clarsona5955409

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I Am About To Do A Oil Change On My 2012 Mustang GT. I Don't Drive The Vehicle In The Winter And I Mostly Drive For Cruises, Racing, Etc. I Wanted To Know If Anyone Is Running 5w50 In Their Non Boss And Non Track Pack Coyote Engines. I'm Sure this Is Beating A Dead Horse, But I'm Getting So Many Different Answers And From What I Can See On The Engine Build Sheet The Tolerances Are The Same. I Work For A Ford Dealer And My Shop Foreman Also Says I Should Have No Issues But Wanted To Get Some Opinions Before I Go Through With The Change. I Love This Car And I Love Racing, And I Figure 5w20 Just Seems A Little Light. Thanks In Advance!
 

brasil

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... I donn´t have a 5.0 ..mine is a 4.6. But I always used 5w30 instead of the 5W20 Stuff. 5w50 is very thick , when we are talking about 100 deg Celcius oil temp. perhaps the Boss /track package guys need such a thick oil, because of the Track days..and the abuse during these track days.
But up there, where you live ( IL ) ..5W30 will be fine
 

StockishS197

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You’ll be fine with the 5w20 per fords spec, but just know the 5w20 spec was mainly for emissions/economy.

I would run a quality 5w30 instead
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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It depends on the use of the car. The 5W designates the cold start viscosity and that should stay the same regardless of use.
It's the second number that can change. For normal day to day street use 5W20 is absolutely fine because the 4.6 3V and the 5.0 Coyote were built with tight tolerances.
I'd recommend running 5W30 on a higher mileage engine simply because those tolerances will be slightly looser. If you're mostly a cruiser and only an occasional racer, 5W30 would probably be OK.
Should you run 5W50? For street use I'd say it's unnecessary. For the drag strip it's also unnecessary because you're only running the engine at higher rpm in very short bursts. It probably IS needed is when road racing, where the engine does spend sustained periods at higher rpm, generating a lot of heat that'll thin the oil and compromise its film strength if its viscosity is too low to begin with. The Boss 302 was fitted with an oil cooler because of its higher revving nature, and that can be retrofitted to a Gen 1 Coyote if it's also modified to run past 7000rpm.
One item I'd highly recommend on any car that's frequently used for road racing is a higher capacity oil pan with extra baffles and trap doors for improved oil control. This can literally be the difference between finishing the race with a perfectly running engine or grenading it due to oil pressure drops during hard cornering causing oil starvation of the rod/main bearings.
 

GriffX

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I disagree. A 5w20 oil is also thinner at room temperature than a 5w30. The cold start point and the hot end point is lower and the viscosity index is the slope. A high number means a flat slope.

I use a 5w30 non Ford spec oil, because the hot end point (HTHS) is higher than the 5w20. 3% of the German roads are still unlimited (the next try from the leftist to end this is right around the corner)
 
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Sledder

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Ever since new I’ve been running the Driven FR20 5W-20. They’re pretty proud of their oil but it’s formulated specifically for the early coyotes.
 

Samos3

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It depends on the use of the car. The 5W designates the cold start viscosity and that should stay the same regardless of use.
It's the second number that can change. For normal day to day street use 5W20 is absolutely fine because the 4.6 3V and the 5.0 Coyote were built with tight tolerances.
I'd recommend running 5W30 on a higher mileage engine simply because those tolerances will be slightly looser. If you're mostly a cruiser and only an occasional racer, 5W30 would probably be OK.
Should you run 5W50? For street use I'd say it's unnecessary. For the drag strip it's also unnecessary because you're only running the engine at higher rpm in very short bursts. It probably IS needed is when road racing, where the engine does spend sustained periods at higher rpm, generating a lot of heat that'll thin the oil and compromise its film strength if its viscosity is too low to begin with. The Boss 302 was fitted with an oil cooler because of its higher revving nature, and that can be retrofitted to a Gen 1 Coyote if it's also modified to run past 7000rpm.
One item I'd highly recommend on any car that's frequently used for road racing is a higher capacity oil pan with extra baffles and trap doors for improved oil control. This can literally be the difference between finishing the race with a perfectly running engine or grenading it due to oil pressure drops during hard cornering causing oil starvation of the rod/main bearings.
How might viscosity affect things like the VVT and chain tensioners? I have read some stuff about the thicker oils causing some issues there.
 

brasil

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5w20 ..is like water... only used /made for "fuel economy "...5w30 is much safer for the engine.. hands down.
my dad had a 5.7 Hemi 300C manual called for 5w20... but the engine never saw 5w20 after the first oil change anymore.... 100000 mls plus on that engine so far... zero issues
 

StockishS197

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How might viscosity affect things like the VVT and chain tensioners? I have read some stuff about the thicker oils causing some issues there.
5w30 won’t hurt anything. I have run 5w30 in all my 3vs, 2 5.4 3vs have gone 250+k miles without issue, two heavily modified 4.6 3vs also running it no issue.

In fact, the factory supercharged variants (e.g Roush) call for 5w30.

I know guys running 5w40 Rotella T5 in their race builds without issue too.
 

JC SSP

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Mobile 1 5W-30 full synthetic is what I use in all my 4.6L 2V & 3Vs for many years. There might be better out there, but so far so good and Blackstone oil analysis confirms this...
 

clarsona5955409

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Im mostly trying to decide on going with either 5w30 or 5w50. I dont drive the car in the winter at all and I do race the car and am very spirited in my driving. Im not sure on the vvt system if it would have any issues on a coyote but I would think they would be the same between the boss or performance pack variants. I just was curious if anyone else has ran 5w50 5w40, etc in non performance pack or boss vehicles. If needed I am 100 percent for throwing a boss 302 cooler on but was just curious. Definitely don't care about mpg as I care more about smiles per gallon lol.
 

Kev555

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Mobile 1 5W-30 full synthetic is what I use in all my 4.6L 2V & 3Vs for many years. There might be better out there, but so far so good and Blackstone oil analysis confirms this...
I always considered Mobil 1 among the top oils out there, I don't see it much here on the shelves now, but its prob down to the fact its got so expensive. 5/30 is what I use here in Ireland.
 

Midlife Crises

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I run 10-30 Mobile 1 full synthetic in my 3 Valve. Always warm it up before jumping on it and then I beet the hell out of it. Just for fun. It is forged and balanced with a hi-volume pump. It does not have valvetrain noise and it has active VVT. Idling around 750 rpm after a good drive shows oil pressure of 28-30 psi and it does not burn of lose oil. What more could I want?
 

StockishS197

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Im mostly trying to decide on going with either 5w30 or 5w50. I dont drive the car in the winter at all and I do race the car and am very spirited in my driving. Im not sure on the vvt system if it would have any issues on a coyote but I would think they would be the same between the boss or performance pack variants. I just was curious if anyone else has ran 5w50 5w40, etc in non performance pack or boss vehicles. If needed I am 100 percent for throwing a boss 302 cooler on but was just curious. Definitely don't care about mpg as I care more about smiles per gallon lol.
5w30 is all you need for a coyote on the street. I drive my 3v hard daily and it is running a quality 5w30. Not all 5w30s are equal in terms of hot viscosity and sheer strength FWIW.

5w50 is heavier weight oil for track duty use to give some protection during high EOT.
 

Midlife Crises

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All guessing and speculation aside. You need a temperature gage for the engine oil and probably the transmission also to make any kind of worthwhile decision. Do you need heavier oil to protect the engine at higher temperatures or do you need an oil cooler (with thermostat controlled bypass) to control the oil temp. You must reach 212*F to stem off condensation but how much hotter do you want the oil to run?
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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I always considered Mobil 1 among the top oils out there, I don't see it much here on the shelves now, but its prob down to the fact its got so expensive. 5/30 is what I use here in Ireland.
I run Castrol Magnatec 5W30 full synthetic and change it religiously every 5000 miles. A 4L can costs €52 and I need three for every two oil changes, making it €78 per oil change. Pretty good for a V8.
 

pass1over

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Motorcraft 5-20 full synthetic in mine, every 7500 miles or so, last 2 times have been Castrol though. Have it tested, everything is positive, glowing reviews always. 256k miles on the motor with zero issues.
 

Kev555

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I run Castrol Magnatec 5W30 full synthetic and change it religiously every 5000 miles. A 4L can costs €52 and I need three for every two oil changes, making it €78 per oil change. Pretty good for a V8.
Yes thats a decent price for an oil change Dino and Castrol is a great oil, coincidentally they seem to be making a push here in Ireland to get back a slice of their old market. Castrol like a lot of other top brands disappeared from motor factors shelves over recent years purely down to being priced out of the market by other brands, some of which are also very good quality. Castrol was always the competition oil when I was growing up, all rally and sports cars ran on it or Mobil. The Mustang V8 engine surprisingly only needs oil equivalent to an older 4 cyl engine. I just changed the oil in my 2.4 diesel pickup today and it requires 8.5 litres. My last 2.2 Merc Vito van held 9 litres. Seems some engines are coming with more oil capacity possibly to allow for longer service intervals which I wholly disagree with or to allow more volume for oil contamination from emission equipment.
 
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JC SSP

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I remember when Castrol GTX was the best oil back in the 80’s. Once full synthetics were available I used mostly Mobile 1. I have tried Redline, Royal Purple, etc but Mobile 1 is usually on sale at Walmart or local auto parts store.

My Audi gets Liqui Moly at my tuner’s shop and my new 5.7 Hemi Durango gets pennzoil at the dealership.
 

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