New F150 5.0 Break-in

[Lavrishevo]

I have a coworker who is picking up a new F150 with the 5.0 soon and I’ve been talking to him about the break-in procedure. I received advice from a tribologist to switch to Valvoline Max life synthetic blend 5w-30 after he dumps the factory at 500 miles and run the blend for 1k miles before going full synthetic at 1500 miles. I was originally going to recommend M1 5w-40 at the 500 mile OCI. Thoughts?

 

[tiger862]

No break in needed. Keep it simple. Ford has an intelligent oil change light for maintenance.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

You will get a hundred different answers here.
I vote to keep the factory-fill in for 3k. It's what I've done since a new 1970 Cuda 340.

I also would never recommend High Mileage oils in this situation. Don't use the HM until weeping or a leak occurs.

 

[Lavrishevo]

No break in needed. Keep it simple. Ford has an intelligent oil change light for maintenance.

I don’t agree with you on this. These engines are not broken in at the factory.

 

[Lavrishevo]

You will get a hundred different answers here.
I vote to keep the factory-fill in for 3k. It's what I've done since a new 1970 Cuda 340.

I also would never recommend High Mileage oils in this situation. Don't use the HM until weeping or a leak occurs.

I think the advice he was giving is to use a synthetic blend vs full synthetic initially. Considering 90% of the break-in is finished by 500 miles. I do like the idea of dumping the factory fill at this point.

 

[demarpaint]

Tough question to ask without catching flack, and being accused of wasting oil, etc, etc, etc. Your plan sounds good, I'd say go for it, and put the flame suit on.

 

[Big_B]

Hopefully it doesn't develop the dreaded 5.0 "knock"
Mine started right after changing the oil.
That motor is a POS.
I traded in my truck at 30,000 miles and put 20w50 in it. The noise was barley noticable.

 

[Lavrishevo]

Tough question to ask without catching flack, and being accused of wasting oil, etc, etc, etc. Your plan sounds good, I'd say go for it, and put the flame suit on.

I understand his advice, it seems logical. I’m definitely dumping factory fill at 500 miles in my new vehicles after what I saw at my first OCI. I was just a little surprised about the blend. Break-in oil I bet is similar with the added friction. This picture attached is from my Tacoma. Left is mine and right is a fellow member who did not change his oil until 7500 miles.

 

[addyguy]

Your friend gave the advice to use semi-synthetic oil for the first change to aid break-in…how do you account for vehicles that come with full synthetic oil as factory fill??

 

[Lavrishevo]

Hopefully it doesn't develop the dreaded 5.0 "knock"
Mine started right after changing the oil.
That motor is a POS.
I traded in my truck at 30,000 miles and put 20w50 in it. The noise was barley noticable.

Yeah, I’ve heard about the famous Coyote tick…. lol. I told my buddy to run Ceratec after everything is broken in. Very popular in the Mustang groups.

 

[HemiBenny]

What does Ford say about break in for the first 500-600 miles? It’s all about the driving, not the oil. I wouldn’t dump the factory fill at 500 miles. I would take the factory fill to 2500-3000 miles and then move to a normal OCI based on driving conditions. It’s always worked for me.
As for the oil, 5w30 of whichever brand preferred. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Big_B]

Yeah, I’ve heard about the famous Coyote tick…. lol. I told my buddy to run Ceratec after everything is broken in. Very popular in the Mustang groups.

Hope He has better luck then I did.

 

[Lavrishevo]

Your friend gave the advice to use semi-synthetic oil for the first change to aid break-in…how do you account for vehicles that come with full synthetic oil as factory fill??

They come with full synthetic because manufacturers no longer use break-in oil. This is to help prevent slugging and other issues when people don’t do their first oil change until 5k or even 10k miles. Break-in oil needs to be changed at like 500 miles.

 

[Lavrishevo]

What does Ford say about break in for the first 500-600 miles? It’s all about the driving, not the oil. I wouldn’t dump the factory fill at 500 miles. I would take the factory fill to 2500-3000 miles and then move to a normal OCI based on driving conditions. It’s always worked for me.
As for the oil, 5w30 of whichever brand preferred. Just my 2 cents worth.

Honestly, I don’t trust Ford or Toyota. I don’t believe the advice in the user manual has anything to do with engineering. I think it’s marketing. Toyota says you don’t need to change the oil till 10k. Can you imagine all that **** circulating the engine for 10k miles? When the bypass valve opens nothing is being filtered.

 

[buster]

 

[HemiBenny]

Honestly, I don’t trust Ford or Toyota. I don’t believe the advice in the user manual has anything to do with engineering. I think it’s marketing. Toyota says you don’t need to change the oil till 10k. Can you imagine all that **** circulating the engine for 10k miles? When the bypass valve opens nothing is being filtered.

Oh, I agree completely on that front. 10k is ludicrous in my book. With our new Mazda CX50, I’m doing 2500, and then 5k after. Mazda says 10k as well, that’s just not happening.
The Chrysler in my sig didn’t get its first until 4400 miles and it’s at just under 160k now. I still think 500 is a bit too early, but to each their own. You’re definitely not hurting anything by doing that.

 

[goingplacesanddoingstuff]

There is functionally no difference between a synthetic blend and a full synthetic which both meet the same certs.

 

[CKN]

I have a coworker who is picking up a new F150 with the 5.0 soon and I’ve been talking to him about the break-in procedure. I received advice from a tribologist to switch to Valvoline Max life synthetic blend 5w-30 after he dumps the factory at 500 miles and run the blend for 1k miles before going full synthetic at 1500 miles. I was originally going to recommend M1 5w-40 at the 500 mile OCI. Thoughts?

That's nonsensical.

 

[MParr]

I wouldn’t do anything special. Drive it he would normally drive it. Do a mix of city and highway driving. Change the oil and filter at 5,000 miles. Use good oil filters and a 5W30 Synthetic oil.

 

[facility1]

change oil at 500 to 1,000 miles ,use a good full synthetic 5w-30,, name brands like Pennzoil Platinium,Vavoiline EP,Castrol Edge and good filter,like Fram ultra,wix XP at 5k intervals,, you should be fine for most driving conditions.