I am approaching 5k miles and am debating doing my own oil change or bringing it in for the service. I did all the oil changes on my last Tacoma with no problems. What do you guys do?

 

I always go to the dealer. How much are you saving by doing it yourself? The dealer will do everything for around $40. which includes an oil change, tire rotation, top off fluids, inspection, etc. Without the tire rotation about $30. That's a bargain.

 

I did all the work on my last truck and likely will do the bigger jobs on this one. But on oil changes, you don't save very much plus the hassle getting rid of the oil, chance of oil spills on the driveway, and trying to do it in the winter. So I used my last oil at 1500 miles and will have dealer do the rest starting at 5K.

 

I always do the Oil changes myself, no money saved just something I don't mind doing. I also always buy my Oil and Filter at the dealer, and get him to put the odometer reading right on the receipt.

 

For the first one, let the dealer do it. The oil filter is a pain to get off since they are put on dry at the factory. After that do your own.
PS. The first from the dealer might be free. Mine was.

 

I'd say if you are going to stick with conventional oil, then let the dealer do it. But if you go with full synthetic (Mobil 1, Royal Purple) you are better off (cost wise) doing it yourself. 5 qts of Mobil 1 5w20 for $22 at Wally World (but you need 7 qts total) is hard to beat anywhere.

Pull the rig into the garage, slide under, and in 15 minutes, you are done.

 

Exactly... I plan to use Mobil 1 since thats all I use. And yup Walmart 5 qt special can't beat that! Maybe I will have the dealer do my first one and I will supply the Mobil 1 since I believe they said it was free on the first service.

 

When a vehicle is still under warranty, I always take it to the dealership for the scheduled maintenance. That way they have records of proper service so if I ever needed warranty work there would be no dispute as to whether or not proper maintenance was done.

- NCSU

 

Yeah, I agree with NCSU 05 FX4. And, another thing, if you register at flmowner.com you can see every service that you've ever had on your vehicle at a Ford dealer. I just traded an '04 Lariat on this '09 KR, and handed all that over to the dealer as we were discussing the trade-in value of my '04. I think this really helped me get top-dollar for it, as it had all the history of that truck right there on the website. So, anyone could see for the 5 years I owned that vehicle it had every suggested service...plus the three warranty items that were fixed by the dealer.

 

I doubt you having service records added anything to the value of your trade in - it was probably the condition it was in. I keep meticulous records on my cars/trucks/motorcycles and they have never played a role in trade in value.

 

I plan on doing all my own scheduled service. Yes it might not save me much parts wise but spending 45 minutes to drive over there, wait a half hour for them to do the service and then another 45 minutes to drive back home. Thats two hours to do a half hour job plus gas to get there and back. Its quicker and more cost effective to do it after work. We burn our used oil for heat in the winter so no problems getting rid of the used oil.

Even though its under warranty, just record the day and miles when you do anything in the service interval book. And if you really wanted to just keep the receipts for the oil filter and oil when you buy it. Thats what my salesman told me to do until the warranty is over.

 

I have always serviced every vehicle i have ever owned and i will continue that with my current 09 F150. I keep records of what i do, when i do it, and what stuff i am using and have never had a problem. Just don't like others working on my vehicles.

 

My last 3 F-150's I always did every oil change myself. But now that you only have to change at every 7500 I will be bringing her in to dealer for oil & tire rotation. Back when it was 5k miles for every oil change, it didn't really need a rotation yet. But by 7500 it'll be ready for a rotation anyways, so easier to just get it all done at once. And they'll also let you know how your brake pads are wearing - which I'm sure every one of us is almost eager to hear so we can switch them out with ceramic-type pads and stop the insane amounts of brake dust that is typical from new F-150's.

Then again, if you do your own rotation too, then by all means save the few bucks and have at it.

And like others have said, it will be less painful to place your fingers in the door, and then SLAM it shut on them; than to try and change the oil filter the first time around. It really is that bad.

 

I'm letting the dealer do the oil changes. It's hard to justify doing it yourself when the dealer does it for $25. Plus, the service is entered into Ford's database. Can't beat it.

 

I thought I would do the tire rotation myself since I had changed the oil - lemme me tell you....those 20's are freaking heavy!

I would let the dealer do the oil changes, but charging $79.95 for synthetic (at least at me dealer)? Your crazy.