Oil life %

[PJF]

My truck has only 1500 miles on it and the computer is showing 86%. My dealer said the first oil change is 5000 miles. So I'm assuming the computer or my dealer is wrong?

 

[The Macf]

The manual says 5000 miles. Trust that.

 

[Red]

Did you do the break in oil change? It is recommended to change it after the first 1000 miles.

 

[comagt]

My truck has only 1500 miles on it and the computer is showing 86%. My dealer said the first oil change is 5000 miles. So I'm assuming the computer or my dealer is wrong?

Normal driving conditions is a 7500 interval and towing/heavy duty driving is 5000 miles. The computer is supposed to help track that, but I would set the interval based on your driving.

 

[Red]

After the break in my service guy told me 7000 miles is fine since I am using full synthetic. My last oil change I did after 7000 miles and the oil life gauge said 18%. It all depends on how you drive.

 

[PJF]

Did you do the break in oil change? It is recommended to change it after the first 1000 miles.

No I have changed out the break in oil yet.

 

[Nv Guy]

The oil life will change depending how you drive. If I really hammer it, the oil life will really drop, I have had some 2K intervals according to the computer.
Unless I have taken lots of friends out in the desert (to show them what the Raptor can do) I change the oil every 5K.
Once, just to see I let the computer decide when to change the oil in the wife's truck- it ran it out to 12K!!! Never gonna do that again.

 

[Hawkeye]

I had an auto engineer - from GM - tell me - break in oil changes don't apply any longer and to trust the oil life monitor. Just the same I change every 5,000. It won't hurt!

 

[Ruger]

No I have changed out the break in oil yet.

DO IT! There is manufacturing debris, casting flash, and break-in particles that need to come out of your engine. If you change your oil now you will get many, many years of service from an engine that loves you back.

 

[Chris@FreedomMotorsports]

I would go ahead and change the break in oil to get it out of there. Also, as stated, the oil life monitors on all newer vehicles (while each manufacturer's programming may be a little different) monitors driving conditions to determine the viability of the oil, not the actual condition of the oil. So, the harder you drive it, the shorter the oil life monitoring.

You have two main choices with oil maintenance. First, change it (always use full synthetic) and follow the recommend service interval from the oil manufacturer according to the oil you are using. If you do that you should not have any issues with failures or warranty related issues (denials). Pay close attention to the service interval recommendations from the oil manufacturers, each one is different and those recommended intervals are a good indicator to the quality of the oil overall and how much it can take/protect.

Second choice. Change your break in oil and then stick to the 5-7K mile intervals regardless of the brand of oil you use. While with some oils this can be considered wasting your money because some of them can go so much longer. The peace of mind that comes with using high quality synthetic oils at regular OEM intervals can be nice.

ALL of that being said, if I can help provide pricing quotes or otherwise. I offer AMSOIL in three different grades for these trucks to fit anyone's budget and desired maintenance intervals. But I also offer Royal Purple and Champion synthetic oils as well. So let me know if I can be of help in narrowing down your choices, I would be glad to prepare a no obligation quote.