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oil for 97 Expendition

blackhat620

You Had to be There
1,687
150
Arizona
The owners manual say 5w-30 but the book at the store says 5w-20, which one should I use? Thanks in advance.

As Tom stated use what the owners manual states. The reason that the book at the store says 5W-20 is do to EPA mandates that state when a vehicle manufacture (in this case FMC) uses a specific oil to obtain higher MPG rating (even if it is only 0.1 MPG) then they must from that point forward promote that oil in all literature. Well long after your truck was manufactured FMC switched to 5W-20 to eek out a minor MPG gain, so from that moment forward they retroactively say all motors in that class should use 5W-20. I am not a fan of ultra thin motor oil to achieve miniscule MPG gains, especially if you live were it gets warm and/or tow - haul moderate to heavy loads. The 5W-30 has a higher film strength and greater resistance to film/barrier layer break down under load.
Stick with a good 5W-30 oil brand of your liking and change the oil & filter at the interval stated in your owners manual.
 
i use 5-30 in mine....5-20 breaks down way to fast....i try to stick with motorcraft 5-30 synthetic.....5-20 works in a jam say if your a quart low and thats all you have on hand, but i wouldnt recommend using it all the time
 
Me too?

So I have an 06 and the manual says 5w-20. It sounds like 5w-30 would be better for my engine. I live in Colorado so its between -15 and 100 in the summer. Any thoughts.

Thanks!
 

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