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Oil change schedule
- Thread starter Blackssr
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It all depends on type of driving and type of oil. More frequent changed or hard driving and of-road use and or blended oil. I do full synthetic on Ford VIP (paying only a little extra or full synthetic over blend) every 7000 to 10,000miles, or once a year for me. I have been doing this with ull synthetic use on anything vehicle since the late 1990s with no issues. My classic Fords get full synthetic changed every 3500-5000 miles. Unleaded gas and all the EPA mandated engine features on late model cars keep the sludge level low to non-existent. My only real concern is how small the oil filters are now. 
Did my 500 mile break in oil change today. Actually 517 miles. I’m sure others have discovered this already, sorry if I’ve missed it but the Motorcraft oil filters have a “new and improved” (not) design.
Ford doesn’t use the rubber end doughnuts they used to use on their filters. My original one was of the rubber end design but my new filter was not. It kind of looks like they have cheaped out on the newer ones. They use some sort of glue to hold the ends together now.
I thought maybe I had purchased a cloned cheap filter (picked it up on Amazon) but I went over and looked at what was on the Dealers shelf. It was the same one.
Ford doesn’t use the rubber end doughnuts they used to use on their filters. My original one was of the rubber end design but my new filter was not. It kind of looks like they have cheaped out on the newer ones. They use some sort of glue to hold the ends together now.
I thought maybe I had purchased a cloned cheap filter (picked it up on Amazon) but I went over and looked at what was on the Dealers shelf. It was the same one.
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I bought mine with 5500miles on it. Dealer was driving it for a few months. The sticker said to get it changed at 10k, which I did, at a Ford Service place. I honestly thought they'd do more for a new owner first service, but they just charged me the cheap $50 it costs to do the work and sent me on my way. Oddly, they put a sticker telling me to get it changed after another 5k interval. So what is it Ford? 5k or 10k? I'll probably shoot the difference. And now that I know how simple it is to do, I'll probably do it myself. My last few cars (BMWs and Range Rover) you could barely do your own oil. I thought this ST would be more complicated, but it's just as simple as the Fords we had that I grew up on....just wayyy faster!
Same here. I was able to get filter and oil from dealer parts dept, which was covered by the points you get when you buy a new Ford. I noticed the filter was somewhat different from the one I took out, as the new one had no end caps. I will look for a different brand at next change and likely use Mobil 1 Full Synthetic, going 10K miles between changes.
I looked for Mobil 1 filters for my change and could not find one readily available that's the reason I ended up with the Motorcraft filter. I use M1's on my other EcoBoosts but of course they are a typical style filter on the 3.5's and 2.0's. Amazon didn't sell them nor did AutoZone. It appears you can order them through O'Reilly's. I'll pick a couple up for future changes.
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This was the thread I was looking forward to reading. At what mileage is your first oil change for your ST? Obviously any internet search brings up a wide spectrum if answers from ‘Whats an oil change?’ To ‘ I work at JiffyLube and change my oil & filter each week after the boss goes home…’
So somewhere in this spread of best mileage to make that first oil change, I was pleased Gearhead-1 nailed my old age theory of 500 miles for the first oil & filter change. Even though the owners manual suggests a much higher mileage for changes, I have always changed my new car engines at the first 500 miles. Then at every 5000 miles with a tire rotation. Yes, I know the cost factor will be up a bit, but I plan on having this ST for a very long time!
So somewhere in this spread of best mileage to make that first oil change, I was pleased Gearhead-1 nailed my old age theory of 500 miles for the first oil & filter change. Even though the owners manual suggests a much higher mileage for changes, I have always changed my new car engines at the first 500 miles. Then at every 5000 miles with a tire rotation. Yes, I know the cost factor will be up a bit, but I plan on having this ST for a very long time!
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I always do the first change at 500 miles. I figure if it's good enough for a Vette or Porsche then it's good for whatever I own. The truth is this low number was more critical for engines that needed zinc to break the cams and lifters in but old habits die hard. We'd use a high zinc content break-in oil for 50 miles and then again at 500.
With lead free fuel and synthetic oils, plus decades of of mechanical engineering changes, I no longer do oil changes on new cars like my ST with the same frequency as I do on my classic carbureted rides. I have been doing fine by having full synthetic oil and quality filter every 7500 miles (about once a year) now and have had zero issues on multiple newer vehicles over the past twenty years. If I were always towing or hard accelerating all the time, I would do it more often. but after a breaking (500 miles), I consider extra changes an old school waste of time and money.
