Hey folks

I just bought a 2011 6.2l f-250. I was trying to decide if the prepaid maintenance plan was worth it, so I asked in the service department how much a service was and how often. They told me that Canada is sever service and is every 8000kms. I asked why and they told me just couse that what ford told them. I don't see how, I don't do any of the sever service things, ie dusty operation, excessive idling, max towing....

Is the dealer just trying to make more money in the service department. The other thing that makes me wonder is when I asked about the services they looked it up on the ford maintenance computer and had to put in that I was in dusty conditions or towing to get it to say 8000kms. Then the "plan" was 8000 then 4000 then 8000 then 4000 and so on. He said just to ignore the 4000 ones. It was also weird that it also required trans oil changes ever 48000kms, air filters every time, tire rotations every time. This is different than the owners manual. This was in the ford service computer, so it doesn't even sound like its the right engine. It says 6.2l triton 3v.

 

How much is this plan? And exactly how many oil changes and such does it include?

Can you do it yourself for less money?

 

Monsta is definitely on the right track there.


There is a table on page 70 of the Diesel Supplement (4th Printing) that explains the service intervals.

• Normal - 12,000 - 16,000 km / 300 - 400 hours
  • No, or limited to moderate, load/towing
  • Flat to moderately hilly roads
  • No extended idling
• Severe - 8,000 - 11,999 km / 200 - 299 hours
  • Moderate to heavy load/towing
  • Mountainous or off-road conditions
  • Extended idling
  • Extended hot or cold operation
• Extreme - 2,500 - 4,999 km / 100 - 199 hours
  • Maximum load/towing
  • Extreme hot or cold operation

I suspect that the dealership is claiming Canadian winters = extended cold operation. But that is just my guess. I would take a sincere look at the list & determine for yourself what service schedule you should be following.


If you do have the time, space, and inclination to do your own oil changes, go find out the costs of your preferred oil & oil filter. If you have to pay someone for disposing of the old oil, add that in with your oil & filter to get your rough cost for a standard oil change.

Read through the Diesel Supplemental, and determine what other routine maintenance costs you will incur (like fuel filters). Price those & get them into your maintenance costs.

Determine how many miles you anticipate putting on the truck over the course of a year, and multiply that by the number of years that the quoted maintenance service plan would provide coverage. From there it is pretty easy to determine how much your anticipated maintenance costs will be over that period of time.


Back when I went through this exercise, I had almost everything figured out with the exception of an automatic transmission service. For that, I added in a generic $80 per service cost, as that is pretty commonly advertised charge. When I compared my numbers to theirs, it was no comparison. Their maintenance plan was almost half the price of what I had calculated as my costs. I spent about an hour going back over my numbers & reading through the provisions of their maintenance plan, and I could not find anything that I had missed originally. Needless to say, I bought that maintenance plan.


(To this day, I honestly think that the finance person mistakenly quoted me for a 5.4L Super Duty, not a 6.0L PSD.)

 

This is for a gas 6.2. The plan is 1150 for 3 years 6 services or 2080 for 6 years 12 services. I have no pro lems changing my own oil. Its just the dealer kinda threatened to void warranty if I did it myself and didn't have concerte proof. So I was considered the prepaid to avoid the hassel.

 

Proof is easy. Just keep an oil change log on a piece of paper in the garage. Stick it to a metal cabinet with a strong magnet and it won't get lost. Record the date and mileage of last change. If you're worried about having enough proof, then tape the paper sheet to an envelope full of the oil & filter receipts. Or if you want to get real fancy then hang a clip board on the wall.

 

So does anyone else from Canada know if we follow special service or normal service. I know in the winter we are probably special, but why in the summer? What do your dealers tell you?

Anybody have a copy of the owners manual? My truck is on order and won't be here for 6 to 8 weeks.

 

I knew I should not have posted while waiting for my morning coffee to brew!! I was obviously having issues reading issues, and read 6.4L (PSD) instead of 6.2L.

If you head over to Motorcraft Service's website, you can download a PDF version of most owner manuals, supplements, and quick reference cards that come with new vehicles.


As for voiding warranty, that is quite simply not true. As others have stated, keep the receipts for your oil & filters, and you will have reasonable proof of maintenance. You can back that up by keeping a small log book where you right down the date & mileage for your work, and that will help cover you/bolster your case.

 

Well according to that owners manual, I don't see any reason why I would need more than 12,000kms services. There is no cold weather service or anything. And it looks like there is only oil changes and inspections. Looks like a cheap truck to maintain, especially if I change the oil myself.

 

Well, I'm going to let the oil life monitoring system take care of telling me when to do oil changes in my rig. 2000 km (1250 miles...) of towing and still showing 100% life on the oil.