Vehicle break-in and oil change frequency

[Stsysar]

I recently got a 2023 Expedition Max with 700 miles on it now. I have been reading up about the engine break-in process and oil change frequency. Some sources recommend doing the first oil change at about 1000 miles or earlier and every 7500 miles thereafter. I have been babying this truck and want to do whatever I can to extend the life of the engine as I am planning to keep it for a while.
What is your thought on when to do the first oil change and the oil change frequency thereafter?
Cheers, Stan.

 

[SyndicateZ]

I recently got a 2023 Expedition Max with 700 miles on it now. I have been reading up about the engine break-in process and oil change frequency. Some sources recommend doing the first oil change at about 1000 miles or earlier and every 7500 miles thereafter. I have been babying this truck and want to do whatever I can to extend the life of the engine as I am planning to keep it for a while.
What is your thought on when to do the first oil change and the oil change frequency thereafter?
Cheers, Stan.

Id change it at 1000 and switch to FULL Synthetic and change it every 4000 w/ full synthetic for max protection if you plan to keep it forever. Thats what I do.

Others (on this board) will say stay with the synthetic blend oil and change it a at the 7500 mark but every Ford tech And independent mechanic I have asked recommends going full synthetic by every 4k miles. You shouldn't wait to go past 5k for sure with these ecoboosts.

 

[rd618]

I recently got a 2023 Expedition Max with 700 miles on it now. I have been reading up about the engine break-in process and oil change frequency. Some sources recommend doing the first oil change at about 1000 miles or earlier and every 7500 miles thereafter. I have been babying this truck and want to do whatever I can to extend the life of the engine as I am planning to keep it for a while.
What is your thought on when to do the first oil change and the oil change frequency thereafter?
Cheers, Stan.

Lot of posts on this topic.
You can do an oil change early. Doesn’t hurt, typically anything in the 1500-2500 range is good to help flush out the new engine assembly residue. Not harmful, but good to get it out.

As for frequency, the oil life monitor in these is calibrated pretty well. It’s not just a “mile gauge” it takes into consideration a lot of environmental and driving characteristics. Go with the monitor. Depending how you drive it might suggest 5-7k miles or might go up to 8-9k.
As for full synthetic vs blended. Get a good oil that meets the manual’s certification requirements. Same for the filter.

 

[rob4092xx]

Just follow the oil life monitor and forget it!

 

[Deadman]

Follow the oil life monitor, so you can replace the cam phasers often. Fresh oil is proven to make the cam phasers last much longer.

 

[SyndicateZ]

Just follow the oil life monitor and forget it!

lol

 

[Stsysar]

New to the forum. Thank you for all your responses.

I like the idea to replace it at about 1k and 4-5k thereafter. I don't trust these oil life indicators. The indicator on my Audi requires changes every 10k - go figure....

 

[Dworth]

I would change now and then every 3500k after. It is $40 piece of mind. Additionally, I would do an oil analysis once per year and send a sample to Blackstone. If you like what you see, you can make adjustments with frequency.

 

[gural]

oil change - depands on Your type of driving
If You have a lot of city and short distance - you should change it more offen - like 5-6 k
If You drive a lot of highways and usually on long disnaces - you can change if every 8-9 k

checked in frends car with over 200 k milege

 

[Rednecked]

I go when my oil monitor hits 50%. That’s usually around 5k miles.

 

[Andy B]

I would change now and then every 3500k after. It is $40 piece of mind. Additionally, I would do an oil analysis once per year and send a sample to Blackstone. If you like what you see, you can make adjustments with frequency.

Where are you getting a full synthetic oil change for $40?

Where can you even get the oil for that?

 

[chuck s]

I'm guessing the engineers at Ford are almost half as smart as those of us who post on forums and since they're close I tend to follow their recommendations. I recall one of my cars had a warning to NOT change the engine oil in a new engine until the first scheduled oil change. Big DO NOT note. And another had a note to NOT use full synthetic until the first scheduled oil change. But what do these guys know that we don't?

-- Chuck

 

[gural]

5 k - no way for me
during only 2 month in summer time i did over 10 k
this is the reason i wrote about the way of driving

the oil is good shape even after 5 k if for example i have to trip 4 k each with avarge speed 70/h

 

[osteodoc08]

I change when the oil % gets to 25% or so. Usually 6500-7500 miles. Send my results to blackstone and always in good shape. My cam phasers rattle but I don’t think the oil was the cause. Just crappy engineering. I have 110k on my 2018 and other than the rear end taking a crap out of warranty, a small coolant leak, and now the GPS/Bluetooth (another $1600 fix) it’s been relatively good to me.

$40 oil changes are attainable. Mobil 1 and good quality filter from Walmart.

 

[Jerald Cook]

Currently at 42k with a total of 5 oil changes. I did my 1st oil change around 5,000 and sent the oil off to Blackstone labs for an analysis. The numbers came back fine so I went around 7,000 next time and the numbers still looked good. 3rd oil change was 8,000 and still fine. My last 2 oil changes have been at 10,000 and Blackstone says I could extend that out even further based on the oil's TBN. As long as my vehicle is under warranty I'll keep changing it at 10,000 miles but it's nice knowing that I have some objective data that my oil still has life left in it, even at 10,000 miles.

I only use Mobile 1 5w-30 Extended Protection. I'm also pretty easy on my vehicle, light acceleration, and a higher percentage of highway miles.

 

[2018ExpyPlatinum]

Glad I own oil stocks with all you guys changing oil at 4000-5000 miles, especially with synthetic oil. I change mine at one year or 10,000 miles or when the oil life monitor gets down to 5 or 10%. I have 42,000 miles with zero issues, no leaks, no problems and NO cam phaser issues. I follow that book sitting in the glove box. Flame away!

 

[gural]

i got full synth for bigger oil intervals
maybe it is worth thinking when i would go on mineral oil.... but even on my Doge GC i go over 250 k, and i change it every 8-9 k and still on full synth

 

[ROBERT BONNER]

I'm guessing the engineers at Ford are almost half as smart as those of us who post on forums and since they're close I tend to follow their recommendations. I recall one of my cars had a warning to NOT change the engine oil in a new engine until the first scheduled oil change. Big DO NOT note. And another had a note to NOT use full synthetic until the first scheduled oil change. But what do these guys know that we don't?

-- Chuck

As a retired Ford Engineer....I hate to blow your paradigm.....but, [the idiots in] marketing and service have more influence on those service intervals than anyone on this forum would be comfortable knowing.....as for oil type, change frequncy and filtration, there is way more good information in multiple places on this forum than in the manual or on the dash. My opinion is that more frequent changes in these vehicles is advisable due to the ridiculously small capacity oil filter, if nothing else.

 

[sixstring]

I change my oil when the oil monitor says 10%.

Anytime other is just wasting money.

 

[GixxerJasen]

due to the ridiculously small capacity oil filter, if nothing else.

Which brings up something I was wondering about earlier today. Does anyone run a larger filter than specified?