I change my oil every 3k, using oem 5w20 and oem filter. I put about 10k a year on my truck. It might be too often, but I like to think of oil as cheap insurance! I have 154,xxx on it now and no problems at all. Hopefully it will go another 100,000!

 

i go between 3 and 5k miles between changes using castrol syntec, its cheap enough at walmart haha. question- whats the lowest on the dipstick do you let your oil get down to before topping up? i try to not let mine get too close to the bottom of the hash marks

 

I wait till it reaches the ADD mark, then I add 1 quart.

 

That's right. Add when it's a quart low. Because it's so easy to misread the level because of getting the truck level, temperature or draindown, it's best to wait until that point. Some engines find an equalibrium between ad and full. If you add above that point, the engine seems to use oil. At that level or below, it doesn't. The vagueries of oil consumption and testing for it are why Ford has that very elaborate procedure for checking it.

That said, at 27K miles, my '05 has yet to move off the full mark. DOn't know if that's the normal situation or not out there in the real world.... but I'm not complaining!

 

These Ford trucks don't have a full mark, unless it's something new. - I've never seen one anyway. - Just a "Min" and "Max". Full is where ever it ends up after a change (spec quantity). This isn't marked , unless you've scribed one yourself. You don't wanna run @ the "Max" line continuously, - it would be better to run a quart low than constantly over spec.

 

True. "Full" is my generic, but inaccurate description. I will try to correct my old-school terminology! ( : < )

 

Errrrr, mostly true. I'm sure every truck is different depending on QC at assembly time of that tube and other variables, but for my truck full = max. One thing that's been mentioned on here before is this...the only way an engine can be overfull to the point of actual probelms is if the quantity is full enough for the crank to be splashing around in a bath of oil. 1/2 - 1 quart is not going to cause that on this motor. Continuously running up to the 'MAX' line on these motors is at best (or worst, depending on your half full or half empty glass) a 1/2 quart over. Now don't misread my post, I'm not advocating this as a good practice or exceeding what the change quantity is or should be, I'm just saying you're not in any danger if you're up to the max line. It's there to account for those variables.

I keep mine full. If I catch it at 1/2 qt low or just when ever, I top it off. I do this for no particular reason, it's just me. Same reason guys change oil at 3-5,000 miles...absolutely no reason.