I performed the first oil change on my wife's new Ford at 750 miles this past weekend. (At this point I'll refrain from cursing the bastard that torqued on the factory oil filter to some ridiculous level!) I have always done my first oil changes on a new vehicle within the first 500 - 1000 miles, thinking that I would prefer to get the initial break-in particulate out of the engine as soon as possible.

However, I have also always wondered if the oil that is put in at the factory might have a special additive package that is designed to aid in the break-in process, and as such, have wondered if I would be better off leaving the factory oil in the engine up to the first 3000 mile oil change.

In looking at the oil that came out of the engine block, the only thing I can say is that it "looked" different than any oil I had ever seen before. It had almost a bright transluscent green color to it, and certainly looked different than the Motorcraft 5W-20 that was put in to replace it. Not sure if this oil observation was due to the normal chemicals (assembly oils, seal and gasket residue, etc.) that contaminate a new engine, or the possibility that there was, in fact, a very different additive package in the factory oil.

Any thoughts, guys?

 

shine a black light on a smear of the oil ( if you have it) if it glows grren then it was leak check dye.

 

Any new assembly has to have a breakin/seating peroid.
Putting 'slick' new oil in to soon, retards the process.
You should have left the factory oil in for the required peroid.
We use #30 non detergent oil with no additives, in a $10,000 race engine for inital breakin that includes the flat tappet race cam with .600 lifts as well as for ring seal.

 

Your owners guide would have specified when to do the first oil change. The oil put in at the factory is used for piston ring seating. It has been said that changing it too soon will cause the vehicle to smoke very early in it's life, generally. You might want to ask the dealer if it's too little too late to put the special oil back in (not what was drained out, of course).

 

Gotta tell you the only vehicle I ever had that used oil was a car in which I changed the oil early thinking it would be good for it. Later found out it WAS different oil and that I made a mistake. Ran my F150 5M before the first oil change. I now change every 5M and the oil level doesn't move.

 

If you will do a little searching you will find that your new Ford vehicle comes from the factory with a synthetic blend oil in the crankcase. There is NO break in oil used....
As for using 30 weight non detergent oil in a "race motor" to seat the rings and etc.. I have put together and tore apart more alcohol buring 500 cubic inch Donovans, Keith Blacks, and etc. than I can count, put straight 60 weight in them and immediately made a 1/4 pass on them without any seating issues..
To each his own.......I also change oil in my new vehicles at 1000 miles or less...Go figure

 

I agree Marc. Been doin the first one at 700-1000 miles for thirty years on new Fords and NEVER had one that used oil or smoked. I never had one that had to have oil added between 3k changes.

 

Marc:

An observation from my first change this weekend (@700 miles) is that the factory fill oil did seem to be a heavier weight than the 5-20 they recommend we use. Changed the oil after a 285 mile run so it was nice and warm and about as "thin" as it was going to get.

 

I'll stick to what my owners guide says. Sorry Marc, but I paid a lot for my truck, it has almost 35K on it, does not smoke, and am glad that I followed my owners guide. I'm not saying that if you DO change your first oil too soon before, your truck WILL smoke. In some cases it CAN happen. Why take chances??????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????

 

You guys are worried about your motor oil.
What about the transmission? There's more potential for damage in a transmission than an engine.



Oil disposal is a BIG problem in this country, why add to it.

 

Hixonium -

Which owners' guide are you talking about? Are you saying that the new ('04 - '05) Ford owners' guide prohibits changing the oil in the first 5K miles?

On a new engine?

 

Pres in FL

I'm referring to my owners guide for my 03 screw. I don't know about the 04's or '05's. It's not that it is "prohibited" to change the first oil, it's just not recommended until 3k or 5k, whichever schedule you follow. There is a very brief section about break-in in the owners guide, but after going thru it over and over, I found it. Anyway, this whole thing happened 30,000 miles ago on my truck. I changed my first oil when I was supposed to, not before. No sense in beating a dead horse.

 

Decided to call the local Ford dealer (Galloway in FT Myers - 2nd largest dealer in the state). The service manager there told me that new Ford's do not come with a 'break-in oil' and haven't for years.

He also said that the oil installed at the factory is the same 5W20 synthetic blend that Ford recommends for use over the life of the vehicle.

His recommendation was to do the first oil change within 1,000 miles, and every 3,000 thereafter. The handbook schedule for oil changes every 5,000 miles is sort of a 'best case senario' and not really applicable to the way most people drive, and definitely does not apply to the first oil change.

 

Hmmm...ok, well I guess Ford has neglected to change this info in the owners guide. It's been known to happen before. As for the dealer's recomendation about changing the oil every 3k, fine and good under the "severe" schedule, IF you drive it according to the severe schedule. The dealers will ALWAYS tell you to change it every 3k. It brings in more money for them. Without revenue the dealers could not exist. Let's put this issue to rest.

 

Thanks for the comments guys! I guess I'll have to check back in after 100,000 miles to see if changing early was a "good" move or a "bad" move!

I've personally always thought that dealers never recommend early first oil changes because they're not particularly interested in us getting maximum mileage out of our engines!

Let's face it, wouldn't they really rather sell us a new vehicle in five years, then have us get 200K+ out of our engines with the possible assistance of early engine maintenance?