Motor oil weight for triton v10

Wes Tausend wrote:

427435 wrote:
A 5w-20 oil is no thinner at, say 0 degrees, than a 5w-40 oil. They both meet the viscosity requirements for a 5w oil at cold temps. And a 5w-40 oil is far thinner at operating temp than either 5w-20 or 5w-40 is at start up temps.

The person that said the 5w-20 oils are for improved mpg is spot on.

True about the 5w's being about the same cold, cold pouring no different. Not so with 10w30 etc.

But one must rethink about the so called 20 wt mpg factor. Since the 5w20 oil is thinner than the 5w40 at high temps, it flows(leaks away) faster. The pre-set pump torsional load force remains about the same (30-40# oil bypass) and more hot 20 weight is ultimately pumped through bearings in volume, than hot 40 weight. Basically the comparable hp parasitic drag of pumping either oil ends up about the same when hot, so the "claimed marketing" mpg gain of 20 becomes basically moot.

The Ford Triton engines pressurize the RH cam tensioner only after the oil has traveled from the front pump all the way to the rear of the engine, up to the RH head and forward all the way to the RH tensioner piston. The revised 20 weight oil better maintains more even pressure over this long passage than heavier oil. Oil pressure over lengthy passageways drops just like long, small garden hoses drop sprinkler pressure furthest from the supply. Ford has had some minor issues with the RH cam and RH tensioner over this long oiling path and 5w20 helps solve it. (The V-10 is longest of all.) Of course they are not going to advertise this.

I haven't seen it done, but I imagine installing a custom direct oil line, pump-to-the-front of the RH cam, would be a good performance durability mod. The LH head already oils this way. With no distributor shaft cam drive, the Triton oil pump is totally forward, keyed on the crank snout right in front of the 1st main bulkhead, not set back (centered-like) nearer the 2nd main web like older Ford engine designs, or 3rd web like early GM.

Wes
...

Yes, 10w-30 will be thicker than a 5w-30 at cold temps.

As for pressure drop to the tensioners, that's only true if there is significant flow. There isn't as the tensioners don't require much flow.

In any event, those tensioners have to work with oil much, much thicker during cold starts. The chart below is informative when you look at how little difference between different weight oils at 200 degrees despite lots of difference at cold temps.

Ductape wrote:
CAFE does not apply to vehicles in this weight class.

Interesting how some prefer the advice of random strangers to reading the manual.

Not to say there are no technically sophisticated enthusiast groups, but pages here yield nothing but anecdotes and opinions. BITOG is the place to go if you have a serious question on this subject.

Well my manual states to use 5W30. Then some genius decided 5W20 was the way to go and sent out a memo to just about everyone to use 5W20. Basically they switched to cut down on oil inventory. Much easier to stock 1 less weight oil. And yes there reason was mileage. I know HD trucks at the time weren't included in CAFE, but the newer ones are. And going back some years they got a small helping from the government for saying they could increase mileage going back a few years. Believe that is why they did it. It was to help them out! We will never see the savings by running a lower weight oil!

I ran 5W-30W when I had mine!

What class A weighs less than 8500?

What vehicles under 8500 GVWR were built with a 6.8?

Point being Ford has no reason to spec oil for anything other than reliability. They could use 15W-40 with no CAFE impact.

Ductape wrote:
CAFE does not apply to vehicles in this weight class.

Interesting how some prefer the advice of random strangers to reading the manual.

Not to say there are no technically sophisticated enthusiast groups, but pages here yield nothing but anecdotes and opinions. BITOG is the place to go if you have a serious question on this subject.

Thats not what I'm reading. Aren't we talking about 8500lb and less ?

By the way, if you are referring to MY "random stranger", I consider you more in that class than a Ford Service rep thats been there over 20 years. I have no reason to doubt what he says.

PS- Yes, this doesn't cover the OP's coach, but this thread has morphed in the last two pages to a much broader discussion.

CAFE does not apply to vehicles in this weight class.

Interesting how some prefer the advice of random strangers to reading the manual.

Not to say there are no technically sophisticated enthusiast groups, but pages here yield nothing but anecdotes and opinions. BITOG is the place to go if you have a serious question on this subject.

Desert Captain wrote:
"Maybe in cold weather (winter), but in the summer when the oil is hot and as thin as water that protection can break down."

Seriously? "thin as water"? :h

This might have been an issue 50 years ago (remember back when a 3,000 mile oil change interval was actually recommended?), but with today's technology it's not. Oil gets hot regardless of the weather. The engineers at Ford recommend (actually they insist on), the 5W20 because it is the best oil for that particular engine (with its high RPM - close tolerance design).

:C

Yes! Ever change HOT 5W20 oil? Yes it comes out very very thin, just like water, maybe not as thin ,but you get the picture. 5W30 does not thin out as much.

And back in 2000 the required oil was 5W30, then Ford did a change to 5W20 for nothing more than to say it helped mileage. Which one person will never actually see! And even then the cars that were switched over had nothing to do with CAFE requirements because they were already on the road.

Chrysler did the same. They switched to 5W20 on some cars to increase CAFE that's it!

My 2001 V-10...51,000 miles on it...change oil/filter and grease the chassis twice a year.
I use NAPA (or any other name brand) Fossil 10-30. Any name brand oil filter.

No problems.

427435 wrote:
A 5w-20 oil is no thinner at, say 0 degrees, than a 5w-40 oil. They both meet the viscosity requirements for a 5w oil at cold temps. And a 5w-40 oil is far thinner at operating temp than either 5w-20 or 5w-40 is at start up temps.

The person that said the 5w-20 oils are for improved mpg is spot on.

True about the 5w's being about the same cold, cold pouring no different. Not so with 10w30 etc.

But one must rethink about the so called 20 wt mpg factor. Since the 5w20 oil is thinner than the 5w40 at high temps, it flows(leaks away) faster. The pre-set pump torsional load force remains about the same (30-40# oil bypass) and more hot 20 weight is ultimately pumped through bearings in volume, than hot 40 weight. Basically the comparable hp parasitic drag of pumping either oil ends up about the same when hot, so the "claimed marketing" mpg gain of 20 becomes basically moot.

The Ford Triton engines pressurize the RH cam tensioner only after the oil has traveled from the front pump all the way to the rear of the engine, up to the RH head and forward all the way to the RH tensioner piston. The revised 20 weight oil better maintains more even pressure over this long passage than heavier oil. Oil pressure over lengthy passageways drops just like long, small garden hoses drop sprinkler pressure furthest from the supply. Ford has had some minor issues with the RH cam and RH tensioner over this long oiling path and 5w20 helps solve it. (The V-10 is longest of all.) Of course they are not going to advertise this.

I haven't seen it done, but I imagine installing a custom direct oil line, pump-to-the-front of the RH cam, would be a good performance durability mod. The LH head already oils this way. With no distributor shaft cam drive, the Triton oil pump is totally forward, keyed on the crank snout right in front of the 1st main bulkhead, not set back (centered-like) nearer the 2nd main web like older Ford engine designs, or 3rd web like early GM.

Wes
...

A 5w-20 oil is no thinner at, say 0 degrees, than a 5w-40 oil. They both meet the viscosity requirements for a 5w oil at cold temps. And a 5w-40 oil is far thinner at operating temp than either 5w-20 or 5w-40 is at start up temps.

The person that said the 5w-20 oils are for improved mpg is spot on.