This may have been beaten to death as a subject but . . . just spoke with the service manager at my Ford dealer. he said that i MUST use 5W20 or the engine will knock, and that they will not honor the warranty with any other oil . .

do you guys buy into either premise? knocking, warranty ?

 

I would imagine that they could try to viod your warrenty,
What is wrong with running the 5w20, seems to me that I would want the best mpgs possible!



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How would 5W-20 prevent knock? I think this service guy is full of crap. Ford is recommending 5W-20 to improve mpg's to a miniscule degree and score browny points with the EPA. Remember that Ford would not recommend 5W-20 in some engines because they found there was too much wear. I would stick with 5W-30 or 0W30.

 

acadianbob
I have an 01 model and the 5w 20 oil is recommended. I changed to Amsoil 0w 30 at 2500 miles and never had a problem with any knocks, engine noise, etc.... I am getting 18 mpg with a combination of highway, country and city driving. I don't think that the 0w 20 could improve this. As far as warranty, the service manager at the dealership where I bought the truck said that he uses 5w 30 on most of his oil changes.

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2001 F-150 XLT 4X4 Supercab 4.6L Auto Transmission
Dark Highland Green W/Arizona Beige

• Class III Trailer Towing
• 3.55 Limited Slip Axle
• Color-Keyed Running Boards
• K&N Air Filter
• VMS Velocity Tube
• Superchip
• Cobra 29 WX NW ST CB Radio
• Cobra XR-1010 Radar/Laser Detector
• Wraparound Hood Deflector
• Bedliner
• Soft Tonneau cover

 

I have been wrestling with this for weeks now. I want the best for my new $33k truck. I want to use Mobil 1 like in my fiance's 2000 Taurus (5W-30), but like I posted a few days ago, Mobil has "no plans to make it anytime soon". I called a different dealer today, the service manager there said there would be no problems running it and that he recommended going with synthetic 30. Called my dealer and talked to service manager. He said that his reply is to use what manual calls for. BUT, if it was him he would use 5W-10 Mobil 1. His warranty source that he called said that technically Ford COULD void warranty if there was a engine failure. So, who knows what to believe. I wish MOBIL would just solve the problem and make full synthetic 5W-20.

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ORDERED 4/16/01 - WOOHOO!!!
2001 F-150 Supercrew XLT 4wd. 5.4V8, 507A, 3.55LS, Captains chairs, bed extender, cab steps, power moonroof, power seat, skid plates, trlr towing, aluminum wheels, AM/FM cass with 6 cd changer. Bright red clearcoat with DARK graphite interior

IMMEDIATE MODS:
Wet Okole seat covers
Fox Weatherboots front and back
AR Baja's 16x8
Cooper A/T's 265/75/16
Tint front
Line-X
Ravin Z-55 Duals out the back
Lightening headlights, corners and tails

 

Put in what the owners manual calls for and you will be home free if the engine ever blows.

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2000 F150 XLT Reg. cab
4.6 Triton Engine
4x2 3.55 rear end gear
sliding rear window
automatic keyless entry
white styleside short box

 

"Put in what the owners manual calls for and you will be home free if the engine ever blows."

But only until the warranty is up.

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2001 F150 XLT Supercab Flareside "Sport"
Black
5.4
Smittybilt step bars

 

You do need to run the specified oil during warranty because "Ford said so". Slight variations do not cause harm or knock. Play it safe and do it after the warranty. If you're unsure of what grades do what, stay with what is recommended.

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2000 F-150 XL, RC, LB, 5.4L, 4R70W, 3.55LS,
Class III tow, Payload #3, & Convenience pkgs.,
4-wheel disc/ABS, Chestnut/Parchment 40/60,
Ford bedliner w/Paintsaver & gas/wheel/spare locks,
K&N F.I.P.K. w/Outwears pre-filter, Superchip,
Dynomax ultra-flow welded 3" cat-back w/ 3" Y-pipe,
Hellwig front & rear anti-sway bars, Rancho RS 9000s,
Mobil 1, K&N oil filter.

 

I guess I'm going to play it safe and use Amsoil 5W20 for the time being . . may go to 0W30 later on . . .

 

It is crazy that Ford recommends 5w20 "dinosaur oil" versus a full synthetic, like Mobil 5w30! Don't think that mineral 5w20 versus synthetic 5w30 is better! It is a proven fact, backed up by a ton of research and results, the a synthetic oil will be much better for your engine.

Ford made absolutely no changes to the engines in the 2001 models that they "must" have 5w20 versus 5w30. Ford recommended 5w20 only to keep the tree huggers happy. Save yourselves a lot of trouble down the road by using a full synthetic. After 100,000 miles, your engine will thank you.

As for warranty concerns, that is absolute bunk, they must honour it if you have a problem. If you are using oil that is approved and meets all the criteria, you are ok. (Just check the back of the bottle to see if it is approved. Mobil oil definately is). Ford must prove that using the non-appoved 5w30 Mobil synthetic (which is worlds better for your engine) actually caused the problem.

 

I switched to Mobil 1 5W-30 at the 6K change. I'm at 7.5K now and everything's fine. She's running real smooth and the performance seems to be improving, probably just breaking in good now!

BTW.. My dealer put in Motorcraft 5W-30 for my 3K free oil change, and told me it didn't matter!

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2001 F150 XLT Supercab 4WD ORP 5.4L, Black clearcoat, Downey SST cover....Yellow ORP fender decal REMOVED!!!

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences. It looks like using 5W30 or 0W30 synthetic will not be an issue. I have been a Mobil 1 user for at least 10 years now and have had extremely good luck with it. Guess I'll keep on using it.

 

JimW hit it right on the head....way to go Jim...i agree 110%!
Tony

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'01 SCrew 4x4 XLT 5.4L

 

The TSB that Ford issued states that 5w20 can be used in a lot of older engines, some as old as 1991, that originally called for 5w30.

 

Congratuations to all of you. By reading this message board religiously, I'm sure most of you could go to your Ford dealers and do 10x the job the "techs" could. I have heard absultely assinine comments and quotes from the "techs", not only from Ford, but from some other shops. And they're professional? They are used to dealing with the general public who can't tell a piston from a ring and pinion, and thus buy all their hot air, particularily regarding warranties.



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'97 F-150 4x4 SC SB 4.6L. Riding on Sport King 265/75R16 AT's. Add-a-Leafs & Torsion lift. Side Bars. WMS Intake, TB spacer, and Superchip!

Wish list: 4.10 Gears, Hedman Hedders, 3" body lift, 33x12.5 MT's!!