On Thu, 3 Sep 2015 00:15:29 -0400, FrozenNorth
wrote:

On 2015-09-02 8:28 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 2 Sep 2015 18:42:51 -0500, Muggles wrote:

On 9/2/2015 6:37 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 1 Sep 2015 22:02:53 -0500, Muggles wrote:

On 9/1/2015 3:49 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 1 Sep 2015 12:53:07 -0500, Muggles wrote:

On 9/1/2015 11:52 AM, wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2015 23:00:42 -0500, Muggles wrote:

On 8/31/2015 9:57 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 08/31/2015 10:49 AM, Muggles wrote:
17 year mini van

That's probably always had detergent oil.

I dunno. I was told to put 5w30 oil in it.
Never been a non-retergent 5W30


I don't know what sort of oil it is, just that's what I was told to put
in it because of it's age.
5w20 or 5w30 was specified by the factory. Depending where you live
10W40 might be a good alternative in the summer if it has high mileage
or is staring to use a wee bit of oil (not lose it) - and if in Texas
or Arkansas or other hot place, even 20W50 for the summer.


The mileage on it is 110,187. Is that considered high or low miles for
a '98 van?
Exactly what van do you have, with which engine?? Generally speaking
110 thousand miles on a '98 would be low mileage for the year.


'98 Ford Windstar with 3.8L 6cyl engine.
That's what I was afraid of. One of Ford's "better ideas" that wasn't
all it should/could have been - and the 3.8 is one of Ford's poorer
motors. That said, it's still a whole lot better than anything "the
general" had to offer at the time - and with any maintenance it is
often good for close to 200000 miles. That engine suffered from
timing cover and intake manifold leads as well as the oil cooler
gasket problem - and if ANY antifreeze gets into the oil, stop right
there and don't spend another penny on it. Antifreeze takes the
bearings of THAT particular engine out in a jiffy - the engine starts
to knock and there is NOTHING that can be done about it short of
replacing the engine.

What kind of shape is the body in - and where are you located??

I got about 140K km, on a Ford 3.8 in an 89 TBird, beautiful car, then
stuff happened.
Brotherinlaw had same car, block warped - crank and bearings replaced
under warranty didn't last 50,000 km - when he tried to have it
rebuilt good mechanic found the block was out of true and could not
even be line bored. Threw it back together and traded it back in to
the selling dealer who also did the warranty repair - - -