10K Oil Change Interval??!!

SHO-Pa

New member
What is the general "rule" for oil change intervals on the 3.5L? I'm driving to work the other day and I thought "Hmm. I had the oil changed in this a while ago. I wonder when its due...." So I look it up and it was almost 5000 miles ago but the "oil life monitor" shows 51%. 10K oil change interval? Really now!

At the moment, its got Motorcraft semi-syn 5/30. Soon to be Mobil 1 EP.

I'm thinking with the turbos, 5k is more like it. What do others on the forum do?
 
I thought the manual specified 7500 miles. From the manual



.
When to expect the OIL CHANGE REQUIRED message
Interval Vehicle use and examples
7500-10000 miles
(12000-16000 km)
Normal
– Normal commuting with highway driving
– No, or moderate, load or towing
– Flat to moderately hilly roads
– No extended idling
5000-7499 miles
(8000-11999 km)
Severe
– Moderate to heavy load or towing
– Mountainous or off-road conditions
– Extended idling
– Extended hot or cold operation
3000-4999 miles
(4800-7999 km)
Extreme
– Maximum load or towing
– Extreme hot or cold operation
 
Screw that.

I changed the oil in mine the other day, which had approximately 4K miles on it. I couldn't believe how visibly sheared it looked, carbon black and GAS laden it was.

I gathered a sample for UOA.

By the way, how does one reset the oil life monitor?

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 
I am going to shoot for 3-5k miles... or the three months. I do not like long drain periods on turbo motors. The oil is exposed to much higher temps.
 
panther427 said:
I am going to shoot for 3-5k miles... or the three months. I do not like long drain periods on turbo motors. The oil is exposed to much higher temps.

That's what I was thinking which is why I was really surprised at the change interval. I couldn't sleep at night going 10k on the oil and I think I would be restless at 7500.
 
I have been using Mobil 1 since 1992 when I bought a Brand New LT1 corvette and it came factory filled with Mobil1.  Was doing changes every 3k.

then I sat on a plane and talked with a Pennzoil rep.  he laughed and said the oil change companies like jiffy lube were driving the 3 month 3k miles thing.  he predicted the intervals we see now, and said most oils, even non synthetic were fine to 10k miles.

Then in 2001 i bought an audi A6 2.7 twin turbo.  they had a schedule of 7.5 k on normal oil.  i used mobil 1 and stayed on that schedule.

my volvo S60r, again, 7.5k schedule on synthetic.

My audi and volvo were both turbo cars and i did not baby them.  7.5k oil changes with mobil 1 and never a single issue.  in fact, i use that old oil for my lawn mower.

I have no problem with both my eco boosts just waiting for the gauge to tell me when to change the oil.  10k on mobil 1.  I worry about other things now.
 
What you say is true you can safely go longer distance. The actual oil generally doesn't brake down. Its the additive packages that get used up. But its cheap insurance to me.  I wish i could remember exactally how this one guy put it to me.

Something like just because it will last do you wanna bet your motor on it.  That and do you really wanna use 100% of your oils additives and dirt holding ability
Or would you feel safer at 25% or 50%. Im not against longer change intervals but i know how i,drive the elevations, temp swings and loads and stress i put my car through.

I use quality oil that can and will last longer than personal oil drain,choice. So that if life is busy or i forget i dont have to worry about it. I know when i have a chance at a later time im not hurting anything
 
I just know it costs me $80 to change the oil on both cars with Mobil 1 and filters.

So glad I am not paying the $100 a car the shop wants to do it for me with synthetic.

I guess being a wise man of 42 years, its a chance i am willing to take.
 
The best thing you can do to judge when you should do a change is have an analysis of the used oil done.  Blackstone Labs only charges 25 bucks and provides the kit to collect the sample and mail it to them. Regardless of what oil and filter you chose to use, the analysis will give you a great idea of what's going on and what your change interval should be...I know it was a great help for me.
 
IHeartGroceries said:
By the way, how does one reset the oil life monitor?

I can't remember exactly but on the 13+  plus you need to be in park running  or off in accesory mode  . In the far left area of gage panel is the drivers information cluster . You then  go through the menu  options that are controlled by the steering wheel buttons . I can't renember he exact sequence but it's not to hard to figure out .


I change mine about every 5000 miles or so , just because of the peace of mind thing . Yes you can go longer BUT I would say it's safe to say  the driving
" habits " of a lot of the members  on this forum puts us in the severe duty catagory , myself included .

Mobile 1 Extended Service claims 15000 between Oil changes even on Turbo motors ...... 
 
goblues38 said:
I just know it costs me $80 to change the oil on both cars with Mobil 1 and filters.

So glad I am not paying the $100 a car the shop wants to do it for me with synthetic.

I guess being a wise man of 42 years, its a chance i am willing to take.

With you on this one, it's an inexpensive price to know that you have clean fluids.  Just as a point of reference, I've been using Mobil One in our Explorer since the first oil change and we've never had an oil related problem...as a matter of fact, never had an oil related problem in any vehicle that I used Mobil One for the oil.
 
mjhpadi said:
The best thing you can do to judge when you should do a change is have an analysis of the used oil done.  Blackstone Labs only charges 25 bucks and provides the kit to collect the sample and mail it to them. Regardless of what oil and filter you chose to use, the analysis will give you a great idea of what's going on and what your change interval should be...I know it was a great help for me.

Bingo. It removes any question about interval, especially once you've nailed the right oil and filtration.



SwampRat said:
IHeartGroceries said:
By the way, how does one reset the oil life monitor?

I can't remember exactly but on the 13+  plus you need to be in park running  or off in accesory mode  . In the far left area of guage panel is the drivers information cluster . You then  go through the menu  options that are controlled by the steering wheel buttons . I can't renember he exact sequence but it's not to hard to figure out .


I change mine about every 5000 miles or so , just because of the piece of mind thing . Yes you can go longer BUT I would safe its safe to say our driving " habits on this forum puts us in the severe duty catagory ,

Mobile 1 Extended Service claims 15000 between Oil changes even on Turbo motors ......

Thanks! I'll check it out.

And speaking of SOPUS, and Pennzoil, they've got a relatively new (as of this year) syn engine oil out - Platinum w/ Pure Plus. Really looks like promising stuff. I work for Shell in distribution (petrol), and even though there's a large divide between lubes and my end, they've been hustling the stuff pretty heavily across SOPUS. They're very excited about it and consider it a big stride for lubes and for the company in general.

I'm not attempting to advertise here. Hell, I'm running Castrol in my wife's car, Mobil in my Neon and Motul, in my SHO, (Pennzoil in my pickup :)) but once my reserves dry up, I'm swapping to this stuff. I encourage all of you interested in performance lubes to check it out. There's a great Q&A on Pennzoil's blog on bobtheoilguy (BTOG). Check it out!

Plug aside, move along.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
I personally would never, and have never, gone more than 5k miles on a change.  I also believe that synthetics are better, but will admit that, IMHO, the preponderance of evidence is that it is not superior.

The price for clean oil/fluids is much cheaper than a major rebuild or significant performance loss due to scoring of parts.
 
Also the car knows more than we can about the oil functional life per two service reps at my dealership.  It monitors six parameters about your oil to tell you when it needs a change... My first change was at 1800 miles when my light came on telling me to... BTW, hasn't come on since... I have 8k miles and last change was at 7k
 
Good thoughts guys! I use Blackstone Labs and will pull a sample when I change it out this weekend. I'll see what they say. I generally agree with the longer intervals with Mobil 1, however the SHO has Motorcraft semi-syn in it at the moment. I'm not sure how that holds up in comparison.

Interestingly enough, I ran samples on my Expedition (with Mobil 1) and our Honda (conventional oil) and the Mobil 1 had as much additives in it at 5000 miles as the conventional did at about 3000. Blackstone said I could get 7500 out of Mobil 1 in the Expy with a 5.4, but that's not cooling two turbos.

I really like Blackstone because "they don't have a horse in the race" so to speak.

I'll sample the oil this weekend and see what they say. Maybe this is much ado about nothing.
 
I was doing 3K changes using Royal Purple oil and filters, but they convinced me to go longer, so I'm going to 5K...but I really can't ever see myself going longer than that...old habits die hard.
 
Instructions starting on pg. 116 of the 2013 OM (you will need to go into the Settings -> Oil Life Reset area & set %age):

Information Display Controls (Type 2)
• Press the up and down arrow buttons to scroll through and highlight the options within a menu.
• Press the right arrow button to enter a sub-menu.
• Press the left arrow button to exit a menu.
• Press the OK button to choose and confirm a setting/messages.

Main menu
From the main menu bar on the left side of the information display, you can choose from the following categories:
  • Display Mode
  • Trip 1 & 2
  • Fuel Economy
  • Settings
  • Information
Scroll up/down to highlight one of the categories, then press the right arrow key or OK to enter into that category. Press the left arrow key as needed to exit back to the main menu.
 
mjhpadi said:
I was doing 3K changes using Royal Purple oil and filters, but they convinced me to go longer, so I'm going to 5K...but I really can't ever see myself going longer than that...old habits die hard.

I had the oil tested from my 5.4L Expedition and it had plenty of additives left. Blackstone said I could go to 7500 and have it tested again. I'm doing Mobil 1 at 5000.

As a side note, changed the oil in the SHO today and checked over the receipts from the previous change. If the receipt is right, they put 5W20 instead of 5W30. Good thing it was so cold this winter.... At least now I know it has the correct weight.
 
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