I bought a 2007 F150 in Sept. This is my first Ford and I am very happy so far. I have been driving for twenty years and I usually went with the foreign vehicles because of their reliablility. Anyway, I am very happy that I made the switch. I am not that up on mechanics, so I have two questions for the people who know more than I do.

1) What type oil, Synthetic or Synthetic blend, and can I wait 5k to change oil with synthetic blend or should I still change at 3k?

2) I was considering a K&N air filter. Will it effect my warranty and will I have to do any other things to my truck if I change the air filter?

Thanks alot, this forum is great for guys like me who don't know anything. By the way My truck is a 2007 F150 XLT 5.4 v8 red metallic with silver accent. Running boards, molded mud guards, and lots of options.......

 

valvoline full synthetic or mobil 1

change between 3k and 4k synthetic gives you room to "go over a bit" but dont push the 5k unless you really need to. more changes = happier engine.

K&N drop in or complete cold air intakes will not void a warranty. No you dont have to, but the "modding bug" always starts with small stuff, before you know it you will be doing exhaust and other stuff lol.

to get yourself up on mechanics, buy a chiltons/ haynes manual from your local autozone. when you have something to work on look it up and follow the instructions. and as a result you will learn

welcome to the forum

 

Welcome to the site.

Ford advertises 5K mile service intervals for 2004+ F150s. I do mine at 3K, just 'cause I can. Stick with any reputable 5W20 oil; I use Motorcraft, 'cause it's cheap and reviews on the net rate it very highly for a synthetic blend. Stick with Motorcraft filters too, the one you want is an FL-820S, it also goes by the long part number F1AZ-6731-BD. You can pick 'em up cheap at Wal-Mart.

In regards to the K&N filter, officially, the dealer/manufacturer has to prove that the modification caused whatever failure you're trying to get covered under warranty. Unofficially, it depends a lot on your dealer. I will say that drop in K&N air filters don't seal very well in the stock 5.4 3V airbox, this could potentially cause a lean condition and turn your check engine light on. Also, since they allow more air in, they tend to allow more dirt in as well. For the sake of simplicity and laziness, I run regular ol' paper Motorcraft filters in my truck and change them whenever they need it, usually a couple times a year.

 

1: I would use Motorcraft synthetic blend every 3K miles with a Motorcraft Oil Filter. DO NOT USE A FRAM.

2: DO use a K&N air filter. Don't worry about the warranty. Buy a K&N airfilter and keep your stock one when it's time to 'renew' your K&N. You'll want to clean it and re-oil it, but let sit for a couple of days to make sure you didn't over oil it. In the meantime, use your stock one. You will not have to do anything else if you change your air filter.

 

honestly I change mine every 2k, granted I do have a higher mileage engine (92+k) and have switched from havoline to motorcraft synblend, but mine is still running strong and have had no problems with it. Your truck is designed to run a CEL when the engine oil is dirty, for some people I know that's been 15k plus but at at least 5k is what I'd recommend. Full syn's are good, but you can go just as far (safely, there's no oil I'd trust to 10k) with the blends. good luck hope I helped

 

Welcome Slynchee, you will be happy with you're purchase. Foreign reliability is and always was a wives tale anyways. As far as oil, if you plan on doing alot of driving, I'd stick to regular 5w-20 and change when recommended, every 3k miles I'd say. You're engine will have no problems staying together with regular oil, synthetic is obviously alot more protection. As far as filters go, I personally have had no problems with Fram, but if you can get Motorcraft filters, do that. I'm not sure if it matters what filter to use with synthetic, search a bit to find out.

The K&N is a great filter, no warranty issues but don't get the replacement if you plan on getting an intake kit. I got the replacement one and not an intake kit because I plan on supercharging anyways requiring a different setup. I've put almost 200k km's on mine and have no issues. Hell, an exhaust is an add on that won't void warranties unless it burns or pinches wires and that sorta thing. Programmers and chips too, for the most part don't void anything, I've never had a problem.

Follow recommended maintenance and you're rig will be very reliable.

 

I'm using Mobil 1 EP and Mobil 1 filters. I run it about 7 to 8 k between changes with no issues.

 

K&N air filters may contaminate mass air sensors, and that will not be covered under warranty.

 

Good thing is that by the time your warranty is up, you might have had to clean it once, maybe. I just cleaned my MAF sensor for the first time at 195 000 km's and to be honest, it was pretty clean in there. I think K&N guarantees no warranty issues or they pay for em or something like that. It's just you can't be a retard and drown the filter in oil after cleaning. If you follow proper cleaning and are careful, nothing will happen. I had the filter, a chip by Sean Hyland put in, a Dynomax exhaust and nothing was ever said about them voiding any warranties at all. I even brought it in after the mileage was exceeded and they still covered me. Alot depends on the dealership too.

 

Any name brand 5W20 will do just fine in your truck. Here's the thing about K&N, more air = more dirt. Ive tried them on several vehicles hoping one day they would work like they claimed, but none ever did. My gas mileage never changed with one, and on my last F150 there was a fine coating of dust on the intake tube. So I gave up on them forever. One final thing on them, if you look at the stats, almost all of the induction kits do add horsepower at higher RPMs, how often do you drive around with your engine reving higher than 2500 rpms?

 

My view:\
1. Motorcraft 5w20 synthetic oil as recommended every 3k miles. Can't go wrong there.....
2. Motorcraft FL-820S filter as recommended. Has antidrainback valve, or something like that so helps protect engine better.
3. Motorcraft or Fram PAPER filter. I would stay away from K&N drop-in, esp. for this engine. I tried one for 5k miles. Found dust distal to the filter. The MAF sensor is s/u right behind the filter so can and will get dirt easily if dust getting thru. And K&N will let it thru. If you don't believe me, take one, hold it to the sun or get in a dark room and shine a flashlight behind it. You will see just how "HOLY" this thing is.
4. I'm fond of the tranny flush but I have the pan dropped, filter/pan cleaned first, then have dealer with BG system flush it. I prefer not to have them use any solvents before the flush. I was told they add the solvent, drive it around some, then flush it. I have them just exchange the old for the new using the BG system.
5. All the other fluids, etc. I plan to wait until 100k.
6. Last but not least, the dad-gum sparkplugs. Best option is to pray daily somebody at Ford with some brains can find a reliable solution to getting the #$%*ing things out without breaking them, so the dealerships can stop holding their hands in the air saying, "OOPS, it broke. That'll be an additional 2500 bucks to get it out/fixed".(Sorry, this one really pisses me off. Stupidity on Ford's part here seems to have no bounds)