Just hit 2500 miles. When is it time for my first oil/fluid change and tire rotation?

[OCNORB1974]

I’ve searched 6g, the Bronco Discord, as well as a few Reddit threads and have seen such a wide variety of answers I figured I would ask directly.

My 2023 2.3l Heritage just crossed over 2500 miles. All easy in town driving over the past three months. No off-roading, towing, or high engine revs for fun at this point. I know the oil in these cars can go for longer than 2500 miles and if I go by m y FordConnect App I’m at 70% oil life. But seeing so many people say they did ALL their fluids at 500 or a 1000 I am wondering if I am already behind the boat.

Please forgive some of the simple questions.

So…
Oil change. When?
Should I ask they to change all my fluids. Which I am guessing is brake and coolant? Are there more?
Tire rotation. I have seen someone post a pattern for a five wheel rotation to keep the spare in the mix. Is that a usual thing? Would a tire place or the dealership know to do that, or will I have to tell them how I want it done. Then how do you know they followed what you asked whiteout watching?

Where are people getting their service done? Do I go through a dealership just so everything is linked through my Ford account or does that not really matter?

On threads I have seen people talk about a window fix done through programming at the dealership. The update to lower the windows on unlock to help prevent it from flopping on the door when opened? What do I ask for them to do? Are they any other fixes I should know to ask for?

Picture added for no reason at all. I just like looking at her.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Uhhhh, why not read the owners manual? Wow, I guess a Reddit thread is much more accurate, Wow.

Sponsored

 

[Brian_B]

I guess there are two answers to this:

The first would be what is required to maintain the warranty - which I think is “do it when the truck tells you to”

The second would be what you are comfortable with, which, as we can see, varies

Personally, I do a break-in change early on my personal vehicles - around 2-3000 miles. I have heard that off road tires need more frequent rotation and this is my first set, I’ve been doing mine every 3k but they are wearing well so I may drop back to 5k

Regular street tires I would do with oil changes, and on most modern vehicles that’s when the light pops on - which usually is around 10,000 miles.

My bronco is getting babied though, I’ve done every other tire rotation on it - so about 6k miles. If I do drop the tires to 5k I may up the oil change to coincide just because I can make a quick afternoon out of it (the service is fast, but running in to recycle the oil and filter takes up some time too)

 

[dejones64]

2022 2.3L manual. Daily driver and a couple round trips MN-AZ. I did my first oil change at 2500 miles. Then oil change and a 5-tire rotation every 5k, at the dealer using their recommended fluids. Tranny replaced at 37k because of the scraping/grinding issue. I'm at about 38k now.

Had a 2011 Mitsubishi Lancer, manual trans, changed oil every 3k. Still going strong at 250k miles when I gave it away to a friend a year ago. Still running last I heard.

Oil is the vehicles lifeblood. Small cost for that piece of maintenance.

Love your Bronco, looks awesome!

 

[Jim Walter]

Did my first one at 10K....and every 5K since.....just went over 20K

 

[Johnmlebel]

Every 5k oil/filter change, rotate 5 tires. Don't over think over complicate it

 

[Skunkape24]

Great photo, don't miss the snow.

 

[BroncoMTB]

1st do not wait 10,000 miles for your first oil change. In my opinion, 5,000 miles is also too long of an interval to change your oil in a turbocharged engine.

Having owned several turbocharged engines driven over 100,000 miles on each with nothing needed other than oil changes and manufacturer required maintenance, I can attest that they are very hard on oil. Turbocharged engines generally run hotter, and the turbo uses the oil for lubrication and you do not want the oil breaking down and gumming up the turbo or the rings on your pistons.

Again, in my opinion, you’re better off eating the slightly higher maintenance cost of changing your oil every 3,000 miles, then risking potential damage to your engine at 5,000 to 10,000 mile intervals. I’d rather spread my increased oil change cost over the span of my vehicles lifetime then be hit with a one time cost to have to replace my engine because I didn’t.

My Bronco Raptor has less than 6000 miles on it and has had three oil changes. One at 750 miles (break in), one at 2500 miles (to be safe), and one at 5500 miles (my normal 3,000 mile interval).

Yes, I change all of my oil myself and all of our vehicles. So aside from oil and oil filter costs I only have my own labor and investment. I’ve seen too many friends with oil change, horror stories from dealerships, and Jiffy Lube type places where oil plugs are stripped. Oil filters are over, torqued, or oil is altogether not changed.

I also never have to worry about changing my oil right before a road trip as going over 3,000 miles by a few hundred miles doesn’t concern me and leaves me safely within the manufacturer’s recommended interval. My plan is clearly not a good fit for everyone, especially those that cannot, or do not change their own oil, or afford the more frequent oil change intervals. I’d rather be safe than sorry.

 

[coachoates]

Don’t forget to take into consideration if you are wheeling or off-roading.

Off-roading reduces the number of miles between oil changes.

I did a 1,000 break-in, then at 5,000, and now every 5,000. I only wheel a couple of days every few months and not super aggressive.

don’t forget to change that engine filter. If your turbos can’t breath well, that ain’t good.

I change mine every oil change. It can use it too.

 

[nhmountainman]

I kept checking my oil each time i fueled up. Looked super-clean each time. Yeah, I know that doesn’t mean squat. Changed my oil with dealer at 4,500 miles. All varied backroad and highway driving during break-in. Did a Blackstone oil analysis. High silicone and copper values and oil was a little thin. Oil test was done the original oil from the factory. I’ve copied their narrative below (Did not show the whole chart here). Normally I do a 1,000 mile oil change for new vehicles, and I suppose it was fine to wait this long, but maybe I should stick to my 1,000 mile rule.


KEITH: Congrats on the new Bronco! The oil may have looked clean, but the spectral results below show high levels of copper and silicon in the oil. That's not to say there's a problem, though. These elements are usually high at the start. Copper is from bronze parts wearing in, and silicon is from sealers/assembly lube. This break-in material is harmless, and after a few oil changes, these elements should fall in line with universal averages. Those are specific to the 2.7L EcoBoost, and they're based on ~6,000 miles of oil use. A thin viscosity is usually fine. So far, so good!

 

[CarbonSteel]

We can apply some data and science to the decision.

My 2.7L engine oil was a 20 grade viscosity at 1K miles and had wear metals from break-in that are not conducive to low wear rates. Why would I keep running an oil that was below minimum viscosity--particularly in a HO twin turbocharged engine?

The 2.7L is both MPI and DI and suffers from fuel dilution which further serves to reduce oil viscosity. My first 1K miles were 100% highway which should be the least stressful and produce the least amount of fuel dilution, yet, I had 2.5%.

The transfer case and axle oil systems are unfiltered and unpressurized. The transfer case has moving parts even in two-wheel drive so wear metals are being produced. Dana 44 Advantek axles produce more metals and for a longer period of time than any axle I have ever owned or worked on.

There will be as many opinions as there are members, but my stance is to change early and often for the first 10K miles and then (based upon UOA results) go to a:

- 5K OCI for the engine
- 25K OCI for the axles and transfer case
- 50K OCI for the transmission

Here is a link to my UOA results that I will add to as the Bronco stack on miles. Here is a link to my post where I changed the axle and transfer case fluids for the first time.

 

[Jazer]

Now. I did my first at like 2200, second after another 3-4k and now I do every 5k. It's worthwhile peace of mind, imo.

 

[moniarafaleric]

I’ve searched 6g, the Bronco Discord, as well as a few Reddit threads and have seen such a wide variety of answers I figured I would ask directly.

My 2023 2.3l Heritage just crossed over 2500 miles. All easy in town driving over the past three months. No off-roading, towing, or high engine revs for fun at this point. I know the oil in these cars can go for longer than 2500 miles and if I go by m y FordConnect App I’m at 70% oil life. But seeing so many people say they did ALL their fluids at 500 or a 1000 I am wondering if I am already behind the boat.

Please forgive some of the simple questions.

So…
Oil change. When?
Should I ask they to change all my fluids. Which I am guessing is brake and coolant? Are there more?
Tire rotation. I have seen someone post a pattern for a five wheel rotation to keep the spare in the mix. Is that a usual thing? Would a tire place or the dealership know to do that, or will I have to tell them how I want it done. Then how do you know they followed what you asked whiteout watching?

Where are people getting their service done? Do I go through a dealership just so everything is linked through my Ford account or does that not really matter?

On threads I have seen people talk about a window fix done through programming at the dealership. The update to lower the windows on unlock to help prevent it from flopping on the door when opened? What do I ask for them to do? Are they any other fixes I should know to ask for?

Picture added for no reason at all. I just like looking at her.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Did mine after 2k and switched to full synthetic.

 

[LudwigVon]

Thanks for the info everyone.
If I boil all that down It seems the only thing earlier and more often hurts is my wallet. I went ahead and scheduled ‘the works’ service which is oil change, tire rotation as well as some fluid tops offs and filter/brakes check. The plan moving forward will be this one at 2500. Another at 5k. Then stick to an every 5k from here on out.

Service at the dealership for now. Shopped the two in my area and one was $10 cheaper and had an appointment this week while the other more expensive ones first available appointment was more than 3 weeks out.

Hopefully once it gets warm I will learn how to change the oil myself. From what I’ve watched others do online it seems like everything is pretty accessible and something a semi-capable adult can figure out. Same with a tire rotation. I would just need to look into a jack of some kind to get things off the ground.

If performing these on your own, do you need to save and submit receipts as proof related to the factory warranty?

Thanks for all you contributed.
I am loving my Bronco and really enjoying seeing what everyone else is doing with theirs.

 

[Alanp970]

I’m an ASE certified mechanic and I think you’re choosing wisely with those intervals. I’ve seen too many costly repairs that were due to following the manufacturer’s extended intervals (granted if you don’t plan on keeping it past 100,000 miles you can follow their extended intervals) As to your question about receipts - yes keep them and you can even go into the app to add services you performed and even download pics of receipts there too. Enjoy your Bronco!

 

[Spiderwolf]

I’ve searched 6g, the Bronco Discord, as well as a few Reddit threads and have seen such a wide variety of answers I figured I would ask directly.

My 2023 2.3l Heritage just crossed over 2500 miles. All easy in town driving over the past three months. No off-roading, towing, or high engine revs for fun at this point. I know the oil in these cars can go for longer than 2500 miles and if I go by m y FordConnect App I’m at 70% oil life. But seeing so many people say they did ALL their fluids at 500 or a 1000 I am wondering if I am already behind the boat.

Please forgive some of the simple questions.

So…
Oil change. When?
Should I ask they to change all my fluids. Which I am guessing is brake and coolant? Are there more?
Tire rotation. I have seen someone post a pattern for a five wheel rotation to keep the spare in the mix. Is that a usual thing? Would a tire place or the dealership know to do that, or will I have to tell them how I want it done. Then how do you know they followed what you asked whiteout watching?

Where are people getting their service done? Do I go through a dealership just so everything is linked through my Ford account or does that not really matter?

On threads I have seen people talk about a window fix done through programming at the dealership. The update to lower the windows on unlock to help prevent it from flopping on the door when opened? What do I ask for them to do? Are they any other fixes I should know to ask for?

Picture added for no reason at all. I just like looking at her.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

I agree with toymaster. Your first oil change should be done around 1000 to 1500 miles to get those small break in particles out and get a fresh filter. I was a tech for 30 years. That first oil change is crucial. After that, every 3-5 K regardless what the manual says. Oil and filter is cheap insurance.

Sponsored