Hey all

Got a question for you all...I have an 06 FX4 with a 5.4 in it. When I change the oil I use Mobil 1 fully synthetic. I am curious if anyone uses an oil additive like slick 50 or zmax and what kind of changes if any you may have experienced.

 

Do not use additives. Use 5W20 oil.

 

I'd also recommend that instead of Mobil 1, you switch back to Motorcraft oil. It's not that I have anything against Mobil 1, I used it in my vehicles when it first came out, but everything I've read about oils suggests to me that Motorcraft is better in our Fords. Labnerd has posted on other alternatives that are even better, if you want to look for them.

- Jack

 

GLC...why not?

 

Good modern oils have all additives needed. Adding more can create too much of a good thing or even have additives fighting against each other. Our engines are quite happy with Motorcraft 5-20. No real reason for anything else. There are other good oils but no additive.

 

I haven't heard about Slick 50 in a good while. It was a popular additive at one time but they were taken to court and forced to prove the validity of their ads, that engines would last longer with it. They had no proof and it seemed to disappear afterwards. There is always some "magic" formula advertised to take the money from people who want to go one step farther. But, todays motor oils are a far cry from oils of yesteryear and you may do damage to your engine using additives.

 

It depends on which Mobil 1 you use. The "EP" version is excellent oil.

 

I removed the oil pan and replaced the pan gasket that i had boogered up when replacing the timing chain on my 86 Monte Carlo SS 305cu in V8. It had 107k miles on it. The pan was really clean and there wasn't any sludge on the heads either so I decided to switch to Mobil 1. It started burning oil immediately afterwards and was burning a qt in 200 miles pdq. After another 15k miles or so, I was having to remove the #8 spark plug every two weeks to clean the carbon off that had bridged the plug gap. So, I've always been suspicious of Mobil 1 ever since. Probably was mostly the lousy Chevy engine but I'm still suspicious. I don't use Mobil 1 any more.

 

The days of synthetic oil doing that are gone.

The Chevy 305 was known for crappy valve stem seals. I had one in a 77 Camaro and had the same oil burning and plug fouling issues with conventional oil.

 

I had installed new double valve seals, so it wasn't that because it had been smoking on startup. The new seals eliminated the smoking on startup. Chevy engines at first only had the o-ring around the valve stem inside the retainer. Later they added umbrella seals. It had both new seals installed. It was the rings. It was really curious how the oil burning started immediately after putting in the Mobil 1. I had been using conventional Havoline. It was probably just the cheap rings Chevy used. If I had it to do over, I would have just installed new rings and rod bearings instead of paying a dealer to install a crappy GM Goodwrench 350.

 

Slick 50 is 90-99% a solvent dewaxed heavy parafinic. The rest of the formulation calls for an alkyd borate. Neither are going to perform any miracles in any engine. The old Slick 50 contained a fine teflon powder that was supposed to burnish itself on hot parts. The biggest issue was the teflon had a tendency to collect in the corners of oil journals and continued use would have the journals completely clogged up with it. As I recall, DOW is the maker of teflon and does not permit the use of teflon in any engine environment. They sued Slick 50 and won. There is no teflon in any oil additive these days.

Mobil One does nothing that any other API oil can't. It costs a premium price but produces ho-hum results. It's not bad oil, just not worth the premium price. If you pay a premium for anything, you should get premium results. Mobil One falls short. If you just want a synthetic oil, look to Pennzoil Platinum or Quaker State Defy. Otherwise, Motorcraft oil is a bargain for the content of the bottle. Another good blended oil is Pennzoil yellow bottle.



So you have a clue to what a solvent dewaxed parafinic is:
http://www.shell.com/business-custom...paraffinic.pdf

 

I think I read or heard that Nascar engines have teflon coated piston skirts thereby reducing friction for a little more hp. Teflon is a Dupont trademark name or was. They may have sold some things.

 

Yeah, DuPont would be the place. I could see the plant in Houston but put the wrong name on it. The thrills of getting old.

I've never heard of NASCAR using it on piston skirts. They were using moly plazma. The idea is that as the engine builds heat, the moly plazma "melts" and migrates to the cylinder walls where the skirts are dragging. It provides an extreme temp lubricant where most other lubes will fail. The formulator can then adjust the viscosity of the oil to a lighter oil which translates into more available HP. When in NASCAR, every ounce of forward energy can make the win or send the team home a loser. Like they say, all they want out of the engine is to last as long as the last lap of the race. After that, it's junk.They run them on the absolute edge of failure.