[IB-5]

Normally, when I buy a product, I maintain it the way the owner's
manual says to do it (after all they made the product, so they should
know best).
The Fiesta manual says, with normal driving, you can go 10,000 miles
between each oil change.
In the past I have always changed my oil at 3,000 miles.
I realize that oil has gotten much better since I first started
driving, and that Ford updated the filter to accomadate the
change.
Still, I just can't see driving my car for 10,000 miles before
changing the oil.
I have decided to change my oil every 5,000 miles.
I just wondered how many of you are going to go the 10,000
mile interval.
For those that aren't, I wondered what interval you have selected.

 

[anverc]

I'm going with 5000. It's a good time to rotate the tires so I do both at the same time.

 

[LMTech]

I will do 3000 and rotate the tires at the same time also. I have seen in the past with small cars that the tires usually don't wear well if not rotated on a very regular basis. I was looking at my car the other day and it appears that it has a lot of rear end camber ( tire tilted in a the top ) for handling and stability but not very good for inside tire wear.

 

[tjl]

Well, the only way to really tell if your oil is "worn out" is to take samples to send to oil analysis every few thousand miles, so that you can find the optimal oil change interval for your driving. (And this assumes that your driving stays the same, and you continue to use the same oil and filters.)

A previous car that I had specified 10,000 mile oil changes which I followed and had no problems related to oil or lubrication. So I do not expect any oil related problems following the 10,000 mile schedule in the manual (or the oil life monitor if it is actually equipped with such), especially, since I do mostly gentle highway driving. Those who do very severe service like mostly city driving, track driving, etc. may come to other conclusions.

Of course, when running longer oil change intervals, it is important to use good quality oil. Not all 5W-20 oils on the shelves have the Ford WSS-M2C930-A rating listed in the owner's manual. Motorcraft 5W-20 does and is readily available, and the people at bobistheoilguy.com seem to have a high opinion of it. For Motorcraft filters, note that the FL-910S is required for the Fiesta; the older FL-910 that may still be on the shelves should not be used.

 

[MegEtc]

I've been looking for a place to put this on the thread, so I'm glad you've started this discussion. My dealer turned me away when I tried to come in and have the oil changed after I drove the first 1,000 miles. There had been people on this thread saying that's a good thing to do because breaking in the engine can shake loose metal shavings inside. But the mechanics disagreed, saying the soonest they'd recommend an oil change is at 5,000 miles.

So my Ford mechanics think every 5k is reasonable, especially for someone like me who has a very long commute every day so I rack up miles quickly.

But I think 3,000 might just be wasting money. Oil is expensive and it's a hazmat, so you ought to consider conserving it if it's not dirty.

Maybe think about it this way: you don't start braking 200 feet before you reach a stoplight anymore, right? You trust that brakes have gotten better in the last 20 years. Oil life has also improved. The owners manual also says that the car will tell you when it needs a change, so you might wait to see whether the light comes on before the first 10,000 if you're skeptical a car can really go that far.

 

[Reddog99]

I've been changing my oil at 10,000 miles for the last 25 years. I've had the oil analyzed and the reports always came back that the oil was good enough to have been run even longer. And oils keep getting better and better. FWIW, my driving is mostly highway miles.

 

[eRic]

I got my 1st oil change at 3000 miles. The rest will be done when the oil change reminder comes on.

 

[Drivenapollo]

Ford spends tons of money on R&D on this stuff. If they tell me its 10k then its 10k. The new v6 mustang is rated the same way.

 

[Marc]

Any comments from previous Agents -- Bryan and Fiestavus? When did you change the oil of your EuroFiesta? (or rather: had it changed as I assume it was free of charge)

 

[Rodewaryer]

Analysis or not, this kid is not going 10k on any oil. I'd be stretching my personal limit of 3k by going to 5K, which I may consider.

Also, 5w-20 oil is going away as I did with the LS. That might be good for what is considered an average climate in the US but I'm not running 5w oil in the heat we deal with in the desert. 10w-30 will likely be what I settle with even though the gut feeling is to go higher.....

 

[Hoonu]

Analysis or not, this kid is not going 10k on any oil. I'd be stretching my personal limit of 3k by going to 5K, which I may consider.

OTR trucks run well in excess of 10K, even on conventional oil.

Having said that, 10K is my self-imposed limit on the MINI, even though I suspect that the oil is still good. The OBC doesn't indicate need for a change until about 13K, but I'm not comfortable with that. On the MINI, it's not a condition-based notification. The car monitors mileage, duty cycles, temperature, etc, and does a mileage countdown. But, it does the same countdown on both the Turbo and NA cars. The oil analysis on the Turbos indicate that the oil's shot at about 6K. But, sorry, that's off track.

Questions: The Motorcraft 5W-20 is a synthetic blend, right? And Ford specs that oil for 10K intervals? (My apology for some of these questions; we don't have the car yet, much less the manual...). The dealer has said that they change the oil at 1K, then 5K then every 5K, and used that as a selling point for the prepaid maintenance plan. But the factory specified service interval is 10K? Hm... Sounds like more evidence for the "we're being hoodoo'd conclusion.

 

[tjl]

Questions: The Motorcraft 5W-20 is a synthetic blend, right? And Ford specs that oil for 10K intervals?

Yes, the owner's manual lists 10,000 mile service intervals.

Yes, Motorcraft 5W-20 has "synthetic blend" on the bottle. There is another thread about the oil with links to discussions on bobistheoilguy.com about the oil.

 

[merkmal]

I'll have to dig the manual out but does it give a time interval along with the 10k? I have had my fiesta for 2 months now and just today hit 1000 miles. I'm guessing it's either 6 months or 1 year? It would take me over a year and a half to come close to reaching 10k... so I'm guessing I should have it in for service well before that.

 

[Fiesta Brand Manager]

Ford spends tons of money on R&D on this stuff. If they tell me its 10k then its 10k. The new v6 mustang is rated the same way.

Thanks for the trust!!!

 

[golf strom]

Don't be misled....

Most cars operated in the USA fall under the "severe service" catagory....which means that the car is operated with

1) regular short trips
2) lots of stop and go driving
3) prolonged periods of idling
4) high heat or cold climates for much of the year


If you vehicle experiences any of these or more than you should change your oil more often than suggested by the mfr....



I would say for the Fiesta with synth blend for most drivers it should be changed every 6k-7.500k miles or 10 months- 1 yr, which ever comes first

 

[Coop]

Most new Ford/Linc now have a 7500 mile oil interval.

I would not want to exceed that.

I am going with 5000 mile intervals plus rotate tires at the same time!

 

[Hoonu]

If you could get used oil analysis locally a little more easily than pulling a sample and mailing it off, I imagine a lot of us would discover that 10K with todays oils and todays cars is easily and safely attained. OTOH, the folks over on the MINI forums who drive the twin scroll turbo models discovered that the MINI branded oil was pretty well shot by 5.5-6K, with the OBC indicating many more miles before a change was due.

 

[FeelTheVolts]

I've always used Mobil 1 or Mobil 1 Extended Performance in my gasoline-engined vehicles with 10k and 15k miles change intervals, respectively, and had no trouble. A synthetic oil does not experience thermal breakdown and can take much longer service runs than can conventional motor oil.

A bit of history: when Mobil introduced Mobil 1 in 1974, it was marketed with a 25k mile service interval. Consumers would not believe it and many didn't purchase it, or they stuck with a service interval of 3k and wasted their money.

Today's 10k and 15k intervals for Mobil 1 are guaranteed*, meaning, among other things, that you could actually run your oil far longer than 10k before experiencing engine failure. Many other manufacturers have similar service interval guarantees.

Source: a conversation with the Mobil 1 brand manager, Fairfax, VA, May 2009, as part of a marketing assignment for the Executive MBA program at Texas A&M.

 

[silvertoy]

If you could get used oil analysis locally a little more easily than pulling a sample and mailing it off, I imagine a lot of us would discover that 10K with todays oils and todays cars is easily and safely attained. OTOH, the folks over on the MINI forums who drive the twin scroll turbo models discovered that the MINI branded oil was pretty well shot by 5.5-6K, with the OBC indicating many more miles before a change was due.

And the oil used in the MINIs is CASTROL SYNTEC, fully synthetic. I'll be likely changing my oil between 5-7K, assuming my idiot light waits that long. On my Wrangler, it claims 6K intervals - it went off the first time at 2,300. Like I said before it's based on revolutions, not necessarily miles or time. I'll have it analyzed in my oil lab (I work for a company that makes oil filters among other things) and see what my oil looks like after that. I just need to find out what it is supposed to look like beforehand, anyone have a techinical data sheet for the Motorcraft oil?

 

[silvertoy]

A synthetic oil does not experience thermal breakdown and can take much longer service runs than can conventional motor oil.

That should probably read,
A synthetic oil better resists thermal breakdown and can take much longer service runs than can conventional motor oil.

They will break down from heat stress but at nowhere near the pace of a conventional.

Also bear in mind, in 1974, a 7K redline was unheard of unless you drove an exotic.