Community Forums

Shore2Shore · 09-24-2010, 04:03 PM

Hi

getting ready in the next few days to do an oil and filter change on our carb'd 460 (1987 era) and was just wondering any particular oil people would
reccomend?

The manual that came with it says multigrade 20W40 or 20W50 for temps constantly above +20f or single grade 40. Is the 20W40/50 the way to go?
Or can say 10W40 be used? The engine has around 50,000 miles on it ,plus sits for a good while (fulltiming in one place) and is started every so often to keep it running.

I know in the past Ive used 10 or 15W40 in other cars,just never dealt with a big block before.

Thanks in advance for any advice

rsflight · 09-24-2010, 07:38 PM

Our 1989 Encounter has a FORD 460 with 60,000 miles on it. We got it at 20,000 miles. I've consistantly changed the oil & filter yearly and use 10w-40 each time. With the filter change, it takes 7 quarts.

Nick-B · 09-25-2010, 12:01 PM

Wow - only one response on what oil to use. Usually questions on motor oils generate LOTS of varied opinions.

So here is my "opinion". Don't worry too much about it.

The motor oils on the market today are so much improved from what was on the shelf back in 1987. 10W-40 / 15W-40 / 20W-50 - the differences are minor. I personaly use a 15W-40 "diesel rated" oil in my 460 engine (and almost everything else I own). The reason being those oils have a better additive package than regular automotive oils and are designed for the demands of commercial diesel rigs that run heavy loads for extended times - kinda like our motohomes.

Examples of "diesel rated" oils are: Chevron Delo 400; Shell Rotella and Mobil Delvac.

JimElliott · 09-25-2010, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick-B

Wow - only one response on what oil to use. Usually questions on motor oils generate LOTS of varied opinions.

So here is my "opinion". Don't worry too much about it.

The motor oils on the market today are so much improved from what was on the shelf back in 1987. 10W-40 / 15W-40 / 20W-50 - the differences are minor. I personaly use a 15W-40 "diesel rated" oil in my 460 engine (and almost everything else I own). The reason being those oils have a better additive package than regular automotive oils and are designed for the demands of commercial diesel rigs that run heavy loads for extended times - kinda like our motohomes.

Examples of "diesel rated" oils are: Chevron Delo 400; Shell Rotella and Mobil Delvac.

Nick, I'm running a test in my high heat area.
I've changed from "Royal purple 15-40" to "Delo 400 LE" for consistancy (pressure) city and freeway driving.
So far the city driving has been fine with oil pressures at (39 idle) and (49-50 psi) at 50 MPH on the fast streets here..
Next 2 weeks will be at freeway speeds (60-62) and in the 105º heat I hope the pressure will not vary by much, Reason for the test is Delo still has 1300 PPM of "ZDDP" which is pretty good for HYD CAM protection and is available at Walmart by the gallon plus a good price to boot..

Jim

Nick-B · 09-25-2010, 08:04 PM

Hi Jim,

Delo has been my oil of choice for almost 30 years.
Let us know the results of your testing.

Kountry87Air · 09-27-2010, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pauland Ro

Hi

getting ready in the next few days to do an oil and filter change on our carb'd 460 (1987 era) and was just wondering any particular oil people would
reccomend?

The manual that came with it says multigrade 20W40 or 20W50 for temps constantly above +20f or single grade 40. Is the 20W40/50 the way to go?
Or can say 10W40 be used? The engine has around 50,000 miles on it ,plus sits for a good while (fulltiming in one place) and is started every so often to keep it running.

I know in the past Ive used 10 or 15W40 in other cars,just never dealt with a big block before.

Thanks in advance for any advice

I also have a 1987 460/Carb in our RV. I've used a 10W30 when changing..sheepsih to say didn't give much thought to it but seems no issues raised but we do not have high heat or such to deal with. I will follow your thread with some interest.

Curious also...with filter 6 qts brings it to the upper "Full" on the stick after running to fill the filter. Someone had posted 7..perhaps a deeper pan or an oil cooler I don't have?

mavric65 · 09-27-2010, 12:36 PM

My first motorhome had a 460 fuel injected but i live in california and it gets hot here in the valley and i always used 20/50 quacker state and have always used that brand in all my vehicles since it doesnt seem to break down as fast as other brands and keeps the oil pressure up in a nice comfortable range that i like even in hot conditions

Shore2Shore · 09-28-2010, 04:36 PM

Thankyou for all the replies! Ours says 6 quarts although this engine has an external oil cooler from the factory. So possibly 7 quarts for an oil and filter change?

So sounds like its coming down to personal choice 10W40 15W40 or 20W50..or Diesel spec. Luckily the Bounder stays in one place and just is cranked & run up for a while . Although the temps here do stay well into the 90's so if it was driving alot would be in hot weather.

So am I presuming right that 20W50 would be better for better oil pressure in hot weather?

frankdamp · 09-28-2010, 07:52 PM

I feel for your grief! I had an '85 460-powered Jamboree My goodness what a piece of unmentionable. I used 10W-40, and although I had hundreds of expensive problems, engine lubrication wasn't one of them. We live in a fairly equable climate, so we didn't encounter extremes of temperature except in Eastern Washinton in summer, which we avoided if we could!

My gut feel is that you should follow the Ford recommendations for your region's ambient temperatures. If you go too high on viscosity, the oil might not get to critical areas soon enough after start, particularly on an older engine where the oil passsages cast into the block might be partially clogged. Going too thin might cause problems when you're running hard at low speeds in mountainous terrain and hot weather - particularly on an older Ford 460. They were notorious for high under-hood temps.

If you want to incur the expense of morre frequent oil changes than are really necessary, you could run 20W50 in summer and 5W30 in winter. The oil companies will love your unneessary expenditure. The eco-maniacs may not.

I don't subscribe to the oil-change merchants' insistence on 3000 mile oil changes. My rig (and my family car) call for 7500 mile changes. I usually do them at 6,000, which I think is a good compromise. I take the oil change merchant's sticker off as soon as I get home!

JimElliott · 09-30-2010, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick-B

Hi Jim,

Delo has been my oil of choice for almost 30 years.
Let us know the results of your testing.

Nick, The "Delo 400 LE" (15-40) worked very good on the trip to Orange county....

With extreme heat pulling out of the Palms Springs area (110º plus) the oil pressure stayed at (between 47 & 52 PSI depending on the engine RPM which ranged between 2600 & 3100 RPM....

The engine heat got over 218º which is a first but I just plowed along to see IF the oil dropped down which it did not....NO wide swings like the "Royal purple has", Idle is still 39 PSI and dropping into the Redlands area the cooler air temp brought the oil PSI up to 52....

Delo oil will work fine...

Jim

Shore2Shore · 10-01-2010, 11:01 AM

Sounds like a good test result with the Delo 400

May have to look that up at our local Walmart.

JimElliott · 10-01-2010, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pauland Ro

Sounds like a good test result with the Delo 400

May have to look that up at our local Walmart.

I'm pleased with with the heat factor not effecting the oil pressure much....West bound on the I-10 dropping into Redlands which was about 15º cooler the pressure rose 3 PSI to 52 but it was still hot outside (95) so the oil did it's job.....

Still have a few gallons of "Royal purple 15-40" on stand bye, My 454 takes 7 qts but I dump in 8 qts with the bigger filter with NO problems...

Jim