Got it now ! ! !

[Howling.Wolf]

Hurray,
I got my F150 now.
It runs nicely as far as i can judge.
And soon I will post some pics.

Two questions came up into my mind while the 1h driving.
What Oil should I use ?
Rather synthetic or partly synthetic, or just mineral (we live in the cold sometimes) ?
and
What is a reasonable Oil consumption ?

Other than that I am thinking of changing the Spark Plugs into Iridium, hope that is better because of the planned LPG conversion.

Do you have any experieces espcally of concerning the kind of oil.

BEst Regards

Heinz

[Gary Lewis]

Hurray!  

On oil, let’s work on the last question first since it might not be economical to use an expensive oil in an engine that burns or leaks a lot of oil. My personal guideline has been that using more than a quart in 1000 miles is excessive. So I would change the oil immediately and then enjoy the truck for a while to see how it does on oil.

As for what oil, there may be two answers - initially and then long term. If the oil that is in it now looks really dirty, or if the truck hasn’t been driven much lately, I would fill up with a mineral oil and drive it 1000 KM or so, letting that oil clean the engine and soften the seals. Then, when that oil has gotten its job done and is dirty I would change again. If the original oil was really, really dirty I’d put another fill of mineral oil in and run it until it has done its job. But if the original oil wasn’t too bad I might go to the final oil.

And the final oil decision depends on how much oil the engine uses and what you will be doing with the truck. If it doesn’t use much oil and if you aren’t going to work it hard then a mineral oil or a semi-synthetic will work. But if the engine doesn’t use oil and/or you are hauling that camper at high speeds then I’d go with a synthetic like Mobil 1.

[Pebcak]

Congrats on being a new owner!

For oil I use 10w-40 since I'm in North Texas.  For what little I leak out, it's the cheap stuff and I change it when it starts turning from an amber color.  Haven't had one issue in the two years I've had my gem.

When I first got my truck I asked the same questions about synthetic and upgrading the plugs.  I got some "sage advice" from a few people *cough couple from here cough* that I should stick with what it was originally intended to be in the truck.  

Since then I've keep with regular oil and the OEM Motorcraft plugs.  Haven't had one issue in this area.

One thing to look out for that I had come up, "IF" you don't change your own oil and filter you better make sure they put the correct filter on your truck.  Not a filter that fits so they can cheap out on oil.  It was $20 for an oil/filter change and took 10 mins.  Wasn't worth it.  It was a smaller filter and they tighten it so tight I had to destroy the filter to take it off the next change.

Just my two cents.

To build off Gary's Post.  

I changed out my valve cover gaskets and it reduced my oil leaks considerably.  The old gaskets were in bad shape because the covers weren't torqued down to specs.  They were hand tightened too much and crushed them creating holes.

Ended up having to flatten the Valve Covers because they were bent as well.  A little hammering and ensuring they sat flat made a big difference.

I got the valve cover gasket with metal holes and torqued it to 10 ft-lbs. My reference was HERE.

Another two cents.   Running out of change so no more from me.

[Howling.Wolf]

Thanx Guys.
It is always great having a chat with you !
Thanx a lot again.

[Gary Lewis]

Pebcak - Now you know why many of us like the cast aluminum valve covers as they don’t bend when you torque things down.