Break In Oil Change - Thoughts

[NickTheEnforcer]

Anthony,
Your mention of sludge reminded me of an incident when I was in High School. Worked part-time at a Texaco station. One day a customer in a Plymouth pulled in and the manager called me aside and said its OK to check this guy's oil level but don't mention an oil change or he will come unhinged. I washed his window and then pulled out the dipstick and there was some sludge on it! Never saw anything like that before . Glad he made it out of the driveway and down the street on my watch ?.

Yeah, I know the type. I was 12 or 14 and labor laws were a lot looser so I was hired and told if anyone asks you're a 'cousin' of the owner who BTW was never around. I will never forget these stupid paper cans of oil that had metal caps on either end that we had to use these openers on. what a PIA, the paper in the can tubes was foil lined but would sweat oil if they sat around too long leaving a mess everywhere, the openers were a mess. The rule was you had to 'sell' one case of oil per shift [12 quarts] or you'd get chewed out.

It was a full service Phillips 66 franchise and the owner, manager and all the shift-assistants were crooks. I saw a lot of shady shenanigan's go on there. They would go to the local u pull it yards and pull off parts, clean them up and hit them with alumna-blast and hang them on customer cars as NEW.

It's one thing to source lets say a used carb that no one has and rebuild it as long as the customer agrees to it to fix their ride. I learned a lot, they were nice to me and treated me like their kid brother...learned a lot of what NOT to do if you have a conscience.

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[CO2Ranger]

JMO. I always do the 1st LOF at 500-1k miles with a Wix [if available] filter and Synthetic, was a Mobil 1 guy for years and recently got converted to Castrol. Then 5k intervals that I may start extending b/c even though the oil is no longer 'honey colored' its not gritty...
Fluid maintenance is the most cost effective preventative maintenance you can do and really makes an impact on the longevity of some critical/costly systems.

Dont be like my neighbor who never opens the hood and runs his oil until the light comes on THEN tops it off with about 3 quarts of fresh oil..years ago when my son was young [5-8] I'd offer to change it if he bought the stuff just so he could get some practice. Once only about a quart of tar came out and the filter was filled with about a pound of sludge. My boy could not believe it.

I was certain that was going to be the last LOF b/c that sludge was probably the only thing holding that engine togather...it actually ran for another 2 years! he was on the expressway when it finally launched.

I'm brand agnostic but was using Mobil1 in my last Ranger. Curious why you switched to Castrol?

 

[OrangeStreak]

Hi Folks,

I think I might have posted this before, but Engineer Supervisor at Ford Truck (later demoted to engineer and was a poor one at that!) bought a used car for his wife...a Torino with a 400M engine if I recall the car correctly. Rolling POS, but he was super cheap. Wife had the radiator fail when out and about....she panicked and tried to make it home...it was winter and she got trapped on the wrong side of the train crossing when the gates came down, so she sat there idling with almost no coolant in the motor. Once underway and home she had blown both head gaskets. I offered to install new head gaskets...he would not pay to have the heads resurfaced. I pulled the valve covers to the motor and I could not find the valve springs...there was so much crumbly sludge that the springs were completely hidden. Mr. cheapo told me to do a bit of cleaning so I knocked most of the crud onto the concrete garage floor. Then when I pulled the intake manifold...Same deal...curd in the whole valley ... Only the pushrods sticking through the muck. Long story short...new gaskets and told him to get an oil change. He gave it back to the wife and told her to get the oil changed...he could not be bothered with such a task...so she dutifully did a jiffy lube visit...they told her the oil was only sludge, No real oil So she told them to change what they could and dump in fresh oil as best they could. I was amazed that the car was still running when they moved to a "better school system". Never really had any more contact with him as Ford moved him to the exit as a poor performer...

I was amazed the motor lasted a week...

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Phil,
You would think that these "sludgers" would have enough sense to at least change to some fresher sludge occasionally and give their motors an edge for survival

 

[AzScorpion]

JMO. I always do the 1st LOF at 500-1k miles with a Wix [if available] filter and Synthetic, was a Mobil 1 guy for years and recently got converted to Castrol. Then 5k intervals that I may start extending b/c even though the oil is no longer 'honey colored' its not gritty...
Fluid maintenance is the most cost effective preventative maintenance you can do and really makes an impact on the longevity of some critical/costly systems.

Dont be like my neighbor who never opens the hood and runs his oil until the light comes on THEN tops it off with about 3 quarts of fresh oil..years ago when my son was young [5-8] I'd offer to change it if he bought the stuff just so he could get some practice. Once only about a quart of tar came out and the filter was filled with about a pound of sludge. My boy could not believe it.

I was certain that was going to be the last LOF b/c that sludge was probably the only thing holding that engine togather...it actually ran for another 2 years! he was on the expressway when it finally launched.

Nick, It could've been worse. Take a look at this oil jello change.

 

[Blue Streak]

I would go with the 3000 mile change in OHIO just for piece of mind. I have been on a 5000 mile interval since new. Dealer did first 3, I have done the others now at 28500 plus. I believe the early long road trip will be good break in for your truck. I do not have a fuel dilution issue. Back in the late 70s early 80s I had a friend that drove a 60s model F series. All he did was fill the oil & checked the gas, leaked so bad you could allways tell were he parked by the size of the puddle. He would put on a new filter every now & then never changed the oil because it did not stay in long enough to get dirty.

 

[fob63]

Nice info here!
Now, what if you're a low mileage driver, like myself?
I took my truck into Ford service it had 1371 miles and Ford Pass showed oil life at 19% after 10 months. Almost two months later it shows 1582 and 91% oil life???
I'll never reach the 5K before oil life in Ford Pass shows a warning! Since they monitor this info, what happens, lets say a year goes by and I only have 3k or so miles and the dealer oil change sticker shows 6371 or the date? I know somewhat about evaporation and contamination problems but since I have used Mobile 1 for decades with a fully synthetic filter , then how does the Ford Pass monitoring system determine oil life?
Thanks...

 

[Leftcoast]

I would go with the 3000 mile change in OHIO just for piece of mind. I have been on a 5000 mile interval since new. Dealer did first 3, I have done the others now at 28500 plus. I believe the early long road trip will be good break in for your truck. I do not have a fuel dilution issue. Back in the late 70s early 80s I had a friend that drove a 60s model F series. All he did was fill the oil & checked the gas, leaked so bad you could allways tell were he parked by the size of the puddle. He would put on a new filter every now & then never changed the oil because it did not stay in long enough to get dirty.

That was probably one of the vehicles that you smell them before you see them.

 

[VAMike]

Nice info here!
Now, what if you're a low mileage driver, like myself?
I took my truck into Ford service it had 1371 miles and Ford Pass showed oil life at 19% after 10 months. Almost two months later it shows 1582 and 91% oil life???
I'll never reach the 5K before oil life in Ford Pass shows a warning! Since they monitor this info, what happens, lets say a year goes by and I only have 3k or so miles and the dealer oil change sticker shows 6371 or the date? I know somewhat about evaporation and contamination problems but since I have used Mobile 1 for decades with a fully synthetic filter , then how does the Ford Pass monitoring system determine oil life?
Thanks...

You'll hit about the one year mark and get a change notice.

 

[FX4Offroad]

There is no "break in" oil. I just monitor my level and change it as defined in the OM.

Your vehicle, your choice though.

lol. Trying to avoid an argument? Lets hope it works!

 

[SemperVee]

I did my break in at 2000 and again at 4800. I think that break in oil was different then the normal oil. My Dealer uses mobil 1 and I am oK with that. Luckily I got a 3 year 10 oil change package when I purchased the PU for no extra cost. Presently 2,000 miles later my Ranger is reporting only 40% oil life left so >> going by the sensor as I do alot of short trips around town.

 

[Stevo]

Hi All, new, happy owner of a 2021 4x4 Lariat Crew Cab. I picked it up in Boise last Saturday and drove back to Seattle - the truck has about 700 miles on it. I'm leaving next week for New York for a couple of months - driving the Ranger there and back. Was thinking I should do a 'break in' oil change before I leave (probably will have 800 miles only). That way, when I'm back in August the truck will have about 8000 miles on it (mostly highway) and ready for oil change two. What do you folks think about changing prior to my leaving at a fairly low mileage?

I changed mine around 4000 miles.. I had the truck in for some strange noise it has all the time... I figured if they're going to have it for the day they may as well change the oil.. I have always figured one should change the oil sooner than later on any new engine.. I wish I had changed all the fluids actually. ... Never did find out about the noise.. It was raining the day they had it and the wet tires wiped out the sound... Next time

 

[jdagg2003]

Thursday I am doing my "break in" oil change at 11 months, 9870 miles. I don't have any concerns but I am sending a sample to Blackstone so I can add a data point to all the fuel dilution threads.

 

[Opusnbill7]

I would go with the 3000 mile change in OHIO just for piece of mind. I have been on a 5000 mile interval since new. Dealer did first 3, I have done the others now at 28500 plus. I believe the early long road trip will be good break in for your truck. I do not have a fuel dilution issue. Back in the late 70s early 80s I had a friend that drove a 60s model F series. All he did was fill the oil & checked the gas, leaked so bad you could allways tell were he parked by the size of the puddle. He would put on a new filter every now & then never changed the oil because it did not stay in long enough to get dirty.

Funny enough my parents used to have a car like that. Even funnier is the engine was made in the same plant as our engine (351C). Hopefully they're a little better at it now...

 

[JesseS]

I worked at an Orbit station as a teenager (1964), and they wanted me to 'short stick' all of the woman drivers. This is basically using the rag to 'wipe' the oil level on the dipstick down a quart when you pull it from the tube, you walk to their window and tell them thay are a quart low and that's not good, and should you add a quart. They always said yes, so you get an empty (paper) oil can with the opened end down on the rag in your hand, push in the opener/spout and pretend to empty it into the car. This was how the station manager 'sold' a case of air to people every day. He would also hide a straight edge razor blade in the rag when checking the fan belt, cut a slice into it then tell the driver he had a bad belt and it needed changing. He was a scumbag, my Dad made me quit, but I was already on the way out for not selling enough 'oil'.

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