Too often is a waste of money and resources but that's none of the techs business.
Oil Change Interval
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Lead Foot User
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 773
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From: Saskatchewan, Canada
Oil Change Interval
Hey Guys,
What is the consensus on oil change intervals? A co-worker has a new GM and just took his in for a change before the "on board monitor" recommended it and the mechanics told him that he could void his warranty if he changes the oil too often. Has anyone ever heard of anything so stupid? I'm going to run full synthetic and plan to change it every 10,000km. I realize that is premature especially since I do almost no towing or city driving but it's just cheap piece of mind to me. Just curious what others are doing and if there are potential warranty issues involved? Thanks
What is the consensus on oil change intervals? A co-worker has a new GM and just took his in for a change before the "on board monitor" recommended it and the mechanics told him that he could void his warranty if he changes the oil too often. Has anyone ever heard of anything so stupid? I'm going to run full synthetic and plan to change it every 10,000km. I realize that is premature especially since I do almost no towing or city driving but it's just cheap piece of mind to me. Just curious what others are doing and if there are potential warranty issues involved? Thanks
Cargo Master
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 2,616
Likes: 1,190
From: Door Cty/Florida
The dealer's oil change place always asks, do you want 3,000 miles or 5,000 on the sticker. They never say, "Hey!, we don't want to see you back here until the change oil light/message comes on".
I change my oil in the 5-6000 mile range, change my air filter at 20,000 miles, fuel filers at 15,000. I also agree that it's waste of resources. Old habits are hard to break. I like my truck and want to treat it well so that it lasts for a long time.
bruce....
I change my oil in the 5-6000 mile range, change my air filter at 20,000 miles, fuel filers at 15,000. I also agree that it's waste of resources. Old habits are hard to break. I like my truck and want to treat it well so that it lasts for a long time.
bruce....
Junior User
Joined: Nov 2007
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Anybody changing their oil when the computer says to... and what is that mileage?
Would be interesting to hear what mileage the computer says and if it lines up with a Blackstone sample.
I understand every scenario is different... towing, city driving, idle times, etc...
I'm going to watch this thread. I have a 15 f350 and just turned its first thousand miles. Haven't decided if I should wait for the truck to tell me to change the oil or set mileage goals.
Would be interesting to hear what mileage the computer says and if it lines up with a Blackstone sample.
I understand every scenario is different... towing, city driving, idle times, etc...
I'm going to watch this thread. I have a 15 f350 and just turned its first thousand miles. Haven't decided if I should wait for the truck to tell me to change the oil or set mileage goals.
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Joined: Feb 2005
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From: The Great State of Texas
Anybody changing their oil when the computer says to... and what is that mileage?
Would be interesting to hear what mileage the computer says and if it lines up with a Blackstone sample.
I understand every scenario is different... towing, city driving, idle times, etc...
I'm going to watch this thread. I have a 15 f350 and just turned its first thousand miles. Haven't decided if I should wait for the truck to tell me to change the oil or set mileage goals.
Would be interesting to hear what mileage the computer says and if it lines up with a Blackstone sample.
I understand every scenario is different... towing, city driving, idle times, etc...
I'm going to watch this thread. I have a 15 f350 and just turned its first thousand miles. Haven't decided if I should wait for the truck to tell me to change the oil or set mileage goals.
I did a test and let my OLM run the full course to see when it told me to change my oil and the change oil message came on at 7,500 miles.
I do my own oil changes 5,000 - 5,500 miles just to error on the safe side.
Lead Driver
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 6,600
Likes: 84
I'll throw in my long winded response.
First change was at either 4200 or 4700, I can't remember.
Then changed several within the 5,000 range, over time pushing it to 6,000 all on 15w40 Motorcraft.
For the past two changes, I switched to Rotella T6 and follow the computer, which has alerted around 7,000 both times. I'm at 64k now.
Fully completing regenerations at highway speeds (as many as possible) is the key to low fuel in the oil which in theory should mean slightly longer oil changes.
Cancelling regens and low speed regens will increase the amount of fuel in the oil.
Over time, for the heck of it and at the cost of some diesel, I monitored this behavior and is how I figured that out.
Even when I didn't care, the fuel was at 2.0%, Ford says to keep it under 7%. Spend a lot of time on the highway and fuel will be <0.5%.
I change fuel filters at 15k.
First change was at either 4200 or 4700, I can't remember.
Then changed several within the 5,000 range, over time pushing it to 6,000 all on 15w40 Motorcraft.
For the past two changes, I switched to Rotella T6 and follow the computer, which has alerted around 7,000 both times. I'm at 64k now.
Fully completing regenerations at highway speeds (as many as possible) is the key to low fuel in the oil which in theory should mean slightly longer oil changes.
Cancelling regens and low speed regens will increase the amount of fuel in the oil.
Over time, for the heck of it and at the cost of some diesel, I monitored this behavior and is how I figured that out.
Even when I didn't care, the fuel was at 2.0%, Ford says to keep it under 7%. Spend a lot of time on the highway and fuel will be <0.5%.
I change fuel filters at 15k.
Junior User
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 77
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I think the 5,000-5,500 mark is safe. This is what I'll stick with unless I hear otherwise.
Thanks for the info.
1st post, long time lurker, recently joined as an FTE member. I work for Ford btw and my name is Paul.
The 6.7L is more efficient from a base engine design perspective. Migrating to the CGI block material from grey iron results in much less cylinder bore distortion as well. DPF regeneration impact on oil has also been reduced significantly by using fewer "active" DPF regen cycles (post injection) in favor of "passive" regen.
The end result is far less fuel in oil dilution under most operating conditions. Extended idle and low speed stationary power applications can accelerate fuel in oil percentages over time to some extent. Truck operation at moderate highway speeds will keep this in check.
The oil life monitor/systems programming is designed such that it monitors the engines operating parameters (temp, speed, engine load, frequency of dpf regen events, etc.) and adjust oil change intervals accordingly. Some of our fleet development vehicles such as FP&L have reported >9K miles before the oil monitor activated. Note that these fleet test vehicles, along with the others we have across the country have an oil analysis performed after every oil change in most cases.
During engine development it was determined that DSI (down stream injection or 9th injector) was less desireable for a number of factors for this engine program. Refinement of the active/passive regeneration strategy, eliminating the complexity of having another low pressure fuel system to manage, improved engine efficiency and the cost were just a few of the variables.
My intent is to post from time to time when the opportunity presents itself and learn what I can to help make our products better in the future. Please know that I only frequent FTE once a week or so when workload permits and athough unfortuneately I'm unable to respond to every question or concern on the forum regarding the 6.7L or Super Duty, I will try to provide relevant information when/where I can (such as above) within the guidelines of the company. Typically I've found that hearing direct feedback from multiple owners on a particular topic/thread provides a good overview of what the good the bad and the ugly is.
Thanks for your time, have a great day!
-Paul
Disclaimer: I work at Ford, and this is my own opinion and is not the opinion of Ford Motor Company.
The 6.7L is more efficient from a base engine design perspective. Migrating to the CGI block material from grey iron results in much less cylinder bore distortion as well. DPF regeneration impact on oil has also been reduced significantly by using fewer "active" DPF regen cycles (post injection) in favor of "passive" regen.
The end result is far less fuel in oil dilution under most operating conditions. Extended idle and low speed stationary power applications can accelerate fuel in oil percentages over time to some extent. Truck operation at moderate highway speeds will keep this in check.
The oil life monitor/systems programming is designed such that it monitors the engines operating parameters (temp, speed, engine load, frequency of dpf regen events, etc.) and adjust oil change intervals accordingly. Some of our fleet development vehicles such as FP&L have reported >9K miles before the oil monitor activated. Note that these fleet test vehicles, along with the others we have across the country have an oil analysis performed after every oil change in most cases.
During engine development it was determined that DSI (down stream injection or 9th injector) was less desireable for a number of factors for this engine program. Refinement of the active/passive regeneration strategy, eliminating the complexity of having another low pressure fuel system to manage, improved engine efficiency and the cost were just a few of the variables.
My intent is to post from time to time when the opportunity presents itself and learn what I can to help make our products better in the future. Please know that I only frequent FTE once a week or so when workload permits and athough unfortuneately I'm unable to respond to every question or concern on the forum regarding the 6.7L or Super Duty, I will try to provide relevant information when/where I can (such as above) within the guidelines of the company. Typically I've found that hearing direct feedback from multiple owners on a particular topic/thread provides a good overview of what the good the bad and the ugly is.
Thanks for your time, have a great day!
-Paul
Disclaimer: I work at Ford, and this is my own opinion and is not the opinion of Ford Motor Company.
That little disclaimer at the bottom has me scratching my head.
Lead Driver
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 6,600
Likes: 84
He was an engineer at Ford who worked on this engine. He was here on his own helping us out until he was reassigned to take on a new task. If he said something that caused your engine to grenade, you couldn't blame Ford because he wasn't here at Ford's request.
He was very helpful.
He was very helpful.
Senior User
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 463
Likes: 1
From: San Marcos, TX
Anybody changing their oil when the computer says to... and what is that mileage?
Would be interesting to hear what mileage the computer says and if it lines up with a Blackstone sample.
I understand every scenario is different... towing, city driving, idle times, etc...
I'm going to watch this thread. I have a 15 f350 and just turned its first thousand miles. Haven't decided if I should wait for the truck to tell me to change the oil or set mileage goals.
Would be interesting to hear what mileage the computer says and if it lines up with a Blackstone sample.
I understand every scenario is different... towing, city driving, idle times, etc...
I'm going to watch this thread. I have a 15 f350 and just turned its first thousand miles. Haven't decided if I should wait for the truck to tell me to change the oil or set mileage goals.
The first message on my 2012 was 10,200. Questionable in my opinion.
Junior User
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 77
Likes: 0
That would freak me out lol.
It might be perfectly okay but between here and friends/family nobody changes it when the computer says so.
I would really like to hear from someone who went your mileage and got an oil analysis.
It might be perfectly okay but between here and friends/family nobody changes it when the computer says so.
I would really like to hear from someone who went your mileage and got an oil analysis.
Senior User
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 463
Likes: 1
From: San Marcos, TX
But then I guess some people would never change their oil unless something reminded them. So 10k is better than not.