Ford oil change intervals

[wjfawb0 [hacked account]]

I do all of my own oil changes at home, so I often do them early when I have time. Turbo motors get it more often due to the extra heat in the smaller engine and turbo. I've had to help so many folks deal with variable valve timing and valvetrain issues where old oil has clogged up screens and passages on trucks and cars, turbo or not, that I'm more cautious. My F150 only drives a few thousand miles a year because it's a tow haul only vehicle. I change the oil on it every 1000 miles usually. It's one of the few vehicles I let tell me to change the oil too.

I use trip A on all cars to track fuel economy. Trip B is the last oil change. When in doubt, change the oil.

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[khudgi]

Modern engines and the associate oil can easily go 20K miles. Therefore, the 10K oil change is more than adequate under normal driving conditions. Any of you certified in Tribology?

For those of you who insist on 3,000 mile changes, Do your change your points and plugs every 12K?

I had 178,000 on my 2013 3.5 eco F150, oil changed at 10k per computer, never an engine issue of any kind.. I used Blend the the first oil change and full synthetic after. Had a Lab analyze the oil with TBN test once after 10 420 miles. Oil was still over 4.0 on the TBN which indicates lots of life left in it as it starts around 9.3.

 

[Mattwings]

At the time the Bronco was initially released, the Motorcraft full-synthetic did not meet the latest DI requirements (I forget the spec, it’s been covered in other threads here in the past). I think that was at least part of the issue not specifically calling for the synthetic (for at least the 2.3). At the end of the day, the friction modifiers are the most important part of the synthetic oil. They operate the same with base or synthetic base oil. The synthetic base is “better” but not the key difference, from my understanding.

 

[Bt_ostate]

How many miles do you plan on putting on the odometer between oil changes using a synthetic vs synthetic blend?

5,000 synthetic blend

 

[bravely]

5k miles is 14 months??

I drive less than that. I question the need for annual oil changes when I drive 3k miles a year.

 

[JoeSpeed]

Every 3k or less and full synthetic

Blended is like a drop of synthetic and then the rest regular, only do blended on a cheap beater or a lease you dont care about

 

[pfd799]

I’ll be doing first 1k, 5k then every 5k after with full synthetic as well

 

[rhymeswithbronco]

I personally do every 5k with full synthetic but there is a LOT of conflicting and misinformation out there about motor oil and change intervals.

Motor oil provides several functions: it cleans, cools, maintains pH levels, and lubricates. How well it does that depends on the manufacturer's additive package. As I understand it, base oil stocks are mostly the same between manufacturers and whatever they're able to get from the refinery that day. The additive package is what makes the oil, is proprietary between manufacturers, and determines the difference between conventional and synthetic oils. The additive package starts breaking down as soon as you fire the engine after an oil change. IMO, the longevity of the additive package is the determining factor in oil change intervals more than anything else in most cases. 20k oils are great, but I believe even the best oil filter is going to become saturated with combustion byproducts long before that, hence why I stick to 5k intervals. Plus, it's easy to remember.

What's best for you? Like most things in life, it depends. Trip distance, ambient temperature, driving style, amount of dust in the air, and how well your engine is sealed internally and externally are a few variables. I believe the vehicle manufacturer's recommendations are minimums, anything above

 

[rhymeswithbronco]

FWIW, I personally do 5k intervals with full synthetic and magnets on the filter if possible. There is a LOT of conflicting and misinformation out there about motor oil and change intervals however. This is some of the info I've gleaned over the years which I believe to be true:

Motor oil provides several functions: it cleans, cools, maintains pH levels, and lubricates. How well it does that depends on the manufacturer's additive package. As I understand it, base oil stocks are mostly the same between manufacturers and whatever they're able to get from the refinery that day. The additive package is what makes the oil, is proprietary between manufacturers, and determines the difference between conventional and synthetic oils. The additive package starts breaking down as soon as you fire the engine after an oil change. IMO, the longevity of the additive package is the determining factor in oil change intervals more than anything else in most cases. 20k oils are great, but I believe even the best oil filter is going to become saturated with combustion byproducts long before that, hence why I stick to 5k intervals. Plus, it's easy to remember.

What's best for you? Like most things in life, it depends. Trip distance, ambient temperature, driving style, amount of dust in the air, and how well your engine is sealed internally and externally are a few variables. I believe the vehicle manufacturer's recommendations are minimums, anything above and beyond is at the discretion of the owner.

As far as laboratory oil analysis goes, I'm not a petroleum engineer so I don't feel even remotely qualified to understand the results. Surf over to bobistheoilguy.com and you may find some legit engineers, but most is speculation at best in my experience. Without knowing the chemical properties of the oil that went into the engine, analyzing what comes out is pointless.

A final note about break in oils: traditional break in oils contain high levels of anti-wear additives (which are bad for catalytic converters) and very few cleaning additives and are not recommended for anything more than running an engine in prior to any driving. I would be surprised if Ford used any special sauce in the initial fill from the factory since the majority of the break in should already be done by that point. I'm more worried about how it gets driven between rolling off the assembly line and the dealer handing me the keys--that's where the real damage can happen in my opinion.

 

[PrepVet]

I run full synth in all my cars. I get it changed every 3k miles.

Yes, yes the oil companies love me. But it’s cheap insurance.

 

[BOT_ROCKET]

Group 4 full synthetic every 6k for me. Group 4 has less vapor to gunk up the valves so you don't need a catch can.

 

[charlieecho]

I just don’t get the point of the “old way” of doing things in today’s advancement. My thinking is if Ford thought there would be a problem waiting until 10K miles don’t you think they would recommend changing it earlier?
I’ll be changing mine every 8-10k depending on trips coming up. Mainly highway miles here. My dad has been doing this in his King Ranch diesels for the past 5 years with zero issues.

 

[adamm13]

I saw a TikTok video this morning of the first oil change on a Bronco. After that, 1,600miles in, I'll be getting my first oil change today. Not worth the risk of milky factory oil.

 

[AzGoat]

5k miles is 14 months??

That Bronco will last a while. I ride my bicycle more than that.

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