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Anyone running 5W-20 engine oil?

T

tiberious

New CEG'er
Joined
May 7, 2007
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I just switched my 99 2.5L Duratec to Pennzoil HM 5w-20. When I get on the highway and accelerate quickly to 2500 to 3000 rpm, I can now hear valve clatter. I've got 150,000 miles and have always used 5w-30 until now. I think I'm going back to 5w-30. Anyone else have this problem?
 
yes, I'm running motorcraft synthetic 5w-30. I don't believe I have nay valve noise. however parents have been running 5w-30 in the car for awhile before I got it from them. They used Castrol oil. My car has 137k.

are you sure you just never noticed the noise before?
 
Maybe just some light spark knock on a hard pull? I hear this sometimes on my '99 SVT, these engines are a little bit octane sensitive, more-so as they age and accumulate carbon deposits, even the non-SVT variants. This is also the RPM range where any weakness in the ignition system (old plugs, weak plug wires) is going to show up a some light knock or miss, especially on a hard pull.
 
I would agree with that. I was noticing some poor performance on my car, started using mid grade and its better. I know the intake has never been cleaned. also I know I have a miss at high rpm/load so time for some new plug wires there.
 
I just put Motorcraft 5W-20 in my '99 CSVT. Runs like a top in the Arizona winter, but will change it back to 5W-30 for summer.
 
This car likes the red bottles of 5w-30. Previous owner of my Svt has only used motorcraft since after break in. I pulled the easy valve cover before seafoaming and doing full tuneup when I cleaned uim and lim. It looked like it was just put together a couple weekends ago. I would assume he made correct oil choice just by taking a gander.
 
like said, you could try a higher octane. with gas prices, i dropped to 89, but had a little noise under high load conditions, i too thought it was oil related, oil change didnt change it, went back to 93 and problems went away. sucks that its like 40 cents more a gallon that regular...
 
Hi All - When I use other than Castrol 50w it clatters like crazy for about 3 seconds on startup, tries to rev to to 2K rpm (regardless of oil). I have to feather the clutch to keep the rpm's down. Anybody else have this?


'99 Contour SVT absolutly stock and still kicking #ss
 
why are you using a 50W oil? the clattering is likely the lash adjusters because they arent pumping up since the oil is so thick. it should go away after a couple changes with a proper 5w30 oil.
 
Cloudx said:
He said it clatters with everything but the castrol 50w..
Click to expand...

so he did, i read it wrong the first time apparently. in that case he may have a rod or main bearing problem and the 50w is thick enough to mask it. or it could also be bad HLAs that dont pump up with anything thinner than the 50w (I have seen noise from HLAs be cause by both too thick and too thin of an oil). no matter what though, if its clattering with the proper weight (5w30) oil then there is something wrong in the engine. the fact that it goes away shortly after startup makes me think its just a collapsed HLA.
 
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