Just curious what everyone thinks about oil changes. Normally in all my past vehicles I have changed my oil every 5000km. But on the new (2013 F150 XLT, 5.0L V8) truck I am not sure what I should be doing. All my other vehicles have been 1997 and older, so I am just not that familiar with new vehicles. Should I go by the book, or what the trucks oil life thing says? any tips?

Onto the second question about mileage, so far I only have ~1300km on my truck, and I am getting around 18L/100km (~13MPG) will this get any better? I have heard that you need to "break in" a new engine and only after a few thousand km's will you get better mileage, is this true at all? Also, can anyone comment on the accuracy of the fuel economy meter in these trucks? Not sure what to trust.

If anyone has any comments I would like to hear them!

Thanks,
Curtis

 

If you're comfortable going by Ford's recommended oil change interval or by the oil life monitor, then that's the way to go. Honestly you're perfectly safe going that way. However, there are many, including myself, who prefer to change the oil at a higher frequency. Really more a matter of personal preference than anything else.

Some have found their MPG improved after X number of miles. I have owned many new Fords over the years and have yet to own one that shows any real change in MPG after reaching the magic number of break in miles. The change I think folks see is more related to tank to tank variations in MPG then anything else.

Lastly, the fuel economy meter is pretty good. Kind of depends on the frequency that you reset it. I monitor mine tank to tank and in a spread sheet compare the MPG the truck calculates against my "hand", (really spreadsheet) calculated MPG, amongst other things. And find that over the last 92K miles the fuel economy meter is typically off by .5 MPG. So, pretty good if you ask me.

 

I've come to the conclusion to follow the oil life monitor.

I drive a company vehicle 2010 (F-150) 4.6L V8. Company will only pay for oil changes every 7500 miles. No synthetics or blends just regular oil. I'm currenlty at 150,000 miles and most of them hard considering how I drive it vs my personel ecoboost. No motor problems to date and I'm not expecting any prior to getting a new truck this summer. The rest of our company fleet is under the same program including vans full of heavy equimpment. No oil issues with them either.

Running Penzoil Platinum Synthetic in my ecoboost and following the oil life monitor. No worries.

 

Oh boy...let me start out with this:



Some people believe that you should change the oil early on the FIRST oil change (like myself) to remove a lot of the metal fragments in your motor early. I changed my oil when it had around 350 miles....yes that's right 350. Others will say it is not needed with these new motors and that you are wasting oil....that the oil filter will do it's job etc. Not all metal fragments make it to the oil filter IMO...some settle down around the oil pan and all over.

Now AFTER I changed my oil the first time I DID go by the OLM (Oil Life Monitor) and had approximately 9,800 miles on the oil before the OLM stated I needed to change the oil. I did tow some with the truck but I do believe the OLM takes that into account if it reads you are hooking up a trailer. (someone can correct me if I am wrong on this one ) I sent in my il to BlackStone Labs for analysis and they said everything looked fine and I could probably try changing my oil at 11,000 miles next time. I will attach the report.

As far as milage I started getting great milage pretty much off the bat...climbing to almost 21 at times on my stretch of road (doing 65 mph in cruise) However since then it varies...anywhere from 17-20 mpg. There are too many factors involved with fuel milage. Hope this helps!

 

As mentioned, there are many different schools of thought on changing oil. You should be fine running by the OLM. I change mine every 5k, as I only average ~10k miles annually, meaning 2 oil changes a year. I am ok with that.

As for mileage, 13MPG is a bit low, unless you are driving all city with winter fuel. What gearing do you have? My truck is a 5.0 and with 3.55s I'm seeing about 16 MPG with mixed driving. I bought my truck new and haven't seen a dramatic change in fuel mileage, aside from having to switch to winter fuel. I have 7k miles on the truck right now

 

I also have 3.55's with the 5.0L V8, since I have bought it I have only driven to work and back. From my house to work is about 17km, ~7-8km of which is city, and the other ~9-10km are highway. And it is cold here, so lots of times I warm it up for like 10 mins before work only. I will wait and see what my mileage will be in warmer weather. We are also planning a trip to the Rockies for some snowboarding in mid February so I will see some full on highway driving, she what kind of mileage I get then.

Also, thanks to everyone else who replied, I appreciate it.

 

Unless you're using your truck under what are considered "severe" conditions, you should be fine using the OLM and recommended change intervals.

 

Someone mentioned on another thread that the colder weather causes the computer to use more fuel due to the computer reading denser air mixture. I do believe that because I was getting great freeway milage with my ecoboost and 3.73 gearing TO work and about 2-3 mpg less coming home. (which is usually reversed as my trip home is downhill a lot) The difference is the colder temps going home (41 degrees) as opposed to going to work (68 degrees). It was starting the make me wonder if something was wrong until I had a dayshift yesterday and it was registering about 20 both ways.

Also as your truck breaks in more your mpg should increase some (not as tight tolerances due to break in helps free up the motor a bit).

 

Another vote for the OLM, though I do try to change when it indicates around 20% life remaining.

As far as mileage, in my '11 5.0 4x4 with a leveling kit and P265/70r17 AT3's I've been getting mid-13's mixed mileage on winter fuel for a while now.

 

I've settled into a 5-6k dump cycle.

 

How's this for oil changes. Way back when a case of oil was 24 quarts and the cans were cardboard with metal ends. The motor oil got changed once per year. Never had any motor problems. CB

 

Even with severe service you're supposed to follow the OLM. The reason they don't specify a mileage interval is because the OLM takes into account operating conditions. If you're operating in severe conditions the OLM will tell you to change the oil sooner. No thinking or guessing required.