I have an 88 2.9 v6 cologne. Dealt with the whole head cracking. Replaced them and now I have some valve train noise. Any advice on that matter? I have read that synthetic oil is a must. Is this true? Does any one recommend it? If so, any preference?

Thank You

Im Andrew btw Nice to meet you.

 

I have an 03 3.0L running synthetic oil, Mobile 1.
Chg’d it around the 30K mark and have been using it since.

How many miles on your truck ?
If a lot of miles, synthetic may be more of a waste of money, std oil is good IF you keep to the correct weight and chg’d often with filters.

What oil weight/viscosity are you using.
I used to run 5-20 in my 2.9L (’88) and chg’d to 10-30 because it was all I had and the engine started ticking.
Chg’d back and the ticking went away; might be that easy.

When I installed the 5.0L in the ’88 same thing happened, ticking went away when I went back to 5-20 again.
So as crazy as it may seem 5-20 is the only std oil weight I use and the Mobile 1 is 5-20 equal.

luck.

 

Welcome to Ranger-Forums.com AndrewC10.

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Hope to see you around RF and enjoy your stay :)

 

Welcome to the site!

 

Welcome!

 

http://www.schaefferoil.com/supreme-...ngine-oil.html

switch to this stuff... it will leak a quart every 4000 miles for the first oil change or two, but it goes 9000 miles on a change!

 

@Scrambler I do not know off the top of my head how many miles, but i wanna say about 66k. There is know real way to tell because it does not go up to 100k, just goes back to 0 after 99k. For the time being, due to the head change and trying to calm the ticking since the change i have been changing the oil every two to three weeks. Right now it has 20-50 with a treatment. I read on another forum about the ticking in the valvetrain, that Sven Pruett said using anything but a synthetic oil is considered abuse. I have been reading about Royal Purple synthetic and it has some kind of additive called Synerlec that " improves the condition of metal-to-metal contact under severe conditions for greater protection" which was the reason Sven Pruett says synthetic is a must. But i will def. try switching to 5-20 my next change and see what it does. Thank you very much

@Bonestock why do you recommend that product? I'll look more into it

 

Synthetics are good for a lot of reasons but as I said if the truck has a lot of miles on it and it may have either 166K or even 266K then think along other lines like an Oil for high milage engines; most manufacturers have it.
Synthetics, from what I have heard, can make seals that are on the edge start to leak and again I have heard that once you go syn you shouldn’t go back to red oil, so it is something to think about.

You said you are using a 20-50, heavy oil!
It may have been the right move if you had a main or rod bearing going bad but a “Ticking” noise is not a bearing so think about getting oil up to the ticking area and thicker oils do not get there and get in the places needed very well.

Good Luck with it and I hope it goes well with the 5-20.
If and when you start up the engine after the thinner oil is in, listen and see how the engine sounds, SOMETIMES there will be a lot more noises come to life with the sw heavy to lite, just don’t rev it up until the engine has had a chance to idle for a little while.
Also, heat the engine up before changing the oil and let it drain for a while before closing her up.
Another thought is if using reg oil, chg the filter and oil every 3K, 4K max, if syn-oil then do as the manufacturer says but add a filter in the middle of the suggested milage, and top off the syn.

Mobile 1 comes in cases of six qts, my thought on the extra qt is to have the extra oil for the middle oil filter chg, just guessing but that is how I do it and there are engine that take 6 qts.

luck,

 

Welcome to Ranger-Forums!

 

i recommend that product because i use it in my 2.0 lima... it has a friction modifying agent(look at site for exact details) that greatly lessens friction, and heat... the base for the oil also has a greater heat range, meaning it can take more heat without cooking(i used to barely be able to go 2750 miles on Pennzoil, and now i can go probably over 10,000 miles without cooking it) and it also doesn't thicken nearly as much in cold weather, virtually eliminating "cold starts"... it also has helped my fuel mileage and gave me some more passing power... now don't freak when it leaks a quart every 3000 miles for the first couple changes; it'll do that when switching to synthetic, but it cleared up in my ranger so that i only need to add a quart every 7,500 miles or so...

EDIT: and i also watched it demonstrated on a fricton machine against some of the best conventional and synthetic oils and it outperformed them all...

 

Drop that 20-50 as soon as possible! 10-30 is recommended. Valve train oiling relys only on two supplys in the center cam bearings. It is not designed to pump such a thick oil. My GT had 10-30 since new and even with 387,000 miles never developed the typical 2.9 clatter. The valve train in my 88 on the other hand was done at 200K- 10-40 since new.

 

agreed... i usually run 5(or 10)w-30

 

I changed to 5-20 for now. There is still a slight tick when started but goes away after it warms up. But i do plan on switching to synthetic in a couple of weeks. Thanks for all of the help