first 1000 mile factory oil change? worth it?

[SingleTurboFD]

So how are you supposed to tell the difference long term?

I follow Ford's recommendations for all of my cars. I waited until 7500 miles on the Bronco. What difference am I going to see compared to doing it at 1000 miles? And when should I expect the issues to start showing up?

Should whatever issue you're claiming have showed up already on my 2014 Escape that has had ALL of its oil changes each 7500 miles. It wasn't until past 110,000 that a "needs service" warning came on earlier than expected with that one.

So what difference does it really make to do it early?

The most wear you are going to see in a given amount of time in a new engine is during break in, typically the first thousand miles. All of those break in metals are going to be floating around in your oil for an extra few thousand miles putting extra wear on your main and rod bearings, camshaft journals and everything else accelerating bearing surface and cylinder wall wear. Over time you WILL have more wear on all of these surfaces.

The difference is you will have an engine that will last longer.

If you are going to keep your car for a long time, it is foolish to not do a break in oil change. If you are going to trade it in after a few years or turn in a lease then for you it really doesn’t matter, you’re just giving someone else an engine that’s going to wear out sooner.

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[crenca]

So how are you supposed to tell the difference long term?...What difference am I going to see compared to doing it at 1000 miles?... And when should I expect the issues to start showing up...So what difference does it really make to do it early?

There are two ways to objectively measure wear (i.e. "the difference") I'm aware of:

1) Directly observe the engine parts by tearing it down or using a scope. This is done by race teams and in certain industrial applications, but is not practical for the consumer

2) Used oil analysis. This objectively measures the wear metals in the oil, and attributes of the oil that contributed to the wear such as how much the oil degrades (out of grade), fuel dilution, and other aspects of the chemistry (e.g. detergents, anti-wear agents retention, etc.).

What the data from short or long term used oil analysis means is more varible - it depends on your goals and desires as to what the data means to you. As @SingleTurboFD points out, perhaps you lease your vehicles or plan on selling by 100k or so. If that's the case, then the extra wear caused by factory fills/Motorcraft "synthetic blends" won't matter to you much as your just trying to get a little past the warranty period.

However if your goal is longer term, or you do (some) of your own repairs, or you just like maintaining your vehicles to a certain standard, then paying attention and responding to (objectively measured) wear is important.

All that said, even those who have short(er) term goals would probably serve themselves well by getting that < 1000 miles wear metal build up and crap Ford factory fill out ASAP...

 

[CarbonSteel]

So what difference does it really make to do it early?

Your turbochargers might care that you are running an xW-20 viscosity oil 1,000 miles into the run, or even less viscosity, the longer you keep it in.

 

[Scott R Nelson]

The most wear you are going to see in a given amount of time in a new engine is during break in, typically the first thousand miles. All of those break in metals are going to be floating around in your oil for an extra few thousand miles putting extra wear on your main and rod bearings, camshaft journals and everything else accelerating bearing surface and cylinder wall wear. Over time you WILL have more wear on all of these surfaces.

So are you saying that the oil filter does NOT strain those things out of the oil?

That's a new concept for me.

 

[SingleTurboFD]

So are you saying that the oil filter does NOT strain those things out of the oil?

That's a new concept for me.

Tell us you’ve never built a motor without telling us, Scott. Do what makes you happy buddy.

 

[GoHack]

As @CarbonSteel showed by objectively testing - so not a mere opinion - Ford's factory fill has already sheared out of grade by 1000 miles.

Besides if you're already puting in the effort to change the filter just go ahead and change the oil...

It's still a clean and usable oil and doesn't necessarily need to be changed at 1000 miles.

If in fact it is sheared out of grade by 1000 miles, then that means oil changes should be done every 1000 miles then, does it not?

My point here is, it's a personal decision. It's far easier to simply change and replace the oil filter should you want to.

 

[crenca]

It's still a clean and usable oil and doesn't necessarily need to be changed at 1000 miles.

Incorrect. Objectively it contains a high amount of wear metals and has degraded to the point it no longer meets Ford's own minimum specification. This is not an opinion, it is fact.

A person can of course choose to continue to use it for any number of reasons, but they can not claim it is "clean" or "good" oil (by normal measures) because such a claim is simply not the truth.

If in fact it is sheared out of grade by 1000 miles, then that means oil changes should be done every 1000 miles then, does it not?

That is a reasonable if somewhat simplified conclusion. A first change at 1k, then extending changes to 4-6k using a better oil then the factory "blend" is the more usual, practical, and cost effective response.

 

[crenca]

Tell us you’ve never built a motor without telling us, Scott. Do what makes you happy buddy

Now now, most consumers have no real knowledge about how the oil circuit works, the effectiveness of filters, etc.

Let's be honest the industry does nothing too help either because ignorance helps sell filters with banal claims of "99.99% effectiveness"

 

[SingleTurboFD]

It's still a clean and usable oil and doesn't necessarily need to be changed at 1000 miles.

If in fact it is sheared out of grade by 1000 miles, then that means oil changes should be done every 1000 miles then, does it not?

My point here is, it's a personal decision. It's far easier to simply change and replace the oil filter should you want to.

Everything is a personal decision. You can do the thing that is objectively worse, or you can not.

 

[CarbonSteel]

It's still a clean and usable oil and doesn't necessarily need to be changed at 1000 miles.

If in fact it is sheared out of grade by 1000 miles, then that means oil changes should be done every 1000 miles then, does it not?

My point here is, it's a personal decision. It's far easier to simply change and replace the oil filter should you want to.

It was xW-20 viscosity in a HO twin turbocharged engine--not something I am going to run. I switched to a better oil that stays in grade to ensure I am still running a xW-30 at the end of the run.

All of these 2.7L engines suffer from fuel dilution which further reduces the viscosity. Motorcraft synblend is not up to the task...

 

[Brian_B]

So what difference does it really make to do it early?

If you are just using Warranty coverage as a yard stick - absolutely no difference.

It really comes down to MTBF - earlier oil changes, and using higher quality oil, will help keep a low MTBF

That doesn't mean your engine will never have problems if you change early and often. Or that someone who always just follows the bare minimum is guaranteed to have an issue. It just means that, as a probability, you are less likely to have issues if you change oil early, often, and with high quality oil -- than someone who doesn't do those things.

This is looking out at 150,000 miles and beyond before you would likely see any sort of statistical difference. There's probably a good study out there about it, someone well versus in auto engines may be able to cite it; I only do heavy engines at work, and we live and die by oil analysis there - we don't count hours or miles (although we do track hours, and you can definitely tell higher quality oil over crap oil by how many hours on average you get between samples that pop up failing).

 

[Brian_B]

So are you saying that the oil filter does NOT strain those things out of the oil?

That's a new concept for me.

Well, a filter has a maximum size that it can filter out - most oil filters are 20 microns, some are a bit better, and some, like amsoil, are a lot better (2 microns). And even at that, it's only going to be xx% effective at it (99.something probably, but still).

But you don't necessarily need super huge micron bits to grind down metal. If you're running a standard oil filter, 20 microns is roughly equivalent to 1,000 grit sand paper. For 7,500+ miles.

 

[DALOLA]

Lot's of good data/opinion/discussion here. I agree that it's all about stacking the deck in your favor when possible, if that is meaningful to you. Also agree Ford's engineering standard is to ensure adequate performance through the warranty period, which will most likely be done following the OLM guidance. If you are concerned with peak performance beyond the warranty, then early oil changes with a quality oil make more sense. No guarantees of course, but it's probably a good investment. On the other hand, there was a guy on the F150 forums who put over 400K miles on a 2.7 F150, following the OLM precisely, and Ford spec oil, with no issues. So, in the end, we all do what we feel is best for us, and what we want from our vehicles.

 

[Willub]

So are you saying that the oil filter does NOT strain those things out of the oil?

That's a new concept for me.

Your oil filter is not always filtering your oil.

 

[jimd1]

I build engines for a living; I always do my first oil change early.

You will get many other answers ranging from ‘you waited too long’ to ‘don’t touch it until the Ford oil life monitor says so’.

ford wants you to wait for the oil life monitor so the oiling lines oil strainers to the turbos clog up, then you have to replace burnt turbos

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