It's only good for 1k when you drive your car sideways. It says so in the manual.

 

There are many threads about oil. I've read a few so far, and after a bunch of research I am finding that the Motorcraft 5W50 shears down to a 40-weight oil soon after being put into service and the Amsoil 10W40 is actually a freer-flowing oil in cold temps than the 5w Motorcraft.

All that, plus the higher supposed quality of the Amsoil made me make my decision to try their 10W40.

I've seen several used-oil tests and the Motorcraft did not impress at all in any of them, while Amsoil was quite impressive with their 10W40

 

+1000

For those people who actually do a little research and don't blindly follow recommendations and guidelines as if they were the word of God carved in stone, you can use 10-40 in place of Motorcrap 5-50 without burning in hell. I put Royal Purple 10-40 in my Boss 302 and I will be willing to bet anyone a case of good beer that the Oil Analysis report next year will prove it still has a lot of life left after 6200 miles compared to the factory fill that came out of it.

Viscosity ratings might as well be as arbitrary as just about any other advertising 'standard' (and I use that term in the loosest of definition). Take for instance the diagonal measurement of TV or Monitor. Oh wait, you are including some 'allowable' percentage of the plastic bezel/housing? Oh good, and the FDA certifies that a certain percentage of animal fecal matter is 'allowable' in the cheap hot dogs and Taco Bell 'meat substance' they put in their food. Awesome. *Caveat Emptor*

The old rule of thumb that you should change your oil every 3k as 'cheap insurance' to keep your car running longer was good advice in the 80's and 90's. No longer with modern engines and advanced synthetic oils and filters and modern petroleum.

If the generic 'you' out there feel more comfortable changing your oil 3x more frequently than you have to, knock yourself out. As long as you are recycling it, feel free to spend your money for that peace of mind.

For the rest of the oil changing public that wants to get the most out of their oil with the least amount of money and effort, pick the oil you like based upon your driving habits, geographic location, and environment. A stop and go city miles driver is going to have a different requirement than a guy out in the dry desert in a dusty climate, compared to a resident of sunny Florida.

Oil threads will always appear, and why they have whole forums devoted to the topic. Make your decision, and see how it performs either within or after your warranty, get an oil analysis report after you get educated on how to interpret the results.

It's your engine, feel free to stick to the dealer recommended products, or switch to your own brand and change more often than recommended by the manufacturer, or switch to a better product for the same money and change your oil less frequently if your driving habits allow. All up to you.

I really don't care what any one else puts in their vehicle, or how often they change it. Not my job to worry about someone spending extra money or using slightly cheaper/lower performing lubricants. I made my decision, and am comfortable with it.

 

And we have lift off! Here we go
... I actually enjoy these.

 

*PMs Charlie*

He knows a lot about oil, interested in his take

 

Mine has never came on and I'm about 8 months in I believe. I have about 3700 miles on mine and the indicator is at 48%.

There are many more factors taken into account then just time or miles.

 

Is it just me or does your car let you know it needs an oil change by how it's sounds, idles, performs, and gas usage and not the indicator light? The oil life indicator is secondary IMO.

This usually occurs when the oil life is about 50%. I'm sure I could let that zero out but I can't imagine doing so. Call me old fashioned but I still change every 3k on my 11.

 

K, we're not all going to agree on the oil brand or weight, but hopefully we should all be able to agree that 3,000 mile oil changes are a complete and utter waste.



I took this pic of the engine bay of a '69 Mach I, if I remember right. 43 years ago, Ford was recommending an oil change interval double that which you're still doing on your 2011 car. Unless you're racing your car or driving through a dust bowl at 5,500 RPMS towing a trailer on a daily basis, there is absolutely no reason to change the oil more often than every 5K.

As for "your car let you know it needs an oil change by how it's sounds, idles, performs, and gas usage", maybe you're more in tune with your car than I could ever be, but that seems like a placebo effect to me. Unless you were going 25K between oil changes, I don't think you're going to notice old/new oil in normal driving.

 

Respectfully, I'm very attuned with the way my car drives and feels. My 00 S281has no fancy indicator life light. However, It shakes and shimmies like a nervous cat when it needs an oil change or burns a quart. Even at 3000k the viscosity of the engine oil is broken down. I will agree with you that I could push the 11 to 5k with no damage but why take chances if your car appears to be revving harder than usual? Some Boss owners change their oil every 1500 or so. That's meticulous in my opinion. A "waste" would be trying to save a couple of bucks while inadvertently shortening your engines life.

Btw as far as the recommendation from the 60's car....

Doctors were also recommending cigarettes and tobacco at the same time!!

Respectfully, you work in marketing so you understand that not every thing you read is gospel.

 

My car doesn't get near the mileage as most of you guys, about 2000-2500 miles a year, so I just change mine every spring.

If you look at any manufacture, they always are super conservative on all of their ratings. Take for example a F150 towing rating. Ford gives a rating they know the truck could do 24/7 for the life of the truck. So they say 11,300lbs, that does not mean that if you put 11,301 lbs the truck will break in half, you could prob do a few more thousand before you'd run into trouble with transmission or brakes or chassis not being able to handle it.

If Ford is willing to warranty the engine and says 1 year or 10,000 miles, I'm sure there internal testing showed the oil could go another 3k-5k miles. Not saying I would go over the 10k, but Ford is not going to risk it and say 10k miles if they aren't full well sure you won't have problems, as they don't want to pay 5-10k to put a new engine in your car.

 

+1 Gabe!

Yes guys, your vehicle is equipped with the Intelligent Oil Life Monitor™ (IOLM) system which displays a message in the message center at the proper oil change service interval; this interval may be up to one year or 10,000 miles (16,000 km). When ENGINE OIL CHANGE DUE or OIL CHANGE REQUIRED appears in the message center display, it’s time for an oil change; the oil change must be done within two weeks or 500 miles (800 km) of the ENGINE OIL CHANGE DUE or OIL CHANGE REQUIRED message appearing. The Intelligent Oil Life Monitor™ must be reset after each oil change. Even if you do not drive your vehicle much, the OLM will learn that about your vehicle.

You can find this info and more details in your Owner’s Guide (3rd Printing). I hope this helps.

Deysha

 

I read this thread and thought I will not go there...but, here I am. The IOLM in my 2011 GT, like yours, uses several sensors to determine when to change the oil. I have noticed it requires shorter change intervals during the winter months based on the number of cold starts. I have been using Mobil 1 since 1978. I used it in my '79 5.0 during it's three years in Germany and have never experienced any engine problems with longer change intervals. With that said, as I read the various comments, it reminded me of an article I read by a Mercedes executive. European car makers have been recommending 15,000 mile oil/filter changes with full synthetic for many years. However, they do not recommend those change intervals in the United States because we have been conditioned to change the oil/filter at 3-5000 mile intervals by the oil companies.

This is, of course, a personal decision, so change it whenever you like. It is your car. I do change mine every six months or when the IOLM tells me too, again a personal choice. At 25,000+ miles she has never used a drop of oil, so I will stick with my twice a year "choice".

Enjoy the drive, life is short.

 

Right, and what we've learned since the 60's has allowed us to realize how insane recommending tobacco was, just like improved technology and research has allowed us to know 3,000 oil changes are nothing but a sales tactic for Jiffy Lube, etc. The best true evaluation of this stuff is probably the Blackstone Labs Analysis, which I've done on my car once so far and will probably do again on the next oil change. They told me I could go 7,500 without a problem, though I've stuck with 5K. My car has the TSB-identified problem where the OLM won't go past 5K no matter what, and going to the dealer is always a pain so haven't fixed it yet.

Like SD CALSPCL said, do what you wish with you car and as long as you're not pouring your old oil down the sewer drain, it won't affect anybody else

 

Thanks everyone for their input. Really good stuff.

 

Right on. Awesome thread!

 

Yours is a GT, the interval if set to the max is 1 year or 10K miles. Mine is a GT500, and the max interval is 6 months or 7500 miles, and it has come on every 6 months like clockwork even though I've only put 5000 miles on it in 2 years.

I contend that yours will come on in another 4 months whether you drive it any more at all between now and then even though it only has 3700 miles on it.

 

I find this thread very entertaining and informative at the same time! lol

Anyways I got an oil change around 5000~6000 miles. I drive a lot and I just wanted to get an oil change because it is a new car and who knows how long the oil was there before hand (obviously not too long and it probably doesn't matter) but it's not like you're doing anything bad if you get an oil change earlier. You may be out a few bucks but then you don't have to worry about it for a while because it just got done.

When I went to Ford for my first oil change they recommended every 5,000 miles but I'm not going to go that often. Also I do a lot of driving at least 70 miles a day on weekdays so the miles pack on faster. So I'll probably have to change the oil at a faster rate. If the Oil Life percentage gets too low and it seems like the right time then I'll change it. But if you're at about 50% life I'm sure you can go for a good amount of time without a change.

 

Hey OP, I'm one of those guys that changes it every 3k... I'm also one of those guys that has never had a mechanical malignity in any of my vehicles. Take all of this with a grain of salt, and ask yourself if the $25 in oil and filters is going to break your bank this month.

 

The problem with quoting from the owner's manual as gospel is that in my experience, Ford dealers pay little or no attention to it. I've now had five Fords with the oil life minitor. I use three dealers for oil changes, depending on which one is more convenient that day. All three recommend different change intervals (and put it on the window sticker), and none of them have ever reset the oil life monitor.

Everytime anybody touches one of my vehicles that's under warranty, the service report (or quick change checklist thingy) and receipt goes in the glovebox.

 

That is because the service department is a profit center. They want you to change your oil more often so they can make a few bucks. Same reason they sometimes state the needed replacement of items that don't really need replacing.

I for one will be going with the oil life monitor. On my last car 99BMW I changed the oil when the system told me to, every 15,000 miles. When I sold it with over 160,000 on the clock the engine was running smooth with no oil consumption. Seemed to be okay. My Suburban, same thing, it now has over 100,000 miles on the clock and runs like new and does not use oil. I usually run Mobile 1.