Purchased my first diesel truck in October and just had my first oil change at 3,000 miles. Was done at dealership and sticker tag on windshield says I should be back in 6 months or 6,000 miles. I don’t tow much but a local diesel mechanic who has been in business from over 40 years told me that I should change oil at 3,000 mile intervals no matter my driving habbits. While it can’t hurt to change at 3,000 miles, is this common practice or overkill with today’s engines and advanced oils?

 

I would listen to your mechanic, sound like he has kids attending Harvard and hes getting the bills.

 

I wait for the truck to tell me when.

 

For your own peace of mind, Spend the few dollars that an oil analysis will cost. I sent in oil samples at 5,000, and again at 6,000 and finally at 7,000. All samples came back good. So I just use the Oil Life Monitor that is built into your truck.

It will pop up on your command center screen every time you need an oil change. Which for my driving is about every 7,500 miles.

The days of needing an oil change every 3,000 miles are over and it's just a waste of modern oil.

 

I change my 6.7 every 5-6000 mi. The only reason to do it every 3000 mi. would be due to lots of short trip driving, in which case you probably shouldn't be driving a diesel anyway.

 

Most of my driving is short driving, I drive a diesel because I ocassinally tow a 27 foot travel trailer and boat. And while I probably can tow this with an F150 or a gasser, I like the look of F250 so that’s what I bought. I change my own oil and only got first one at dealership because it was free. So since most of my driving is short trips, I will do oil changes at 3,000 miles. I may get oil analyzed as one person recommended.

 

Why not change it when the truck ask for it ?

Changed mine at 9300 miles

 

I go by the truck, I also do mostly short trips and have nothing heavy to tow, super duty 6.7 just makes me feel cool.

 

hahah i might have to agree with on that! i don't need a diesel what so ever, but i got a fully loaded XLT f-250 for 43k out the door! where my gas job truck was 41k with the same options but non diesel! my brother calls me the "pavement princess" and the "mall crawler "

 

Very much overkill. The owner's manual specifies 7,000 miles for extreme duty service. Do your wallet and the environment a favor and go by the truck's mileage minder. It's not just a simple count down device; the truck monitors all kinds of parameters, including EGT, mileage, idle time etc. to alert you when it needs changed.

 

I'm sure Ford has created an algorithm that is geared toward making your engine last as long as possible. That way the need to buy a new vehicle is reduced and the consumer is better served in the long run...right?


I'm not one to blindly trust their random number generator when it comes to keeping an engine lasting a long time. I have 3 vehicles, each with over 240,000 miles on them and the engines in each runs flawlessly. I believe this is due to my more than necessary oil changes. So be it, I'll be dropping the oil every 5-6,000 miles and rotating the tires at the same time to keep things simple. I don't mind the task and on a $60,000 purchase you are only saving at most $200 a year and why risk the longevity and performance of the engine over an oil change or two per year.

 

Mileage interval between major overhaul is generally 250,000 to 350,000 miles for diesels, 150,000 - 200,000 miles for gassers.. All the major engine manufacturers endurance test to this standard following the maintenance schedule in the owners manual. This means using the oil weight and quality recommended in the manual and changing according to the IOLM.


Maybe. Maybe not. As you do not have any cars at 240K that had the oil changed only when necessary, you really do not know one way or the other.

Personally, I know of several gas engines that have gone 150k miles+ changed only according to the manual and using whatever oil came out of the jug at Quikie-Lube.

I own a 1982 F100 with a 300 inline 6. The truck has not been pampered and has 120k miles. Does not burn oil. Does not drip oil.

In my lifetime, which has been longer than I want to admit, I do not know of anyone that has lost an engine due to an oil related problem. I am sure that others have examples, but in my experience, worrying about oil quality and oil change intervals is like worrying about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

I see this justification often and it is not without merit. $200 is $200. Yours to waste, if you want. But recommending that others follow your lead is not justified based on your post.

 

As long as you go by the manual as a minimum you will be fine. You pick a mileage interval that works for you. With that said, I always go by the severe duty schedule and change oil & filter early.

 

When I bought my 2017 F250, the service manager told me to change the oil at 7500 mile intervals and change the fuel filters every other oil change.

 

Oil change intervals, and the timer, aren't set just by what is optimal for the engine. There's other influences. What can we get away with, to match competitors BS intervals? What can we get away with to save the customer some money? What does the EPA prefer? What looks good in the owners manual?

Can we use 5w20 baby oil to reduce emissions and increase fuel economy? Remember that nonsense? That was great for the average modular user. Weird how all the Ford techs continued to run 5w30 in their trucks during that time.

I'm another master tech that changes his own oil at 3000 miles.