Oil Change interval

[JETZ]

Are those 'Canadian Miles' Peter?

If I recall correctly, and that can be a challenge at my age, I think it read 47%. I don't tow but do drive many short trips and there are times it doesn't get driven for 3 or 4 days. That is an advantage or disadvantage of living in a small town with only the occasional venture into the 'big city'.
That is why I change it every 6 months as I've done with all my previous ones. I have never had a vehicle that reached a mileage limit before a time limit.
When my 48 month lease is up in March 2015, I should have around 14,000 miles 'piled' up on it.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

Are those 'Canadian Miles' Peter?

I guess 22,500 kms might look a little better, eh? :biggthump

Peter

 

[BMB]

2014 Explorer Limited - First Oil Change

I wasn't given any guidelines from the dealership regarding the first oil change. I've got about 2000 miles on my new Explorer and have been thinking about getting my first oil change now and going full synthetic, then regular changes at 7500 mile intervals from that point on.

Any recommendations?

 

[HughCares]

Follow the schedule in the owners manual....early oil changes are unnecessary and just a waste of time/money. Others will make the "cheap insurance" argument....if you agree with them....knock yourself out.....I personally put my faith in the Ford engineers knowledge versus some weekend mechanic's opinion.

 

[ltdjp]

I would've changed it after break in period (1000 miles). I wouldn't go synth until higher mileage.

 

[peterk9]

I wasn't given any guidelines from the dealership regarding the first oil change. I've got about 2000 miles on my new Explorer and have been thinking about getting my first oil change now and going full synthetic, then regular changes at 7500 mile intervals from that point on.

Any recommendations?

As you can see, everyone has their own opinion. You can't go wrong by following the manufacturer's suggested interval. There are also threads on the use of synthetic oil that can be found by using the forum's 'Search' program. In the meantime, I'm merging your thread with this existing 17 page one on the same topic.

BTW, welcome to the the Forum BMB.:wavey:

Peter

 

[BMB]

Ok, thanks. Yeah, I had already read my owners manual which only mentioned regular change intervals unless I missed something about break-in periods. I had also skimmed through that 17 page thread, but there are so many pages going back to 2011 with so much conflicting info its hard to make sense of it.

So is there or isn't there a break-in period that I need to observe regarding my first oil change?

 

[peterk9]

Ok, thanks. Yeah, I had already read my owners manual which only mentioned regular change intervals unless I missed something about break-in periods. I had also skimmed through that 17 page thread, but there are so many pages going back to 2011 with so much conflicting info its hard to make sense of it.

So is there or isn't there a break-in period that I need to observe regarding my first oil change?

Short answer is NO. If there was, it would have been mentioned in the Owner's Guide. As you found out, everyone has their own opinion on the matter. I change mine faithfully every 6 months because I make a lot of short trips and only put on about 3,500 miles a year. When I have the oil changed the Oil Life Monitor is usually down around 55% with less that 2000 miles since it was 100%. I use the regular non synthetic oil.

Peter

 

[BMB]

Short answer is NO. If there was, it would have been mentioned in the Owner's Guide. As you found out, everyone has their own opinion on the matter. I change mine faithfully every 6 months because I make a lot of short trips and only put on about 3,500 miles a year. When I have the oil changed the Oil Life Monitor is usually down around 55% with less that 2000 miles since it was 100%. I use the regular non synthetic oil.

Peter

Thanks Peter.

 

[Shodan]

I got a question. In the manual it says that the light will come on with a change oil soon message when the oil life is at 10% or less. My Oil life shows at 9% and I did not get any messages to do the oil change yet. Should I do the Oil change anyway or wait for the light to come on. I kinda wanted to see the message so I was waiting.

 

[peterk9]

I got a question. In the manual it says that the light will come on with a change oil soon message when the oil life is at 10% or less. My Oil life shows at 9% and I did not get any messages to do the oil change yet. Should I do the Oil change anyway or wait for the light to come on. I kinda wanted to see the message so I was waiting.

If you want to see if the message pops up, keep driving and keep an eye on the OLM. I never got that far with mine since I changed oil every 6 months and my OLM usually showed around 50% with 1800 miles travelled.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

Are those 'Canadian Miles' Peter?

After 3 years the Explorer is gone JETZ. Had a year left on the lease but the dealer made an offer which was hard to turn down. Final total was 11,184 miles.

Peter

 

[Black Bengal]

After 3 years the Explorer is gone JETZ. Had a year left on the lease but the dealer made an offer which was hard to turn down. Final total was 11,184 miles.

Peter, what did you decide on as a replacement?

 

[peterk9]

Peter, what did you decide on as a replacement?

2014 Lincoln AWD MKT 3.5L Ecoboost. Was planning on another Ex but the 2015 is much like the 2011 and I understand the 2016 likely will be a 'redesign'. The 3 year lease on the MKT will take me to the close of the 2016 Ex model year so perhaps there may be a deal to be had then.

Peter

 

[FordServiceCA]

I got a question. In the manual it says that the light will come on with a change oil soon message when the oil life is at 10% or less. My Oil life shows at 9% and I did not get any messages to do the oil change yet. Should I do the Oil change anyway or wait for the light to come on. I kinda wanted to see the message so I was waiting.

Hi Shodan,

I'd recommend going to your dealer; they'll be in the best position to advise on whether or not it's the right time for an oil change!

Bianca

 

[Mildot]

So do most owners use the "oil life" feature? or do they still change the oil every 5000?

 

[peterk9]

Mildot, I have moved your post to this thread. I think you'll find your answers here.

Peter

 

[Halwg]

I guess I drive what is considered "normal" driving. The oil life monitor basically tells me I could go 10,000 miles (not km) before a change. I can't buy that. I did my first oil change at the dealer's "quick lane" at just shy of 5,000 miles. They (the dealer) recommend every 5,000 miles. Resetting the oil life monitor again shows approximately 10,000 to the next change. I will have 2 changes in when I get to 10,000 miles. This is with the semi-synthetic oil.

 

[blwnsmoke]

I guess I drive what is considered "normal" driving. The oil life monitor basically tells me I could go 10,000 miles (not km) before a change. I can't buy that. I did my first oil change at the dealer's "quick lane" at just shy of 5,000 miles. They (the dealer) recommend every 5,000 miles. Resetting the oil life monitor again shows approximately 10,000 to the next change. I will have 2 changes in when I get to 10,000 miles. This is with the semi-synthetic oil.

Oil changes are such a touchy subject.. some are still old school and do 3,000 miles. There is a reason Ford has an oil life monitor and that monitors many different aspects of the vehicle to determine the best time to change the oil.

I have 73,000 miles on my Ex and I have always followed it. My Truck before that had 125,000 miles on it and I did 7,500-10,000 mile intervals (no EOLM), my Audi before that I did 10,000 mile intervals (sold at 154,000 miles - no engine issues) by following the onboard change system.

Fact is engines are a LOT more efficient then back in the day and that allows us to extend our oil changes.

Reality is, unless you send your oil samples to blackstone to have tested which a lot of people do on the Diesel forums I'm a member of (oil changes are FAR MORE important on a diesel), YOU just don't know when is the right time to change. The EOLM on the diesels are up to 10k just like the Explorer but my truck tells me around 7,400 miles.. If you really want the right answer, take a sample at 5k and spend the $20 to have it analyzed. That will tell you how far you can go per change.

 

[orangesoda123]

Oil changes are such a touchy subject.. some are still old school and do 3,000 miles. There is a reason Ford has an oil life monitor and that monitors many different aspects of the vehicle to determine the best time to change the oil.

I have 73,000 miles on my Ex and I have always followed it. My Truck before that had 125,000 miles on it and I did 7,500-10,000 mile intervals (no EOLM), my Audi before that I did 10,000 mile intervals (sold at 154,000 miles - no engine issues) by following the onboard change system.

Fact is engines are a LOT more efficient then back in the day and that allows us to extend our oil changes.

Reality is, unless you send your oil samples to blackstone to have tested which a lot of people do on the Diesel forums I'm a member of (oil changes are FAR MORE important on a diesel), YOU just don't know when is the right time to change. The EOLM on the diesels are up to 10k just like the Explorer but my truck tells me around 7,400 miles.. If you really want the right answer, take a sample at 5k and spend the $20 to have it analyzed. That will tell you how far you can go per change.

Agree with everything said here. Oil these days is not even close to what they used to be quality wise. Modern oils are FAR superior. The 3,000 mile oil change is dead pretty much on all fronts. I don't go by my IOLM all the time since my wife makes shorter trips to work and its really cold here, but I'll still go probably 6500-7k. In the summer (if its not too hot) i'll push it out further since we don't do as many short trips. I do the same with my Impreza running semi-synthetic.

Good read here:
http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/stop-changing-your-oil.html