The truck is in at the auto service shop (not dealership) for oil change service at 50K miles. It's a 2012 F150 Harley Davidson Edition 4WD with 6.2L engine. Looking for advice from Ford-specialized mechanic and/or Ford enthusiasts with extensive mechanical knowledge on these trucks. I only know the basics, but for the services below, I don't know the intervals or when it's really necessary to do the service. Truck has been running great since I bought it.

The shop recommended these service items below. Which is necessary and which isn't necessary? Please provide reasoning.
- Transmission Fluid
- Power Steering Fluid
- Brake Fluid
- Coolant Service
- Differentials
- Fuel / Air De-Carb Service

I'd appreciate your advice on these items. Truck pictured for attention.


'12 F150 Harley Davidson

 

You can always check the manual for the intervals. You are below the mileage for most of those but probably overdue due to age of some of the fluids. If you plan on keeping the truck long term I’d definitely have all of the listed completed and also consider transfer case. I have a 2013 5.0 with 62k I’m the original owner. Over the past 2 years I’ve done the coolant, brake fluid, trans and transfer case, both differentials and the plugs as PM.

 

I tend to agree with above, while you're still way under in mileage, your years justify the services, especially if those miles are from a bunch of short commutes or maybe with lots of engine time idling

x2 if you plan on keeping the truck fir years to come.

most of these services can be DIY if you're in to it, and can save you a bundle of $$$.

 

https://www.youtube.com/@FordTechMakuloco
I recommend this mechanic for maintenance & how-to videos. I don't follow Ford's suggested intervals, I go by this mechanics experience.

 

If those fluids have not been changed already, it's time. This truck will last you an entire lifetime if you take care of it. What a beautiful truck. Always loved the Harleys.

 

since your in Arizona i don't think you'd get as much moisture in fluids like other areas but here is my 2 cents

Transmission Fluid- 75k
- Power Steering Fluid- don't think this is ever something i change as an item
- Brake Fluid- if you don't work it and is just a truck you drive 75k
- Coolant Service- not a firm believer on this but 80-100k?
- Differentials- 60-80k

 

Here's your owner's manual:
https://cdn.dealereprocess.org/cdn/s.../2012-f150.pdf

Here are the schedule maintenance items applicable to you:









I would consider the factory recommendations to be absolute maximum limits and there is likely benefit in changing them sooner. I also consider the recommendations of any auto shop to be fishing for lucrative business more than valid technical recommendations.

The other consideration is that most scheduled maintenance items assume the vehicle is regularly driven. At only 5,000 miles per year, this truck sits a lot or gets lots of short trips, so pure mileage recommendations aren't good enough.

- Transmission Fluid - Ford recommends every 150,000 miles. This has proven inadequate with the 6R80 transmission. A simple drain-and-swap every 30,000 to 50,000 miles is advised to keep metal particulate from building up in the fluid. A drain does not empty the entire transmission, but doing it more frequently helps refresh the fluid. This transmission is unusual and has a built in thermostat, so an auto shop's standard fluid flush pump WILL NOT open the thermostat and actually get at all of the fluid inside.

- Power Steering Fluid - Ford doesn't actually have a change recommendation. It runs Mercon V ATF so I'd change it at the same time as the transmission fluid

- Brake Fluid - Every two years assuming normal use

- Coolant Service - Ford recommends doing it at 105,000 miles or 6 years, whichever comes first. After that, every 3 years or 45,000 miles. Your truck should have already had this done twice. NOTE! Use only the actual Motorcraft coolant specified for your truck:
https://www.motorcraft.com/content/d...ts_english.pdf
Your truck probably originally came with Ford Orange coolant, but that's no longer available, you should use Ford Yellow (NOT gold!). You can't just pick any brand bottle of the same color coolant. SOME aftermarket coolants are compatible, but you have to make sure they list adherence to the specific Ford specification:
- WSS-M97B57-A1
- WSS-M97B57-A2
- WSS-M97B44-D
- WSS-M97B44-D2
I would not assume that an independent shop is going to use Motorcraft coolant, and I would not assume that they're going to check their generic coolant for a specific Ford specification. I assume they're going to see Orange and dump in whatever they have on hand that is orange. Maybe they do their due diligence, but I would not assume that.

- Differentials - Ford recommends fluids at 150,000 miles. The front diff especially accumulates moisture over time, it will drain out milky. There's no downside to changing it more frequently, other than it being a pain in the butt.

- Fuel / Air De-Carb Service - Generally snake oil. Maybe they glug a bottle of injector cleaner into the fuel tank. Maybe they pull a vacuum hose and suck some **** into the intake. Whatever they do it's an extremely high-margin activity so shops will always recommend it. And there's no way to measure the success of the operation so you can't know if it was a waste of your money. Unless you're going to do a before and after dyno, but even then the potential power gains are smaller than the error margin of a dyno so again who knows. Just dump a bottle of high-PEA fuel injector cleaner (like Gumout Regane or Red Line SI-1) into your tank once a year and you'll be hundreds of dollars ahead.

 

 

brake fluid should be flushed/changed every 2 years at max. the fluid is hydroscopic and the last thing you want is water in your brake lines.

 

Thank you all for chiming in, it has been very informative and helpful.

We have proceeded to do oil change, and brake fluid for now. Will not be doing PS fluid nor Fuel / De-carb service.

We are going to take the truck to one of the mechanics we trust (for honest pricing and doing the job correctly) soon for the rest. We had to get the oil change done quickly at a shop near our office.

-DK


We do have a warehouse that I plan on putting a lift. Unfortunately it is overloaded with a bunch of our crap so once we clear that out then add a lift in, I will be doing most of these myself. Until then, I’ll have to let a shop do it.

Definitely want to save $$, especially on the easy stuff. Plus it's good stuff to know.


Appreciate it, will check him out.


This was very informative - I did find those graphs as well but I wanted to hear from personal experience too. I can’t believe Ford said Trans Fluid is good for 150K, that’s wild.

Good to know about Differentials - we rarely use 4wd or off-roading in general. What is the general consensus regarding diffs - even if 4wd rarely used? Same as Trans Fluid?


-DK