Thanks very much for the responses..Lots of great valid points..Since I do alot of short non highway trips and with the heat and all down here, I might stick with the 3000...I appreciate the input...Thanks again..

 

The manufacturer recommends 3k for severe duty and 5K for normal duty. Here is very hot and most of the time we are doing city driving like a taxi or a cop car, so I treat mine like those, severe duty, change oil at 3K miles intervals. And I drive hard too.

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I run Mobil 1 in all the vehicles of mine and my parents. I change the oil at 5-6k with the Mobil 1. If you drive very short distances and never warm the truck up then I would do 3k changes.

That's my $0.02 worth!
Steve

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Hopefully future F-150 XLT Sport owner.
Current:
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The best way to determine when to change oil in a gasoline engine is to look at the color of the oil. The darker the color, the more contaminates there are in the oil, which is mainly from carbon buildup. Depending on how/where you drive your truck, the oil will usually be pitch black at around 3000 miles. This method doesn't work for a diesel because the high sulfur content in the fuel turns the oil black very quickly.

Does anyone know where I can buy motorcraft oil and filters cheap?

 

i don't own any stock in any of the oil companies.......so i change mine every 5k.
if i change to mobile, i'll go 7k. that should be more than safe.

for all those who change their oil every 3k:
just imagine how great your engine will run
if you change it every 1500!.....wait...how about every 500 with synthetic, just to be one the safe side!

sorry for the sarcasm.

 

Every 3K! A friend of mine bought a new Dodge Ram 3 years ago and told him to only change the oil every 5K, and that's what he did. One day his engine seized up Dodge looked at it and said the pan was full of sludge which clogged the oil pump causing the engine to seize. A Dodge factory rep happened to be in town and when he heard about my friends situation he had the engine replaced for free and made the dealership stop recommending 5K changes.

-Jon

 

A somewhat different approach would be to install an hour-meter, hooking it up to a "key on on" circuit, or even to the oil pressure sender(might present a problem, depending on draw of the hour meter you get; most should be OK). This would give the actual running time of the engine, and account for all the start cycles and extensive running at idle, which does not get accounted in mileage-based change frequencies. Given that, a 100 operating hour oil change interval would give you good engine protection, as well as taking all the idling and traffic crawl-along into account.
To give you additional peace of mind, a waste oil analysis, kits for which are available from most HD engine places, would also give you consumption rates for various anti-wear, detergent, anti-oxidant, etc additives, as well as early warning for things like coolant and metals in the waste oil. Gauging this, you could adjust your change frequency upward or downward; i.e., if the oil analysis showed minimal or non-existant additive consumption, very little dirt and contaminants, a longer interval would be safe; conversely, exhausted additives, sludge, or significant oil degradation would call for shorter change intervals.

Without accurate metrics, it's all guesswork...

 

3,000 !!!

 

Wallmart carries Motorcraft oil and filters. That's where I get mine.

 

I travel frequently and generally stick to changing at 3000KMs city/town driving, and 4500 - 5000KMs hwy driving.

 

I'm thinking of going to the Amsoil indefinite drain interval. Is nobody else doing this?

[This message has been edited by roden (edited 03-10-2001).]

 

I see there is some discrepency on interval (3k v. 5k). I think the point is made that we probably won't do any harm if changed within that range. We at least know we "should" change the oil (there are many who are still driving on their original oil when they bought it...ZERO common sense).

Question: are the synthetics actually worth the price? I'm sure there will be varying experiences, but really...is it worth it?

Thx...

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...my first "big" truck
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<B> '99 Ford F-150 Lariat</B>
4WD, 4DR - !!NO LONGER absolutely stock!!
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<B> '99 Chrysler 300M</B>
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=================
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I am, the current oil has been in there about 1 year now. I did change the filter last july though.

Thinking about getting the by-pass filter, but wait for more funds first.



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The cleaner the oil, the better. I change at 3K with Mobil 1. I've owned cars and trucks for 30 years and always used only dino oil, but now that I have more money than brains, I started using synthetic in my new 2001 F150 SC 4.2L. I think the ads on the Mobil 1 web site made some sense especially about dino oils containing waxes that cannot be totaly removed that eventually lead to sludge buildup. I probably have more plaque in my arteries than my truck will ever have sludge.
But, like the others have said...it's a personal preference. Good luck with your choice!

http://www.mobil.com/mobil1_racing/a...its/index.html

 

Are you supposed to change the oil?