Oil Change Frequency

[ExpeditionAndy]

Interesting, I wonder if it’s because of the direct injection.

I don't know if it's that or if it's because it is boosted and some of the pressure is forcing fuel past the rings until they fully seat.

 

[Trainmaster]

Change my '08 every time the oil change message comes on, about 7,000 miles. I use Mobil 1 from Walmart at $23/gallon and Motorcraft oil filters at $3.

 

[Boose]

I'd assume the fuel deletion was present due to the low mileage. It takes a while for the rings to seat fully on a new motor:

I spend a decent amount of over on F150Ecoboost.net, and they pretty much swear by 5K changes. That being said, one member did a very thorough analysis of his oil (Amsoil 5W-30), and while his initial 3 reports at 2400 miles, 5900 miles, and 8400 miles all showed excessively high fuel dilution (>5%, 5%, and 2.8%), his last two reports at 13400 and 21400 miles both showed <1% dilution and everything else well within spec.
General consensus over there is that oil is too cheap to NOT change it at 5K, even though the oil will clearly be performing fine long past that as long as you use a high-quality full synthetic.
Me personally? I change it when the computer tells me to, and pay a little extra at the dealer for full synthetic. I average 9K between changes, and I’m comfortable with it.

Notice how the dilution decreased until 13K or so... It takes a good 10K for a factory motor to have the rings seal up nice.

 

[mbtech2003]

I do every 5k miles in both my 05 and 10 expeditions. Using motor-craft stuff from where ever is Cheeper. Syn-blend. Never had an issue. 162k on the 05 and 87k on the 10.

 

[rjdelp7]

I saw a you tube video of a 2011 F150EcoB. The oil life monitor can be reset for 50%,60% or70%. This adjusts for shorter intervals, and severe service. That made wonder, if these oil life "monitors" are nothing more than a guide. I personally, would never push a stock, paper oil filter, past 5000 miles. I own 3 vehicles and a motorcycle. All, never get more than 2000mi a year each. I use full synthetic and premium filters. I change once a year and drained oil still looks clean. I am considering going longer. The place I recycle the used oil, thought I was dumping new/clean oil. I read, oil gets contaminated, turns acidic and has fuel dilution. The end of drain plug has sacrificial metal(magnesium), that gets attacked first(always check them). Consumer Reports did a test on NYC taxi cabs. They found no noticeable wear after 10,000mi, using synthetic. Running longer intervals, requires checking oil level and top off, something people overlook. Ford says a quart between changes is normal.

 

[JExpedition07]

I just know from seeing and doing oil on multiple vehicles. At 3,500 miles that oil still looks new and clean. At 5,000 it usually looks decent but is getting darker. At 7,500 to 10,000 the oil is jet black dirty as heck. Sure you can run it that long, but why? For $50? My oil still looks new when I drain it at 3,500 and I’d rather keep new oil in it than run old dirty stuff thru my engine.

 

[rjdelp7]

I just know from seeing and doing oil on multiple vehicles. At 3,500 miles that oil still looks new and clean. At 5,000 it usually looks decent but is getting darker. At 7,500 to 10,000 the oil is jet black dirty as heck. Sure you can run it that long, but why? For $50? My oil still looks new when I drain it at 3,500 and I’d rather keep new oil in it than run old dirty stuff thru my engine.

Just "looking" at oil, does not indicate, it is good or bad. You could have fuel dilution, high acidic or metal particulate. A diesel engine, has oil, that is black from the get go. The black is carbon, getting washed into oil. Once a year or 5000mi, Full Synthetic. is good rule of thumb. Twice a year, 3500mi synthetic blend.

 

[lbv150]

All my vehicles oil is changed every 3,000 miles. All get OEM filters and Castrol. Only the '16 gets Motorcraft Semi Synthetic due to the direct injection and the diesel F350 Mobile Delvac. I have taken heads off a few of them and can attest to the clean internals and lack of wear. Professional mechanics and the machine shop could not belive how they looked. Dropped the oil pan on the '95 F350 and spot less.

 

[Greg S]

I change the oil on my 2008 5.4L V8 every 5,000 - 6,000 miles, with Mobil 1 High Mileage Synthetic 5W20, and with a Motorcraft filter. Oil is usually pretty dark at that point, and it only costs me about $40 for the oil and filter at Walmart. It only takes about 30 minutes and I consider it to be cheap insurance to keep my engine going for the long haul.

 

[igneous]

Just like Greg S above, I get everything from walmart and it's cheap. I don't like the 5w-20 though...makes engine tick more than 5w-30. If it were new I'd be using the 20 weight. I sent sample to Blackstone Labs a few yrs. ago and Mobil 1 Extended Mileage 5w-30 had 8500 miles on it. All parameters looked good and they replied that I could easily go another 2-4k without issues because of the additive pkg in M1. I change it once a yr since I only put 8-9k on it per yr. at most. I do mine myself and use Motorcraft filter. Only has 130k miles on it and runs great. I get 17-18 mpg in city.