Can I make this trip?...

[SuperCab]

As a little aside, this is a great read about multi-grade oil. Dispels a lot of common misconceptions. I'd rather run a 20w-50 than SAE40, especially this time of year. Much better cold start performance

http://www.upmpg.com/tech_articles/motoroil_viscosity/

 

[moveoverGM]

Hi Frank. I have to agree. I don't know what the mechanical issue with this engine might be. That will be discovered when I have the engine pulled in the spring and we dive into it. I have to wait until then because my daughter-in-law is using our other car until she gets hers repaired or replaced. So at this time Ol' Smokey is my driver. Most likely it is not very serious but as I want to replace the rear main seal anyway, the engine will have to come out. I think I will start to use 20W-50 from now on and keep a record of the consumption. I think I will be pleasantly surprised that it will be a marked improvement.

 

[kiwi f150]

X2 with what Roger said RE oil spraying back on floorboards, etc while driving, but......I've seen one exception to this that has burned a LOT of people. That one is the M5OD tranny used in the 20something year old Rangers, Explorers and a variant (I believe) in some F-150's. These trannies had neoprene shift rail plugs that over time, would swell and allow the ATF to seep out while driving. Nice, clean shedding of fluid from the vehicle, and other than someone noticing a slight trail of oil on the tranny case or low fluid level (the few that caught it in time) the drips on the floor were typically the size of a nickle and didn't excite a lot of folks. Result: gears that would slingup the oil while driving, oil escapes, no major warning (ie, oil slick), and one day, a noisy tranny due to fried bearings and viola, you need a new tranny and you need it now.

FWIW, because of this and once the word got out, countless people made it a point to remove those neoprene shift rail plugs and replace with brass plugs or soft plugs (aka, freeze plugs).

This is the result from that Bill ..... i brought a manual conversion for my F150 on the first trip a few years ago and when we got it back i thought i'd pull the top of the box off for a look before converting my truck ....... very glad i did.

 

[CowboyBilly9Mile]

^^^^ You're not only guy that, along with the rebuilt kit, discovered he had to buy an input shaft for one of those once the top cover got pulled. Wasn't it both thoughtful and considerate of Ford to offer, for a few dollars, a revised plug kit featuring metal plugs that of course, don't swell and leak? I hope you put in a new and good quality slave cylinder when you had yours apart; most people that opt to replace it themselves get a bit pizzed when they realize it's internal and thus, the tranny needs to be dropped. This as opposed to designs that have that item external and the replacement job being done in <30 minutes.