Ranger Oil Change
 

Well i did my very first oil change on my Ranger today, i must admit it was easy as ****. Took me about 6 minutes:fest06:

I noticed that the engine oil cap says that my truck takes 5w30 oil, but my father is a auto mechanic of 35 years and he told me to put 10w30 in my truck. Do you guys think thats ok? I'm looking forward to doing my next one, it was fun.

5w30 every 3000 miles and im on 152,000 miles and counting.

I have an 06 Sport also. Im at 10,600 and doing 5W30 every 3700 and no problems here so far.

I must be slow changing my oil though. It took me WAY longer to change my oil than 6 minutes. But that is just me.

5-30 is thinner when cold, have a better pour rate. So it will be a bit better in the winter months (startup).
Summer there is little advantage, but just put 5-30 in it, your truck is new so all oil galleys are nice and tight :smile:

I love changing my oil. I don't have to change it as often with synthetic which kind of sucks.

So do you guys think i made a mistake putting 10w30 or it doesn't really matter?? And whats the diff with reg oil and synthetic oil? should i use synthetic next time?

It's the first time i did a change on my truck but not the first time i ever did a change. I did many on my car maybe that's why i can do them super fast now. The ranger is high off the ground though, it saves 5 minutes not having to raise it with the jack, i just crawl underneather and drain the oil quickly.

No You didn't. When you start your truck watch your engine temp. guage. It will take a little longer to get to operating temperature and therefore run cooler for a little longer. How many miles have you put on the truck? If it's got less than 30K miles on it, I would've waited till it's broken in before using synthetic. You'll also notic that once the oil gets a few hundred miles or so that your fuel MPG's increase bigtime. My truck went from 10 and 14 to 18 and 24 MPG's. But I also switched to a K&N O.E.M. Air Filter replacement, and changed my exhaust but kept the stock size pipe (2.25 Inches).

Just follow Fords break-in instructions if your still in that mileage period then switch to synthetic.

Coventional oil is Petrolium Based and tends to breakdown alot quicker. Synthetic Oils are produced in a lab and are chemically based. They last alot longer than conventional oils do and tend to lube an engine alot better and are usually more refined than conventional oils. The downside to Synthetic oils is cost, and after so many oil changes(Depends on make and model) your engine won't be able to get the Lubrication it needs from conventional oils.

Yep. I also asked an engine machinist this. He said not use Synthetic Oils till they're broken in on a rebuilt engine either. Oh thanks for the photo help 04 Black Edge.

My truck has 69,000k on it right now. I think i might try synthetic next time.

I was always told if you live in somewhere where the summers are real hot(Texas)its better to use 10-30....its what I always use.

A Photo...
 

I've always used 10w30. After I put 30K on it I switched to synthetic and started using This:

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/m...15/100_0023jpg

I also substituted 1 quart of oil for Lucas Pure synthetic Oil stabilizer. In other words, 4 quarts of this and 1 quart of Lucas Pure Synthetic Oil stabilizer. 5 Quarts Total.

A Photo...
 

I've always used 10w30. After I put 30K on it I switched to synthetic and started using This:

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/m...5/100_0023.jpg

I also substituted 1 quart of oil for Lucas Pure synthetic Oil stabilizer. In other words, 4 quarts of this and 1 quart of Lucas Pure Synthetic Oil stabilizer. 5 Quarts Total. Sorry about that. The photo didn't post for me. My manual says to use 5W20 but It doesn't get that cold around here plus there's alot of steep grades around here and that thin of an oil just breaks down too quickly (including the synthetic version).

ROYAL PURPLE is the best...........and its on sale this weekend at the parts store.....only 7.99 instead of 9.99 a litre

Royal Purple is a rip off

Ditto!

Your truck had synthetic oil from the factory. If the oil you put in wasn't synthetic then it probably didn't have the right API certification(in your owners manual). There's no 'synthetic break-in period' in new vehicles anymore. I've been running mobil 1 5-30 and a K+N oil filter since 15K no prob. There's no problem with running 10-30 instead of 5-30.

x3

I just use 5w30 Amsoil with Fram filter and its been running good. I have about 197K miles on it now.

Looks like I wasn't the only one under my ranger yesterday. Took my 5 minutes to do mine. I thank the 1inch nut on the end of my oil filter. Man does that make life easy. Worth the extra few $ to get the K&N filter for that reason.

I used 5w30 Quaker State full synthetic for the record.

I put 5w-30 in for the winter and 10w-30 in the summer. Nothing wrong with putting 10w-30 in your truck. 10w is just a little bit thicker for the start up than 5w, but they will both be at 30 when the engine is warm.

been running it in all my vehicles since 97 ........no problems at all and oil changes every 10k (km not miles)

are those k&n oil filters any good.they on sale too...........never used them ...........are they reuseable like all the other k&N stuff?

also it takes me about 4 hours to do oil changes...........sunday afternoons only.........+ a case of beer

I'm not looking to break any records when I change mine. I'll let the oil drain for 10-15 mins before putting the plug back in. I'll sweep the garage, organize some tools, and take a good look around the engine comparment and underside of the truck while I wait.

I just like getting all the old oil out. I'll also change it first thing in the morning when all the oil has drained into the oil pan overnight.

But as for using 5W-30, go right ahead, we all use it. In my older vehicles I ran the 10W but that was because the 5W was too light for them.