Two Oil Questions
08-15-2018, 05:26 PM
#1
Two Oil Questions
My 2018 3.5 will have about 3000 miles on it by the end of August when we will head out on our annual 2000 mile road trip pulling our Travel Trailer. My thoughts are to change the oil before we leave, but a few service guys say to leave the "break in" oil for the full interval. The questions:
1. Change it early, or leave it until we get back.
2. Synthetic or Conventional Oil, the Service guy I just talked to said they use Conventional Oil most often or full Synthetic at about twice the price. I have used Synthetic for years with good results. I'm thinking go with Synthetic and change at aprox. 20% oil life on the monitor. I know the 3.5 Turbo can be hard on oil, so is this a good idea?
Thanks for the help.
1. Change it early, or leave it until we get back.
2. Synthetic or Conventional Oil, the Service guy I just talked to said they use Conventional Oil most often or full Synthetic at about twice the price. I have used Synthetic for years with good results. I'm thinking go with Synthetic and change at aprox. 20% oil life on the monitor. I know the 3.5 Turbo can be hard on oil, so is this a good idea?
Thanks for the help.
08-15-2018, 05:45 PM
#2
BS on the service guys...change it! Change before going and change it more frequent than service guys say as well.
Change it every 3000 miles from now on and with the 3.5 eco I'd use only the full synthetic like pennzoil ultra premium.
Change it every 3000 miles from now on and with the 3.5 eco I'd use only the full synthetic like pennzoil ultra premium.
08-15-2018, 05:58 PM
#4
1) It's hot out there (August!). Heat is the enemy for oil, auto trans fluid, etc. If I was going to be towing a fairly heavy load in hot weather I'd change the oil and filter now before the trip. Once back to your regular driving, use the IOLM and change once it dips below your comfort zone (mine is 10% oil life remaining, others have a different threshold).
2) Everyone has an opinion on the type/brand of oil to use. My 2 cents - use a full syn with good NOACK numbers for your 3.5EB.
2) Everyone has an opinion on the type/brand of oil to use. My 2 cents - use a full syn with good NOACK numbers for your 3.5EB.
08-15-2018, 06:20 PM
#5
Plenty of threads hashing out what oil to run. I run M1, have done so for decades in many vehicles between me and my family, and it's been good to us. YMMV. I would definitely stick with a reputable full-synthetic, and ensure that it meets (not "is manufactured to" but actually isn't tested... looking at you, Scamsoil) the relevant specifications listed in your owner's manual for the 3.5EB.
As far as when, doing it every 3K is nuts, but I do dump the factory fill early. I would change it before you take your trip. I do 7.5K OCI with minimal towing but a fair amount of emergency driving and idling in Texas heat.
As far as when, doing it every 3K is nuts, but I do dump the factory fill early. I would change it before you take your trip. I do 7.5K OCI with minimal towing but a fair amount of emergency driving and idling in Texas heat.
08-15-2018, 06:36 PM
#6
If you want a real answer as to when to change it have it tested. As far as name brands go it’s all your choice don’t let advertisement or price influence you. A little bit of research into who makes it what’s blended into it and how it meets your engine recommended needs will be enough. Seen a lot of stretched timing chains in Honda’s due to the recommended 7500 mile changes and the customers decision to choose what’s cheaper to run and not checking the oil.
08-15-2018, 07:08 PM
#7
If you want a real answer as to when to change it have it tested. As far as name brands go it’s all your choice don’t let advertisement or price influence you. A little bit of research into who makes it what’s blended into it and how it meets your engine recommended needs will be enough. Seen a lot of stretched timing chains in Honda’s due to the recommended 7500 mile changes and the customers decision to choose what’s cheaper to run and not checking the oil.
According to some you should change your oil before your trip. Change it again when you get there. Then when you get back home change it again. You cannot change it too much. As a matter of fact you should've changed the oil on the dealer's lot before you brought it home.
Ford engineers spent lots of time and money developing the engines and transmissions in our trucks. They designed, engineered, tested, and built them from the ground up. They may know what they're talking about when they say change the oil when the IOLM tells you too.
At the end of the day it's your money and time and you should do what you feel most comfortable with.
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08-15-2018, 07:18 PM
#8
I always change factory fill oil early, but not at 500 or 1,000 miles. I'll do it at 3K as well. Currently sitting at 2,300. It's more than enough for proper break-in. After that, will do my normal 5K, since I live in extreme weather (TX), and do a lot of short-distance driving, which is pretty hard on the additive package. Rather change it a bit early and avoid having to pay for oil analysis, which would probably cost more (and yes, I recycle oil and filter) for this truck. Filter is dirt cheap, and a jug of M1 5/30 is just $23 at Walmart. A lot of turbo issues are for leaving oil longer than optimal. Not worth it IMO. If it was the V8, maybe a little longer. But not worth it with turbos on a hard-working smallish V6 on a monster truck like ours. Wish the V8 wasn't having so many issues and would probably have chosen the V8 for the lack of turbos. But only the EB has max tow, and all my buddies convinced me to get the 'better' EB, so I did. We'll see how good it turns out to be. He he.
08-15-2018, 07:22 PM
#9
Well that's interesting. I have an Acura (Honda) with 200,000 miles on it and it gets it's oil changed when the when the maintenance minder says so, that's every 10,000 miles. No timing chain stretch. Honda got rid of fixed service intervals (7,500 miles) many years ago, mines is 10 years old
According to some you should change your oil before your trip. Change it again when you get there. Then when you get back home change it again. You cannot change it too much. As a matter of fact you should've changed the oil on the dealer's lot before you brought it home.
Ford engineers spent lots of time and money developing the engines and transmissions in our trucks. They designed, engineered, tested, and built them from the ground up. They may know what they're talking about when they say change the oil when the IOLM tells you too.
At the end of the day it's your money and time and you should do what you feel most comfortable with.
According to some you should change your oil before your trip. Change it again when you get there. Then when you get back home change it again. You cannot change it too much. As a matter of fact you should've changed the oil on the dealer's lot before you brought it home.
Ford engineers spent lots of time and money developing the engines and transmissions in our trucks. They designed, engineered, tested, and built them from the ground up. They may know what they're talking about when they say change the oil when the IOLM tells you too.
At the end of the day it's your money and time and you should do what you feel most comfortable with.
My Honda background is what got me questioning early oil changes on a new vehicle. On my last Honda after being told by 2 Service Managers to leave the break in oil in until the indicator said to change it, I contacted Honda Canada and spoke to an Engineer who said the same thing.
I did think it strange when the Ford Service Guy said they use Conventional oil on the F 150s, is the regular oil used not a Synthetic blend?
08-15-2018, 07:43 PM
#10
Senior Member
People spend so much time worrying about the oil that they forget there is an oil filter. Which, in the OP's case, should be working fine. What, exactly, would be wrong with the factory oil fill that only has 3000 miles on it? How will the new oil be "better" than the 3000 mile oil that has been running through the filter? That's the basic question.