New Truck - Break in thoughts

[zucatti]

I've been following you guys almost daily, and have learned a lot by following your posts.

I just picked up a new 05 PSD Excursion Limited and have 2 rookie questions:

1) I have read different theories on when to do the first oil change. Some say at 1000 miles and some say let it go 5000. Any suggestions?

2) I had the same truck as a company car before, and noticed some increase in performance over the winter when I added cetane boost. Is it OK to add it during break in?

Thanks!

[Arkapigdiesel]

Dump that oil out around 1000 miles. There is a lot of sand casting material from the factory that is in the oil. After dumping the first batch, you can run the second go round at 5000 miles on dino oil. If you plan on switching to synthetic I would wait at least 10k miles. Oil analysis would also be recommended to see how your oil and engine are doing.

As far as cetane boost/diesel fuel additives. With the low sulphur fuels that we are forced to run in our trucks now-a-days I would also recommend an additive that lubricates your injectors and lowers the cetane number requirement (fuel service, red line catalyst, stanadyne, schaeffer's diesel treat 2000, howe's are just to name a few). Best of luck.

[denderlein]

Good advice.

But if your motor has ANY casting sand in the system, 1000 miles will toast the motor. So, either change it as soon as you get it, or change it every 5000 religiously.

[cec]

Change your oil at 3k and then every 5k after that and you will be fine. Some guys seem to change their oil every other day and that is expensive and a waste of high priced oil. As for sand from the castings. Good God, sand casting went out ages ago. Everything these days uses the lost foam process. Cetane boost is a good idea in the winter, but you are wasting money in warm weather. As for break in. Drive her easy for the first 500 and vary your speed. After that, enjoy it. Good luck, these are fine trucks.

[mlabelle]

I'am by no means and expert but I did my first oil change at 3,000 miles and the next two at the same intervals. This was to help remove any debris during the initial breakin period. Then I'am going to 5,000 mile oil changes. The fumoto valve is going to be installed on the 9,000 mile oil change.

I have been putting in Stanadyne performance formula since day one. Consequently, I have no idea whether it has helped but there are so many positive comments on this board about it I will continue using it. And if it will extend the life of the injectors, thats not a bad thing. The stuff is cheap enough, I can only see positive results from using it.

There is a good breakin article under contents, at the top of the page, and in there under featured articles. It is a very good article with a short education of understanding the philosphy of breakin and the do's and don't's.

Good luck, Mark

[one2win]

I sorry but its a total waste to tell this guy to change Oil at 1000.

I have run over 1000000 on 4 Powerstokes and have never changed my oil at 1000 when new. I have run them out to 5000 and on one of them 7000. Never had a problem. I am currently run 5000 to 6000 on oil changes.

My fuel supplier are Shell, Arco, Mobil, WIlco, 76 or Conaco and cannot tell one bit of differance.

Why waste the money on cetane [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] buy your wife or girl friend dinner.

[dbennett48]

Drive it easy for the first 500 miles and them "drive it like you stole it". Don't baby it and keep an eye on the guages. Have fun!!

Dave [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[one2win]

I agree with Dave one thing that the 6.0l like is to be run hard.

[Mr_Roboto]

[ QUOTE ]
Change your oil at 3k and then every 5k after that and you will be fine. Some guys seem to change their oil every other day and that is expensive and a waste of high priced oil. As for sand from the castings. Good God, sand casting went out ages ago. Everything these days uses the lost foam process. Cetane boost is a good idea in the winter, but you are wasting money in warm weather. As for break in. Drive her easy for the first 500 and vary your speed. After that, enjoy it. Good luck, these are fine trucks.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm afraid you are mistaken. While lost foam and die casting have become more popular, sand casting is still used for engine blocks. In 2000, I was working in Ford's Cleveland Casting Plant, and I assure you that they are still using sand casting. (I know, Ford doesn't make the Powerstroke blocks, but I'm sure those are sand cast too).

I think I'd go with 500 miles, then maybe 1500 and every 5K. Maybe it's unnecessary, but it can't hurt. BTW, the factory fill of oil is not a "break-in" oil as popularly thought. It is simply standard oil to which a UV dye is added to aid in leak detection at the factory.

[Arkapigdiesel]

[/ QUOTE ]Good God, sand casting went out ages ago.

[/ QUOTE ]
Wrong.

The engine parts are still sand casted in the PSD's. The elevated silicon in the oil of new engines are from sealers and SAND CASTED engine parts. That's a fact.

Blackstone also acknowledges the sand casting process for elevated silcon levels when people send in their factory fill oil for analysis.

[FamilyRide]

It's not "wear in oil" but it is a lighter 10w-30.

I hate to be the one to bring it up, (glad to see someone else did in the othere thread'S on this subject) but have you read the owners manual yet???

By the way, why does everyone call it "break in"? For motors like these producton job's, I'd consider "wearing" in the parts as opposed to breaking them!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[MoeB]

[ QUOTE ]
1) I have read different theories on when to do the first oil change. Some say at 1000 miles and some say let it go 5000. Any suggestions?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think it's critical either way. Ford just says change it at 7500 for "normal" duty, and at 5000 for "severe" duty. For the most part, the early changers do so to get the assembly junk out asap, while the late changers believe leaving the factory oil in will allow the engine to "break in" better.

As far as the former goes, it is true that the early stuff will be largely removed with an early change, but I haven't seen any evidence that this results in extended engine life. These engines continue to break in long after 1000 miles, so I'm guessing whatever "excess" wear is prevented with early change is probably negligible given the "wear in" that will follow.

As far as the latter goes, if the factory oil was required for proper breakin, would not Ford have at least mentioned this in the manual? They don't, and I doubt it matters.

Personally, I did 1st change at about 1000 because the dealer gave me two free oil changes and told me to, so I figured what the hey, can't hurt. On the second change, which I also let dealer do at 5K, oil analysis showed 2.5% fuel contamination, possibly due to rings not being fully seated yet. Also, most of the stuff usually attributed to assembly was gone, apparently due to early 1st change. I'll do 3rd change at about 10k and if all looks good, continue with 5k intervals from there on.

[zucatti]

Just want to tell you guys....thanks for all of your replies!