Six Monthly Servicing, or every 5,000 km's, Good Idea or Waste of Money ?

[Rodge]

With the Falcon's eventual demise clearly mapped out some of you like me may be wondering (if you're considering making your current car a permanent keeper), whether its a good idea to start more regular servicing to aid your collectible treasure's longevity ?

I think this is most especially pertinent with forced induction Falcon's / FPV's but I've long thought 1 year or 15,000 km service intervals are inappropriate for a high performacne forced induction engine anyway... but as I only do about 7,500 km's a year in my car I've stuck with the yearly servicing for now. That said I'm seriously considering bringing the servicing in to every 5,000 km's which for me would be about every 8 months.

I note HSV has had 6 monthly servicing requirements as does the Chrysler SRT8 and Holden have just gone to every 9 months with their new VF Commordore. On the other hand many of the high performacne Euro's are still annual or every 15,000 km's or so, (maybe Euro manufacturers want to sell you lots of outrageously priced parts down the track), opps there's the natural cynic in me leaking out again...

I know it can't hurt the engine to service it more often but is more regular servicing money well spent or money wasted in the long run, especially in the light of the fact that many of us will be keeping our current Ford's for ages, what do you think ?

[Trump]

I dump the oil and replace the filter every 7500km or every six months. Its cheap insurance.

[GQ_Smooth]

Every 10,000 for a NA, 5,000 for a Turbo, that's been my experience.

[GT0132]

I was getting my BA GT serviced every 6 months which worked out to be every 4,000 kms. I've now cut down the use of that car even further to the point where I now only do 5,000 kms a year so have stretched out the servicing to every 12 months. I have seldom ever walked out of the workshop without having handed over less than a grand, and the longer service interval is going to have little or no impact on the cars life. So I think, economically, it is a wise move. Our other car is a X5 diesel and that also gets serviced every year having travelled 10-12k kms

[Kable72]

It's cheap insurance, I cannot fathom why you wouldn't rather spend the hour and the 70 bucks to just at least drop the oil.

[GASWAGON]

Synthetic oils these days are highly advanced....I would service every 15,000 just like the manual says......Plus you are contributing to wasting all the Black Gold that is in the ground and becoming harder and harder to produce.

[Trump]

Originally Posted by EF_6

Synthetic oils these days are highly advanced....I would service every 15,000 just like the manual says......Plus you are contributing to wasting all the Black Gold that is in the ground and becoming harder and harder to produce.

The reason the factory service interval is 15,000km is due to the larger sump capacity, not the use of better synthetic oils.

[GazzF6]

Originally Posted by Loud_Noises

The reason the factory service interval is 15,000km is due to the larger sump capacity, not the use of better synthetic oils.

There's a lot of merit in what you say! The F6 has close to 7L sump!
As a "general" guide see below;

Straight Mineral Oil 5000km's max or 6 months
Semi-Synthetic Oil 10,000km's or 12 months
Full Synthetic 15,000km's or 12 months (Best Oil for FPV's)

The above is based on car being used daily, and travelling enough km's to ensure the engine gets well into to normal operating temperature, if it's only used every other weekend use either a Semi or Full Synthetic and change the oil every 12 months, regardless of km's covered.

I have used a full Synthetic engine oil to 60,000km's changed at every 15,000km's. No top up, no smoke!

[302 XC]

Originally Posted by WWF6 310

There's a lot of merit in what you say! The F6 has close to 7L sump!

Does oil amount have that much to do with it,morso than correct filters and oil ???
AU I6 takes 5.5 L of oil, the patrol is up near 10 L, the patrol filter is nearly 4 times the price for the filter on AU, yet it gets changed twice as often
They both use ryco filters and penrite oil

[superyob]

Originally Posted by EF_6

Synthetic oils these days are highly advanced....I would service every 15,000 just like the manual says......Plus you are contributing to wasting all the Black Gold that is in the ground and becoming harder and harder to produce.

This is off topic but my understanding is that due to recent massive oil discoveries, we will not run out for a very, very long time...

[Trump]

Originally Posted by superyob

This is off topic but my understanding is that due to recent massive oil discoveries, we will not run out for a very, very long time...

Shale and tar sands are hardly what I would call a massive discovery. They are nowhere near as energy dense as the light, sweet liquid crude oil that used to bubble up of its own accord in Saudi Arabia and the Northwest Shelf in WA. The only reason we are hearing more about them now is because oil is still holding at the US$100 a barrel mark and thus financially viable to process into liquid petroleum.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by superyob

This is off topic but my understanding is that due to recent massive oil discoveries, we will not run out for a very, very long time...

Running out is not the problem, all you need is to have "tight" refining supply to drive the price through the roof,
international competition from major players like China buying up vast stocks can keep prices artificially high.

On topic,
When I was running my EB for work, I found that the highway fuel economy would begin to drop off
at around 8,000 km - not much just a smidge so I decided to keep with 10,000 km servicing.
the car ran faultlessly for +250,000 km until I sold it to my sister in law.....

Without surprise, the BA sedan exhibited the same characteristics as did the FG 1 Ute.

[Dash_XR]

Oil quality would probably be more important then upping the frequency wouldn't it?

Since my changes aren't as frequent now I'm thinking of just spending the extra on Royal Purple and just continue them as normal.

I'd wanna rebuild it at sorta over 200 anyway.

[ebv8]

my olds 1991 pajero had 360,000km serviced every 5,000km from new and never blew smoke which is rare for a bitsashitty v6, so to me that prove changing to oil more often is better in the long run but do the mid service yourself to save money

[Alan D Segal]

I'm not going to comment on this, but I've voted and I'm interested to see everyone else's comments. Great thread OP.

[Rodge]

Originally Posted by ebv8

my olds 1991 pajero had 360,000km serviced every 5,000km from new and never blew smoke which is rare for a bitsashitty v6, so to me that prove changing to oil more often is better in the long run but do the mid service yourself to save money

I like this post the best so far but we need lots more feedback as at present the poll is split 50/50 right down the middle.

For what its worth the cost price of 8.5 litres of Castrol Edge 5W-20, (the recommended oil for SC FPV's) for me sourcing it the cheapest way I can is $140 Kiwi so with filter and even doing it myself comes to $153. Expensive No, of material benifet to longevity considering I only do about 7,500 km's per annum ????

[jpblue1000]

I voted waste of money then read the replies. Changing the oil and filter is far from servicing the car, Servicing to me means adjustments, top-ups, checking and of course replacement of consumables. Not just droping the oil and replacing filter.
For a daily Hack I declare its a waste of money to even just do the oil and filter, of course it cant hurt anything but the wallet, but with modern engines and oils I don't believe it matters.
A performance engine used to its full potential is a different matter. My race car gets an full all car oil change every event, which equates to every 2-300km's new brake fluid as well. a road car probably would be Ok with manufacturer determined intervals but if you give it some then more often might be worthwhile but a modern Turbo engine used a s a daily hack doesnt constitute performance.

JP

[strobe]

I probably wouldn't even bother servicing your car. My car however...

[Trump]

^ Hat is tipped, I snorted

[GTP owner]

i am going to say a waste of time and money. The money bit does not worry me, but i don't have time to stuff around with servicing a car so often. All of my cars last well over 200,000km and i have never had one use a drop of oil in between services, which to me indicates the rings and bearings are doing just fine. Even my xr6t that has lived a hard life still does not require me to check or add any oil between services.

[b055m4n]

Originally Posted by GTP owner

i am going to say a waste of time and money. The money bit does not worry me, but i don't have time to stuff around with servicing a car so often. All of my cars last well over 200,000km and i have never had one use a drop of oil in between services, which to me indicates the rings and bearings are doing just fine. Even my xr6t that has lived a hard life still does not require me to check or add any oil between services.

I totally agree with the quote above witch mirrors my experiences all exceeding 200,000km easily....but I wouldn't expect anything else from a Falcon ;)

[supershifty]

I drop the oil + filter every 10K - NA XH 6 bog stock that doesn't get driven hard. However if I had a performance engine again that I hit with a healthy bit of stick, I'd go with the 5k servicing regardless of the time interval.

[mik]

I do mine between 5000 and 7000 , as I keep my cars for years, I like to think it will pay off , my au I have had for 8+ years and it still pulls like a ............. train, I have always held firm to the belief keep the coolant up to date and the oil clean and it will go trouble free for years, ................touch wood(touches boof head).

[The Yeti]

I ticked a good thing

but in reality I never get around to it until 15k

the 38 gets done religiously every 2000km (no oil filter) and that seems to line up with the wifes territory doing between 12 - 15,000km so I do them both at the same time

[GTP owner]

When i saw so many people saying they think it pays off in the long run, i thought i would do some maths.
xr6t, supposed service interval = 15,000km. Therefore 13 services. If you get the really good oil, do the inline filter for the turbo, and have to pay someone to do the service, you are up for say $180 per service, so that's $2,340

Then if you do it at 5,000km, that makes 4o services, at the same price, makes $7,200.

So that's $5,000 difference....which is the price of a full engine and turbo rebuild.....
And if you dont need to do the full turbo and engine rebuild.....it's a waste!

[mik]

Originally Posted by GTP owner

When i saw so many people saying they think it pays off in the long run, i thought i would do some maths.
xr6t, supposed service interval = 15,000km. Therefore 13 services. If you get the really good oil, do the inline filter for the turbo, and have to pay someone to do the service, you are up for say $180 per service, so that's $2,340

Then if you do it at 5,000km, that makes 4o services, at the same price, makes $7,200.

So that's $5,000 difference....which is the price of a full engine and turbo rebuild.....
And if you dont need to do the full turbo and engine rebuild.....it's a waste!

That brings up the question how many blokes on here do their own stuff ?

[Ford_The_Win]

I putt around fairly casually so I'm happy to service every 10,000. My Mitsubishi was brand new and went to the dealer for servicing, and my FG is the same. Older vehicles not under warranty I'm happy to service myself.

[poppa smurf]

10,000 Km's for me, oil still looks and feels "good"......but I'm not going to argue against those who service more regular.

[Peter B - CV8]

I believe that a full synthetic oil is good enough to last & provide protection for the vehicles normal service timeframe (& this is backed up a number of oil analysis results that have been posted up over the years).
Personally, I use a semi-synthetic oil & therefore change at half the manufacturers timeframe.

[Wolfinsheepsclothing]

I change mine every 5000k's which equates to about 6 months(I find cleaning bmc air filter about spot-on at this many k's also), now using liquid-moly 5w-20 full syn engine oil , but I love my car and spoil it rotten , I also am going to change diff oil at 20 000k intervals(penrite gear oil 80/140 syn)