Hey guys,
I'm new to these forums...and the truck world. However, I am very excited to sign the paperwork to my first truck tomorrow afternoon. I am coming from the tuner, then the BMW world...so my first instinct upon receiving this truck is to throw the most expensive synthetic oil money can buy into it. It is an '03 Ranger FX4 Level II. I have read many articles, some saying to switch to synthetic and some saying to stick to the owners manual. It is used, luckily only one owner, but I do not know what oil they were putting in it. I want to extend the motor's life as far as I can, but I don't know what the best path to take is. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

PS - if you would like to see her, here is the link:
http://www.jerrysford.com/used/Ford/...1f8b8252db.htm

 

Whatever you prefer is fine. I used Royal Purple in my Ranger.

 

I used to love RP in my 08 civic si w/ a turbo...this is suitable to throw into a ranger with 81k though??

 

looks like a great truck, you could switch to synthetic if you wanted to. but you'd be fine using motorcraft products.

 

Thank you for that, I'm very excited about it. One owner, accident free, low price...used car buyer's dream! Well I'll put whatever in it that will have a better chance of getting her to 150k. Just need to find out what that is...

 

The ranger will carry itself to 150k with walmart oil. These trucks drivetrains are pretty damn tough. I bought my truck two years ago, after it had been pretty much beaten and mal-maintained, for $725. Now, 2 years later, and about $3000 later, its 95% problem free and is about to cross 150k miles on my way to work today :D and i just use quaker state oil w/ a motorcraft filter. Nothing special.

 

obviously synthetic is better than conventional, it's just hard to say if the benefits are noticeable/worth it, especially in our trucks. personally i run full syn mobil 1 because it's good oil and i don't care at all to spend a little more.

 

At 125k I switched from conventional (which it has received for it's entire life) to synthetic blend (not even full) and I noticed less ticking noise from the model, less "rough starts", and I do not burn oil like I used to.

I say make the switch. Do the tranny and diff fluid as well. And if you plan on doing a tune up (plugs and wires and whatever else) I would also suggest doing your PS pump. They get LOUD if you leave old fluid in them. Plus it will reduce friction with all that nasty old thick fluid out so it will put lss strain on the pump and increase it's life span.

 

just stick with motorcraft syn blend. its what the manual calls for its much cheaper than full synthetics.

 

note to op: changing to synthetic does not mean u can go longer between oil changes, oil still needs changed every 3k .

 

Wrong. Oil can go 7500 miles before it begins to break down really. at 3000 miles the oil is still pretty much brand new minus some dirtiness from the engine.

Lengthy Video, worth watching however: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzZdwqozuFc

All you really need is a filter at 3000. Then at 6000 do filter and oil. Want proof it can go 6000 miles and more? send it in for sampling when you change it.

 

Wirelessly posted (Timberwolf)

Hey man sweet truck. Your gonna love the mileage these bad boys get:*)

 

false. even ford recommends 5k intervals with motorcraft syn blend. I bet you could prolly go longer than that too but ive never had my oil tested to back that up.

 

Yes, it is fine.

 

^^ X2

 

Nice looking truck man! I have 150,000 miles on mine now and it runs like a raped ape!! I only use conventional in it! In fact I just got bought it from my father and it just had the first tune up! I admit a bit long! You should of seen the gap in the original plugs OMG!!

 

yeah Jacob, quit spreading false info LOL

But yeah with new synthetics you can push oil to damn near 10k with just filter changes and top offs. Really the only limitation now is the filters.

 

Not that it is that relevant, but the special synthetic oil in our 2010 VW TDI is good for 10k miles. Several TDI owners had oil analysis done at 5k, 7k and 10k miles and the oil was still in great shape at 10k miles.