Motor oil will not evaporate!!! Your mechanic probably said it burned the oil---old worn-out engines with worn piston rings will burn oil. If you really drove your car with no oil in the crankcase than you either ruined your engine or got lucky and just did more damage. If the car still runs but "uses" oil try switching to a "high mileage" oil for cars that have high mileage or are using oil.
You probably didn't need 20w50 and you should use whatever your manual says. But using oil that is a little thicker will have almost zero effect on how hot your car is running.
What oil you use and how often you change it is a nice consideration, but it won't do anything major or easily noticeable. Letting your oil run dry OTOH is crazy bad and could completely destroy your engine. Always check your oil with a dipstick and top it off when low. 20w50 might slow down the oil loss a little, but it won't fix it. And oil doesn't really evaporate, you have a leak. Get someone competent who will actually find and fix the leak, and keep checking your oil level even after the leak is fixed.
You're probably running hot only because it is hot out. But make sure you change your coolant regularly, and if your temp gets really high then swap your thermostat with a new one. You can also check your radiator for leaves or other debris and make sure your fan is turning at least part of the time (some shut off until you warm up, which is normal).
the first issue you have is the vehicle. sables and taurus have an inherent cooling issue due to the small grille openings. very seceptable iffin one of the under belly *chin* pans are not there flush.
i'm in cali as well. i'm at 100. soon to go past that.
stay with your 5/30.
replace your coolent. fresh coolent with good fresh anti freeze also helps cool things. as a radiator can conduct heat from water with antifreeze more efficiantly than plain water or water with weak antifreeze. any indications from your old fluid, or inside the radiator of corrosion going on, you need to address that.
can't count how many taurus and sables, of this body/grille style, i've worked on that have cooling issues.
far as loosing oil goes, as stated, you're either consuming it or there are external leaks. oil leaks in themselves are not an issue iffin you keep up on the level.
but there is something to be said about a marginal cooling system such as this and a realy dirty engine externally. but don't go washing the engine w/o taking precautions for water contamination. such as spraying all electrical connections, once seperated, with WD-40. and do it on a cold engine so as not to promote steam that can get into un-wanted places/connections. and stay away from the air filter box when washing.
WOW! I never thought I would read stick up for FORD cars! BRAVO! NO NO NO NO NO! It is NOT okay for you to use 20-50 in California HOT SUN! synthetic oil that is the RIGHT and REAL TRUE SYNTHETIC IS WHAT YOU NEED! mobil one 0W-30 IS RIGHT FOR most CARS, EVEN IN CALIFORNIA! OIL does NOT evaporate and your TECHNICIAN is a DUMB HEAD besides! REG OIL makes HOT SLUDGE and TAR and then bakes it RIGHT into your engine metals! This is WHY you are having issues! TAke a can of GUNK ORANGE to the DIY car wash, and clean the space BEHIND the radiator where LEAVES< seedlings, bug bodies, and FUZZ and PAPER have collected for YEARS of use! ALL FORDS just LOVE MOBIL ONE0W-30 oil! Take $20-40 to ANY OIL CHANGE PLACE and have them clean your THROTTLE BODY< and remove and clean your IDLE AIR CONTROL VALVE to SHOWROOM clean! ALL FORDS have removable IAC valves for a GOOD REASON! Once your AIR/FUEL mixture gets CLEAN, oil stays fresher and cleaner longer, and NO TARS collect on the INSIDE of the engine and BAKE INTO IT! Once your RADIATOR VANES are cleared of grunge, AIR FLOW will return to NORMAL AGAIN! BYE NOW and good luck!! I thought COUNTRY BOY had a 3.8 liter SABLE that went HAYWIRE on him! He had a 24V 3.0 engine??? Did't know that! WOW!
Not one car or truck company - glove compartment manual calls for 20W-50 IN ANYTHING. The thicker the oil during a cold start the slower the oil pumps lubricant to frictional surfaces. Thicker oil costs fuel economy and horsepower as the oil pimp is harder to turn.
I owned a 1998 Mercury Sable with the same engine as yours. It had over 200,000 on the odometer when I sent her off to the bone crusher because the body had rotted off. It was using not one drop of oil between 4,000 Texaco oil changes.
hmm if you didn't have any oil in it at all the engine would have siezed then catastrophically blown up you'd have heard a rod knock if the thing didn't blow fire a piston or the camshaft through cast bulletproof iron. in complicated cases like this i can't much answer other than trust your mechanic tell him everything and the weather can play a wee bit with engine temperatures.
If you didn't have any oil at all your engine would have froze up and quit. Oil does NOT evaporate ! And you shouldn't mix synthetic oil with regular oil !
Look under the hood, it may tell you what kind of oil it needs.
Or google " oil for 1996 Mercury Sable V6 ".
No oil will certainly cause overheating. It will cause complete melt down of most of the critical components in the engine. Changing to 20w50 will not cure your problem. You need a new engine or a new car. I am amazed that a mechanic would suggest changing to 20w50. Although it is probably so far gone that any more mileage you can get out of it is just a bonanza.
I live in California lately it's been really hot 88 to 100 degrees lately , my car has been heating up recently and at first I thought it was my water pump or there was a leak of antifreeze but there's no leak and there's water in the tank and my water pump is new , I checked the oil and there was no motor oil at all my mechanic said the reason why was because the oil vaporated because in my last oil change I used 5-30 synthetic oil and its been really hot these past weeks so he said to put 20-50 oil non synthetic because it's thicker and I drive my car alot , is that a good idea ? Was having no engine oil the reason for heating more then normal tempature ? drive a Ford mercury 1996 Sable LS 6 cylinders V6 24 valve
