I have a 2009 F250 4X4 CC LB V10. I bought this Truck new from the dealer in Feb 2010. I have 3000 miles on it, so most likely Im going to put maybe 6000 miles a year on it.

The service manual says basically service at either 7500 mile or 6 months which ever comes first. In my case it will be time that comes before the milage.

So I had the first service done in August which was basic (oil,filter,rotation).

I going to use the below as an example just for explaination purposes.

Lets say that 24 months have come and its time for its 4th service which would be a 30,000 mile service,(7500 miles or six months). But my truck lets say has actually 23,000 miles on it. Lets say the 30k mile service calls for rear end fluid change and a trans fluid change. Do I or Should I have the fluids changed or can I wait until I actually have the correct mileage.

I asked the service writer at the dealer the same question above. ( I know that its about money so they are going to tell me anything to get me to have the service done), But this is what he told me.

"I should have the appropriate services done that are required at either 7500 miles or the six months, even if I havent reached the correct mileage, I should have the services done that are required. He said 1 it will keep your warranty in effect (if there was an issue on something, they could not say it was do to lack of maintance), because I have done what was prescribed by FORD as proper servicing. 2 even though you are below the milage at every six months. The fluids are still sitting there for that time period and do deteriate with use, time, heat etc etc."

Was this good / correct info from the service writer. Wanted to get some other opinions from those of you who understand maintance.

 

ok i'm a retired dealer auto mechanic/service manager so here is what i would do and reccormend . basicly due to the low miles you are driving, i would use a very good brand' i use castrol gtx " or a full syntech oil. if useing a standard based good brand ,change it 2 times a year or every 3.500 miles, if a useing a full syntech one time a year or every 5.000 miles.
as to tune ups. change the fuel filter yearly, as the new gases stink and will clog up causing a loose of power, check the air filter filter and change as needed.

best wishes and good luck with that great ride man

 

IF the maintenance schedule says "30K miles" it's 30K miles.

If it says "30K miles or 2 years", it's whichever one you hit first.

In other words, if the maintenance schedule just says "30K miles" - you don't have to divide by 7500 and multiply by 6 months to figure out how long you can go TIME wise.

The reason for the 7500 or 6-months thing is because the engine oil collects acids and other contaminants over time and degrades the oil based on time AND mileage.

All the rest of the stuff, like rear-end oil (which I don't think needs to ever be changed unless it's been under water), tranny oil, etc, are not time-based.

 

I do not put a lot of miles on my truck annually either. My truck is 6 YO and I have a little over 45k miles on it.

What I did to determine the OCI is first established a baseline. I put in the 5w-20 MC oil and changed it at 3k miles with a little over 6 months of use on the oil. I sent it off for a UOA with TBN. The TBN was around 2.5 which is on the low side for the mileage on the oil, everything else looked fine. This gave me a baseline and told me I do not want to use use 5k mile OCI for how I use my truck. I would suggest possibly going the 5k miles and sending an oil sample off for a UOA with TBN to see where you are at under your conditions.

I change my fuel filter every 10k miles. It is best IMO to change your own fuel filters if possible, the dealer really likes to rock you for a simple filter change. I rotate my tires once a year. I've changed the trans fluid once. The front and rear diff oil once and the t-case fluid once.

 

Hey thanks for the info. I am going to just do oil, oil filter and tire rotate every six months as they are free for the first five years from the dealer. I will have serviced what ever it says to have serviced as I get to that certin mileage. I will change that gas filter once a year. After reading the service manual again the only thing was oil, oil filter and rotate tires 7500 or six months. everything else was mileage based.
Again thanks for the info.