Hey Guys,

I have a 97 F-150 4.2l truck, and I run motorcraft 5-20 synthetic blend motor oil along with a motorcraft oil filter. My question is, how often should I be changing my oil? I usually change my oil every 3 months, but since I don't drive my truck to work and maybe only put 1,000 or so miles on the engine during that time, should I change my oil less regularly?

 

Every 3,000 miles. I do mine every time it is time for it.

 

as long as it isnt using any you can space it to more like 5,000 miles with that synthetic.. some people go up to 7,500! you're wasting your money bra

 

It's not the full synthetic just the blend...yea man I was just keeping the same schedule as my dad had when he owned the truck. I would tell him that you didn't have to change the oil every 3 months, but he would just get pissed and would have none of it.

I guess I'll just do it every 3,000 miles to be safe.

 

I have a 97 F150 5.4 I change oil every 3000 miles. I always use Castrol GTX 5W 30 and I'm switching to Motorcraft Synthetic Blend 5W 20 on my next oil change.

 

op i have that same setup. my odometer is broke so i think im just gonna change it in like 4-5 months.

 

yea when i think about it, every 3 months is crazy for how little a drive the truck.

 

Obviously if you drive your truck 100 miles every month then you wouldn't need to change the only in 3 months. I would say just change it every 3000 miles with convential oil, and every 5000 for synthetic. Either way, the best way to check the oil is the color. when it's dark brown or black it's time to change

 

3 months or 3k miles. The issue is with all the acids and condensation that build up in the oil over time that it's sitting and doing short trips, hence the 3 months. Oil is cheap compared to the price of replacing internal engine components.