I bought a brand new '05 F250 CC w/ 6.0 Diesel in August. The vehicle sits in my garage a lot, only drive it on weekends. I have 2300 miles on it and the oil is from the factory. When should I consider having the 1st oil change done?

I'm asking both mileage and or date?

This is my 1st ever diesel, I traded in my 2000 V10 and will never go back. The diesel is an amazing truck!

 

Im kinda wondering this to.. but from a different standpoint.. I havent bought yet.

Im in the winter states and I keep reading about everybody switching to a lighter oil in the winter. Seems kinda foolish to just change the oil already and its new. But then again if the thicker oil is gonna cause me headaches?????

FordCountry .. Id like to know what you did or didnt like about your V10, that made you wanna change!

 

the factory break in oil is 10w30. most people change it at 1500 miles or less to remove the excessive amount of metal shavings and other particles of the manufacturing process. it is a good idea to remove that. also pepole go to a oil with better cold flow properties most go with 5w40.

 

Is it ture that it is best to keep using facotry spec oil until around 10k miles before you switch to synthetic?
I know a lot of Cummins guys dont switch over to syn. till aroun 10-15k miles for break in reasons...

 

Your manual states to change oil every 5000 miles towing, 7500 miles normal service or every six months if the mileage numbers are not met.

 

First change at 1K, get the casting stuff outta there.
Second change at 3K.
Third change to synthetic at 6K.
Every 5K with synthetic thereafter.

I wouldn't worry about changing by date unless you're just barely driving the thing.

If you're letting it sit much, look into some quality fuel additive (Stanadyne, Power Service, or the Ford stuff) to keep the fuel in good shape, keep it from gelling (esp. in a cold climate), etc.

Just my $.02. My '05 has 12K on it and is running beautifully with acceptable fuel mileage given the accessories I have installed and the type of driving I do.

 

SDTruckMan,

It's a long story but here goes. I bought a 2000 CC V-10 new. It was pampered, garaged, etc. It only had 30,000 miles on it as of August 2005. I was hauling a trailer (3500 lbs at the most) for my church's youth group. We were coming home from a summer youth camp. I was leading the group School bus, vans, etc. We left several hours early so I could get the youth pastors wife and 2 small children home plus a sick student. We were out in the middle of no where when "BOOM" tick, tick, tick, Loss of power. A spark plug blew out of the cylinder. Not knowing the cause I had to hike across a couple miles of wheat fields (in flip flops) to a grain elevator to call for help. Not good when you have 2 infants and a sick student in 100 degree weather.

I was able to limp the truck to a ford dealer 120 miles away where they helicoiled the engine block and fixed the problem, $800.00 later. Let me remind you the truck only had 30,000 pampered miles on it. I was out of warranty.

The dealership had the exact truck like my 2000 XLT BUT with the 6.0 diesel... Trade in time. I LOVE the diesel, will never buy another V-10. Just my experience. I'm sure there are lots of bullet proof V-10's out there.

You can see both trucks in my gallery. Sad because I planned to keep this V-10 for many years to come, and it was paid off...

 

I changed mine at 3k, using Rotella 15w40 and a Motorcraft filter. Will do it again next week at 6k. Will run that until 10k and switch to Royal Purple, and run 5k intervals, possibly extending them based on oil samples.

That's my plan, anyway.