Low Mileage and Oil Change

[Voltune]

I purchased a 2019 Ranger in late July 2019. I have not put a lot of mileage on the vehicle yet. After six months, I currently have 2700 miles on it. The FordPass app says my oil life is 55% and estimates a change is due in June 2020. That would be almost one year before my first oil change. That seems like a long time with no change.

What does the manufacturer recommend in my situation with low mileage? Should I go ahead and get the oil changed now or is it ok to wait until I hit 5000 miles regardless of the duration of time with no change.

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[SubVet]

I purchased a 2019 Ranger in late July 2019. I have not put a lot of mileage on the vehicle yet. After six months, I currently have 2700 miles on it. The FordPass app says my oil life is 55% and estimates a change is due in June 2020. That would be almost one year before my first oil change. That seems like a long time with no change.

What does the manufacturer recommend in my situation with low mileage? Should I go ahead and get the oil changed now or is it ok to wait until I hit 5000 miles regardless of the duration of time with no change.

I think you'll find changing the oil every 5000 miles is probably Overkill but that's what I'm doing. I just had the truck in for the recall and had them change the oil while I was there. 50 bucks at the dealer and they check everything else.I think it would cost me thirty-five bucks to do it at home.

I've had my truck since March and have 3500 miles on it which means I'll be changing the oil once a year regardless of miles

 

[Voltune]

I think you'll find changing the oil every 5000 miles is probably Overkill but that's what I'm doing. I just had the truck in for the recall and had them change the oil while I was there. 50 bucks at the dealer and they check everything else.I think it would cost me thirty-five bucks to do it at home.

I've had my truck since May and have 3500 miles on it which means I'll be changing the oil once a year regardless of miles

I also just received a recall notice in the mail. That sounds like a good idea - take the vehicle in for the recall and change the oil at same time regardless of the miles.

 

[HenryMac]

I purchased a 2019 Ranger in late July 2019. I have not put a lot of mileage on the vehicle yet. After six months, I currently have 2700 miles on it. The FordPass app says my oil life is 55% and estimates a change is due in June 2020. That would be almost one year before my first oil change. That seems like a long time with no change.

What does the manufacturer recommend in my situation with low mileage? Should I go ahead and get the oil changed now or is it ok to wait until I hit 5000 miles regardless of the duration of time with no change.

Page 437 of your Owners Manual...

 

[Voltune]

Thank you for pointing that out! I obviously missed that block of text in the manual.

 

[AzScorpion]

I purchased a 2019 Ranger in late July 2019. I have not put a lot of mileage on the vehicle yet. After six months, I currently have 2700 miles on it. The FordPass app says my oil life is 55% and estimates a change is due in June 2020. That would be almost one year before my first oil change. That seems like a long time with no change.

What does the manufacturer recommend in my situation with low mileage? Should I go ahead and get the oil changed now or is it ok to wait until I hit 5000 miles regardless of the duration of time with no change.

I'm kind of in the same boat as you,I don't put a lot of miles on mine either. I bought mine in July too and I get 2 years of free oil changes and the dealer told me it had to be at least 6 month or 5,000 mile like John pointed out above. I would just do it every 6 months or run a full synthetic and you can go a little longer but personally it's cheap insurance to just change it twice a year.

 

[808matt]

Same here. Purchased in July and only got 2500 miles. Every 6 months will have to be it

 

[Snorebaby]

I had mine changed at 6 months because it was free. It was 4k miles. I will do it again in April (6 mo). Probably yearly after that. I don't expect to drive it more than 8k year.

 

[Radioman]

I have struggled with the same question. My wife passed away in Jan. 2018 and I now have four vehicles. I probably will have less than 2,000 miles on any one of them in a year. I finally decided to put full synthetic oil in each vehicle and change the oil once a year. I live in a mild climate without excessive heat or cold. The new Ranger has about 400 miles on it now and I plan to change the oil around the 6 month mark (unless the oil monitor tells my different) and then use full synthetic oil and put it on a yearly schedule along with the other vehicles. I do plan on selling the Tundra leaving me with three vehicles.

 

[rang19ca]

I have struggled with the same question. My wife passed away in Jan. 2018 and I now have four vehicles. I probably will have less than 2,000 miles on any one of them in a year. I finally decided to put full synthetic oil in each vehicle and change the oil once a year. I live in a mild climate without excessive heat or cold. The new Ranger has about 400 miles on it now and I plan to change the oil around the 6 month mark (unless the oil monitor tells my different) and then use full synthetic oil and put it on a yearly schedule along with the other vehicles. I do plan on selling the Tundra leaving me with three vehicles.

Sorry to here about your wife's passing. You can get away with changing oil only 1 time per year if you don't drive a lot of miles.

 

[JimJa]

Ask your dealer what type of oil he is using. i'm willing to bet they use "blend" not pure synthetic. A large dealer might have synthetic available but won't use it unless you ask (and pay extra) for it. Smaller dealers won't even carry it. I would not go a year with any oil other than synthetic. Oil itself never loses it ability to lubricate, but the consumable, the additive package, is much larger on dino and blend oils, more so than synthetic and those additives age. It's why, in doing research, it is said to not use "old" oil (but also because newer oil is "better," with different additive packages. Oil it constantly being improved).

A lot also depends upon how long you intend to keep your truck. At purchase, most people will say they are going to keep a vehicle "until the wheels fall off," but if you are honest with yourself that doesn't seem to hold. For me, it's about eight years and 140-175,000 miles. If you trade every 60-80,000 miles you are unlikely to have a problem changing once a year with whatever oil the dealer uses. Go for real synthetic if you plan on keep your truck a long time and put a lot of miles on it.

I also know that every time the subject of oil comes up it starts a "food fight" and someone is sure to say you don't know what your are talking about, regardless of the position you take. I do have a little creditability since I'm an old retired guy and because of my Father and grew up in the oil industry.

 

[jsphlynch]

I also know that every time the subject of oil comes up it starts a "food fight" and someone is sure to say you don't know what your are talking about, regardless of the position you take.

I know what you mean. I once tried perusing the forums at Bob Is the Oil Guy. Seemed like every thread devolved into a food fight of "I always use Brand X oil/filter/additive and I've never had a problems, which just goes to show how good it is" versus "I can't believe you use Brand X anything! My mailman's brother-in-law's cousin is a mechanic and he would NEVER use Brand X because it's the cause of every failure he'd ever seen in his shop!"

 

[ZCoker]

Good to change the oil in a relatively shorter time when new, in my opinion, especially with a turbo motor. Engine break-in, things like that add contaminants that should be flushed. I'm having mine changed @ 3k miles and then will follow the recommended change protocol thereafter.

 

[JimJa]

@joe. You hit another button...oil filters. There are many Youtube clips on various filters but something never addressed is - the filter medium. If it is as all mentioned, the length of the filter material is what seems to indicate whether or not one filter is better than another. What is not mentioned is the ability of the medium to actually filter. For example, would 50' of window screen material filter better than 3' of actual filter material. The answer is obvious. Most filter material can only filter down to 25-30 microns. The reason being through-put. Any finer inhibits the ability of oil to move through the engine as required for proper lube. Damage can occur down to 15 microns. If you are really concerned to the point you want to filter down to 15 (or less) microns, you'll have to install a by-pass filter. I

I've used the cheapest filter and the most expensive and have never had an oil or oil filter related failure. Nor do I know of anyone that has has a filter related failure. All of the talk about a failure is hear-say or I know a guy that... Vehicles today will easily last 150-200,000 miles with routine service and it's more important to do that service than worrying about this or that filter.

Let the nay-sayers begin...

 

[t4thfavor]

@joe. You hit another button...oil filters. There are many Youtube clips on various filters but something never addressed is - the filter medium. If it is as all mentioned, the length of the filter material is what seems to indicate whether or not one filter is better than another. What is not mentioned is the ability of the medium to actually filter. For example, would 50' of window screen material filter better than 3' of actual filter material. The answer is obvious. Most filter material can only filter down to 25-30 microns. The reason being through-put. Any finer inhibits the ability of oil to move through the engine as required for proper lube. Damage can occur down to 15 microns. If you are really concerned to the point you want to filter down to 15 (or less) microns, you'll have to install a by-pass filter. I

I've used the cheapest filter and the most expensive and have never had an oil or oil filter related failure. Nor do I know of anyone that has has a filter related failure. All of the talk about a failure is hear-say or I know a guy that... Vehicles today will easily last 150-200,000 miles with routine service and it's more important to do that service than worrying about this or that filter.

Let the nay-sayers begin...

Just to clarify for people not versed in the way of the oil filter.

All modern filters behave in "bypass" mode as in some oil goes through the medium, and some goes through the pressure bypass valve. As the filter picks up contaminants, less and less oil makes it through the filter.

An actual "Bypass" filter diverts a portion of the oil flow and "forces" all of it to go through a small sized medium to be filtered entirely.

The length of the filter medium is commonly used in youtube videos because they often assume they are of the same screen size and material which is obviously not going to be correct.

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