truck I just bought. Crazy filter would not come out as no room unless I turned the steering wheel hard one direction. First I encountered that ever on a vehicle.

I take it you bought a Ford based on the oil recommendation. If it's the 5.0L V8 I would say 5 to 6K then change the oil and filter. If it's an EcoBoost motor, and you run it at highway speeds a lot you may be better off using premium gas. Ford has those set up to inject extra fuel when the turbos are working to keep cylinder temps from getting to high. That's why many people report they don't get the mileage they expect. Some folks have had their oil analyzed after going 5K while using 87 octane gas and have found out the oil is much more degraded than expected. Switching to premium apparently keeps the cylinder temps running cool enough that the extra fuel is not being injected because oil analyses then shows engine oil is fine.
If you want to run synthetic and go extra miles change the filter half way through the change interval. Dirty oil is the enemy.

I have used shell rotella 15w 40 in just about everything that I owned for years. I don't know if bob the oil guys still post the oil analsys after a oil change but i researched a lot of them a long time ago.Rotella was right there with the full syn for still being able to lube well and the additive package was still holding up.
J

Thanks all for your replies.

I did not get the ecoboost engine.

Gas prices should stay low for at least 4 more years, or until we elect another President that says he's going to. You Know, like the last one did.

I remember back in the 80s how bad Pennzoil was. It sure sludged up an engine! I was glad when our new car dealership switched away from it. The difference was night and day!
Joe

I worked at Chevy dealerships thru the 80’s and Quakerstate did that too.

Shell rotela, used it almost forty years

Good ol' pennzoil, one oil i have never used. Good ol sludge junk in yellow.