DennisFolsom

My 3.7L reached 4600 miles this week. Yesterday, I had time in my schedule to take it to the dealer that I bought it from and take advantage of the "free" oil change they promised. Before taking it in, I checked the oil monitor and it said I had 58% of oil life left. Wow! Anyway, I decided that I had run long enough on the first oil fill.

The dealer said they would use the recommended 5W20 Motorcraft Synthetic Blend on the "free" oil change, so I went for it.

I had a chuckle when I got home and noticed the reminder sticker they put in the upper left corner of my windshield. It says to come back in 3,000 miles for another oil change! Sure. I took the reminder sticker off immediately.
Now, I need to clean up the greasy handprint they left when putting the sticker on.

I'm not sure whether I will run this fill of oil until the computer says it's time to change, or if I'll go a bit sooner, say 8,000 miles.

SchuLace

I have a 2004 with a 5.4. I run Valvoline High Mileage and I change mine every 4K or so. I know with todays oils you can run more than 3000 but considering I don't put very many miles on my truck, I feel its safe to change it at 4K. I sample every oil change and I haven't had anything tell me I should be changing sooner.

byoungblood

Just think about who keeps pushing 3000 mile oil changes.

You're just throwing away money, and perfectly good oil that has plenty of life left in it, even with conventional oil. If you're changing synthetic oil that often I guess you just have money to burn, or you're just beating the engine to death.

SultanGris

best thing to do if you really want to know for sure is collect a sample when you change it and send it in for analysis, that will say if its safe to run it longer the next time or not.

jt351

I am a mechanic and I recommend earlier than recommended oil changes, not because I can make a buck from an oil change but if you don't the damage that is being done causes from longer intervals makes me money. I don't care if it is 1000$ a quart oil if you drive short distances your oil is dirty and full of water. Yes the oil is good but the particulates in the oil is doing damage to your engine. I am sorry but that little gauge saying change oil is GOD well that is B.S. Ford wants you to wear that engine out and die so you will buy a new one. change your friggin oil at least twice a year your engine will like you. Also a newre engine won't care if you go longer on a intervals but a higher mileage motor will, more blowby more water/acid/dirt. so the more miles on engine the more frequent the oil should be changed.

DavidKR

Ford recommends 5,000 miles for 2009, 7,500 miles for 2010, and 10,000 miles for 2011+ regardless of the engine.

I have a regular customer that puts 1,500 miles on his 2011 5.0 F150 every week and follows the 10k mile intervals, always with Motorcraft oil and filters and has had zero issues whatsoever with his truck that was at almost 120k miles when I saw it last. they're obviously all highway miles but he spends a good amount of that time towing a 5,000lb load as well.

insaneperson

Max out the recommendations. IMO anything less is simply wasting money. They have to be conservative and realistic in their recommendations, anything less would be a dumb financial decision by Ford; they don't want these engines dying under warranty.

New engines are totally different animals than naturally aspirated engines of merely 10 years go.

I plan on keeping this truck for a minimum of 10 years and 200K tough miles.

A zillion things in this truck will die before your engine even has a fart, 999/1000.

LaBalaDePlata

iTrader: (3)

Ehh idc, i change it every 3 months regardless of miles

byoungblood

If you were only driving 50 miles a week, and most of those were short trips, that would probably be prudent, because as was mentioned a couple of posts up, what really kills oil is an accumulation of contaminants. Only under very extreme use situations does the lubricant actually break down.

But, that being said, if the vehicle is being driven at least a couple of times per week where it is allowed to reach full operating temperature, then water
and acid contamination tend to be minimized. Changing your oil every three months under such conditions is just as wasteful, again in my opinion, as changing it every 3000 miles.

On conventional oils, I've personally stuck to a 5000-6000 mile interval, and 7000-8000 on full synthetic.

Lakecharles

Help me understand this; if he's getting every other change free - how is the dealer still making twice the money off the man?