Hey folks:
We just returned from a grueling Houston to Salida to Farmington thru Roswell to Stockton to Houston vacation drive! Whew! Good times but the drive was tuff....Anyway here is my question: The Dealer did my oil change and filter ( I use Amsoil 5-20w) and air filter week prior to this trip. The Salida to Durango drive was 6,7,9% grades @ 15 to 45 mph and I did it mostly in 2nd,3rd and drive gear, lightly using the brakes with RPMs at 3-4k for about 3.5 hours. The road trip on US 550 and US 285 was at 75 to 85 all the way from Farmington to Roswell to Houston with a slight slow down thru San Antonio...... now we will be making another trip to Montgomery Alabama (ASU college ball camp for grand kid...heh..gramps retirement plan! ) it's about 980 round trip(?)

So should I do another oil change considering the trip just taken?

Thanks,

C-man Oh yeah truck handled better then a car, it was great looking down the sheer drops and listening to wife hollar hey keep ur eyes on the road old man!! .....heh...heh .....

 

I wouldn't. Did you tow a heavy trailer? This should not have stressed the truck at all, unless there was a 8K+ trailer involved, I would think.

 

^^^^^ I agree 100%. But, peace of mind is priceless.

 

what does your oil life meter say?

I'm not trying to be a smarta##.... i would honestly just go by your oil life meter.

you are using Amsoil, which is at least as good (better), as the motorcraft.

i see no reason not to trust your oil life meter, considerable though went into the program which calculates the interval. If i had one, i would go by it.

if you're an engineer like me .... i'd take the percent of oil life used divided by the miles driven so far, then take that number by the miles you expect to drive on the next trip to estimate how much oil life will be at the end of your next trip. If i'm above 10% at the end of trip#2, i'm not changing the oil yet.

but i'm a number dork .... i'm just wired that way ... whatyado?

 

Although not an engineer in our business I've worked with them for over 30 years in the nuke business...lol.. AND I like your 'numbers' approach so I will take a look at that this weekend ....which is why I was asking because I'm really good at getting tunnel vision and going down a wild rabbit hole...

At least now I have a rational approach ......thanks folks!!! have a great weekend....

 

just do a typical check. tires, pressures, brakes, all lights functioning right, a trip like that is not a strain on the truck. Im about to make a trip from houston to bristol speedway at the end of july pulling a trailer with a 4wheeler and golf cart.

 

Oh man horse power pounding the chest as they drive by woo-hoo....enjoy!

 

The truck seems to have one anomaly though. Last year the pass. front tire brought in the alarm (26psi). days prior to making the trip same thing (27psi) pass. front. Aired it up dealer said ah just look for nails etc.

Did soap test nothing OK, aired them all up and away we go..... within one mile from the house on the return leg the low air alarm returns now it's Hmmmm...time.... dealer says driver side was low. both tires removes and dunked and valve stem manipulate looking for the smoking gun and nada ..... these the the Mich. tires performance is excellent but am concerned that I have to monitor these tire more closely.

Not sure if it is problematic or falls under the heading that's just the way these tire perform.

 

Well we aren't going for nascar but we will be at the races. Jr dragster nationals. My sister races them. Should be around 700 jrs racing over a few days. This will be our first big trip for the races. Our home track is Baytown. We just went to Denton tx a few weekends ago. Furthest we have been is baton rouge for races

 

Well good luck I was there at Baytown when John Force broke 300+ wow what a day.....

also I checked oil life it was at 44% ha drove the snot out of her down shifting 250 miles in the mountains so when we get back from Alabama I'll give her a fresh refill of Mobil 1 5-20 she deserves it...lol..

 

Chinookman, I remember back in the late 60's and early 70's Michelin having issues with very slow leaks in the sidewalls. I am not aware of any problems since that time though. It wasn't drastic. Just people would have to add a few lbs. of air every week or so. This problem existed on Sears radials as well, which were made by Michelin.

 

Thanks kindah what I was looking for a bit of history to help stay in perspective.

I'll just baby the tires with TLC and make sure they are up to snuff... thanks...C-man...

 

My question is how much faith should I/one put in the oil life meter? I have a 2011 F-150 XLT. I bought it as a pre-owned with 12,700+ on the ODO. The dealer did a change for me when I bought it. My mechanic is not an old timer but he learned from an old timer. He swears by the 3,000 mile oil changes no matter how new the vehicle is. I asked him about the 5,000 mile change that the owner's manual says I can adhere to he told me "Its your truck so do what you will but I've always lived and died by a 3,000 mile oil change." I took his advice to heart and went 7,000 miles on that dealer change. My oil life went down to 30%. I changed it myself and the oil I drained out was kind of dark, almost black. Now my driving is mostly highway miles back and forth to work. No towing, no city driving in traffic. I've read that the oil even being that color is still going to do its job lubing the engine. I have no idea what kind of oil the dealer put in, it wasn't a Ford dealer. I put in Pennzoil 5w-20 and a Penzzoil filter, the auto parts store was out of stock on the Fram I prefer to use.

Thoughts?

 

Yeah old school myths like the "never flush a tranny it'll make it fail" are hard to eliminate and may never go away. I am hard pressed to find the annual report by "Lube N' Grease" where the guest speaker spoke of the promotion of the 3k oil change was simply for profit. One of the anecdotes was about the 25k oil change that Mobile 1 used to have and they revoked the ads after they noticed a drop in revenue. So no slight on the quality of the oil as much as it hurting their business model.

Duh, no surprise there right. But the gist of his presentation is that the quality of the lubricants has come a long way and the 7.5k oil changes are now the norm and the new algorithms for the vehicles may still be a bit ways from perfection.

That said I will go One year w/ oil & Filter using Amsoil ( it has to be the correct oil not the 7500 mile oil) filter and oil; Likewise w/ Mobile 1 and a Bosch Oil Filter. I used to visit Bob is the Oil Guy and learned about Fram filters. Have never bought one since. I used a filter that has synthetic media such as Amsoil, Donaldson, Bosch etc. but Fram never again bear in mind it's my own experience I would not tell anyone what select.

Keep in mind the myth of changing over from dino to synthetics will cause you engine to leak another myth. So your doing the right thing, do the due diligence and let your analytical mind decide fer yah. ...

 

Just made a little trip from Littlerock, Arkansas to Fairbanks, Alaska pulling 8k trailer. Odometer was over 4200 getting here including little side trips in parks, etc. Only issue was a cracked windshield from a rock that got slung up by a truck. Not trying to one-up, just trying to verify that you do not need to anything out of the ordinary. I just opened the hood every other morning and checked the oil and fluids and added oil if needed. Think I added a quart total.