Oil change 3,000 or 5,000 miles?

[A Tale Of Two Rangers]

Technically it may be there (someday) but to the extent it's being shoved down our throats by you know who by cutting off our pipelines to raise the price of gas so high we are forced into electric before it's time is shameful to say it so I don't get kicked off this forum.

I'm not sure what you mean by "before it's time?"
I think this is one of those market driven decisions. Yes, there will be government incentives that drive demand but for the most part we, as consumers, will be able to choose the type of vehicle we buy for quite some time.
I have a plug in hybrid and it's great. Sort of the best of both worlds right now. Around town we don't burn a drop of gas until the sensor says we can't run electric in case the gas goes stale.
I have several friends that have full electric cars and they say they would never go back. Literally no maintenance, a little hard on tires due to the weight, but range anxiety disappeared after just a few months.
All that said, I love my trucks. Probably won't even consider the electric F-150 or Chevy Silverado as I just can't justify a $100,000+ vehicle. Now, the new Corvette is a different story.

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[Husky44]

First oil change 1k miles, second 3k miles. 5k miles on my 2021 and will change the oil, both axles and transfer case fluids tomorrow.
In 45+-years of driving always over maintained (?) my vehicles and have never lost an engine, axle or transmission and that includes my motorcycles.

 

[Hellrazor]

I have about 3,200 miles and I keep getting "Urgent - oil change past due" The service guy said I didn't need to change it until 5,000 miles. Is this true and if so how can I turn off the warning message?

I change mine every 3000 and the filter every 6000 with OEM oil

 

[Jschroen85]

I have 5,087 miles on my truck and it says I’m around 50% oil life left. I’ll do mine at 10,000 miles when it says it’s time to change the oil.

 

[ArchitectThom]

I have about 3,200 miles and I keep getting "Urgent - oil change past due" The service guy said I didn't need to change it until 5,000 miles. Is this true and if so how can I turn off the warning message?

Just my two cents...

The days of "every 3,000 miles" have been over for a while now. Technology in engine manufacturing these days has improved to the point where it would be silly to change the oil any less than 5,000 miles. That's the interval I change mine at, and it probably doesn't even really need it THAT often. I just feel comfortable with that because it's easy to keep track of on the odometer. Rotate the tires at the same time.

It's been a long time since I've seen any car at all have their owner's manual recommend any oil change interval at less than 5,000 miles. In my last vehicle, it was recommended every 7,500 miles. I still changed it every 5,000, though, just because it made me feel better.

If, for some reason, you've spent your last oil change interval driving really hard, towing a LOT, mountain climbing, off-roading and all that other fun stuff, then maybe yeah, I could see changing it at 3,000 miles that once. But even then, I just don't see an advantage other than making yourself feel better about it.

 

[Jason B]

I'll do it at 5-6K, but I am not going sweat it if I go longer than that. And with Ford's $65 Fast Lane The Works package, there's no way I'm doing it myself. It would cost me $35 - $40 just for oil and filter, so an additional $25 for labor and tire rotation is a deal.

 

[RoadBoss]

The Ford oil life monitor uses an algorithm that uses miles, start cycles, and length, etc. to determine when to change the oil.

The description in the manual states it's an intelligent monitor and the oil change indicator may come on up to 10k milestone year. With the way I drive it is around 7500 miles and it varies. I have seen it as low as less than 7000 miles and over 8000 miles.

Do you know how it determines what kind of oil you use?

I used conventional oil for my first two changes, and the indicator came on at about 5k miles. I switched to synthetic on my last change and I'm now at about 8k miles, and it says I have around 1700 left. Just trying to figure out how it calculates this, or if there's some sort of optics or sensor that can actually determine how dirty or broken down the oil is.

 

[Silver]

I'm not sure what you mean by "before it's time?"
I think this is one of those market driven decisions. Yes, there will be government incentives that drive demand but for the most part we, as consumers, will be able to choose the type of vehicle we buy for quite some time.
I have a plug in hybrid and it's great. Sort of the best of both worlds right now. Around town we don't burn a drop of gas until the sensor says we can't run electric in case the gas goes stale.
I have several friends that have full electric cars and they say they would never go back. Literally no maintenance, a little hard on tires due to the weight, but range anxiety disappeared after just a few months.
All that said, I love my trucks. Probably won't even consider the electric F-150 or Chevy Silverado as I just can't justify a $100,000+ vehicle. Now, the new Corvette is a different story.

Well, the "market" hasn't discovered the distances between the very, very few charging stations, along I-25 much less I-40 out here in NM - none beyond those corridors. The growth of this support infrastructure would be dependent on many Rural Cooperative Power Companies (there are many, many, many rural miles without even gas stations out here) that are less than dependable, hence my 22kW Generac that is on line frequently. I am still waiting on the return of my Bidet seat that fried in the last substation smoke test. Bottom line, allot of things need to be done before this nation can call itself "all electric". You know like Norway that claims to be the most Green Nation because they have pretty much mandated electric transportation, yet are filthy rich from the sales of their extensive offshore drilling endeavors...

 

[Dgc333]

Just my two cents...

The days of "every 3,000 miles" have been over for a while now. Technology in engine manufacturing these days has improved to the point where it would be silly to change the oil any less than 5,000 miles.

Even the owners manual in my 68 Barracuda recommended 6000 miles for an oil change under normal conditions.

 

[Dgc333]

Do you know how it determines what kind of oil you use?

I used conventional oil for my first two changes, and the indicator came on at about 5k miles. I switched to synthetic on my last change and I'm now at about 8k miles, and it says I have around 1700 left. Just trying to figure out how it calculates this, or if there's some sort of optics or sensor that can actually determine how dirty or broken down the oil is.

As fast as I know it has no way of telling what kind of oil you used. It must have been how you were driving (lots of short trips or the weather).

 

[aslusers]

No, the low cost of "The Works" service package at the dealer makes it not worth my time to do it myself. Also, the dealer just rotates front to rear, not cross to front like the manual says. Seems to be fine.

Agree with this. I always use the "The Works" service package but I asked for "The Full Synthetic Works" service package. It cost $30 more when normal the Works cost $49. I do "The Works" every 10,000 miles.

 

[RoadBoss]

As fast as I know it has no way of telling what kind of oil you used. It must have been how you were driving (lots of short trips or the weather).

Interesting. I can't imagine my driving habits have gotten any easier on the oil since this switch. I wonder if it has anything to do with mileage on the vehicle as well?

 

[D Fresh]

Interesting. I can't imagine my driving habits have gotten any easier on the oil since this switch. I wonder if it has anything to do with mileage on the vehicle as well?

The oil life monitor works on two variables. Mileage and time.

10k miles, 1 year

That's it. It's a simple device that doesn't really monitor anything other than those two variables.

 

[Dgc333]

The oil life monitor works on two variables. Mileage and time.

10k miles, 1 year

That's it. It's a simple device that doesn't really monitor anything other than those two variables.

Not that I have read. Even Ford states it uses multiple inputs to decide when the oil should be changed.

Plus my last two mustangs and the two Focuses before that the oil life monitor would come on any where between 6800 and a little over 8100 miles.

 

[D Fresh]

Not that I have read. Even Ford states it uses multiple inputs to decide when the oil should be changed.

Plus my last two mustangs and the two Focuses before that the oil life monitor would come on any where between 6800 and a little over 8100 miles.

Ford's IOM does take some driving conditions into effect. But mostly it mileage and time.

At least that's been the case on my last 3.

Did you drive those vehicles much? Was that 6800-8100 miles at about a year? Were you using factory recommended oil?

There is no actual sensor monitoring the oil in the Ford system like the MB or BMW systems.

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